September 28, 2004 From the Waterboy: September 28, 2004 Man-to-Man Man-ure (again) The game that NU played against the Minnie Mighty Marmots was a study in contracts: between a team keeping pace with heady expectations to beat their lesser competition (Minnie), and a team looking to establish any identity whatsoever to their offensive and their defensive squads (guess who?). Call no forward pass, See no forward pass, Stop no forward pass Simple point: the 'Cats executed offensive plays which unveiled deficiencies in the Golden Rodent defensive formations and personnel, while NU's defense did not, or could not adjust to what the Rodent O was throwing at them, quite literally. It all lead to a VERY frustrating evening while I watched, helpless and slack-jawed, as NU's very fine personnel got manhandled and misused for the entire game - as much by their own inept coaching staff and their ineffective gameplans as by the Mighty Marmots team and their gameplan designed to attack NU's defensive problem areas. Paramount in this entire enterprise was the fact that NU's man-to-man pass coverage was dog lay, plain and simple. The 'Cat one-on-one pass defense was either DOA or NU's personnel could not execute the coaches' gameplan. Whatever the reason, Minnie showed every Division 1A football program in the NCAA how to thoroughly thrash the Northwestern Wildcats. My ever-expanding forehead was red hot from my pent-up emotions and still hasn't cooled-down a single degree. I'm utterly exasperated. How NU lost to the Mighty Marmots Not Taking the Hint I received a phone call at halftime from other members of the Purple Populace, who were grousing loudly about NU's continuing failure to stop Minnie's well-known ground game. I corrected them saying that the Golden Rodent rushing attack was not turning the 'Cat D into this week's road kill. As a matter of fact, if 2 specific rushes where eliminated from the game stats, the Rodent ground game was getting contained relatively well. No, it wasn't the ground game defense that was the glaring issue; it was the Marmot short passing game that utterly killed NU's chances at game control. And the major accessory to this nationally televised, prime-time murder was the pitch & catch game between Rodent QB Cupito and his TEs. I really don't know what to say except that either: 1. NU's LBs don't have the skillset to shift from their ground game reads to their pass coverage assignments. -- or -- 2. NU's defensive braintrust doesn't know how to adjust their secondary coverage assignments to include putting a body on the opponent TE - even after that opposing offense showed that they were specifically targeting the TE for converting their 3rd down situations. Regarding point #1: Every offensive play executed by the Golden Rodents saw NU's LB corps looking into the backfield, regardless of down and distance. Every member of this unit on the field of play obviously were instructed to inspect their reads within the Minnie backfield to verify if the ball was exchanged from QB to RB. And, as usual, they hesitated in their reaction (nothing new here). Problem was: if the play showed pass, especially on a 3rd down and whatever, they continued to look into the backfield for the handoff read and never to their pass coverage zones or individual coverage assignments - like the TE - in a timely fashion. How many times could Minnie's QB take the 3-5 step dropback then dump a shortie pass to the TE just as he ran to the first down marker and turned to face the ball in flight. Once? Twice? A clean half-dozen before NU's DC Greg Colby and his coverage squad take the hint? And mind you, NU's pass coverage schemes include the LBs. I really don't know if they have the ability to shift their attention from rush read to pass cover responsibilities, either individually or collectively, at this level. They certainly didn't show that they had any ability in this skill throughout the game. Regarding point #2: After the 6h straight 3rd down conversion using the possession pass to the TE, doesn't the defensive coaching staff assign someone, like an LB, to radar the TE? Put a body on this target and eliminate him from the possession pass scheme, damn it!!! But no, The Colby Swiss Cheese pass defense was in full evidence - with Cap'n Vlasic and/or Mr. Colby and/or Fitz and/or Jerry Brown or any combination of these defensive strategists either resigned to the perception that either NU's pass coverage personnel weren't up or able to execute precise coverage schemes, or they failed to recognize this glaring Minnie 3rd down attack strategy and make the adjustment altogether. Personally, I think it was the former. Which ever it was, Minnie's HC Glen Mason saw the wide-open deficiency and exploited it, ad nauseum. And Mason, no football strategy titan in his own right, did what even a Pop Warner coach would do: run the play until the defense stops it. Point being, NU NEVER stopped this obvious 3rd down QB-to-TE pass play all evening and it was the primary contributor to the Mighty Marmots controlling the game clock and the scoreboard. The Failed Experiment I'm sorry to say, the Jeff Backes cornerback conversion experiment is over; and the consensus opinion is: it failed big time. The NU faithful cheer Backes' TD This is not a slam on Mr. Backes. He is a credit to himself and the NU football program and has worked his tail off to make and complete the conversion. His sculpted, chiseled physique is testament to the many, many hours he has put-in to get himself ready for the CB wars. He still possesses break-away speed and can still react to tacklers throwing themselves at him and elude them. His brilliant TD return underscored his God-given talent there. Unfortunately, his continued inability to complete one-on-one pass coverage assignments on a regular basis underscored that he still is not a Big 10/11 caliber CB - even after 1.5 years personal tutelage by DB coach Jerry Brown. Backes still can't read a WR's break to separate and doesn't possess the quick reaction to get to his coverage target once he makes his break. It takes a very unique football talent to do so. Many RBs in many other collegiate football programs have been directed to make this transition from offensive stand-out to defensive specialist. However, fact is: for every success story regarding this conversion, there are 5 failures. We are seeing one here. This is a coaching breakdown. This is a stubborn coaching staff keeping to a decision to re-direct a player from his natural field position to a position of need - oblivious to the damage inflicted on the team. In these cases, the coaching staff is hell-bent to make this square-peg-in-a-round-hole forced-fit work. "You just have to work harder, son!!!" Work harder be damned. Everyone saw where Jeff Backes' football skillset lies - as a return man with break-away speed. They also saw where it doesn't lie - in man-to-man pass coverage. Problem is: Mr. Backes is not alone. He is joined by many others on the NU secondary who cannot complete the one-on-one coverage assignments that are critical in "stack the box" rush defense schemes. This is big time collegiate football and almost every opponent that will face this beleaguered secondary possesses a big time college passing attack which can exploit this defensive deficiency and will do so throughout an entire game. Last Saturday is the latest in the series. And it is not the end of this exploitation in the 2004 season. Don't shoot me, I'm just the messenger. I'm bleeding Purple as well. Mr. Hyde - The Return The vertical passing game. Where was it? Early retirement? True, several downfield passes from Basanez were dropped. Others were thrown slightly behind or off-target. Most, however, were of the catchable variety - delivered into passing seams and within reach of their WR targets. But once a pass was missed, it looked like Mr. Hyde checked the play or the particular receiver off the viable pass play/target list. Point being: those downfield receivers were open - not every time, but frequently. What was the offensive pass gameplan in the first place? The 6-8 yard sideline route will only be open so many times. The telecast showed NU's pass patterns off a trips formation on several occasions to illustrate the mundane, standard pass routes taken by the NU WRs. They were often the same relative "short-out, long-out, inside curl" patterns. What about the WR 12-15 yard Z-in? If that receiver is covered, how about a TE delay? What about a WR crossing pattern into a vacated middle zone? Or getting a WR to cross the field quickly into a sideline third zone that was just vacated by the trips wideouts having driven their man-coverage DBs deep? Whatever the scenario, none of these alternatives were tried frequently, if ever at all. Mr. Hyde took to the "safe & secure" possession passing game and never challenged the Mighty Marmot secondary beyond the 10 yard pass route. And once again, HC Mason and his DC were more than happy to let the 'Cat O attack with that dull short passing game because their DBs never saw much of an aberration from the standard relative patterns. The Disappearing Act "The Herring" came-out smoking: 40 yards on 3 carries. What happened after that? Terrell Jordan was used often and was not effective at all. Was "The Herring" injured? Was he benched because he wasn't running to form as expected by the NU offensive braintrust? I haven't a clue. I never saw much of the counter action rushing attack either. This rushing attack was very effective against ASU. Certainly could have been used more here against the Mighty Marmot defensive line, no? Conclusion 1-3 ... with the BuckNuts on the near horizon. With ineffective and un-adjustable gameplans like we saw at Minnesota, coupled with an injury to BB, prospects for victory in the 2004 season are less than positive. My patience with the current coaching regime is wearing thin as well. Crack an egg on my forehead. 60 seconds and it will be completely cooked. The Waterboy September 25, 2004 Minnesota mauls Wildcats Offense, Defense crumble in 43-17 Loss GAME FOUR 1 2 3 4 F Northwestern 10  0  7  0 17 Minnesota 14 19  3  7 43 The Wildcats played their worst game of the season in the Big Ten opener at Minnesota, surrendering 454 yards of total offense to the Gophers in a 43-17 rout. The game began on a promising note, as the Gophers were stopped on a three-and-out and the 'Cats drove for a field goal, scoring in the first quarter for the first time this season. Justin Valentine leaps into the end zone on a three yard touchdown pass from Bryan Cupito The Gophers responded with a pair of touchdowns to take a quick 14-3 lead, then Jeff Backes returned a kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown to trim the lead to 14-10. Minnesota then scored 3 more touchdowns in the second quarter to roll up a 33-10 halftime lead. The 'Cats looked as if they might get back into the game with an impressive scoring drive for a touchdown to open the second half, but Brett Basanez was injured as he dove into the end zone for the touchdown and sat out the next two offensive series. Minnesota bled the clock in the fourth quarter with a 19 play, 87 yard scoring drive that took over 10 minutes. The drive was capped by a halfback pass for a touchdown with less than 3 minutes remaining in the game and the outcome well decided. Gophers head coach Glen Mason must have felt secure in this call, knowing that the teams will not meet again until 2007. The Wildcats were penalized 9 times for 77 yards, most crucially a pair of pass interference calls on third downs that kept Minnesota drives alive. While the Wildcats showed some sparkle on special teams with 2 blocked PAT kicks by Colby Clark and Backes' kickoff return for a touchdown, coverage remained problematic and the Gophers were continually spotted a short field. Brett Basanez with all too familiar pressure from his left The offense produced a few good plays, but overall lacked consistency and went 3 and out on six possessions. Brett Basanez seemed forever under siege. The defense had no answer to the Minnesota rushing attack, allowing 145 yards to Laurence Maroney, including a 50 yard touchdown scamper, and 86 yards to Marion Barber. The pass defense fared no better, allowing the injured Bryan Cupito to complete 12 of 21 passes for 155 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Coach Walker offered no apologies. "We were outplayed and out coached. You need to have you're 'A' game every week in this league and we flat out didn't have it. They deserve the win," Walker said. The game breaker appeared to be Terrance Campbell's interception of a Brett Basanez pass on first down at the NU 12. "That was big turning point in the game," said Walker. "But we did enough destruction to ourselves with penalties and poor blocking. Just a night that's not characteristic of our play." The noose is tightening on the question of bowl eligibility, with the 'Cats needing to win 6 of their remaining 8 games. The Ohio State Buckeyes are next. Scoring Summary (Final) Northwestern (1-3,0-1) vs. Minnesota (4-0,1-0) Date: Sep 25, 2004 Site: Minneapolis, Minn. Stadium: HHH Metrodome Attendance: 44657 Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score ----------------- -- -- -- -- ----- Northwestern........ 10 0 7 0 - 17 Minnesota........... 14 19 3 7 - 43 Scoring Summary: 1st 11:20 NU - Huffman, Brian 29 yd field goal 8 plays, 44 yards, TOP 2:40, NU 3 - MINN 0 08:15 MINN - Maroney, L. 50 yd run (Lloyd, Rhys kick) 6 plays, 80 yards, TOP 3:05, NU 3 - MINN 7 03:51 MINN - Valentine, J. 3 yd pass from Cupito, Bryan (Lloyd, Rhys kick) 5 plays, 48 yards, TOP 2:16, NU 3 - MINN 14 03:38 NU - Backes, Jeff 97 yd kickoff return (Huffman, Brian kick) NU 10 - MINN 14 2nd 13:42 MINN - Valentine, J. 4 yd run (Lloyd, Rhys kick) 7 plays, 70 yards, TOP 2:31, NU 10 - MINN 21 11:22 MINN - Hamilton, Paris 50 yd pass from Cupito, Bryan (Lloyd, Rhys kick blockd) 4 plays, 63 yards, TOP 1:19, NU 10 - MINN 27 03:52 MINN - Valentine, J. 1 yd run (Lloyd, Rhys kick blockd) 4 plays, 12 yards, TOP 1:40, NU 10 - MINN 33 3rd 12:00 NU - Basanez, Brett 15 yd run (Huffman, Brian kick) 7 plays, 65 yards, TOP 3:00, NU 17 - MINN 33 05:37 MINN - Lloyd, Rhys 46 yd field goal 6 plays, 41 yards, TOP 2:28, NU 17 - MINN 36 4th 02:59 MINN - Ellerson, Jared 21 yd pass from Barber III, M. (Lloyd, Rhys kick) 19 plays, 87 yards, TOP 10:07, NU 17 - MINN 43 Kickoff time: 8:05 pm End of Game: 11:10 Total elapsed time: 3:05 Officials: Referee: Jim Lapetina; Umpire: Percy Mun; Linesman: Steve Beckman; Line judge: Dana McKenzie; Back judge: Dennis Morris; Field judge: Al Terry; Side judge: Joe Duncan; Scorer: Tom Perrault; Temperature: Wind: Weather: Indoors Team Statistics (Final) Northwestern vs #19 Minnesota (Sep 25, 2004 at Minneapolis, Minn.) NU MINN FIRST DOWNS................... 13 22 Rushing..................... 8 10 Passing..................... 5 10 Penalty..................... 0 2 NET YARDS RUSHING............. 140 251 Rushing Attempts............ 27 52 Average Per Rush............ 5.2 4.8 Yards Gained Rushing........ 147 254 Yards Lost Rushing.......... 7 3 NET YARDS PASSING............. 127 203 Completions-Attempts-Int.... 14-28-1 14-23-0 Average Per Attempt......... 4.5 8.8 Average Per Completion...... 9.1 14.5 TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS........... 267 454 Total offense plays......... 55 75 Average Gain Per Play....... 4.9 6.1 Fumbles: Number-Lost.......... 1-0 0-0 Penalties: Number-Yards....... 9-77 1-5 PUNTS-YARDS................... 8-283 5-177 Average Yards Per Punt...... 35.4 35.4 Net Yards Per Punt.......... 34.1 35.4 Inside 20................... 2 1 50+ Yards................... 0 0 Touchbacks.................. 0 0 Fair catch.................. 6 0 KICKOFFS-YARDS................ 4-259 8-475 Average Yards Per Kickoff... 64.8 59.4 Net Yards Per Kickoff....... 55.0 32.6 Touchbacks.................. 3 1 Punt returns: Number-Yards-TD. 0-0-0 1-10-0 Average Per Return.......... 0.0 10.0 Kickoff returns: Number-Yds-TD 6-214-1 1-39-0 Average Per Return.......... 35.7 39.0 Interceptions: Number-Yds-TD.. 0-0-0 1-0-0 Fumble Returns: Number-Yds-TD. 0-0-0 0-0-0 Miscellaneous Yards........... 0 0 Possession Time............... 25:18 34:42 1st Quarter................. 6:26 8:34 2nd Quarter................. 6:40 8:20 3rd Quarter................. 8:01 6:59 4th Quarter................. 4:11 10:49 Third-Down Conversions........ 3 of 13 12 of 19 Fourth-Down Conversions....... 0 of 1 1 of 1 Red-Zone Scores-Chances....... 2-2 3-3 Sacks By: Number-Yards........ 0-0 0-0 PAT Kicks..................... 2-2 6-4 Field Goals................... 