I just want to take a minute to salute the tailgating atmosphere at Northwest. It has become quite the atmosphere! I didn’t start tailgating myself until about 2008, but in those 5 years the scene at NW has changed quite a bit. I think tailgating in general has increased, as there seems to be more and more cool stuff for us tailgaters to use. This summer I was contacted by Tailgater Monthly magazine to be interviewed for an article that they were doing on tailgating at small schools. The article in Tailgater Monthly can be found here. They featured 7 schools, two of which were from D2 – NW and Pitt State. I directed them to Pitt State because in my opinion they have the overall best game day experience in D2. But I think that NW is closing that gap. But you have to remember that they’ve had a winning program for much longer than NW has. This last weekend there were tons of tailgaters – in fact I didn’t get there early enough and somebody had stolen my regular spot. Looks like I am going to have to start getting there a little bit earlier than I have been!
Last Week's Recap:
Now that is what I’m talking about! I haven’t seen the Bearcats play that kind of football since the second half of the Midwestern State game last year (5 games ago). And before that it was the Washburn game that they actually looked that good for the entire game (5 games before MSU.) I’m hoping that it doesn’t take another 5 games, because if it does, it will more than likely be in the 2013 season! I think that we may have seen what the 2012 NW football team has the potential to look like. And I LIKE it.
I haven’t watched a game like that since 2008 whoopin’ that the UCM Mules took. The Riverhawks came out and drove down the field and there really wasn’t anything that NW could do to stop them. Then NW turned around and did the same thing to them. I turned to my friend and said after NW’s first score that this game could be a barn burner. That was the last time that I thought that! It turned out to be a crazy long game, despite both teams essentially only rushing in the 4th quarter (I think that there were only like 4 passes) in order to just run out the clock. I honestly don’t remember the last time I was bored at a NW game. But I will take it! It’s a good problem to have!
It has been said that Trevor Adams looked amazing at the beginning of fall camp, and then all of a sudden it was like a switch went off and he was what we saw in the first two game. This tells me that it was something mental. So I am going to do my best to be an armchair psychologist – as well as an armchair QB and Monday morning coach. My best guess is that two weeks into camp, it dawned on TA that he was going to be THE MAN of the Bearcats. And that was a little bit too much for him, and he broke. Then the past two weeks he saw that he didn’t have to carry that load himself, that he has two capable backups and is surrounded by talented athletes. He was finally able to get over that mental hurdle, and he is back to the QB that we all saw last year. At least I hope that is what has happened.
I think there are several different things can account for why the NW team was so effective last week. 1) Trevor Adams – he finally played like we all know that he is capable of. 2) Offensive Line – the return of Cole Chevalier at center is big. I’m sure the Juice is a great guy – but he’s not the starter. The return of Chevalier as well as the rest of the guys gelling is really starting to turn the tide. I’m not sure how good they are – as NSU is not the greatest defense by any means, but they did allow less sacks (0) and tackles for loss (2) than Emporia, Washburn, or Pitt State. 3) Fervor – that is the best word that I could come up with to describe what I witnessed. Fervor is defined as a great intensity of feeling or belief. It seemed like the entire team (coaches and all) finally bought into who the 2012 NW Bearcats are. I thought that the playcalling played into the strengths of the offense and the offensive guys were excited for the defense, and vise versa.
I thought that with the exception of the first drive, the defense did an amazing job. The first drive the Riverhawks drove 88 yards. That was approximately 1/3rd of their total offensive output. That was their longest drive by far – their next longest drive was only 48 yards. NW rush defense was finally back to what we as fans are used to – only allowing 88 total yards on the ground. I thought that the secondary did a great job. There were a couple of times that a LB was lined up on a WR – which is never good, and they were able to capitalize on it. I believe that was the case with their TD. I also noticed that Brian Dixon is susceptible to the little double fake that WR’s do sometimes – it usually allows them to get behind them. But that is teachable. But I would be lying if I said that didn’t worry me a little when it comes to Pitt St!
This Week's Match Up:
I think that this is the ultimate trap game for the Bearcats. They just come off of their best performance last week, and next week they face the #1 team in the nation. If they aren’t careful, they will fall victim to the Broncos. But I have a feeling that the coaches know this danger, and will do their best to limit the possibility of that happening.
UCO has probably had the toughest schedule of any team in the MIAA. They’ve played MoSo (3-2) Pitt (4-0) Emporia (5-0) Washburn (4-1) and MoWest (5-0) : that’s a combined record of 21-3, and they beat Washburn two weeks ago 35-20. Talk about a welcome to the MIAA! I think that the key to this game (like most) will come down to the play of the OLine. If the Oline does well, the entire offense will do well. Last week, NW had 5 different players that all averaged 7+ yards per carry. That is directly related back to the OL as well as the WR’s making blocks down field. I will definitely be keeping Franklin on my bench in Fantasy Football – as that seems to greatly increase his performance on the field. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that despite TA’s vast improvement last week, he still was locking in on his first intended target and not checking down. That works against subpar competition, but when NW starts facing good D’s – that could really bite them in the butt. That is something that TA and the coaches need to work on. The WR’s need to continue what they are doing. I’m hoping to see at least one long ball to Shaw, since that helps to open up the shorter stuff as well as the run game. I am hoping that the play calling is similar to what we saw last week.
On Defense – I know I say it every week but its true – they need to just keep doing what they’re doing. The Broncos are primarily a passing team, but their RB Josh Birmingham is pretty good and can hurt you on the ground. UCO is currently averaging 211 passing yards per game – and they have 5 different players that have 9 or more receptions on the year. Their top two receivers are a freshman and sophomore – so they will be around for a while. Bronco’s QB, Adrian Nelson, is not the most dangerous guy in the world. He is currently completing under 52% of his passes, and has more interceptions (7) than he does touchdowns (5). I am really hoping that the defense keeps up these numbers and continues their domination. If they do – NW wins this one handily.
Overall – I think NW’s success train is just getting out of the station. The momentum has started and it will continue to roll. NW wins this one 45-10.
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