Last year we could hang our hats on playing everyone tough (I guess?). Where is that next step? Offense didn't look anymore impressive over the course of 4 quarters. As always, we had our moments of looking good and moments of wheels stuck in the mud. What is our offensive identity? Thompson looked great for one half, average the 2nd. Martinez had those games too. Running game, other than the big TD run, was bottled up.
The defense just looked flat out bad. Couldn't generate a pass rush and we were unwilling to blitz. It's pretty sad with how often we dropped 7 in coverage that they could get open receivers so often. 71% completion rate. Worn down and physically beat at the LOS in 2nd half. By Northwestern. Let that sink in.
Special teams looked better I guess. Other than the bad onside kick. Regardless of the correctness of the call (incorrect, in my opinion), he still kicked it almost right at the guy.
Where do we go from here? I don't see anything on the staff or field that makes me think this was a fluke. 4 wins looks really tough. Does anyone see any reason for optimism? How do you go a whole off-season and not have a better team that can at least beat Northwestern? If it wasn't for the transfer portal, we could legitimately be a 1 win team. The only playmakers (Thompson, Palmer, Grant, Garcia-Castaned) weren't even our own recruits. Where is our developed talent?
Sorry for the pessimism, but the reality of today's loss is just so depressing.
The defense just looked flat out bad. Couldn't generate a pass rush and we were unwilling to blitz. It's pretty sad with how often we dropped 7 in coverage that they could get open receivers so often. 71% completion rate. Worn down and physically beat at the LOS in 2nd half. By Northwestern. Let that sink in.
Special teams looked better I guess. Other than the bad onside kick. Regardless of the correctness of the call (incorrect, in my opinion), he still kicked it almost right at the guy.
Where do we go from here? I don't see anything on the staff or field that makes me think this was a fluke. 4 wins looks really tough. Does anyone see any reason for optimism? How do you go a whole off-season and not have a better team that can at least beat Northwestern? If it wasn't for the transfer portal, we could legitimately be a 1 win team. The only playmakers (Thompson, Palmer, Grant, Garcia-Castaned) weren't even our own recruits. Where is our developed talent?
Sorry for the pessimism, but the reality of today's loss is just so depressing.