1-1 1-1 Individual Statistics (Final) Northwestern vs #19 Minnesota (Sep 25, 2004 at Minneapolis, Minn.) Northwestern Rushing No Gain Loss Net TD Lg Avg -------------------------------------------- Herron, Noah 11 80 2 78 0 23 7.1 Malleo, Chris 5 28 0 28 0 12 5.6 Jordan, Terrell 9 24 5 19 0 13 2.1 Basanez, Brett 2 15 0 15 1 15 7.5 Totals... 27 147 7 140 1 23 5.2 Passing Att-Cmp-Int Yds TD Long Sack -------------------------------------------- Basanez, Brett 26-13-1 121 0 25 0 Malleo, Chris 2-1-0 6 0 6 0 Totals... 28-14-1 127 0 25 0 Receiving No. Yds TD Long ----------------------------------- Philmore, Mark 5 27 0 9 Herron, Noah 4 44 0 16 Jordan, Terrell 2 11 0 6 Herbert, Shaun 1 25 0 25 Fields, J. 1 14 0 14 Horn, Brandon 1 6 0 6 Totals... 14 127 0 25 Punting No. Yds Avg Long In20 ----------------------------------------- Huffman, Brian 8 283 35.4 43 2 Totals... 8 283 35.4 43 2 Punts Kickoffs Intercept All Returns No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg --------------------------------------------- Jenkins, Derell 0 0 0 3 77 39 0 0 0 Backes, Jeff 0 0 0 2 136 97 0 0 0 Rothrauff, Ben 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 Totals... 0 0 0 6 214 97 0 0 0 Field goal attempts ---------------------------------------- Huffman, Brian 1st 11:20 29 yds - Good FUMBLES: Northwestern-Jordan, Terrell 1-0. Minnesota-None. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Minnesota Rushing No Gain Loss Net TD Lg Avg -------------------------------------------- Maroney, L. 24 147 2 145 1 50 6.0 Barber III, M. 22 87 1 86 0 12 3.9 Cupito, Bryan 2 13 0 13 0 7 6.5 Valentine, J. 2 5 0 5 2 4 2.5 Wallace, Jakari 1 1 0 1 0 1 1.0 Pinnix, Amir 1 1 0 1 0 1 1.0 Totals... 52 254 3 251 3 50 4.8 Passing Att-Cmp-Int Yds TD Long Sack -------------------------------------------- Cupito, Bryan 21-12-0 155 2 50 0 Wallace, Jakari 1-1-0 27 0 27 0 Barber III, M. 1-1-0 21 1 21 0 Totals... 23-14-0 203 3 50 0 Receiving No. Yds TD Long ----------------------------------- Spaeth, Matt 5 72 0 27 Wallace, Jakari 2 15 0 10 Wheelwright, E. 2 14 0 9 Hamilton, Paris 1 50 1 50 Barber III, M. 1 23 0 23 Ellerson, Jared 1 21 1 21 Posthumus, J. 1 5 0 5 Valentine, J. 1 3 1 3 Totals... 14 203 3 50 Punting No. Yds Avg Long In20 ----------------------------------------- Lloyd, Rhys 5 177 35.4 47 1 Totals... 5 177 35.4 47 1 Punts Kickoffs Intercept All Returns No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg --------------------------------------------- Barber III, M. 1 10 10 1 39 39 0 0 0 Campbell, T. 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Totals... 1 10 10 1 39 39 1 0 0 Field goal attempts ---------------------------------------- Lloyd, Rhys 3rd 05:37 46 yds - Good FUMBLES: Northwestern-Jordan, Terrell 1-0. Minnesota-None. September 23, 2004 The Wildcats open Big Ten conference play on Saturday night in Minnesota. This will mark the final game of the current series with the Gophers, as they will drop from the schedule for the next two years. The 'Cats have won 2 games in the current series (2000 & 2001) while losing in 1999, 2002 & 2003. While the offense and defense will need to play with their "A" games to win an expected shootout with the Gopher's rushing juggernaut, the importance of special teams play cannot be overstated in this contest. Previous outings have been marred by special teams gaffes, with the 'Cats surrendering a punt return for a touchdown and losing an opening kickoff from the Gophers on an onside kick. Needless to say, the coverage units will need to be at their best to avoid giving the Gophers a short field to work from. The Wildcats caved in the face of adversity after a taking a quick 14-0 lead in last year's tilt. With the grit shown in the TCU game and the tough performances to date this season, it is reasonable to expect that this year, the 'Cats won't quit. The Gophers have won 3 games, but have yet to be tested seriously. From the Waterboy: September 22, 2004 Road Rage or Road Kill? The big question this Saturday is: Which tag will describe which team? The Minnie Golden Rodents field the 2004 collegiate game's best rushing attack in Div.1A. And it's no great mystery that the Mighty Marmot ground game is fueled by the best offensive line in the Big 10/11, as ranked by the preseason pundits - just above that of the 'Cats. Interesting thing is: the Minnie OL really hasn't faced an entire DL of Big Uglies yet this season and the 'Cats were projected originally to be the true litmus test on whether or not the Rodent OL deserves all the preseason hype and praise thrown in their direction. With the weak-sister DLs of the Div. 1-aa Ill-Annoy State Deadbirds, Toledo Rockettes and Colorado State Rummies resembling road kill in their rear-view mirrors, the Golden Rodents now train their offensive rushing juggernaut on NU's D. And they are very aware of the 'Cats' current defensive plights - having endured several big bites in the butt by the injury bug to key personnel and the continued foibles of the secondary. Minnie's co-offensive coordinators, Mitch Browning and Tony Petersen are salivating at the chance to pad their squad's gaudy ground game stats by steamrolling over, around and through NU's beleaguered defense. Last weekend, Our Master & Commander redirected the good ship Pökelboot towards the trade winds of victory against the Kansas JayHogs, but he now faces yet another formidable test against another ranked team. There is a slight silver lining, however, in that dark cloud looming within the Humpty Dome. As good as the Mighty Marmot rushing attack may be, their passing game is suspect. Throw in the fact that the Golden Rodent D is untested against anything remotely approaching an offensive power and the scales start to even out - ever so slightly. First, the Mighty Marmot's starting QB, Bryan Cupito, is damaged goods. Post-game rumors from the bowels of the Roller-Dome allude to a slight concussion laid on this key player by the Rockettes' defense; while game week reports still have him walking on "Queer Street," giving rise to speculation that HC Glen Mason, no shining star within the galaxy of college coaches in his own right, might be forced to field a reserve QB against the 'Cats. My humble opinion: don't bet on it. If there is a single chance he can pull his own jersey over his shoulder pads, Cupito will start. Mason will see to that. Second, the Golden Rodent defense is not the proverbial immoveable object. The very suspect offenses of their 3 previous opponents have been able to move the chains, not at will, but to gain substantive yards against this unit. A quick scan of the passing yardage-against from these games: 205, 372 & 300 respectively underscores this point. And French pastry, in the form of turnovers, have been a major contributing factor in the fact that these opposing offenses shot themselves in the foot regarding putting the ball into the gold & maroon endzone. Draw you own conclusions. So the question remains: will the 'Cats fully extend their claws and exhibit unabated road rage against the Golden Rodents? Or will they be overrun by the Mighty Marmot running game and get flattened into "sail cats?" NU vs. the Mighty Marmots Keys to the Game Dr. Fuzzy Mighty Marmot QB Cupito, sporting his monster 183-point QB efficiency rating, is gonna start, no question. The bigger issue: how long can he play? Brian Cupito The NU defensive front 7 must hit Cupito with or without the ball. He's definitely damaged goods and his entry into the game carries a big question mark - can he sustain a good, hard kiss? Or two? Or three? He must get the message early that if he drops back into the pocket or rolls to the defensive corner setting-up for the pass, some madman in a purple helmet is gonna lay heavy lumber on him. I'm not calling for cheap shots or head-hunting or other such illegal/immoral tactics; but I wanna see 500 lbs. smart bombs delivered with due diligence on whatever Golden Rodent QB receives the snap from center. The Wildcat Nation is all too familiar of what can happen in a game (like last season's Air Farce debacle) when the O's principal ball handler gets his bell rung and his world turns fuzzy. One or two good shots could retire Cupito for the evening and put the ball, and the game, into the hands of his novice backup, Adam Ernst. Good for NU, bad for the Golden Rodents. The Mighty Marmot offensive braintrust are very aware of the delicacy of their QB situation and the Minnie OL most certainly will be on notice to keep Cupito out of harm's way. This is where NU DC Greg Colby's defensive strategy comes into play. He must blitz his LBs from every possible angle. Penetration is the key in getting to Cupito. Blast into and through seams, look for Cupito and make your presence felt. This is not going to be an easy task given the huge size and skill level of the Golden Rodent OL. They are well schooled and will be geared toward protecting their main man. Force the Issue This key dovetails into the previous key. DC Greg Colby must force the Mighty Marmot attack to become one-dimensional and go airborne. If NU's 3-4 man DL sets are augmented with the type of blitz packages displayed in the Kansas game, then the Minnie blocking schemes will become much more difficult. If the 'Cats can get controlled defensive penetration, it will really disrupt the offensive flow of the Rodent rush attack. This is an absolute must. Without it, the 'Cats' defensive gameplan turns soft as baby doo-doo, complete with its accompanying aroma; as Minnie's OL controls the LOS and the subsequent rush will run roughshod on the NU D, turning them into this week's road kill. Laurence Maroney The Golden Rodent ground game has its own monster in the 2-headed RB tandem of Marion Barber and Laurence Maroney, who, incidentally, are the Big 10/11's No. 1 and No. 2 ranked RBs in rushing yardage, respectively. The standard Marmot OL gameplan: blast the opponent off the LOS, while the bean is fed to the RB with the hot hand. And either pair of hands in this 2-headed RB option is smokin'. The penetrating NU front 7 must get separation from their blocker, get across the LOS, look for the ball and converge on it - with extreme prejudice. As stated, this is no simple task. The return of a quick and agile DE David Thompson will be enormous - only if Mr. Thompson decides to pick up the gauntlet role of defensive stalwart. Thus far, the jury is still out on this individual and this Saturday, he unconditionally must shoulder his portion of the 'Cat DL responsibility load. He was LoHo's designated replacement and should be very fresh to face the Marmots. His inclusion back into the 'Cats' roster brings the body count in NU's DL rotation to 6. Not many, but certainly more than the 5 Big Uglies thrown into the fray against Kansas. Now… is the rotation better with his addition? Even more crucial is the return of OLB John Pickens, who, IMHO, represents NU's best LB on its defensive depth chart. After having MLB Adam Kadela knocked-off the 2-deep for 4-6 weeks from a big bite by the injury bug, Mr. Pickens' re-entry to the NU roster is none too soon. He must get into the mix immediately and make a difference. Tough scenario to be tossed-into, but these are hard times for the NU defensive front 7, and Pickens must show why he was a preseason starter. Marion Barber This proposed penetration strategy is not without its deficiencies. The biggest: it makes the 'Cat DL very vulnerable to the trap block and cross block. Once anyone from NU's defensive 7 gets penetration, he must look to his inside for the inside-out trap block; if recognized, must step hard to his inside and attack the expected blocker in his tracks. The objective here is not to blow-up the trap block specifically (which wouldn't be so bad in itself), but to create a Big Ugly pile-up for the Minnie RB to run-into, making him hesitate and allowing others of NU's penetrating 7 to close on the ball on the Rodent side of the LOS. The gamble: if the Rodent Big Ugly wins the battle of the trap block, blasting the NU defensive target into the front rows of the Humpty Dome, it gives Barber or Maroney a big hole into the open space beyond NU's side of the LOS. This is how and where the 2-headed Mighty Marmot RB monster makes its living. Just go ask the DCs from the Rocketts and the Rummies about this one. If DC Greg Colby's gameplan can somehow, someway neutralize, or simply contain, the Mighty Marmot ground game with disruptive penetration off DL slants and well-executed blitz packages, the Rodents will look ravenously to the soft corners of the NU secondary. Or is that the soft middle third of the NU secondary. Or perhaps it's the soft man-to-man coverage schemes of the NU secondary. Well… you get the picture. Then it's "Meet Mr. Cupito Time." BB and The Boys Once again, the game hinges on the effectiveness of the NU passing game. And the linchpin to this game is BB - and his arm and his ability to find the open WR and deliver the pill. The passing stats from his last two games have been modest in comparison to the overblown numbers he put-up against the TCU Horny Toads. But then again, the Horny Toads had 70 points laid on their D last Saturday by that bastion of gridiron offense, the Texas Tech Dead Rudders; so BB's gaudy aerial statistics should be put into perspective at this time and chalked-up as an aberration. Be that as it may, it doesn't diminish the critical necessity that BB and the 'Cat receiving corps roll-out their A games into the Roller Dome as a complete, single-minded, focused unit. As their previous games show, the Golden Rodent secondary gives-up yardage, but not TDs, necessarily. But then again, I'm sure they haven't faced an aerial attack that has the speed and precision that the 'Cat WRs bring to bear. And to be sure, the Rodent DL have they faced an OL opponent that can pass block like NU can. OC Mike Dunbar must diversify his gameplan to bring-out the best in both aspects of the balanced NU offensive attack. BB has shown he's up for the challenge in the previous 3 games. Now, he must reprise his TCU performance and distribute the pill to every available NU WR. HC Mason and the Marmot D concentrate on tendencies, and will certainly target Philmore for shutdown. Aikens, Fields, Herbert and Thompson must run their routes crisply and with discipline. If the ball gets delivered to their zone, no one but the guy wearing the purple helmet gets his hands on the brown bean. Make the catch first, then make the cut and run. Ball control - especially off the pass - is paramount. Is It In You? To date, Northwestern's offensive line has yet to play their best game. Sure, this unit has shown that they can execute their blocking assignments with discipline, not making the drive-ending holding or clipping gaffe, and effectiveness, by opening holes where the feature RB gets those double-digit yardage runs from time-to-time. They have shown their ability to pass block with high efficiency, as in the TCU game; or to execute the complex blocking schemes for the counter action ground game, as in the ASU contest. But as a squad, they have yet to execute the complete game, the dominating game in which every blocking assignment is graded-out as successful from the opening whistle to the final gun. Well, fellas, this is THE game where your dedication to execution excellence in your craft must come to the fore. BB can only successfully scan the field for the open receiver and deliver the pill if he has the time. "The Herring" and Jordan can only blast off to and through the point of attack, with ball in hand into open space, only if you complete the block. Get off at the snap of the ball, get to and make contact with your target blocks, maintain contact by moving your feet, then don't hold or clip when the target starts to get separation. Key phrase here: Complete the block. Each down. Every series. Time to show all those college football pundits just which offensive line is the best in the Big 10/11. Is it in you? Prediction NU 31 Mighty Marmots    30 Yes, I'm predicting a "possible" upset… Is that one big "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHH!!!" I hear from the Pollyanna peanut gallery? This final 30-point Mighty Marmot score only occurs if the 'Cat D can stymie the Golden Rodent offensive juggernaut into settling for FGs instead of hitting TD paydirt. That's 6 offensive series by the Rodents which result in a score - half of which are the "kiss-your-sister" FG variety. It also means that the 'Cats actually execute their ball-control offensive paradigm to a tee. If our Master & Commander and his first mate, OC Mike Dunbar, use their offense like defense, playing "keep away" by methodically "matriculating the ball down the field" (thank you, Mr. Stramm), and keeping