Man it was good to be back in Bearcat Stadium watching a game under the lights! It was also great to finally get to tailgate. But the new tailgating rules really suck. They were obviously set up by individuals who have never tailgated. The rule is that you can’t start tailgating until 4 hours prior to kickoff. I can completely understand not allowing alcohol until four hours before – but not being able to set up?!? Are they actively trying to kill the game day atmosphere? I know that next year they are planning on charging for parking as well as implementing no tailgating in the grass. What really doesn’t make any sense is that as it stands, you can park where you plan on tailgating – pull out some chairs and sit around: you just can’t set up any kind of canopy, or pull out any tables or play any kind of ‘games’. But you can sit there, because apparently that isn’t tailgating – just loitering I guess. My other complaint is with the university getting rid of the visitors section, and instead selling prime tickets right behind the visitors bench. From what I understand, the visitors section was completely ‘sold out’ online, but they didn’t have anyone in them. As a student I voted for and paid for additional fees for the East side bleachers to be redone. I didn’t do this so visitors could come and have a great seat for the smackdown that they are going to receive.
Last Week’s Recap:
What a fun game to watch! Looking at the scoreboard, you would say that the games wasn’t even close, but if you look at the stats, the game was much closer than the score indicated. If it hadn’t have been for some big time special teams plays, and untimely turnovers, this game could have been a nailbiter for either team.
On offense, some questions were answered, some still remain. Before we get too excited about the offense, it is important to remember that the SVSU defense is middle of the pack. Now they do have an excellent offense, but their defense is definitely suspect. So before we all get too fired up about the offensive production – we need to keep that in context. Let’s start with the offensive line. I thought that they did an excellent job providing pass protection and opening holes for the RB’s. But like I said, not sure if that is because the OL is that good, or because the Cards Dline was that bad. Speaking of RB’s – what a stable full of horses NW has. The combination of Creason and Bobby Burton will be fun to watch this year. And we haven’t even seen what Phil Jackson can do. Burton reminds me a lot of LC – very patient and hits the hole hard. It would have been nice to see the TE’s more involved, but as it was it really wasn’t needed. The biggest surprise of the night was the WR corps. They looked great. I had heard about a lot of inconsistency in camp, but come game day they looked good. Clint Utter finally looked like what a lot of us thought he could always be - big quick physical receiver. Kudos to Clint – I hope you got about 14 more of those games left in you. Young looked good as usual – and the transfers Reuben Thomas and Korey Jackson both looked like they could be stars someday. But before I get too fanatical, let’s remember it’s easier to look great when going against mediocre secondary. But all of those guys used their hands a lot and went up and got the balls. In fact I think that they made TA look pretty darn good. And I think he did do a very good job on Thursday. But he didn’t show me anything that we haven’t seen before. He is great in practice and against teams that aren’t great. I’ve taken and will take a lot of heat for this – but TA didn’t impress me. He still can’t check down to save his life. He locks on one receiver, seemingly before the play ever starts and that is who is going to get the ball. If he isn’t able to overcome that, then he can’t lead NW to its fullest potential. He did have one really great pass where he hit his receiver in stride, but the majority of his passes the receivers had to break stride or catch the ball in a nonoptimal way – and if SVSU’s secondary was better, I don’t think TA’s stats would have been nearly as good as they were. And they were very good. I think he had a very good game – not great, not terrible, but a very good game.
