I see that you have renewed optimism on this board. You should try going to the Northwestern board. You'll read about how the sky is falling, our coaching staff stinks (especially on offense), our freshman QB is a loser (although he's 5-2), and my favorite we're never ever going to win another game ever. I stopped having fun reading that so I'm over here hoping to have an intelligent discussion about the football game.
Our offense is suspect. The two weakest areas are the offensive line and the WRs. It makes a QB look bad when the line can't protect him and the WRs can't get open. Pretty rough combination. Our RBs are very good especially Justin Jackson. I can't really describe why he's good. Warren Long is a bigger bruising back. Solomon Vault is the smaller speed back. Jackson isn't fast and he isn't big and powerful. He just runs smart, uses his vision, and picks up yards.
Our defense is very good. Against both Iowa and Michigan, they were backed up all day due to 3 and outs, bad punting, and turnovers. Against Michigan, the starting defense gave up only 17 points (1 return TD, 1 pick 6, and we pulled out everyone at the end and gave up a TD). Against Iowa, on the other hand, the defense missed a lot of tackles.
Looking at stats and stats only, I see that your pass defense hasn't performed but your run defense is stellar. What's the explanation on this? Is the Dline full of run stuffers (I see some huge DTs) and not pass rushers? Is the secondary the issue? Are team's throwing the ball more than running because it's easier?
I also see that the points per game and yards per game aren't really matching up. Are you a bend but don't break defense that gives up yards but not points? Any explanation for this?
What's the injury situation like? Who's out? How important are they? Are the backups ready to go? Our biggest injury is to starting CB Matt Harris. Most think that he's our #1 CB, but I think Nick Van Hoose was outplaying him this year. That said both are excellent. His back up, Keith Watkins, is good and the secondary is deep, but Harris is a special player. We're also missing our 3rd safety Kyle Queiro. That hurts for depth issues. We're missing 2 Superbacks (aka Tight End/Fullback) that would be between 3 and 5 on the depth chart. The oline is banged up, but I believe only back up OG, Adam DePietro, will be out.
Our offense is suspect. The two weakest areas are the offensive line and the WRs. It makes a QB look bad when the line can't protect him and the WRs can't get open. Pretty rough combination. Our RBs are very good especially Justin Jackson. I can't really describe why he's good. Warren Long is a bigger bruising back. Solomon Vault is the smaller speed back. Jackson isn't fast and he isn't big and powerful. He just runs smart, uses his vision, and picks up yards.
Our defense is very good. Against both Iowa and Michigan, they were backed up all day due to 3 and outs, bad punting, and turnovers. Against Michigan, the starting defense gave up only 17 points (1 return TD, 1 pick 6, and we pulled out everyone at the end and gave up a TD). Against Iowa, on the other hand, the defense missed a lot of tackles.
Looking at stats and stats only, I see that your pass defense hasn't performed but your run defense is stellar. What's the explanation on this? Is the Dline full of run stuffers (I see some huge DTs) and not pass rushers? Is the secondary the issue? Are team's throwing the ball more than running because it's easier?
I also see that the points per game and yards per game aren't really matching up. Are you a bend but don't break defense that gives up yards but not points? Any explanation for this?
What's the injury situation like? Who's out? How important are they? Are the backups ready to go? Our biggest injury is to starting CB Matt Harris. Most think that he's our #1 CB, but I think Nick Van Hoose was outplaying him this year. That said both are excellent. His back up, Keith Watkins, is good and the secondary is deep, but Harris is a special player. We're also missing our 3rd safety Kyle Queiro. That hurts for depth issues. We're missing 2 Superbacks (aka Tight End/Fullback) that would be between 3 and 5 on the depth chart. The oline is banged up, but I believe only back up OG, Adam DePietro, will be out.