the Mighty Marmot offense riding pine for whole chunks of the game clock, the door to victory cracks-open for the 'Cats. (Notice too, that a Brian Huffman FG is the margin of victory). However, if the Colby Swiss Cheese defense rears its very ugly mug, convert the projected Golden Rodent FGs to TDs, then do the math for the "other" predicted final score. The Waterboy September 21, 2004 Hot Tickets Available Coach Walker speaks at the NGN luncheons held before home games. Hear what the coach has to say or ask questions - and of special interest to the hard core fans is the upcoming luncheon just before the Ohio State game. A few spaces are left - here's the schedule. October 1 - Harry Caray's (Rosemont) October 29 - Hilton Garden Inn (Evanston) November 19 - Harry Caray's (Chicago) Doors open at 11:30 a.m.; lunch will be served at noon Cost: $25.00 per lunch For reservations, please contact Jean Yale in the Athletic Department (847-491-3694 or j-yale@northwestern.edu) From the Waterboy: September 21, 2004 Squeaky Clean Last Saturday, NU played their third game against an opponent who proved that they matched-up relatively even with the 'Cats. Although, on paper, Kansas was clearly not as talented as the 'Cats across the board per position, the Jayhogs took the game right down to their final offensive series. To their credit, the JayHogs gutted-out a last desperation drive, starting at their 33 before stalling on the 'Cats' 26 to put themselves in position for a game-tying 48-yd FG with 1 minute and change left on the game clock. Only after the dying quail boot from Jayhog kicker, Johnny Beck, sailed wide right could the Purple Nation breathe a collective sigh of relief. NU finally win their first game of the 2004 season. And mind you, this game was a write-in "W" by many Wildcat fans in the preseason. In preview, I didn't see this game as a gimme win - especially considering the 'Cats' field play in their previous 2 contests against the TCU Horny Toads and the Arizona State Bum Devils. Both games were definitely winnable as well, but the 'Cats never seemed to be able to close the deal in crunch time. Most significantly, both games featured situations where the 'Cats found themselves clawing their way back from double-digit deficits in Q3. That's why I didn't prognosticate on a final score in my pre-game commentary. I truly could not predict whether or not the 'Cats would once again blow-up and dig themselves into a deep hole as they had against their previous competition; but instead speculated how nice it would be for the 'Cats to exercise their expected domination of Q3 having a tie or better against their opponent. And the 'Cats did just that, staying with Kansas with some timely defense (was that really us out there?), then finally taking control of the game in their final TD drive to go 3 up on the JayHogs with 5-plus minutes left in the game. Bottom line: NU squeaked this one out; but, then again, not quite. NU definitely was the better team. However with their O hacking and coughing on some series, while on others, looking like a formidable force (as in the final TD drive), it's hard to get a handle on this NU team in the general sense. To be sure, I'm happy over the victory; I'm just not elated with the way it was done. Still, a "W" is a "W"; and the taste in my mouth after the final gun is much sweeter than the rank flavor after our previous two "L's". Now the 'Cats can start their Big 10/11 campaign with a clean slate… How NU beat the JayHogs Basanez' Coming of Age I must say that 'Cat QB Brett Basanez' field play is gaining momentum. He most certainly was the difference in this game. His continued composure and heady play when the game is on the line underscores his overall maturation and quarterbacking skillset in leading the NU offense. I saw vestiges of this marked improvement during the spring non-game and in the Kenosha scrimmage; and since that time, he has delivered the goods game-after-game this fall. Just look at TCU: a game tying TD toss with 9 ticks left on the clock; or at ASU: a 34 yard scramble off a broken pass play, positioning NU for a go-ahead TD with 9 minutes left in the contest. Believe me, OC Mike Dunbar's mentorship and BB's well-noted extra work are paying big dividends. And it's become very obvious that the 'Cats are looking for him to assume command of the game, even from daunting depths of double-digit deficits. This is THE big smile story of the 2004 season thus far. With Baz in the driver's seat, Q3 is simply owned by the 'Cats - having outscored the Horny Toads 17-3 and the Bum Devils 14-7. And the Kansas game followed the same paradigm: with Baz sneaking-in for a TD from 2 out; and then on the following series, completing a sweet 17 yd scamper off counter action to the Jayhog 11, setting the table for Huffman's 2nd FG of the contest - garnering a 10-0 scoring advantage for the 'Cats in Q3. This is Super Significant. Baz is becoming Da Man. NU's DL Rises - Finally In the last 2 contests, NU's defensive line has resembled a patchwork quilt, with 2nd and 3rd teamers filling in for injured or winded starters early and often. Ryan Keenan and Trevor Shultz have shouldered yeomen's duties throughout both games. And since this "state of the DL" scenario is not gonna change in the near term, these young-uns have been making their presence felt - especially against the JayHogs. Starters Castillo, Clark and Cofield, the "Killer C's", still take the brunt of the opponent's attack as NU's first line of defense, but unfortunately, are showing deep battle scars. Luis Castillo, in particular, exhibited true grit and courage, trying to play sans his bionic arm brace for a series, only to assist on a defensive stop, re-injure his gun, then jog to the sideline with it hanging limp at his side. Man, he is damaged goods. And the slack of his periodic departure during the game must be picked-up by the DL reserves. Rotation among NU's DL personnel was a mess at times, but in general, it still held its own. In turn, DC Greg Colby appeared to have recognized his strategic mistake made against the Bum Devils when using the 3-man DL. This 3-man front was still employed often against the JayHogs; however, Mr. Colby didn't leave this unit solo to sustain pressure at the LOS, but augmented their defensive effectiveness by throwing a complex package of LB blitzes into the face of the Kansas offensive attack. NU's blitz packages were executed from every angle: outside, inside, crash from both outside corners, double press from a single side; every one designed to put 4 -5 players into the mix. And in general, the strategy worked well, resulting in 2 sacks and 9 TFLs, 5 by a shooting backer. The constant rush across the LOS forced many QB "hurries" and tipped several passes, as well as strung-out many a Jayhog RB along the LOS. But with the defensive gamble, came the chance to get burned. And it happened on occasion. Nonetheless, with the 'Cat secondary still NU's biggest defensive liability, the DL's collective field play kept the pressure on the Jayhog offense to perform and was able to disrupt their attack flow at critical junctures to force well-deserved defensive stops - many as 3-and-outs. A commendable job in the most difficult of circumstances, fellas! The Drive Well, it wasn't John Elway against the Browns. It wasn't even the season opener's 'Cats against the Horny Toads, down 7 with less than 3 minutes on the clock. But it was crunch time, chasing 3, with the game on the line and all the accompanying drama. With Baz at the controls, playing "as cool as the other side of the pillow," he cranks-up NU's O from their own 19 following the JayHogs' go-ahead TD in mid Q4. Then 'Cat OC Mike Dunbar calls the offensive play of the game: a bubble screen to Mark Philmore to the wide side of the field. With ball crisply delivered in hand, Philmore waits for his OL blockers to pull and turn upfield looking for white jerseys while the other NU trips receivers lock horns with their cover DBs. He cuts upfield between them, jukes a would-be tackler, makes another cut to his inside with both friendly and unfriendly traffic crisscrossing his path, blasts thru a small opening amongst the flying bodies, breaking arm tackles in his headlong sprint toward the home stands sideline, then makes a final sharp turn once again downfield. 52 yards later, the 'Cats are in business at the Kansas 29, with the JayHogs on their heels and wondering what just happened. "The Herring" pounds for 12 tough yards; then Baz executes a QB counter for 4 more to the JayHog 12. A sharp 12-yard slingshot to NU WR Horn …TD 'Cats. Done is done, with a mere buck-twenty burned off the clock. 'Cats back on top 20-17. Now that's an offense!!! Sweeeeeeeeeeeeet!!! The Stop This last defensive series by NU really shouldn't have had the significance that it did because NU sustained several "self-inflicted wounds" - from an off-side on the kickoff, to a incidental face-mask. Still, NU's D was not throwing it in and played their collective hearts out. And after a 21-yard completion that put the ball on the NU 21, things looked grim. Damn, another late score by NU's opponent looming overhead. But wait… It's déjà vu all over again. It's 2003, the Manhattan Monsoon, Part II. It's the Mangino Munch. Was that really Mr. Hyde having gained 350 lbs. around his middle, stalking the KU sidelines and calling offensive plays to his QB? With a greasy Triple Whopper with cheese in hand, HC Mangino bites the big one with some of the worst play calling since … well, since his last showdown against our Master & Commander. Lets see. 1st down …NU's Colby calls for a 3-man DL with all 3 LBs poised for the blitz, jumping into and out-of the seams in the defensive line. Snap … weak-side veer and the ballcarrier is blasted by LBs McGarigle and Eaton filling hard at the point of attack for no gain. 2nd & 10 … Colby uses the 3-man front again with LBs showing blitz. Snap … a swing pass into the flat to JayHog RB Randle that gets stoned when DL Clark and Keenan sniff-out the slow developing flip, gain separation, pursue the ball in flight and bury the ball 5 yards behind the LOS for the TFL. 3rd & 15… Colby calls for the 8-man crash. It's the all-out sell-out - the whole enchilada rush to the ball. Snap … DL gets hooked-up by the JayHog OL while the LBs blitzing into seams get caught-up laterally in the wash of the OL blocks, but a middle hole opens-up and here comes NU DB Simpson, clean as a whistle with a clear path to the Kansas QB Barmann who is hemmed-in by the crashing defensive corners. Barmann rears back and heaves. The ball, tipped by jumping Simpson just before he careens into Barman's face on a clean hit, resembles a very drunk Daffy Duck falling harmlessly within the NU 10 yard line. 4th & 15 at the NU 26 … 48 yd FG attempt. Snap … a weak foot strike and the ball floats ever so slowly through the NU endzone ... wide right!!! Most important defensive play of the game: that 5 yard TFL on down 2, putting the ball 5 yards further from NU's cross bar. Without that extra yardage, the FG is much easier from a psychological standpoint. Brian Huffman - you are not the only one!!! Conclusion All's well that ends well. With the Northwestern defense rising to its best performance of the 2003 season, NU squeaks-out the win. I wonder what this team's performance would look like when it is clicking on all cylinders for an entire game - both offensively and defensively. I'm sure it will happen. Stay tuned. The Waterboy September 19, 2004 'Cats Stop Jayhawks Defense Shines As Wildcats Find First Win GAME THREE 1 2 3 4 F Kansas  0  3  0 14 17 Northwestern  0  3 10  7 20 The Wildcats found their first win of the season in a hard fought contest with the Kansas Jayhawks. The win came from an unlikely aspect of the ‘Cats’ game as the defense rose to the occasion while the offense sputtered for most of the afternoon. The injury-depleted defensive line was mostly used with a three man front but was backed by additional blitz support. The result was a virtual stoning of the Jayhawks running attack. Luis Castillo and Trevor Schultz enjoy the moment Just one week after rushing for 104 yards against Toledo, Jayhawks tailback John Randle mustered a mere 24 in 12 carries. Backup Clark Green didn't fare much better as Kansas gained just 47 yards on the ground. The longest rush was a 17-yard scamper by quarterback Adam Barmann on a broken play. The ‘Cats offense scored just once in the first half on a 23-yard field goal by Brian Huffman in the second quarter, set up by a bobbled snap by punter Chris Tyrell that was recovered by Derell Jenkins at the Kansas 24. Huffman had missed an earlier 48-yard attempt in the first quarter. The Jayhawks promptly answered with a 24-yard field goal to close out the first half scoring. The second half began with the ‘Cats going three-and-out and Kansas driving to the Wildcats’ 29 – only to turn the ball over on downs as Jayhawks’ coach Mark Mangino lost confidence in his kicker, Scott Webb. The Wildcats then finally got their offense in gear with a 10 play, 71-yard scoring drive keyed by a 38 yard rush by Terrell Jordan and ending with a 2 yard touchdown run by Brett Basanez. The ‘Cats defense again stopped the Jayhawks and the Wildcats scored yet again on a 21-yard field goal by Brian Huffman. The ‘Cats led 13-3. The Jayhawks answered by marching 80 yards in 12 plays for a touchdown on a 7- yard pass to Brandon Rideau, and took a 17-13 lead on their following possession with a 20-yard touchdown pass to Rideau. Mark Philmore tears across the field The Wildcats answered with the quick scoring tempo unveiled in the opener at TCU with an 81-yard drive in just 4 plays, sparked by Mark Philmore, who cut across the field on a screen pass for 52 yards. The ‘Cats led 20-17. Kansas came back with a long drive of 46 yards on 10 plays to the NU 21. The drive was marred by 2 penalties called on the ‘Cats defense, but a tackle for loss left Kansas at the NU 26. Mangino then called on kicker Johnny Beck to try a 48-yard field goal to send the game to overtime, but Beck’s kick was wide right and the ‘Cats ran out the clock to garner the win. To be fair to the Wildcats offense, both Noah Herron and Terrell Jordan had limited to no practice during the week due to injuries. Nonetheless, the ‘Cats tallied 145 yards rushing. Brett Basanez had 20 completions on 33 attempts with no interceptions, and ran for one touchdown while passing to Brandon Horn for another. The defense had two sacks and three players had multiple tackles for loss: Nick Roach (3), Ryan Keenan (2) and Adam Kadela (2). The win showed signs that the team is coming together, and not a moment too soon. A major test waits in the Big Ten opener at Minnesota on Saturday. Scoring Summary (Final) 2004 Northwestern Football Kansas vs Northwestern (09/18/04 at Evanston, Ill.) Kansas (2-1) vs. Northwestern (1-2) Date: 09/18/04 Site: Evanston, Ill. Stadium: Ryan Field Attendance: 24817 Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score ----------------- -- -- -- -- ----- Kansas.............. 0 3 0 14 - 17 Northwestern........ 0 3 10 7 - 20 Scoring Summary: 2nd 08:41 NU - Huffman, Brian 23 yd field goal 6 plays, 18 yards, TOP 2:16, KU 0 - NU 3 05:28 KU - Webb, Scott 27 yd field goal 8 plays, 66 yards, TOP 3:13, KU 3 - NU 3 3rd 04:58 NU - Basanez, Brett 2 yd run (Huffman, Brian kick) 10 plays, 71 yards, TOP 4:45, KU 3 - NU 10 01:47 NU - Huffman, Brian 21 yd field goal 6 plays, 36 yards, TOP 2:03, KU 3 - NU 13 4th 11:56 KU - Rideau, Brandon 7 yd pass from Barmann, Adam (Webb, Scott kick) 12 plays, 75 yards, TOP 4:51, KU 10 - NU 13 06:45 KU - Rideau, Brandon 20 yd pass from Barmann, Adam (Webb, Scott kick) 6 plays, 51 yards, TOP 2:34, KU 17 - NU 13 05:25 NU - Horn, Brandon 12 yd pass from Basanez, Brett (Huffman, Brian kick) 4 plays, 81 yards, TOP 1:20, KU 17 - NU 20 Kickoff time: 1:03 pm End of Game: 4:10 pm Total elapsed time: 3:07 Officials: Referee: Randy Christal; Umpire: Steve Storie; Linesman: Mike Moeller; Line judge: Kelly Deterding; Back judge: Len Williams; Field judge: Terry Porter; Side judge: Scott Kock; Scorer: Marc Grossman; Temperature: 74 Wind: S-10mph Weather: Sunny ID-250666 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team Statistics -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team Statistics (Final) 2004 Northwestern Football Kansas vs Northwestern (09/18/04 at Evanston, Ill.) KU NU FIRST DOWNS................... 22 20 Rushing..................... 6 9 Passing..................... 14 7 Penalty..................... 2 4 NET YARDS RUSHING............. 47 145 Rushing Attempts............ 26 32 Average Per Rush............ 1.8 4.5 Yards Gained Rushing........ 