On the defensive side of the ball, I’ve only got one word: BRAVO! Unlike the Cards defense, the SVSU’s offense is for real. And the Bearcats held them in check for most of the day. When the Cards did get yards, it was mostly on big plays where there was a miscommunication or players just being out of position. The Cardinals managed to get 306 yards passing – with 7 plays being 20 yards or more each, and 5 out of those 7 were for 26+ yards each. Those 7 plays accounted for 208 yards of passing. From what I could tell, it looked like on the majority of those plays the LB stopped covering thinking that there would be coverage over the top from the Safety, and the Safety wasn’t there. I don’t know who’s fault that was, but I can assure you that Kenny Gordon will get it corrected this week. As we all know, there is more improvement between the first two games, than any other time of the year. Big shout out to Brandon Dixon for shutting down Jeff Janis – one of the best WR’s in the country. The Dline did a phenomenal job against a gigantic OL. There were times that they were getting pressure just sending 3 guys – it didn’t account for a whole lot of sacks, but I think that says more about the QB than it does the Dline. Jennings was definitely a slippery guy who was not afraid to move around in the pocket. The only thing that I observed that could be changed would be with Bevins – he’s a monster, but he is too slow to be effective at end. I think that they will need to move him to the inside to maximize his production. Another thing that I noticed was the line getting their hands up – noticeably Yost. This is something that has been missing the past couple of years. I believe that it is not really something that can be taught – although all coaches try, but it’s almost an instinct. Some guys have it, others don’t. I’m just glad to see that NW has a couple of guys that have it. As I mentioned earlier the LB’s seemed to be out of position at times, and there was a lot of times where the center of the field was wide open. Jennings took advantage of this and there was one drive where I think every caught ball was across the middle. This will need to be addressed before next week, otherwise Boda and Lambo will definitely take advantage of that! I know it, you know it, and the coaches know it.
This Week's Game:
As long as NW doesn’t try to pull out that playbook from the first half of UCM’s game, the NW offense should be okay. I do think that UCM’s defense is better than SVSU’s. I am very interested in seeing how the OL is able to handle UCM Dline. The Mules were able to sack Partridge last week 3 times and hurry him more than that – which is a lot more than NW was able to do last year to MW. I know it’s kind of comparing apples and oranges between seasons, but it’s early in the season and I don’t have much comparative data to work with. And we don’t really know how good/bad MW is this year to draw too many conclusions from that game. Last time NW played UCM, they were under the impression that they could utilize a power run game because it had kind of worked the week before – that and TA had a horrible game turning the ball over twice within NW’s own 15 yard line. By the time that the coaches adjusted, it was too late. I think that the key is going to be remaining balanced, because I believe that NW has the weapons to strike in all facets of the game. I believe that they have the receivers to be dangerous in the air, and the stable full of horses to do damage on the ground as well. The TE’s didn’t see much if any action last week other than blocking – they have typically played a pretty key role in a NW offense in the really good years, and would like to see them get involved more this game. I know it’s cliché, but its true - the game will be won in the trenches. If the Oline can hold off the pass rush and give the QB time to pass, as well as open up the lanes for the RB’s – I think NW will win this one easily because I don’t think UCM’s offense is as good as the Cardinal’s. But that is much easier said than done. One area that will definitely need to improve is 3rd down conversions, NW was only 4/11 or 36%. Anytime that number is less than 40% that is NOT a good sign. There is room for improvement, and I think that it will get improved.
On defense, the key is going to be getting pressure on Hudson Hawk, I mean Hayden Hawk. They don’t necessarily have to get sacks (those are good too though) but definitely need to make him get uncomfortable in the pocket. Svoboda does not have a run heavy offense, in fact last week MW was able to limit the Mules to only 40 yards on 39 attempts. They almost only run on 1st down and 2nd & short. Now some of that may be due to the fact that their starting RB sprained his ankle and only played the first half. So needless to say, UCM kind of makes themselves one dimensional – but NW can definitely help them out, I wouldn’t complain about that. This is definitely going to be the biggest test of the year for the LB’s. Both Jim Svoboda and Josh Lamberson are very familiar with NW and historically NW’s D has had a propensity to give up yards in the middle of the field. They will definitely aim to exploit that with their dink and dunk offense, try to suck NW into defending that and hit with a big play. But I know this, you know this, and the NW coaches know this, and hopefully they will have the players prepared for this.
Special Teams could play a big role again this week. Kyle Goodburn looked good last week punting (as usual) and the new kicker Ben Trewyn seemed to be like Todd Adolf in that his KO’s got better and better as the night went on. Ben just needs to learn how to get that ball higher in the air quicker on the FG’s. But overall, I would say that Trewyn looked a lot better than Adolf did his freshman year!
Overall, I think that this will be a good game and will remain close thru 3 quarters, but NW will pull away in the fourth and win 45 to 27.
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