Opening
Thoughts:
So after the fiasco that I had last year and the
crappy hosts that the Arrowhead staff were this year, I am all in favor of
moving this game. I never would have said
this a couple of years ago – but I think its time.I know that next year will be
the last one since NW and PSU currently aren’t scheduled to play in 2014. If I
had my druthers, this game would be replaced with NW vs PSU/UCM/WU at
Livestrong Sporting Complex. The stadium is designed to hold approxiametly
18500 – I think that it would be awesome to play infront of a packed house
rather than a mostly empty stadium. Plus people could park in the area that the
Nascar track uses – and that is big enough that everyone could have plenty of
space to tailgate and there wouldn’t be any need for the Parking Lot Nazis.
Last
Week’s Review:
What a strange game. It was a game
that left me scratching my head at times. The playcalling was very questionable
at times. I know that AD said that since they were the underdogs they were
going to come out swinging and not leave anything on the table. Well it
certainly didn’t look that way in the first half. In fact the play book looked
almost identical to the playbook that they used in the first half of UCM. And
at the end of the half NW would have been able to call a time out and get the
ball with about 30 seconds left on the clock – but AD was content to let the
time expire and come out the second half . Not to mention the cluster that was
the game management at the end of the game where NW coaches apparently weren’t
able to figure out that they needed one first down in order to be able to run
out the clock. Overall a major head scratcher! I think Charlie Flohr and AD
need to take those pages from the playbook, take them over to the incinerator
and dispose of them properly.
Huge KUDOS to the entire offensive
line. For the most part they gave TA plenty of time. They picked up the blitzes
well, and handled them. In the first half they were less effective in opening
up run lanes, but I think that was more of a function of the playcalling. The
Bearcats were very conservative and it was run, run, run in the first half.
When it’s obvious that you’re going to run, it makes it much easier to defend
it. The RB’s did well – JF3 finally broke the century mark in this game –
netting 115 yards and 2 TD’s on 20 carries. Adams even managed to get off a
couple of long scrambles. I thought that TA did a great job in the
second half. I won’t deny it – I was seriously surprised that we didn’t see
more Bolles than we did – especially after the second interception. I’ll give
TA a pass on the first interception, but the second one he basically threw
right to the defender. Not Good! I did like seeing them put Bolles in and
trying that reverse that he threw out of – and he made the correct choice to throw
the ball away, all of his defenders were covered. A big S/O to John Hinchey!
How big was that 4th down conversion that he took for a TD!
I’ve been waiting for years to see him do that! He’s a big guy with tons of
athleticism, I’m glad that he finally was able to take it to the next level! It
did seem like a repeat of the PSU playoff game last year – Adams not able to
make the throws and when he did his receivers weren’t catching them. How many
dropped balls were there in this game? I don’t think I’ve ever seen Shaw drop
so many, felt like the 2008 NC game and Kendall Wright couldn’t catch a cold
that game. This was a perfect example of how momentum affects a game. NW got
the momentum in the second half and rode it to 31 unanswered points.
I can’t say enough good things about
this defense. They held the PSU offense in check the vast majority of the game.
I won’t lie I was a little nervous when PSU came out the second half and shoved
the ball down NW’s throat. But they made the necessary adjustments and PSU
wasn’t really able to do much more the second until NW went into Prevent D at
the very end. How big was that stop on 4th & 1? Absolute
killer of any momentum that Pitt had going for them and a total swing towards
NW. I can’t say enough for how much this secondary has improved over last year
– a big part of that is the Dixon brothers. They both did an excellent job. But
it isn’t just them, Alleyne, Manning, Snodgrass, etc – I think that this is
seriously the best overall secondary that I’ve seen at NW since I’ve been
following them.
Hats off to the Special Teams again
this week. Adolf was able to limit the KO returns by either causing touchbacks
or by giving lots of air time allowing the defenders time to get down and stop
them early. Goodburn did an excellent job averaging over 46 yards per punt on
his 6 punts – 3 in the redzone, 1 inside the 10. For his efforts he was named
the MIAA and D2Football.com Special Teams Player of the Week.
Next Weeks MatchUp:
I’ll be honest with you – I don’t know a whole lot
about MSSU this year. I know that in the off season they fired Bart Tatum (who
is now with UCM’s former head coach Willie Fritz at Sam Houston State) and
replaced him with Coach Daye. Daye came from the NFL where he was an Asst Coach
with the Buffalo Bills. Before that he was the defensive coordinator for MSSU.
He’s also served as Head Coach of Nichols State. His other coaching experience
was at LSU and Southern Miss. So he’s got lots of connections to that part of
the country – and his roster shows it. Daye is really beginning to create a
good football culture at MSSU. So far his team has been a bit of an enigma.
They are currently 5-2 and are coming off a win against MoWest last week. Which
is a good sign, but they also lost to Southwest Baptist. Which proves that they
still have some improvement to do.
From what I understand, the Southern offense runs an
option style offense. Being born and raised in Nebraska – I am a fan of option
football. When it is done right, it is very difficult to defend. My only
question is how well will they run it.
UNK had success against NW running the option – but I think that had
more to do with the fact that NW hadn’t prepared at all for that offense. NW’s
overall team speed on defense is going to be their biggest strength in this
game. The speed of the linebackers will be MSSU’s undoing. The key to defending
the Option, is to take away the pitch man. If you have someone designated to
take away the option, then everyone else can focus on the QB. It’s not rocket
science – but it is very difficult for defenders to not go after the guy with
the ball. It also takes a lot of communication on the defense – I remember on
one play against UNK that three guys ran right by the QB to take out the
pitchman. But I think that Wright will have his guys prepared for this game.
On offense – the biggest goal should be staying
healthy. This game last year killed NW with injuries. Shaw went down and BC was
essentially done for the year after this game. Southern is pretty good at
stopping the run – like best in the MIAA. They are averaging only giving up 88
yards per game on the ground. But their pass D is their Achilles heal – giving up
over 244 yards per game. If AD comes out and tries to pound the rock like they
did the first half last week – its going to be a VERY long day for NW. But if
they open up the play book and use the strengths of this team, the players
could have a lot of fun in this game. I would not be surprised to see JF3 break
a few long runs, but I wouldn’t depend on it. Use the passing game to open up
the ground game, not the other way around in this game. If NW does that – they win.
It looks like it’s going to be a beautiful day for
football. 70° and sunny with a slight breeze. Sounds like a good day for
football to my – but like my friend always says – It’s always a good day when
the Bearcats are playing!
NW wins 48 - 17
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