81 171 Yards Lost Rushing.......... 34 26 NET YARDS PASSING............. 303 192 Completions-Attempts-Int.... 32-51-0 20-33-0 Average Per Attempt......... 5.9 5.8 Average Per Completion...... 9.5 9.6 TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS........... 350 337 Total offense plays......... 77 65 Average Gain Per Play....... 4.5 5.2 Fumbles: Number-Lost.......... 1-1 0-0 Penalties: Number-Yards....... 11-84 9-64 PUNTS-YARDS................... 4-179 5-194 Average Yards Per Punt...... 44.8 38.8 Net Yards Per Punt.......... 37.8 34.6 Inside 20................... 0 2 50+ Yards................... 1 0 Touchbacks.................. 1 1 Fair catch.................. 1 0 KICKOFFS-YARDS................ 4-258 5-266 Average Yards Per Kickoff... 64.5 53.2 Net Yards Per Kickoff....... 55.5 45.8 Touchbacks.................. 2 2 Punt returns: Number-Yards-TD. 3-21-0 2-28-0 Average Per Return.......... 7.0 14.0 Kickoff returns: Number-Yds-TD 1-37-0 2-36-0 Average Per Return.......... 37.0 18.0 Interceptions: Number-Yds-TD.. 0-0-0 0-0-0 Fumble Returns: Number-Yds-TD. 0-0-0 1-1-0 Miscellaneous Yards........... 0 0 Possession Time............... 32:41 27:19 1st Quarter................. 8:15 6:45 2nd Quarter................. 8:06 6:54 3rd Quarter................. 6:35 8:25 4th Quarter................. 9:45 5:15 Third-Down Conversions........ 5 of 15 4 of 13 Fourth-Down Conversions....... 1 of 3 1 of 1 Red-Zone Scores-Chances....... 3-3 4-4 Sacks By: Number-Yards........ 2-15 2-13 PAT Kicks..................... 2-2 2-2 Field Goals................... 1-3 2-3 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Individual Statistics -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Individual Statistics (Final) 2004 Northwestern Football Kansas vs Northwestern (09/18/04 at Evanston, Ill.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kansas Rushing No Gain Loss Net TD Lg Avg ------------------------------------------------- Green, Clark 6 25 0 25 0 11 4.2 Barmann, Adam 6 32 13 19 0 17 3.2 Randle, John 12 24 6 18 0 11 1.5 Gordon, Charles 1 0 5 -5 0 0 -5.0 Tyrell, Chris 1 0 10 -10 0 0 -10.0 Totals... 26 81 34 47 0 17 1.8 Passing Att-Cmp-Int Yds TD Long Sack ------------------------------------------------- Barmann, Adam 48-30-0 294 2 49 2 Swanson, Jason 2-1-0 8 0 8 0 Green, Clark 1-1-0 1 0 1 0 Totals... 51-32-0 303 2 49 2 Receiving No. Yds TD Long ---------------------------------------- Rideau, Brandon 7 84 2 20 Anderson, Lyone 5 33 0 12 Randle, John 5 15 0 12 Heaggans, Gary 4 34 0 11 Simmons, Mark 4 21 0 8 Green, Clark 2 62 0 49 Gordon, Charles 2 31 0 21 Henry, Marcus 2 22 0 15 Barmann, Adam 1 1 0 1 Totals... 32 303 2 49 Punting No. Yds Avg Long In20 ---------------------------------------------- Tucker, Kyle 1 46 46.0 46 0 Tyrell, Chris 3 133 44.3 53 0 Totals... 4 179 44.8 53 0 Punts Kickoffs Intercept All Returns No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg -------------------------------------------------- Randle, John 0 0 0 1 37 37 0 0 0 Gordon, Charles 3 21 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals... 3 21 9 1 37 37 0 0 0 Field goal attempts ---------------------------------------- Webb, Scott 2nd 05:28 27 yds - Good Beck, Johnny 2nd 00:13 48 yds - Missed Beck, Johnny 4th 01:18 43 yds - Missed -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Northwestern Rushing No Gain Loss Net TD Lg Avg ------------------------------------------------- Herron, Noah 18 89 4 85 0 13 4.7 Jordan, Terrell 5 51 2 49 0 38 9.8 Basanez, Brett 8 27 20 7 1 17 0.9 Fields, Jonathan 1 4 0 4 0 4 4.0 Totals... 32 171 26 145 1 38 4.5 Passing Att-Cmp-Int Yds TD Long Sack ------------------------------------------------- Basanez, Brett 33-20-0 192 1 52 2 Totals... 33-20-0 192 1 52 2 Receiving No. Yds TD Long ---------------------------------------- Philmore, Mark 7 113 0 52 Aikens, Ashton 3 18 0 12 Horn, Brandon 3 17 1 12 Herbert, Shaun 2 21 0 16 Herron, Noah 2 11 0 12 Fields, Jonathan 2 4 0 2 Jones, Taylor 1 8 0 8 Totals... 20 192 1 52 Punting No. Yds Avg Long In20 ---------------------------------------------- Huffman, Brian 5 194 38.8 45 2 Totals... 5 194 38.8 45 2 Punts Kickoffs Intercept All Returns No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg -------------------------------------------------- Philmore, Mark 2 28 22 0 0 0 0 0 0 Jenkins, Derell 0 0 0 1 17 17 0 0 0 Backes, Jeff 0 0 0 1 19 19 0 0 0 Totals... 2 28 22 2 36 19 0 0 0 Field goal attempts ---------------------------------------- Huffman, Brian 1st 02:38 48 yds - Missed Huffman, Brian 2nd 08:41 23 yds - Good Huffman, Brian 3rd 01:47 21 yds - Good FUMBLES: Kansas-Tyrell, Chris 1-1. Northwestern-None. September 16, 2004 From the Waterboy: September 16, 2004 Got Purple Passion? Interesting quote from our Master & Commander following the heart-wrenching loss to the Bum Devils last Saturday was that he didn't see passion in the eyes of his team as they faced another uphill battle to overcome yet another early-game double-digit deficit. My question is: Why are the 'Cats facing double digit deficits in the first place? There are 2 statements that can be made of the "State of the 2004 'Cats": 1. This team does not quit. Say what he may to the contrary, Cap'n Vlasic has a team comprised of individuals with pride in their field play and the skillset to do the necessary things to win. Against the Horny Toads, the 'Cats came from 14-point holes 3 TIMES!!! And they didn't quit, even after seeing victory flitter away wide right 3 straight times in regulation and twice in overtime. Hell, they scored the game-tying TD with 9 seconds left on the clock for Christ's Sake. As a former player who still harbors his own personal passion for the game and this institution's version of it, THAT MEANS SOMETHING!!! In the ASU game, NU again finds itself staring up from the bottom of a 17-point well, with nothing in their arsenal to overcome the Bum Devils but their own initiatives and pride. Then they do it. With 7 minutes left, the 'Cats are poised to hit paydirt for the go-ahead TD, but get their 2nd string RB cracked with the hardest defensive play of the game and turn the ball over to the Bum Devils. Still, the 'Cats have a full 5-6 minutes to stop the ASU offensive attack and take possession for one last stab at the wining score. They take ASU to the limit down/distance-wise 5 times in the Bum Devil's last possession. The game is still in doubt with a minute-plus left as the Bum Devils get the game-clinching FG to put the capper on the contest for a 9 point lead. That's HEART. That's "I GIVE A DAMN." And afterwards, in front of a sparse press corps, the PickleMeister reverts to his tired coach-speak, saying that he's a good judge of character and saw that, individually, the 'Cats lacked passion to get the job done. That's AN INSULT!!! 2. The team is handcuffed by gameplans that are inflexible and inappropriate for the opponents at hand. Trickeration is an entertaining thing. Every football fan loves to witness the feint, the fake or the flea-flicker and see such a play succeed in getting points or stopping the opponent from doing so at a crucial time in the contest. It's part of the great unknown and reflects the position of the underdog to resort to this unorthodox play-calling to keep them in the game against stronger opponents. But good football teams don't depend on trickeration to garner victory laurels. It's a well thought-out gameplan and well thought-out alternatives based on contingencies that are the key to positioning a football team to beat another. That's the beauty of the "behind the scenes" game and it's the ultimate job of the coaching staff to draw-up the strategies necessary to beat a particular opponent. Clearly, our Master & Commander has to shoulder the blame on the two opening season losses to teams which were clearly beatable and essentially evenly matched with the 'Cats. The difference maker between a winner and loser on the football field is the ability of a team, through its coaching staff, to improvise and adapt their gameplan to the ever-changing situations at hand. IMHO, the PickleMeister has shown that he is leading his team relatively unarmed into their weekly gunfights. And he says that he can't see the fire in the eyes of his players? Better he start looking into a mirror and make an honest assessment on whether that guy has give due diligence to his responsibility set for getting his team prepared and ready to enter the gunfight with the appropriate armament for victory. Need and example: How about resorting to the 3-man defensive line to set nickel pass coverage formations in your secondary, when just-used 4-man formations, peppered with well-executed blitz packages, showed what was truly effective against the Bum Devils? Take a hint - get a clue!!! The DC had an inflexible gameplan that couldn't adapt to the Bum Devils grinding-out their last possession in the final 6 minutes of the game. My Captain, my Captain! That look in your players' eyes when you focused into their faces was one where they were looking for … LEADERSHIP!!! From YOU!!! Cap'n, if you want Purple Passion, start showing some. NU vs. the JayHogs - Keys to the Game After witnessing the last 2 games, the keys to this game are gonna be presented short and to the point. Harrass Jayhog QB Barmann If the ASU game was any indication, NU's linebaking corps needs to shoot gaps to become effective force over an entire game. With half the 'Cat DL playing the part of Walker's Walking Wounded, DC Greg Colby has got to devise a novel gameplan, tailored to current healthy personnel and committed to applying pressure against what the Jayhogs do best, at least as shown against Tulsa and Toledo: control the ball, limit mistakes and complete their offensive assignments. Granted, Kansas' O should have handled their first two defensive opponents with relative ease, but last Saturday's game against the Rockettes was very telling: the Jayhogs scored 42 points in the first 18 minutes of the contest. If that lopsided total was planted on a Div. III team, it might be understandable. However, it was against a team that was one of the preseason contenders for the MAC title. So much for preseason predictions. NU's youthful linebackers have shown little improvement in making their reads and getting to their opponent's point of attack - especially against the rush. But they have shown skill in penetrating an opposing offense's LOS and getting into the backfield at the snap of the ball. So instead of the read and react paradigm, shoot them into and through the Jayhog OL early and often. And do it from different angles with a different LB so there is little or no predictability to the defensive strategy except to understand that somebody is coming and hunting for the ball on every down. If the Jayhogs become preoccupied in identifying where the next shot is to be fired, there will be some hesitation in their execution. Most importantly, there must be pressure on Kansas QB Adam Barmann, who threw for 300-pus yards and 4 TDs against a weak sister Rockette D. Get into his face and make your presence felt. Converge at the ball with extreme prejudice. Bring heavy lumber to bear on the Jayhog ballcarrier, especially Barmann, swinging it high and hard into the face of anyone holding the bean. Barmann cannot be allowed to sit in the pocket scanning the NU secondary for an open WR. No Home Runs OK, so it's more than obvious that NU's secondary is not gonna dominate an opponent's passing attack. In fact they are not gonna go unscathed in their coverage assignments, but will get burned from time-to-time, giving up chunks of yardage. However, they must limit the home run. Nobody , but nobody gets behind the individual 'Cat DB. Jayhog receivers must be kept in front and the reaction of NU's DB must be going forward to maintain contact or make the PBU hit, not scrambling backward to cover the open man running routes, free and clear, into open space. Kansas' offensive coordinator is gonna view the ASU game films and salivate at the chance of getting big time yardage against this porous squad. Who could blame him? NU sports Division 1A's worst passing secondary and presents an opportunity for his new QB to have his best college career passing day. Without a doubt, this squad won't stone anyone, but they must at least contain their opponents. That means limiting the long ball. No home run passes. Stop the home run, and the defense might, just might avoid falling into yet another double digit deficit before the 'Cat O can get their act in gear. How nice would it be for the 'Cat O to start their scoring skein when tied in Q2? The Best Must Play Their Best All the preseason reviews of the 2004 Wildcats echoed the same evaluation: the offensive line is the best unit on the team. They have more starts, have more heat-of-the-battle experience where their individual blocking skillsets have been honed, and supposedly have the attitudes to succeed matching this experience. Well fellas, time to show it in full force against the Jayhogs. Your Master & Commander felt that some did not play with full passion against the Bum Devils. OK, take that as constructive criticism and really gear yourselves, both individually and as an entire squad, to prove that you are worthy of that high praise from those preseason pundits. In the end, your passion to execute and dominate might even get noticed by Cap'n Vlasic. We, the Purple Populace, have seen examples of this quality execution in the TCU game where you didn't make a single debilitating, drive-ending gaffe. Although, at times, you seemed to struggle against the Horny Toad blitzing/penetration defensive fronts during NU's rush attack, you absolutely stoned them in pass protection. BB's jersey only had the stains on it that he dictated, not from the unexpected hit. And this was against a top 25 team. In the ASU game, you executed cross block and trap block techniques with precision and effectiveness. It was beauteous. Although the PickleMeister thinks there wasn't passion in your play, you still came within 20 yards from overcoming a 17 point deficit and taking control of the game with 7 minutes in Q4. Hell, that effort might not have passion behind it, but it shows that you are not giving up the Pökelboot without a fight - a hard fight in fact. Many within the ranks of the Wildcat Nation and I call that … HEART. Play your hearts out fellas, and play your best game of 2004. Conclusion The game of football is played best with a fire in your belly. That means it comes from within. Just go out and hit somebody from the opening whistle to the final gun. The Waterboy September 15, 2004 From the Waterboy: September 15, 2004 A Full Spaghetti Western The ASU game was winnable, nothing much more needs be stated as postscript. My initial reaction to the actual field play during the game was that it appeared, at times, like the Bum Devils were playing down to their competition and toying offensively with the 'Cats. Then as the 'Cats clawed their way out a 17-point hole, it looked like the Purple belonged on the field and were indeed a competitive force that had the Bum Devils looking for a way, any way, to re-establish their edge. One thing is certain, last Saturday's game was a dichotomy on many levels - a full spaghetti western featuring a combination of the Good, the Bad and the Ugly regarding execution by both teams. I'm still at a loss on how NU's offensive game plan seemed to shift from series to series, without any consistency in play calling or in exploiting what the Bum Devils seemed to give-up in their efforts to stop a particular attack by the 'Cats. Good series were followed immediately by a bad series. It was as if Cap'n Vlasic and his first mate, OC Mike Dunbar, were bound and determined to see exactly what strategy would work even though the prior series showed vulnerability to particular points of attack. Well now the 'Cats truly are in a pickle. There is great possibility of this team going 0-4, after the strong offensive output last Saturday by their next two opponents, Kansas and the Mighty Marmots, who put 63 and 37 points on the scoreboard respectively. If the Colby Swiss Cheese defense isn't put into deep freeze, these next 2 weeks could be the harbinger of what might be a very memorable season for the 'Cats - a dubious one in which the 'Cats realistically could win only a single game. But I'm not gonna dwell on that possibility. I don't need to stir-up the stomach juices any further; and mind you, I've got a very bad case of heartburn after witnessing this last "moral victory" by Cap'n Vlasic and Co. OK, my analysis … The Good • Basanez' Day NU's QB had his moments. For the majority of the game, I saw high quality