For some reason, I thought that Tahlequah was farther than it is. We didn’t rush or even take the fastest route, but still managed to get to the Quah from my house on the north side of KC in like 4.5 hours. I also didn’t realize that Bentonville Arkansas was as far west as it is, it is directly south of Joplin. Obviously the cities of Bentonville and Rogers revolve around Wally World. They had so many hotels and eateries you would think that they were a major tourist destination – nope just a destination for every business pitchman at some point and time. For two weeks in a row now – the weather has been nasty before the game – but greatly improved during the game. After a 50 minute weather delay, the game finally started and the sun came out. I ended up taking off all the rain gear and sweatshirt – and watched the game in a Tshirt and wishing I had my sunglasses. Not too bad of a day! The NSU student section was the best student section I’ve seen in a long time. There wasn’t a whole lot of them, but those that were there were loud and rowdy!
Last Week’s Recap
We won. Handily. Not sure what else I can say about that. I’m just going to look at the first quarter. That is the only time that NW had their first units in. After the first quarter NW had a time of possession of 5:34, 14 points, 130 total yards (60 yards rushing 70 yards passing) on 13 plays – average of 10 yards per play. NSU had TOP of 9:26, 0 points, 31 total yards (12 yards rushing, 19 yards passing) on 18 plays – average of 1.7 yards per play. That pretty much says it all right there.
Here are some other random observations from the game: Haden Bryant is going to be fun to watch in the coming years. When Phil Jackson has some form of blocking from the OLine, he is a dangerous RB. NW’s 3rd or 4th string CB (Jack Young) needs to learn to turn around – he would have had an easy pick on one, and should have had multiple Pass Interference calls in the fourth quarter! Brian Dixon does a great Cha Cha – even if the refs don’t like it. The sightlines at Doc Wadley Stadium are very nice – but I think that there is even less sideline space at NSU than there is in Mankato. Cell service at the stadium sucked – three blocks away it was great but in the stadium not so much. There are a crazy amount of resorts along the Illinois river.
This Week’s Game:
If Brady Bolles doesn’t start (and I’m not holding my breath) it will be a huge mistake by the coaching staff. These past three games and the game this week would have been a great opportunity to give Brady the reps with the starters. I’m sorry but one series in the first half with the starters does not equate to quality time. When TA falters again – and don’t fool yourself, he will – Brady will be there to pick up the pieces. Hopefully he will be able to pull the team out of the hole that Adams has put them in. When NW starts playing some good competition, we will see TA fold like always. And it will have made sense for the coaches to use this time to prime Brady instead of letting TA look like a stud against crap teams. It really is quite sickening. It is my prediction that NW will not win a CC or NC with TA as the play caller. It’s obvious that he’s not the best QB on the team – and it sends a dangerous message to the rest of the team. The team deserves the best chance to win – and you can’t tell me that the best chance to win is with TA. And TA will look good again this week – because UCO is a typical LSC style team: really good offense with no defense. The Broncos are dead last in the MIAA in almost every defensive category. In fact they rank 159/162 teams in total defense – giving up 537 yards per game. On the flip side, they are averaging almost 494 yards of total offense. They are the Tony Romo’s of D2. Offensively NW should roll right over UCO.
Defensively – this should be a fun game to watch. The Broncos definitely have the potential to get yards and score some points. The Broncos are led by signal caller Adrian Nelson who is completing about 59% of his throws – averaging 276 yards per game. The vast majority of those balls are caught by Marquez Clark – so we all know that Brandon Dixon will be put on him, and I’m guessing that he will severely limit his production. Clark is also their kick returner. The Broncos most dangerous threat is their star RB Joshua Birmingham. Birmingham is averaging over 110 yards per game rushing not to mention he is their second leading receiver. NW’s defense has been very salty at times stopping the run (UNK) and given up some more than they should at times. I think that this game would be a good opportunity for NW to keep their starting defense in much longer than they have the past three games. This will help provide game day conditioning for the rest of the season when the 1’s stay on the field much longer than they have been.
Overall, I don’t think that UCO has the talent to keep up with NW. NW wins this game before half and UCO scores some points in the second half to make the score look better than it actually was. NW 56 UCO 28
#freeBolles
No comments:
Post a Comment