throwing techniques executed when delivering the pill to his receiving corps. I'm talking about leading the target in his route, hitting him in stride and/or throwing to the side of the receiver opposite the coverage DB where only the WR had the chance to touch the ball. It was a thing of beauty. Then on the very next offensive series, I saw him miss open receivers or fail to place the ball to the appropriate open half and the ASU DB makes the PBU. However, although Baz continued his fine passing game shown in the TCU contest, going 21 -38 for over 230 yards, these moderate stats weren't enough to overcome the 17-point hole that the 'Cats dug for themselves early in Q3. It also seemed that when the down/distance situation was most critical, Baz was either running for his life from the unrelenting pressure of the Bum Devils blitzes thrown at him; or that when he did have the time to scan the field to pick the open WR, he failed to deliver the ball with the necessary precision. The goose-egg for passing TDs indicates missed opportunities. Still, the 'Cats were in the game until the final ASU scoring drive; and much of that was due in large part to the offensive contribution of BB. • The Poochie When I first saw Huffman kick this low-flying duck off the kicking tee through my field glasses, I thought it was another botched foot strike. Then I saw a Purple flash streak down the home sideline, grab the pooch in mid-flight and down it at the Bum Devil 45. What trickeration!!! What execution!!! Our Master and Commander, reputedly the NU coach in charge of special teams, had to have made this call. At the time, NU had just gone in for their second TD score of the game; and with the way ASU was controlling the game clock with their own version of a balanced attack, I was hoping that NU could reverse the trend from the TCU game and halt the mutual exchange of TDs in H-2. And this was just the vehicle needed to seize momentum of the game. Someone in the NU coaches' box must have noticed that the ASU front 5 had little movement reacting to Huffman's previous, more conventional pooch kickoff. However on this occasion, the sideline ASU blocker froze in place, momentarily mesmerized by the oddball kickoff in its trajectory as it lazily sailed to his inside, and didn't move a muscle to position himself for the quick catch or even make a fair catch call. I speculated that he thoroughly expected it to be picked-up by one of the up backs on the Bum Devil kickoff receive team and shied away from confronting it himself. Instead it was picked-off by kickoff cover man, Reggie McPherson, in one of the prettiest trickeration plays I've seen from a Randy Walker Wildcat team to date. 5 rushes and 1 pass later, the 'Cats pulled within 3 and the Bum Devils looked too stunned for description. • The Two-Headed RB "The Herring": 17 rushes for 110 yards; Jordan: 14 rushes for 86 yards. Both having 6-plus yards per. Not a bad day's work for NU's 2 headed RB. At times the dynamic duo looked unstoppable peeling-off large chunks of rushing yardage in one offensive series; then they appeared unable to get to the point of attack, getting stoned at or before they reach the LOS by the ASU boxed defenders on the very next series. To this observer, this failure to sustain a continual, dominant ground game was as much due to the inconsistent play calling of the NU offensive brain trust as it was to ASU's defensive gameplan which seemed specifically geared to counter some of Cap'n Vlasic's obvious down/distance tendencies. Whenever our good Cap'n and his 2nd mate called plays that didn't fit those tendencies, the ground game had markedly more success (e.g. passing on first down). • Timely Play Calling This dovetails directly to the rushing attack results given above. The Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde play calling of NU OC Mike Dunbar was in full evidence against the Bum Devils. Whenever the ASU defenders were knocked-back on their collective heels, Dr. Jekyll's play calling looked like he couldn't make a wrong move whatsoever. For example, look at NU's first scoring drive which started at the NU 20 late in Q1. "The Herring" pounded-away for 9, 2, 5, 14, 22 and 9 yards on consecutive rushes, with a Jordan 9-yarder squeezed-in when "the Herring" was given a blow following his nifty 14 yard jaunt. After the 5-yarder by "the Herring," Dunbar mixed the sequence and called a moderate, yet effective 8 yard pass, BB to WR Horn, which was converted for a first down. Instead of rushing on first down as he did previously, Dunbar called another pass to "the Herring" on a swing pass into the ASU flat for 2 yards. The Bum Devil D was definitely on their heels at this juncture and looked totally bewildered. "The Herring's" last 3 rushes along with Jordan's single rush, which culminated in a 7-3 NU lead early in Q2, underscored that fact that the Bum Devils' defensive heads were spinning. Sweeeeeeeeeet. This drive looked like the 'Cats were gonna execute the ball-control game plan that they had expected all along. • The Counter-Action Ground Game From my vantage point in the East stands, I had an up-close & personal view of the NU ground game and the blocking schemes it employed. Yes, the trap, the counter and the rush to the weak-side after a fake handoff to strong-side flow was there most of the day. If the ground game wasn't stymied due to the disruptive blitz packages that the Bum Devils threw at NU, then the rush would go positive - especially on counter action. It really didn't matter which of the 2-headed RB that Dr. Jekyll used, each were equally effective in following their lead blocker to the point of attack and cutting off his behind into open space beyond the LOS. I only wished that they used more of it - simply because it was effective and showed that the power ground game was there for the taking by the 'Cats. Why NU lost to the Bum Devils… The Bad • Untimely Play calling It was only a matter of time before Mr. Hyde, OC Mike Dunbar's play calling-challenged alter ego, would rear his ugly head in 2004. Can anyone keep this debilitating personality permanently thrown into Lake Michigan chained to a 300 lb. cannonball? For every well-called offensive series, there were 2 glaringly poor ones. How many times does it take for a swing pass to the RB gliding into the flat to get stoned for short yardage or, worse still, a TFL, before Mr. Hyde comes to the obvious conclusion that, "Hey, my opponent has this one defended well?" Two, perhaps three. In Mr. Hyde's case, make that a full half dozen, at least. The success of a particular play or set of plays which gained yardage never warranted their continued utility by the NU offensive braintrust - like the downfield Z-in or delay to a WR to the middle third of the Bum Devil secondary. Need an example? Try NU's last possession of H-1 with a 1:37 left on the clock. First down: Mr. Hyde calls the "hasn't worked all day" swing pass to "The Herring" for a one yard loss. Following a 5-yard false start penalty, BB connects with WR Philmore on what looked like a crisp, well-executed delayed Z-in for 15, making the situation 3rd and 1. Logic says give "The Herring" the ball on a dive into the LOS; or if you insist on the pass, try the delay once more to ASU's middle third. No, Mr. Hyde calls for a slow 6-yard square-out where a blitzing LB comes free and is in Basanez' face before the WR can complete his route. To avoid the sack, BB tosses the pill into the 3rd row of the stands. End of H-1, head to the locker room. This is the type of series upon which a game can turn. Unfortunately, NU went into the locker room after another missed opportunity, while the Bum Devils were patting one another on the back for keeping Brett Basanez at bay once again. ARRRRRRGGGGGGGGGH!!!! And what was with the play choices made on 4th & long at the Bum Devil 28? And it happened TWICE … once on the 'Cats' 1st possession in Q2 and again on their 1st possession of H-2? Both came after long NU drives from within their 20 to move themselves into FG position - with the 2nd occurring after the 'Cats retain possession following a roughing the punter penalty against the Bum Devils. Hey Cap'n, opportunity knocking… NU can once again seize the initiative. Unfortunately, our Master and Commander demonstrated his true level of confidence in Brian Huffman's kicking ability to attempt a 45 yard FG. Alas, two chances at gaining momentum tossed away: the first, executing the most dubious play I've witnessed since the good Cap'n took the helm of das Pökelboot, the second, when BB's 4th down pass attempt to an open Ashton Aikens gets thrown behind him. My philosophy regarding a closely fought gridiron tussle: Take the points. Obviously, the PickleMeister follows his own game plan. • No (or little-used) Audibles The Bum Devils employed 4-3 defensive sets for the majority of the game. ASU coaches recognized our Master & Commander's tendency to run the ball on first down and countered by blitzing a LB or 2 to disrupt NU's offensive flow. For the most part it worked well. However frequently on those occasions, I noticed that the middle deep third of the ASU secondary was often wide open. I'm looking through my binoculars and see 15-20 yards between the Bum Devil Safeties as they position themselves wide, opposite the 'Cat WRs in their spread formation. With the LBs vacating their middle zone drops because of blitz assignments, I'm grumbling to everyone around me that the middle is wide open for the taking. Audible… Please audible out of the run and slant a WR into that open space. Not done. I really don't know how often Baz audibled out of the originally called play, but it wasn't nearly enough. Not by a long shot. Opportunities were everywhere to recognize the ASU defensive weakness in their secondary alignment and get the ball into that area. But many were simply ignored. • NU's 3-Man DL Sets At the most critical points in Q3 and Q4, NU DC Greg Colby used a 3-man DL set. Most occasions were in obvious passing downs where the 'Cat D had stoned the Bum Devil offensive attack on the previous play and were looking at 2nd and 3rd & long situations. In fact, Colby was using his own blitz packages very well, getting 5 to 6 NU defenders into the LOS and disrupted ASU's offensive flow on 1st and 2nd downs, in much the same way that ASU executed against the 'Cat offense. Problem was: in order to put an additional DB into the NU secondary to defend the pass on these long distance downs, Colby used a 3-3-5 formation - with a 3-man defensive front, backed with 3 LB - and it failed miserably EVERY TIME. This 3-man rush failed to put pass rush pressure on Walter and the ASU QB took full advantage, having 5-8 seconds to scan the NU secondary for open receivers. Worse still, the Bum Devils used their rushing attack on these long distance downs with equal effectiveness. NU just couldn't stop the ASU attack with this 3-3 front; and Colby never recognized its deficiencies and continued to use it throughout H-2. Talk about being stubborn!!! Another major problem: NU's DL had fallen to the injury bug. I noticed that 'Cat DL Thompson and Ngene were MIA for the entire game. Post game accounts reported that Thompson sustained a hammy pull and that Ngene has a vitamin deficiency, putting both on the PUP (physically unable to play) list. Hence, NU's current DL is comprised of 3 pre-season starters, Clark, Cofield and Castillo, and a player to be named later. With NU's most experienced DL reserves on the PUP, the remaining positions must be filled by inexperienced 2nd and 3rd teamers. Giving any of the "Killer C's" a blow at any one time translates into 2 or more unproven DL reserves currently on the field. How in the world could Greg Colby ever think that these young 'uns could put pressure on Walter using a 3-man front? Does anyone else believe that this 3-man defensive front strategy was the biggest coaching mistake of the game for either side? The mind boggles at the thought. • Blocking the Bum Devil Blitz With apologies to any player parents reading this commentary, the 'Cat OL did not pick-up the ASU blitz packages well. As stated above, the Bum Devil defensive braintrust took a clue from the TCU game and blitzed the NU offense early and often - as much to kill Cap'n Vlasic's expected run on first down as to get into the face of Basanez as often as possible. Well, the blitz was effective for the entire game because the undersized ASU DL were very quick of the LOS and the LBs disguised their blitz motion very well - and NU's OL were slow to recognize and pick-up extra blitz defender, especially from the left side. Baz' attention was refocused on the pass rush and was running for his life on approximately 50% of NU's passing downs. And it rattled BB somewhat into inconsistent passing habits - like throwing behind his receivers or missing open secondary/tertiary WRs - after having radared-in on his primary, then scrambling to avoid the sack. I recount 4 -5 occasions where BB threw the ball away with an ASU defender breathing down his neck. The pattern repeated itself much too often - especially in H-2. Ouch!!! The Ugly • The Can-Can Punt I'm sorry. For the ultra success that Q3's recovered poockie trickeration kickoff achieved, this one was beyond comprehension. Not only was it ill-conceived, but the timing of the play was completely shot from the snap. Not only did the PickleMeister forego the opportunity to extend his thin 4 point lead to a possible 7 via a Huffman FG attempt from the ASU 28; but a delay of game penalty pushed the "to-go" yards from 8 to 13!!! Then he calls for a fake punt - which will be etched indelibly into the collective memory of the FEW Group as the "Can-Can" punt. Or using a more appropriate moniker: the "Can't-Can't" punt. Basically, this trickeration appeared to be a combination fake punt/fake Statue of Liberty play. NU initially lines-up in their standard punt formation. Before the snap, WR Jonathan Fields goes into motion to a spot immediately behind punter Huffman. At the snap from center, Huffman grabs the ball, immediately puts it behind his back as Fields approaches him, then kicks his punt leg into the air simulating a punting motion - much like the kick of a Can-Can dancer from Les Folies Bergeres. At that moment, Fields fakes taking the "ball behind Huffman" handoff, assuming a crouched running position like he's got the ball. Huffman waits in place, with the ball still in his hands behind his back, for the ASU punt rush to bite on the Fields fake handoff bait and converge on Mr. Fields running around the far defensive corner. Unfortunately, nobody instructed the Bum Devils what their expected assignments were when facing the "Can-Can" punt. They simply converged on both Fields and Huffman and blasted them both to the ground. At its best, this was U-G-L-Y. How could any responsible coach in Div. 1A think that a ball placed behind the back and a fake handoff off that move is going to be interpreted as an actual ball exchange? Hell, the ball is not exposed and placed into the ballcarrier's mitts - even as a fake handoff - for the defense to view and misinterpret. No defender took much notice of fake exchange action, they only saw that Huffman did his "Can-Can" motion with no ball going off his foot; so the only recourse was carry-out their original assignments - rush the punter and block the punt. And they did that quite well, thank you very much. I was fully expecting the PickleMeister to walk into the post game interview with his hair combed straight up, à la infamous boxing promoter and reputed husker Don King. Observers would have understood his mindset on that pay call. Trickeration … gimme a break!!! • Jordan's Wake-Up Call Reports immediately after the game speculated on the reason the "The Herring" was not part of NU's offense as the 'Cats were driving for a possible go-ahead TD late in Q4. Most reported that "The Herring" was on "Queer Street" after receiving the full-face impact of a blitzing Bum Devil LB on the previous offensive series. I saw the hit and it was brutal. What ever the reason, Mr. Herron was not the feature RB on this most critical NU possession of the game. And as usual, the Bum Devils were on their heels following BB's 34-yard scamble off a broken pass play, taking the ball from the NU 30 to the ASU 36. On 2nd & 6 at the Bum Devil 22, RB Terrell Jordan bounces from the rushing play's original off tackle point of attack and heads to the defensive corner contain. Unfortunately, his move was sniffed-out and responded to by ASU Safety Stewart, who came-up in full run support and blasted Jordan with the hardest hit of the entire game. It happened immediately in front of me and the concussion was one where you could feel it in your face … CRACK!!! It was no surprise that Mr. Jordan lost his grip on the bean at this wake-up call. When a blast like this is delivered, every extremity of the RB on the receiving end momentarily goes limp - head, legs, arms and especially hands - and the ball pops-out. Mr. Jordan is very human. And his fumble was a game-turner. • Kick-off Coverage If Cap'n Vlasic was the mastermind of the successful poochie kickoff, then he is also the architect of the "Can-Can" fake punt and the kickoff and punt cover teams. Without a doubt, the aggressiveness and tackling techniques of these NU kick cover squads was the poorest I've seen in 3 years. ASU constantly achieved good field position after their kick receivers got substantial YAC (yardage after the catch), most after sustaining first and second hits by NU coverage personnel. NU coverage teams just didn't wrap-up the Bum Devil ballcarriers. No excuses accepted from our Mater & Commander nor his team . • Deep Pass Coverage S.O.S. Many understand this acronym as "Save Our Ship" (as in das Pökelboot). For me it's "Same Old S#it" (as in NU's pass coverage by their secondary). I foresaw that this game could get UGLY early and it very well could have. Walter's passing game didn't come-out very hot, neither did his receiving corps. When Walter wasn't under-throwing or mistiming his passes to open ASU wideouts throughout the contest, his receiving corps contracted a bad case of dropsy. Thank Gawd. In ASU's 1st possession, a wide-open ASU WR dropped a well-delivered pass within NU's 10 yard line. Same on ASU's 2nd possession, where another Bum Devil WR waits alone in the NU endzone for Walter's mis-timed delivery, allowing 'Cat Safety Price to recover and close on the receiver just in time to swat the ball away at the last possible moment. Two plays later, still another pass is dropped by a 3rd open receiver. From the ASU Web Devil: The Wildcats were without three starters on defense, including All-Big Ten candidate Loren Howard. Translation: Take them deep and try to break the bank. Ward got burned on a slant route when ASU junior wide receiver Derek Hagan scored his first touchdown, and sophomore safety Bryan Heinz was left in the dust when Hagan found the end zone again before halftime. Northwestern junior cornerback Jeff Backes was the victim on the backbreaking score ae a 30-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Andrew Walter to sophomore wide receiver Terry Richardson that gave the Sun Devils a 24-7 lead with 8:56 left in the third quarter. And another sure TD was broken-up in Q4 when the aforementioned Mr. Ward recovered from an egregious bite on an out-and up move, closed on the waiting receiver as the ball was in flight and brazenly undressed the receiver before he got it in his paws. Hey, better to take the 15 yard interference call than allow another ASU TD. It's plain obvious. Pass coverage by NU's secondary doesn't merely stink … it's U-G-L-Y. • ASU's Final Offensive Drive A "Stopper." My kingdom for a "Stopper!!!" With NU DC Greg Colby grasping at whatever straws were at hand to shore-up his decimated DL, he abandoned the effective blitz packages on long distance downs during ASU's final offensive drive and went with the 3-man front. Unfortunately, what this defense set lacked in pass rush capability, it equally lacked in rush defense capability owning to the poor play recognition and reaction time profile of the NU LBs. Demetrious Eaton replaced TCU starter Kadela as starting MLB against ASU, and he was more of the same. This series was a baptism of fire for the 'Cats' young LB corps. Bottom line: ASU's offense gained yardage whenever it wanted it in their final series. Funny thing was: NU was very successful at stopping the BumDevil O when they used the 4 man front, often with an accompanying blitz - on first down. Inspecting the game stats shows: 1st & 10 @ A-18 … 2 yards (tackle: McGarigle & Kadela) 1st & 10 @ A-28 … no gain (tackle: Clark) 1st & 10 @ A-43 … 2 yards (tackle: McGarigle) 1st & 10 @ N-43 … 3 yards (tackle: Henderson) 1st & 10 @ N-32 … -1 yard (tackle: Price) 1st & Goal @ N-4 .. -1 yard (tackle: Clark) It's not rocket science here. Use the 4-man front, stop the rush. In most of the 2nd & 3rd down plays following these 1st down stops, Colby reverted to the 3-man front. ASU recognized the liability that this defensive alignment afforded their opponent, and just kept grinding the ball downfield using a balanced attack of their own, intended simply to move the chains and burn the clock. And it worked to perfection. The subsequent FG from the NU 1 yard line garnered a 9 point lead and iced the game for the Bum Devils. This was Ugliest cut of all. This contest's combatants were relatively very similar and equally matched. Either team could have won the game if given a single break or two. Unfortunately for the 'Cats, Jordan's Wake-UP Call fumble was the game-breaker. It wasn't a gift but a true take-away, skillfully executed by the Bum Devils. The Waterboy September 12, 2004 Sun Devils scorch 'Cats Secondary Wildcats drop to 0-2 GAME TWO 1 2 3 4 F Arizona State  3 14  7  6 30 Northwestern  0  7 14  0 21 The Wildcats lost another close contest as the Arizona State passing game proved too much to handle, as was its running game in the crucial final minutes of the fourth quarter. The game started well enough, with the 'Cats taking a 7-3 lead early in the second quarter on a 9-yard touchdown run by Noah Herron. Following a defensive stop of the Sun Devils, the 'Cats drove from their 26 to the Arizona State 27. A missed block doomed an otherwise promising run play for quarterback Brett Basanez for a 1 yard loss. Following an incomplete pass on third down, the Wildcats drew a delay of game penalty while setting up for a field goal. A botched fake punt play on 4th and 13 surrendered the ball to the Sun Devils on their 40. This was arguably the Wildcats' worst fake punt call since Gary Barnett's ill-fated pass on fourth and five at the NU 36 at Iowa in 1998. Arizona State's quarterback Andrew Walter then unleashed an aerial assault that burned the Wildcat's secondary with scoring passes of 47, 41 and 30 yards, carrying into the third quarter. Trailing by 17 points, the Wildcats finally answered with an 88 yard scoring drive, capped by a 25 yard touchdown scamper by backup running back Terrell Jordan. In a bright spot for an otherwise poor showing of the special teams, Brian Huffman kicked a perfect "kick pass" to Reggie McPherson for an onside kick. In just 5 plays the 'Cats scored again on a gutsy 13 yard run by Basanez and the 'Cats were back in the game. Down by 6 points in the fourth quarter, the 'Cats were driving at the sun Devils 26 when Jordan fumbled following a jarring hit from safety Riccardo Stewart. The Sun Devils then bled the clock from 7:42 to 1:19 with a long drive dominated by a successful running attack to set up a final field goal and the 9 point margin. Coach Randy Walker lamented the lack of passion in his troops. Wildcat fans were frustrated with seeing the 'Cats find a way to lose a winnable game. They were also left pondering how the 'Cats had been inside the Sun Devils' 30-yard line on five occasions and came up scoreless. On the positive side, the 'Cats again played competitive football, with a chance to score a go ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter. The offense continued to amass dominating statistics in all but the scoring category. Negatives were the loss of running back Noah Herron following a helmet-to-helmet collision and the porous quality of both the run and pass defenses, as well as poor coverage on special teams. The team needs to find its winning ways in the upcoming game with Kansas, lest it find the season already ¼ over without a win and major competitors looming in the first two Big Ten contests. Scoring Summary (Final) 2004 Northwestern Football Arizona State vs Northwestern (09/11/04 at Evanston, Ill.) Arizona State (2-0) vs. Northwestern (0-2) Date: 09/11/04 Site: Evanston, Ill. Stadium: Ryan Field Attendance: 21939 Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score ----------------- -- -- -- -- ----- Arizona State....... 3 14 7 6 - 30 Northwestern........ 0 7 14 0 - 21 Scoring Summary: 1st 03:36 ASU - Ainsworth, J. 20 yd field goal 7 plays, 24 yards, TOP 3:14, ASU 3 - NU 0 2nd 14:32 NU - Herron, Noah 9 yd run (Huffman, Brian kick) 10 plays, 80 yards, TOP 4:04, ASU 3 - NU 7 07:09 ASU - Hagan, Derek 47 yd pass from Walter, Andrew (Ainsworth, J. kick) 4 plays, 60 yards, TOP 1:50, ASU 10 - NU 7 01:31 ASU - Hagan, Derek 41 yd pass from Walter, Andrew (Ainsworth, J. kick) 7 plays, 69 yards, TOP 1:37, ASU 17 - NU 7 3rd 08:56 ASU - Richardson, T. 30 yd pass from Walter, Andrew (Ainsworth, J. kick) 8 plays, 72 yards, TOP 3:37, ASU 24 - NU 7 04:29 NU - Jordan, Terrell 25 yd run (Huffman, Brian kick) 7 plays, 88 yards, TOP 1:50, ASU 24 - NU 14 02:14 NU - Basanez, Brett 13 yd run (Huffman, Brian kick) 5 plays, 44 yards, TOP 2:15, ASU 24 - NU 21 4th 13:35 ASU - Ainsworth, J. 41 yd field goal 11 plays, 30 yards, TOP 3:39, ASU 27 - NU 21 01:19 ASU - Ainsworth, J. 18 yd field goal 14 plays, 81 yards, TOP 6:23, ASU 30 - NU 21 Kickoff time: 11:02 AM End of Game: 2:33 Total elapsed time: 3:01 Officials: Referee: Dennis Lipski; Umpire: Carl Britt; Linesman: Mike Dolce; Line judge: Tom Krispinsky; Back judge: KevinSwartzel; Field judge: Jim Filson; Side judge: Steve Hassel; Scorer: Marc Grossman; Temperature: 76 Wind: SW-8 Weather: Partly Sunny ID-250665 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team Statistics -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team Statistics (Final) 2004 Northwestern Football Arizona State vs Northwestern (09/11/04 at Evanston, Ill.) ASU NU FIRST DOWNS................... 23 25 Rushing..................... 8 12 Passing..................... 14 11 Penalty..................... 1 2 Rushing Attempts.............. 41 42 Yards Gained Rushing.......... 167 269 Yards Lost Rushing............ 28 34 NET YARDS RUSHING............. 139 235 NET YARDS PASSING............. 292 228 Passes Attempted............ 36 38 Passes Completed............ 19 21 Had Intercepted............. 0 0 TOTAL OFFENSIVE PLAYS......... 77 80 TOTAL NET YARDS............... 431 463 Average Gain Per Play....... 5.6 5.8 Fumbles: Number-Lost.......... 2-0 1-1 Penalties: Number-Yards....... 6-60 5-45 Number of Punts-Yards......... 5-195 7-257 Average Per Punt............ 39.0 36.7 Punt Returns: Number-Yards.... 4-67 2-6 Kickoff Returns: Number-Yards. 2-60 5-80 Interceptions: Number-Yards... 0-0 0-0 Fumble Returns: Number-Yards.. 0-0 0-0 Miscellaneous Yards........... 0 0 Possession Time............... 30:50 29:10 Third-Down Conversions........ 6 of 16 4 of 14 Fourth-Down Conversions....... 1 of 1 0 of 2 Red-Zone Scores-Chances....... 3-3 2-2 Sacks By: Number-Yards........ 3-20 2-15 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Individual Statistics -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Individual Statistics (Final) 2004 Northwestern Football Arizona State vs Northwestern (09/11/04 at Evanston, Ill.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Arizona State Rushing No Gain Loss Net TD Lg Avg ------------------------------------------------- Wade, Loren 24 112 4 108 0 16 4.5 Hill, Randy 10 52 2 50 0 17 5.0 Hill, Hakim 2 1 2 -1 0 1 -0.5 Walter, Andrew 5 2 20 -18 0 2 -3.6 Totals... 41 167 28 139 0 17 3.4 Passing Att-Cmp-Int Yds TD Long Sack ------------------------------------------------- Walter, Andrew 36-19-0 292 3 47 2 Totals... 36-19-0 292 3 47 2 Receiving No. Yds TD Long ---------------------------------------- Hagan, Derek 8 154 2 47 Richardson, T. 5 65 1 30 Mutz, Moey 4 48 0 19 Hill, Hakim 1 14 0 14 Miller, Zach 1 11 0 11 Totals... 19 292 3 47 Punting No. Yds Avg Long In20 ---------------------------------------------- MacDonald, C. 5 195 39.0 44 2 Totals... 5 195 39.0 44 2 Punts Kickoffs Intercept All Returns No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg -------------------------------------------------- Burgess,Rudy 4 67 34 2 60 42 0 0 0 Totals... 4 67 34 2 60 42 0 0 0 Field goal attempts ---------------------------------------- Ainsworth, J. 1st 03:36 20 yds - Good Ainsworth, J. 4th 13:35 41 yds - Good Ainsworth, J. 4th 09:32 47 yds - Missed Ainsworth, J. 4th 01:19 18 yds - Good -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Northwestern Rushing No Gain Loss Net TD Lg Avg ------------------------------------------------- Herron, Noah 17 110 5 105 1 22 6.2 Jordan, Terrell 14 86 1 85 1 31 6.1 Basanez, Brett 8 51 21 30 1 34 3.8 Fields, Jonathan 2 22 0 22 0 16 11.0 TEAM 1 0 7 -7 0 0 -7.0 Totals... 42 269 34 235 3 34 5.6 Passing Att-Cmp-Int Yds TD Long Sack ------------------------------------------------- Basanez, Brett 38-21-0 228 0 34 3 Totals... 38-21-0 228 0 34 3 Receiving No. Yds TD Long ---------------------------------------- Philmore, Mark 6 91 0 29 Fields, Jonathan 5 32 0 15 Horn, Brandon 4 35 0 17 Herbert, Shaun 2 44 0 34 Herron, Noah 2 1 0 2 Aikens, Ashton 1 18 0 18 Jordan, Terrell 1 7 0 7 Totals... 21 228 0 34 Punting No. Yds Avg Long In20 ---------------------------------------------- Huffman, Brian 7 257 36.7 53 1 Totals... 7 257 36.7 53 1 Punts Kickoffs Intercept All Returns No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg -------------------------------------------------- Philmore, Mark 2 6 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 McPherson, Reggie 0 0 0 1 6 6 0 0 0 Backes, Jeff 0 0 0 3 44 18 0 0 0 Jenkins, Derell 0 0 0 1 30 30 0 0 0 Totals... 2 6 4 5 80 30 0 0 0 FUMBLES: Arizona State-Burgess,Rudy 2-0. Northwestern-Jordan, Terrell 1-1. September 9, 2004 From the Waterboy: September 8, 2004 Not Just Another Gunslinger After the utter wackiness of the Horny Toad game, Arizona State offers something more mainstream and, from my point of view, predictable. In the eyes of many pre-season analysts the Bum Devils have the premier college football QB for 2004, Andrew Walter. And upon further review, I must agree that Walter & his WRs did not fail to deliver as expected in ASU's season opener against UTEP. Granted, the UTEP Mooners are far from formidable competition on the defensive side of the ball; but when facing ASU's passing game, Walter and company summarily led the Mooner secondary to the woodshed with shovel in hand, beat them bloody and then buried the shovel. By Q4, after Walter toasted the Mooner D for 240 yards and 3 TDs, ASU HC Dirk Koetter invoked the mercy rule, ended his quality QB's play for the day and brought in his backup QB, who promptly uncorked a 68 yard bomb to seal the deal against the Mooners, 41-9. Thank you very much UTEP… you can pick up your pride and your jockstraps hanging on the goalposts on your way back to the locker room. Mind you, this was the same Andrew Walter, who last year was 'sposed to dazzle & bewilder defenses and send the Bum Devils to a quality post season bowl. However, though his seasonal stats of 3000-plus passing yards and 24 TDs were very commendable, over the course of the 2003 season, Walter contracted a reoccurring bad ankle injury and surrounded himself with a Bum Devil offense that simply didn't live up to their preseason hype. As a result, the ASU O proved themselves to be nothing less than one big collective dud and was a major contributor to the Bum Devils being recognized by every national media service as the NCAA's most overrated, underachieving team in Division 1A. But that was then, this is now. And unfortunately for the 'Cats, ASU now looks like they are prepared to make good on all the unfulfilled promises of last year's debacle. While UTEP was the appetizer to the main entrée that is the Bum Devil's upcoming PAC-10 conference schedule, NU is viewed as their season's potage course. With Walter and his primary big play target, WR Derek Hagan, seemingly reading from the same script, and the specter of a Bum Devil defense that enticed the UTEP QB into 4 picks, one of which was returned 48 yards for a TD in Q2 to cap a 24-0 ASU scoring run, this game has blowout written all over it - or if BB continues his accurate passing display, an aerial circus shootout. NU vs. the Bum Devils - Keys to the Game First, let me reiterate the caveat from my TCU preview - my predictions are just that… personal predictions based on what I saw last week and what might be expected this week as a direct, subsequent corollary. And what the TCU game showed is: anything can happen and, when it comes to the 2004 'Cats, it will… so expect it. Kinda sounds like the "Expect Victory" advertising buzz phrase from the Dark Ages, but in this case, there is great truth to it. No one but no one ever expected TCU's highly reputed defensive secondary to throw-in a clunker. And who would have ever expected the new and improved Brett Basanez to exploit their ineptitude and throw like, well, the 3rd year version of that freshman All-American QB from two seasons ago. Or for BB's wideouts to run crisp, disciplined routes, then make the grab with soft, sure hands, then, on top of it all, to make the Horny Toad secondary look like they were wearing 40 lb spikes when trying to cover them. And conversely, who would ever have expected Jerry Brown's DBs to resemble traffic cones in their own coverage schemes. I was wide right on virtually every prediction. So understand: this is simply another hard foot strike against a ball that has been set-up on the turf by the place holder on the opponent's 25-yard line. Get "The Herring" in Gear This key is simply a reaffirmation of what I had expected offensively from the 'Cats against TCU: a true, dominating ground game. Now more than ever, the balanced attack not just critical, it's an absolute necessity. NU must control the game clock with a time consuming rushing attack, complemented by a reliable, pin-point accurate passing game - as much to shorten the game as to keep the Bum Devil's very high quality passing offense riding pine rather than burning NU's extremely suspect secondary for quick strikes. Crucial to this ground game is high quality field play of the 'Cat OL. Contrary to what many on the Pollyanna Board have posted, TCU did not stack the box constantly. On occasion, the 4-3, 3-4 blitz package and the gap 8 was used, especially in very obvious short yardage situations (like OT #2). But in general, the Horny Toads used their standard 3-3-5 formation and were effective at neutralizing the highly touted NU ground game by controlling the LOS. Point of fact: with the NU offense employing true spread formations, most having 4-5 receiver sets, this forced 5-on-6 blocking assignments. If the stack LBs are tasked to shoot gaps wherever they show, a box defender is gonna come free. If a double-team is used at the point of attack, executed either by design or by mistake, that leaves 2 uncovered/unblocked defenders looking for the ball. This happened often against TCU and it "looked" like the Frogs were stacking the box with numbers, but in truth, they were merely recognizing the point of attack, then attacking it with utter abandon. NU's OL were clearly indecisive in recognizing Horny Toad defensive sets, causing them to be hesitant when getting off the snap and locking horns with their blocking targets, for fear of making a critical play-ending blunder. However, notice, that this run defense strategy opened-up the passing lanes for NU WRs. I would never have imagined NU fielding 2 100-plus receiving yards wideouts: one with 130-plus yards and another with an eye-popping 200-plus yards!!!. That's a major negative and is a real possibility against a gambling, "shoot-the-gap" rush defense. Thank Gawd that BB was up to the opportunity that the TCU gamble presented. The Bum Devils sport a 4-2-5 defense with a Devil Back, essentially a DB having LB rush responsibilities. So it boils down to a 4-3-4 formation - what 70% of the Big 10/11 use as their standard "bread-n-butter" defensive set. Michigan does this as well, calling their rover DB: a "Wolfman" (B-F-D). The Bum Devil line has 2 converted LBs who are very quick and get consistent separation from their blockers via their speed off the snap, but are undersized. Their LBs are undersized as well, but have exceptional sideline-to-sideline speed, à la Bears MLB Brian Urlacher. This doesn't necessarily equate to an NU advantage, but against this more familiar defensive front, NU's projected blocking schemes should be more recognizable and the subsequent block assignment calls made by OC Trevor Rees will be that much quicker and appropriate. Add to the mix that our Master and Commander has recognized his own deficiency in "not running" his 1st teamers much before the TCU game, there will be increased motivation for NU's OL to get off the LOS at the snap. If line coach Patten lights his own fire under his troops, this is gonna get interesting. Lateral quickness by the ASU DL will translate to vulnerability to cross blocks, traps and counters against established offensive flow. I wanna see Ulrich pull across the center's behind and pancake an opposite-side penetrating DE into the first 5 rows of the stands with "The Herring" cutting right off his butt into open space beyond the LOS. I'd love to see Ulrich cross to lock horns with his side's DE, while Strief fills inside hard behind Matt's first step, brings the cross hairs on the inside defender and blows him up with Baz cutting off his butt after a well-executed fake to "The Herring" in rush flow away from the cross block action. The 'Cat OL must shake off their rushing block miscues of last week and raise their collective level of play. Get off the snap, keep the feet moving and maintain contact with your blocking targets. This should translate to "The Herring" gaining 150 yards minimum on 25 carries. BB could very well see his own 50-plus yard rushing day. BB's Revival, Part II I was as pleasantly surprised and enthusiastic as any NU football fan upon witnessing Brett Basanez' "return-to-form" performance against the Horny Toads; but I'm not going to allow the euphoria of the moment to blind me to the fact that it was a single game. Mind you it was significant, but it was still just one game. Suffice it to say that what he did against the Horny Toads last week was to make the most of the open opportunity presented to him. In essence, he captured, in action, the traditional definition of "Luck": when preparation meets opportunity. As far as I could tell, TCU's DBs looked confused and reverted to holding and early hits to neutralize the speed and quickness of NU's wideouts. When they weren't getting yellow laundry launched their way during an ensuing pass play, the Horny Toad secondary couldn't get nor maintain contact with the NU receivers. Man was it good to see 'Cat WR Jonathan Fields end his 2 year hiatus in RW's dog house and fulfill the promise of what his practice-time reputation had predicted. This guy can flat-out fly - especially after the grab. Philmore was no slouch either, along wth many other NU WRs. And above it all, BB distributed the bean on target and with precision. This Saturday, it is even more important that Baz repeat his excellent passing attack performance for NU to maintain offensive ball control and coerce the Bum Devil defense to honor their pass coverage responsibilities. Individual members of ASU's secondary definitely don't have the pre-season media hype given TCU's DBs; but make no mistake - collectively, this unit competes in a much stronger conference against much stronger offensive competition and therefore, IMHO, are much better defenders. 'Cat OC Mike Dunbar must devise an offensive game plan where the ASU secondary must address their pass coverage duties first and run support second. If this is accomplished, the Bum Devil DBs will hesitate slightly in their transition from pass coverage to run support. It's in this momentary hesitation where a receiver, running a disciplined pass route, gains separation from his cover DB. Once a wideout achieves that step or two of separation, BB must scan the field, recognize the open receiver then deliver the pill on target. Then repeat. And repeat. And repeat again. If executed often enough in conjunction with NU's OL launching themselves off the LOS at the snap, getting to their blocking targets and opening holes for "The Herring" and BB to rush at will, the 'Cat O will move the chains while the clock continues to burn. Hitting that open receiver will open-up the 'Cat ground game. I know that this key is a repeat of last week, but it applies even more against ASU because their O is so very dependent upon an effective passing game. And owning to the glaring coverage deficiencies of Jerry Brown's Band of Dubious Renown which were uncovered in last week's TCU game, any opposing OC who has a quality passing attack in his offensive arsenal is gonna lick his chops at the prospect of facing such weak sister pass coverage. Brett Basanez must shoulder his passing attack responsibility load and become a 2nd major offensive component in that game control strategy. Meet At the QB Owning to QB Walter's reputed high level passing skillset, ASU's first attack option of choice is to throw the ball and distribute it into all sectors within an opponent's secondary. And with the prospect of ASU's quality WRs, like AA candidate Derek Hagan, running in, around and through NU's porous secondary, this option will be employed early and often. If you thought TCU had quick strike capability, the Bum Devils sport a passing offense that is 2 levels above that of the Horny Toads. The thought is frightening. I'm not discounting the ability of Jerry's Kids to get their collective heads out from their blue moons and into the game plan at hand to execute their pass coverage responsibilities successfully; but the realist in me dictates that I recognize this squad as NU's biggest defensive liability and is gonna be treated like a red-haired stepchild and get thoroughly abused by the Bum Devil passing attack. Reflecting on what was done defensively during the TCU game, I expect that Mr. Brown, once again, will be desperately seeking assistance from the 'Cat pass rush to take some of the pressure off his DBs to cover Bum Devil receivers. And with the departure of LoHo for the rest of the season and DE Castillo's current elbow injury rendering him with only a single gun as he enters this firefight, this is a daunting prospect. It means that other members of NU's DL must rise again to fill the gaps. DE David Thompson is in the spotlight once more; as are Messrs. Clark, Cofield and Ngene. NU DC Greg Colby answered JB's 911 call in Q3 of the TCU game by letting loose his LBs with timely blitzes and reddogs. It was enough to keep the experienced Horny Toad QB, Tye Gunn, relatively pre-occupied through Q3 and part of Q4 when he was overthrowing receivers frequently. Although Gunn regained enough poise to convert the emotional momentum of BB's only INT of the game and exploit the inviting, wide-open deep middle third of NU secondary in Q4 with a quick TD strike, the added pressure of NU's blitz packages rattled the TCU QB into a period of inconsistency, which helped turn the ball over to the 'Cat O often enough to overcome a 14 point deficit and tie the game at 31. Well folks, Bum Devil QB Andrew Walter is an even more formidable QB and must be pressured continually from the opening whistle to the final gun. I don't know how or even if this can be done, especially since NU's D will be minus the services of 2 quality starters in DE Howard and OLB Pickens, and are seriously banged-up on their remaining best defensive lineman, Castillo. Therefore, this task falls squarely in the laps of the 'Cat LB corps. As a unit, NU LBs McGarigle, Kadela and Roach were serviceable, not spectacular, when executing their defensive rush or pass assignments during the TCU game. However, they were recognizably effective when executing their blitz packages. Against ASU, they must raise the level of their field play 2 notches or QB Walter is gonna have a field day. The NU backers must leave their collective inexperience in the locker room and play like men possessed - singularly focused on applying pressure to Walter. I'd be blitzing on first down, every down, to get 5 defenders attacking the ASU OL from different angles. I'd also crash the DEs hard from the defensive corner contain into the ASU backfield to compress the space in which Walter can operate. Will it be enough? I truly can't say, but pressure on the ASU QB is the only way that the 'Cats are gonna slow down the expected aerial circus that ASU will unleash in Dyche's Ditch this Saturday. To be sure, the ASU passing attack will not be stopped, but NU must keep it controlled by any means possible. The Phoenix Simply stated, 'Cat PK Brian Huffman must rise from the ashes of his FG kicking debacle/meltdown against TCU, get his head on straight and be totally prepared to get every FG and PAT point he can. We all know what the conversion any one of his 5 missed FGs would have meant to the 'Cats last Saturday. He knows it as well. Amnesia would be best here. The ASU game necessitates that Mr. Huffman performs to that high level of accuracy and consistency that he demonstrated throughout the 'Cats' Kamp Kenosha practices. This necessity is nothing short of paramount. If the ball is driven into the Bum Devil red zone and the 'Cats come-up short on putting the ball over the goal line, the available 3 points must be seized. NU cannot afford the luxury of missing any opportunity to put points on the scoreboard. Not with the potent ASU offense waiting in the wings to gain possession after the miss and complete their own drive to paydirt. Conclusion This one is very tough to predict. Before ASU's game against UTEP, I had visions of the Bum Devils rolling into Dyche's Ditch, echoing the same bumbling, inconsistent O that was fielded in 2003. Well, that was then, this is now. Now all the offensive miscues and foibles of last season seem to have been reversed, at least against the UTEP Mooners. The Bum Devils have a monster weapon in QB Walter. By far, IMHO, he will be THE best QB the 'Cats will face this season, including Purdue's Kyle Orton and Hawai`i's Tim Chang. NU doesn't have a snowball's chance in Hell unless NU's pass defense comes to play. The game simply comes down to the effectiveness of this unit - especially that of Jerry's Kids. If the squad improves from being porous to serviceable, where they are moderately effective in keeping the passed ball in front of them and limiting ASU receptions and YACs, then the door to victory opens a crack. If the 'Cat O exercises our Master and Commander's designed balanced attack, employing a dominant ground game and a complimentary, opportunistic passing game to sustain long, clock-burning offensive drives, the contest could turn into a controlled shootout. One in which ASU's offense shoots long-distance darts, while NU answers by methodically pounding the ball down the field. Sounds kinda like the TCU game, no? Well, my game keys are very similar. But if NU's secondary does its infamous impression of a sieve when defending the ASU passing game, the 'Cats are not gonna make-up 14 point deficits like they accomplished on 3 occasions against TCU. This game has great potential to turn ugly, fast. Prediction NU : 31 Bum Devils : 42 I can't see Jerry Brown's Band of Dubious Renown able to improve their coverage techniques enough in only 9 days to stem the expected aerial juggernaut that the Bum Devils are gonna launch into the face of Cap'n Vlasic and his second mate, DC Greg Colby. What's the story on NU's pass defense? The preface was seen in the TCU game. It will be Chapter One against ASU. More chapters of the same old story lie ahead. I'm sorry to say that the PickleMeister just doesn't have the horses (or recruits) to run this race. The Waterboy September 3, 2004 From the Waterboy: September 3, 2004 The Twilight Zone Rod Serling's voice should have been dubbed as color commentator into the game's telecast. That deep intonation would have been perfectly apropos for the bizarre and totally whacked-out field play that transpired in the NU's vs. TCU contest. 1. I predicted a balanced 'Cat offense was the only way we could keep the powerful Horny Toad offense at bay by winning the time-of-possession sweepstakes to keep them off the field. Unfortunately, for 90% of the game, the TCU offense was kept off the field only after they completed another of their quick strike scoring plays. 2. I predicted that NU offensive coordinator Mike Dunbar needed to establish the running game to set-up the passing game and take the ponderous pressure to perform away from Brett Basanez. In truth, Noah "The Herring" Herron's (who was called "Herring" approximately 50% of the time by every broadcaster calling the game) rushing attack was a virtual non-factor for most of the contest. I predicted that NU's offensive line would blast the relatively inexperienced, overmatched TCU DL off the LOS and dominate. They didn't - even when facing only 5 to 6 defenders in the box. I might say that the entire OL unit stunk up the field, except that they were instrumental in the success of the Purple passing attack. But on rushing plays, NU's vaunted offensive front five were inept and inconsistent, blowing block after block, rush after rush. Over the entire game, there might have been a total 5 rushing plays where everyone on the 'Cat OL successfully completed their blocking assignments. Were Carl Eller, Alan Page and Jim Marshall wearing TCU helmets? No, but the bumbling, stumbling field play of the 'Cat OL made it appear like those NFL hall-of-famers were opposing them across the LOS. 3. I predicted that BB's performance needed to compliment "The Herring's" rushing showcase and keep the chains moving as a "keep 'em honest" alternative attack to the 'Cats' devastating ground game. Nothing could have been further from reality as the game against the Horny Toads unfolded. Baz stood as NU's primary offensive monolith from virtually the first offensive series to the last. Truly, BB was not the liability of 2003, but proved to be Dunbar's premier attack option, delivering the goods with regularity, precision and true leadership for the entire night. 4. I predicted that the Horny Toad's defensive strength lie in their experienced secondary. BB and his receiving corps exposed this squad for exactly what they are: tremendously overrated pass defenders. Basically they looked weak and confused and could not keep-up with the NU WRs except to hold them. The television broadcast replayed at least 4 glaring, obvious pass interference plays on the Horny Toad DBs which were never called. From my limited view of the field play, I could see TCU defensive holds and wrap-ups on every pass play. TCU's defense, especially against the pass, is very bad - period. 5. Yippie!!! In my post-Kenosha review, I said that I had complete confidence in NU's FG unit and the consistency they showed in making FGs within the 25-35 yard range. Was I wide right on that one, or what? FG kicker Huffman was in his own personal Twilight Zone, having contracted the most debilitating case of the yips that I've ever witnessed in a collegiate football game over my lifetime. I feel for Mr. Huffman and know how much he feels like snail trail. But suffice it to say, Our Master and Commander showed total confidence in his kicker, and this was not lost on the NU team. It showed that Walker will depend upon and back up his players 100%. That's class. I never could have foreseen the nearly 1200 yards total offense between both combatants. I would never have foreseen BB's over 500 yard passing. Or over 60 pass plays executed. Or 2 NU wideouts, each with over 100 yards receiving. Or that after all the offensive pyrotechnics displayed during regulation time, there only would be 3 points scored in 2 overtimes by both teams combined. What a night! What a nightmare!! I'm still hearing the Theme from The Twilight Zone echoing in my ears!!! How NU lost to the Horny Toads Got Defense? Who needs a defense when your offense is completing passes at will and scoring via the long range strike both on the ground and through the air. TCU had the following scoring PLAYS (note these are not scoring drives): 20 yard run; 82 yard pass, 40 yard pass, 22 yard run and 24 yard pass. That's some kinda long-range shooting my friend. 'Cat DC Greg Colby and his troops never did get even a modicum of control of the game until about midway through Q3. That's when the CheeseMeister seemed to say, "To hell with it, I'm gonna shoot back at the Frogs and let the chips fall where they may." Over the last 20 minutes of the game, he blitzed and reddogged Horny Toad QB Tye Gunn on practically every down. And it was effective… to a point. Gunn saw heavy lumber swung his way, got rattled and started to overthrow his receivers. Up to then, he looked like the 2nd coming of Joe Gun (that's Joe Montana, of Noted Dames lore). Problem was: NU always fell behind because, ultimately, the 'Cat D couldn't stop the TCU attack with any consistency. Of note was the dismal performance of the NU DBs. CB Jeff Backes, in particular, had an absolutely abysmal game and was targeted early by the Horny Toad offensive braintrust for attack by the TCU passing game. Safety Bryan Heinz was equally handcuffed in his inability to keep any TCU receiver in front of him - with or without the ball. If yardage was needed, the TCU QB looked first to the receiver covered by either of these two, and more often than not, got what he wanted - a completion and substantive YAC. And secondary coach Jerry Brown could only hope and pray for help from the NU pass rush to help stop the bleeding. The blitz packages shoved into Gunn's mug was a primary factor in NU outscoring TCU 17-3 in Q3, tying the game at 31 apiece at the start of Q4. But in the end, the Horny Toads kept adding another TD against Jerry's Kids to break NU's hard-fought ties. Ouch!! Stuffed Pigs Or more appropriately: Stuffed Hogs (as in the Washington Redskin Offensive Line: The Hogs). I really don't know why, but the final result was obvious. NU's offensive front five simply didn't get the job done regarding the NU rush attack. It's difficult to assess the reasons because a television football broadcast focuses primarily on following the football. When viewing a game in person, I concentrate on the offensive line. An OL will tell you where the ball is going, what strategy is being employed to set the point of attack, how that point is attacked, etc… I couldn't see any of that. However, I did notice that TCU did not stack the box as expected, because 'Cat OC Dunbar used the pass early and often to attack the Horny Toad defense from the opening gun and BB was on the mark - forcing TCU to keep their secondary in "pass defense first" mode. From what I could tell, the Horny Toads used a 3-3-5 formation for 75% of the game, with the occasional 4-3 or 3-4 thrown-in as an alternative defensive look. But in general, TCU defended NU's ground game with only 6 defenders. And truth be told, those 6 defenders stuffed NU's offensive front five. Kudos to the Horny Toad DC. He had gotten those players ready and willing to face the reputed strength of the NU attack, and they delivered - at least as filling running lanes went. "The Herring" had never did get the expected grind-it-out ground game in gear because no one on the NU OL could maintain contact with his blocking target. In the end, "The Herring" did get 100 yards, but I could only remember 1 or 2 rushes of note where he got good blocking up front and blasted into open space behind the TCU DL. The rest of the time, NU's OL looked like they were confused or uncertain in their blocking assignments and hesitant to just blast someone of the LOS. Thank God for the effectiveness of the 'Cat passing attack. I Got a Hold on You Tonight… I went ballistic several times throughout the game because of the many more-than-obvious holds by the Horny Toad secondary against NU wideouts that were not called - often under the very noses of the field judges. Some may call this crying in my beer, but the un-flagged interference calls had major impact on the final score. As stated above, replays of critical pass plays showed blatant two-handed grabs or full half-Nelsons applied to Wildcat WRs, long before the ball arrived. Even the folks in the broadcast booth began to voice their incredulity during the telecast. If these interference penalties had been called, I feel that NU had a very good chance to add 1 maybe 2 additional TD scoring opportunities, instead of FG attempts or punts. Just look at the replays of the ensuing NU offensive series following the INT by 'Cat Safety Price at the end of Q3. Yeah, Yeah, I know… it's all so much "shoulda, woulda, coulda." From all of this, only one conclusion could be drawn: TCU's secondary could not maintain contact with the NU WRs and were forced into the holds or early hit strategy. If the ball was just 5 to 10 more yards closer to the goal line, could it have made a difference regarding the missed FGs? IMHO, the answer is a resounding YES. Never Miss an Opportunity 5 opportunities presented… 5 opportunities missed. 'Nuff said. Conclusions In spite of the glaring defensive deficiencies displayed by NU's D, the 'Cats never should have lost this game. With a Horny Toad secondary doing its best imitation of the NU secondary's traffic cone pass coverages, the game was there for the taking. In the end, the 'Cats and Horny Toads swapped TDs in Q4 - with the Frogs always regaining the lead after every tying score by NU. Needless to say, the game-breaker was the Horny Toad INT on the tipped pass off NU WR Philmore at the TCU 10. If the pass falls incomplete and the 'Cats retain possession, instead of the INT return and personal foul placing the ball at the NU 44 with 5 minutes left, I feel NU takes the lead and control of the game on a subsequent, clock-burning scoring drive for the win with less than a minute left. But this is all speculation. The best thing to come-out of this game: the 'Cats showed their "Never Say Die" attitude to the final gun. This game is definitely something that Our Master and Commander can build upon. It's also a contest that could steel the resolve of the 'Cats into knowing what it takes to seize control of a football game and keep it. Now, about you big-headed offensive linemen … The Waterboy 'Cats drop a Wild Opener Passing Game Sparkles in 48-45 Overtime Loss GAME ONE 1 2 3 4 OT1 OT2 F Northwestern  0 14 17 14  0  0 45 Texas Christian 14 14  3 14  0  3 48 Scoring Summary (Final) 2004 Northwestern Football Northwestern vs TCU (09/02/04 at Fort Worth, Texas) Northwestern (0-1) vs. TCU (1-0) Date: 09/02/04 Site: Fort Worth, Texas Stadium: Amon G. Carter Attendance: 26843 Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 OT [ 5 ] Score ----------------- -- -- -- -- -- [ - ] ----- Northwestern........ 0 14 17 14 0 [ 0 ] - 45 TCU................. 14 14 3 14 3 [ 3 ] - 48 Scoring Summary: 1st 12:09 TCU - HARRELL, Reggie 20 yd pass from GUNN, Tye (LOCOCO, Peter kick failed) 6 plays, 80 yards, TOP 2:51, NU 0 - TCU 6 03:31 TCU - DEPRIEST, M. 82 yd pass from GUNN, Tye (MERRILL, Robert rush) 3 plays, 80 yards, TOP 0:54, NU 0 - TCU 14 2nd 13:50 NU - Herron, Noah 2 yd run (Huffman, Brian kick) 10 plays, 75 yards, TOP 4:36, NU 7 - TCU 14 11:59 TCU - HARRELL, Reggie 40 yd pass from GUNN, Tye (LOCOCO, Peter kick) 5 plays, 78 yards, TOP 1:47, NU 7 - TCU 21 08:29 NU - Fields, Jonathan 6 yd pass from Basanez, Brett (Huffman, Brian kick) 10 plays, 79 yards, TOP 3:24, NU 14 - TCU 21 05:33 TCU - HOBBS, Lonta 22 yd run (LOCOCO, Peter kick) 8 plays, 68 yards, TOP 2:48, NU 14 - TCU 28 3rd 10:39 NU - Huffman, Brian 41 yd field goal 13 plays, 55 yards, TOP 4:15, NU 17 - TCU 28 06:00 TCU - LOCOCO, Peter 37 yd field goal 12 plays, 65 yards, TOP 4:38, NU 17 - TCU 31 05:33 NU - Fields, Jonathan 63 yd pass from Basanez, Brett (Huffman, Brian kick) 3 plays, 63 yards, TOP 0:20, NU 24 - TCU 31 01:32 NU - Herron, Noah 16 yd run (Huffman, Brian kick) 7 plays, 58 yards, TOP 3:01, NU 31 - TCU 31 4th 11:55 TCU - HOBBS, Lonta 4 yd run (LOCOCO, Peter kick) 10 plays, 68 yards, TOP 3:20, NU 31 - TCU 38 10:09 NU - Fields, Jonathan 69 yd pass from Basanez, Brett (Huffman, Brian kick) 3 plays, 65 yards, TOP 1:46, NU 38 - TCU 38 03:00 TCU - RODGERS, Cory 24 yd pass from GUNN, Tye (LOCOCO, Peter kick) 5 plays, 44 yards, TOP 1:48, NU 38 - TCU 45 00:09 NU - Herbert, Shaun 8 yd pass from Basanez, Brett (Huffman, Brian kick) 11 plays, 73 yards, TOP 2:46, NU 45 - TCU 45 OT 15:00 TCU - LOCOCO, Peter 47 yd field goal 8 plays, 0 yards, TOP 0:00, NU 45 - TCU 48 Kickoff time: 8:36 pm End of Game: 12:27 Total elapsed time: 3:51 Officials: Referee: Bill LeMonnier; Umpire: Rick Nelson; Linesman: Brent Durbin; Line judge: Julius Livas; Back judge: Dennis Morris; Field judge: Bobby Sagers; Side judge: Jon Lucivansky; Scorer: TCU SID; Temperature: 83 Wind: 7 mph SE Weather: Hot and humid Team Statistics Team Statistics (Final) 2004 Northwestern Football Northwestern vs TCU (09/02/04 at Fort Worth, Texas) NU TCU FIRST DOWNS................... 32 22 Rushing..................... 10 6 Passing..................... 19 16 Penalty..................... 3 0 NET YARDS RUSHING............. 124 157 Rushing Attempts............ 38 36 Average Per Rush............ 3.3 4.4 Yards Gained Rushing........ 137 176 Yards Lost Rushing.......... 13 19 NET YARDS PASSING............. 513 368 Completions-Attempts-Int.... 39-62-1 20-38-1 Average Per Attempt......... 8.3 9.7 Average Per Completion...... 13.2 18.4 TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS........... 637 525 Total offense plays......... 100 74 Average Gain Per Play....... 6.4 7.1 Fumbles: Number-Lost.......... 0-0 3-1 Penalties: Number-Yards....... 3-27 7-65 PUNTS-YARDS................... 2-87 4-157 Average Yards Per Punt...... 43.5 39.2 Net Yards Per Punt.......... 44.0 34.5 Inside 20................... 2 0 50+ Yards................... 0 1 Touchbacks.................. 0 0 Fair catch.................. 1 1 KICKOFFS-YARDS................ 8-419 8-470 Average Yards Per Kickoff... 52.4 58.8 Net Yards Per Kickoff....... 40.4 41.1 Touchbacks.................. 1 0 Punt returns: Number-Yards-TD. 2-19-0 1--1-0 Average Per Return.......... 9.5 -1.0 Kickoff returns: Number-Yds-TD 7-141-0 6-96-0 Average Per Return.......... 20.1 16.0 Interceptions: Number-Yds-TD.. 1-0-0 1-29-0 Fumble Returns: Number-Yds-TD. 0-0-0 0-0-0 Miscellaneous Yards........... 0 -77 Possession Time............... 34:35 25:25 1st Quarter................. 9:05 5:55 2nd Quarter................. 8:54 6:06 3rd Quarter................. 8:49 6:11 4th Quarter................. 7:47 7:13 OT Quarter................. 0:00 0:00 Third-Down Conversions........ 7 of 18 6 of 14 Fourth-Down Conversions....... 2 of 3 0 of 0 Red-Zone Scores-Chances....... 4-7 3-4 Sacks By: Number-Yards........ 2-7 0-0 PAT Kicks..................... 6-6 5-4 Field Goals................... 1-6 2-3 Individual Statistics Individual Statistics (Final) 2004 Northwestern Football Northwestern vs TCU (09/02/04 at Fort Worth, Texas) Northwestern Rushing No Gain Loss Net TD Lg Avg ------------------------------------------------- Herron, Noah 28 100 6 94 2 19 3.4 Basanez, Brett 7 37 2 35 0 22 5.0 Jordan, Terrell 3 0 5 -5 0 0 -1.7 Totals... 38 137 13 124 2 22 3.3 Passing Att-Cmp-Int Yds TD Long Sack ------------------------------------------------- Basanez, Brett 62-39-1 513 4 69 0 Totals... 62-39-1 513 4 69 0 Receiving No. Yds TD Long ---------------------------------------- Philmore, Mark 12 131 0 32 Fields, Jonathan 8 202 3 69 Aikens, Ashton 8 87 0 20 Herbert, Shaun 5 43 1 15 Herron, Noah 4 39 0 12 Jones, Taylor 1 8 0 8 Thompson, Kim 1 3 0 3 Totals... 39 513 4 69 Punting No. Yds Avg Long In20 ---------------------------------------------- Huffman, Brian 2 87 43.5 44 2 Totals... 2 87 43.5 44 2 Punts Kickoffs Intercept All Returns No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg -------------------------------------------------- Philmore, Mark 2 19 19 0 0 0 0 0 0 Jenkins, Derell 0 0 0 5 86 20 0 0 0 Backes, Jeff 0 0 0 2 55 33 0 0 0 Price, Dominique 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Totals... 2 19 19 7 141 33 1 0 0 Field goal attempts ---------------------------------------- Huffman, Brian 1st 09:49 45 yds - Missed Huffman, Brian 1st 04:25 31 yds - Missed Huffman, Brian 2nd 00:19 27 yds - Missed Huffman, Brian 3rd 10:39 41 yds - Good Huffman, Brian OT 15:00 25 yds - Missed Huffman, Brian OT 15:00 38 yds - Missed TCU Rushing No Gain Loss Net TD Lg Avg ------------------------------------------------- HOBBS, Lonta 23 143 1 142 2 22 6.2 GUNN, Tye 8 33 14 19 0 18 2.4 MERRILL, Robert 3 0 2 -2 0 0 -0.7 TEAM 2 0 2 -2 0 0 -1.0 Totals... 36 176 19 157 2 22 4.4 Passing Att-Cmp-Int Yds TD Long Sack ------------------------------------------------- GUNN, Tye 38-20-1 368 4 82 2 Totals... 38-20-1 368 4 82 2 Receiving No. Yds TD Long ---------------------------------------- HARRELL, Reggie 5 95 2 40 RODGERS, Cory 4 51 1 24 DEPRIEST, M. 3 125 1 82 HARMON, Q. 2 35 0 22 HOBBS, Lonta 2 14 0 8 MCCARTY, Cody 1 25 0 25 BROCK, Marcus 1 11 0 11 MERRILL, Robert 1 9 0 9 ANDRUS, Chad 1 3 0 3 Totals... 20 368 4 82 Punting No. Yds Avg Long In20 ---------------------------------------------- BRAZIEL, John 4 157 39.2 50 0 Totals... 4 157 39.2 50 0 Punts Kickoffs Intercept All Returns No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg -------------------------------------------------- RODGERS, Cory 1 -1 0 4 89 39 0 0 0 DEPRIEST, M. 0 0 0 1 7 7 0 0 0 ANDRUS, Chad 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 GODBOLT, Marvin 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 29 29 Totals... 1 -1 0 6 96 39 1 29 29 Field goal attempts ---------------------------------------- LOCOCO, Peter 3rd 06:00 37 yds - Good LOCOCO, Peter OT 15:00 25 yds - Blocked LOCOCO, Peter OT 15:00 47 yds - Good FUMBLES: Northwestern-None. TCU-GUNN, Tye 1-0; HOBBS, Lonta 1-1; ANDRUS, Chad 1-0.

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