Oct. 12, 2018
Clayton Thorson – The Return 1.0
It’s always been so very difficult to pin-down the causes, but some
teams simply have another team’s number, regardless of the sport.
Over the past 4 decades, the Io_a Hog Eyes always gave the NU Wildcat
teams fits, especially when it comes to football, softball and
baseball. The ‘Cats can be the hottest sporting commodity in the
B1G, and then the Purple will face-off against the Hog-Eyes and the
bottom seemingly drops-out of the whole damn thing. For a
red-letter example, look no further than NU’s 2000 football season, the
second under HC Randy Walker, who was a stop-gap replacement for Saint
Gary Barnett, who left Wildcat HC position in pursuit of his dream HC
job at Colorado in 1999.
After the 1999 season, one in which the gridiron Wildcats sleepwalked
their way to a wholly non-descript 3-8 record, Walker realized that his
milquetoast O had hit the wall and was going nowhere. And with
his decision to hand the upcoming season’s starting QB reins over to
soon-to-be-Senior Zak Kustok, the former 4-star high school recruit who
had transferred from the Noted Dames to the ‘Cats that previous summer,
Walker realized he needed a fresh approach to his replace standard,
predictable offensive playbook. So over that same summer, he
sought the advice of then spread offense gurus, Rich Rodriguez (Yes,
THAT Rich Rod) and Mark Martz, who taught Mr. Walker the nuances of an
innovative twist to an old-school option offense called “The Spread”
which featured a zone read option play series coupled with its
alternative run-pass option play series (both of which, in recent
years, have become game plan staples in the collegiate football
offensive paradigm). When Walker introduced the 2000 Wildcat O to
his version of “The Spread,” modified to accentuate the strengths of
his personnel, the Purple offense became virtually unstoppable.
In fact, the ‘Cats Spread Offense went totally bonkers, scoreboard
wise, against their B1G foes – scoring 47 points against then No. 7
Wisky; 37 points against then No. 18 Moo U.; 52 against the Indy
WhoZits; 41 against the Golden Rodents and 54 points in the Instant
Classic 2000 NU vs Meat-Chicken contest at Dyche’s Ditch. The
only blemish over the ‘Cats’ first 6 B1G conference games that fall was
a 28-41 stumble against their protected rival Perdue and their
All-Everything QB Drew Brees (Yes, THAT Drew Brees – the NFL’s GOAT in
passing yardage & passing TDs). Well, the then No. 12
Wildcats headed to Io_a S#itty City and a gridiron grapple with the 2-8
Hog-Eyes in what was advertised by many collegiate pigskin pundits to
be a virtual walk-over “W” for the prohibitive favorite ‘Cats and their
newly installed Spread attack. However, 2nd year Hog-Eye HC, Kirk
Ferenz, and his team wasn’t listening to any of this white noise b.s.;
and, instead of rolling over & playing possum, the Hog-Eyes handled
Walker’s Spread O with apparent ease, limiting the ‘Cats to a regular
season low score of 17 points, as they hung a well-earned 10-point “L”
on the full-of-themselves Wildcats. If any college football fan
wants to witness the underlying competitive foundation that fuels the
on-going enmity between the Wildcats & the Hog-Eyes, he/she need
only look at the video of this particular donnybrook. The
Hog-Eyes just seem have NU’s competitive number in key contests.
Well, as counterpoint, it seems like NU frequently has the number of
Moo U. Whereas, HC Mark Dantonio’s Green Meanies can best most
any other team on any given Saturday, even the Big Bad Dogs of the
B1G’s East Division, like Meat-Chicken or State Penn, Moo U seemingly
is more inclined to lay a proverbial egg when competing with the
Wildcats, especially as of late. Mind you, it’s not a dominance
thing; no, far from it. It’s just that, perennially, Moo U
mentally comes-out flat when facing Fitz’ Wildcats. And last
Saturday’s contest was a case in point…
How the ‘Cats Out-Gunned Moo U
Over The Top
A frequently voiced criticism of ‘Cat OC Mick McCall’s “standard” game
plan is that he has an annoyingly frustrating tendency to employ the
short passing attack way too early and much too often; and throughout
the 2018 campaign, this dink-n-dunk passing strategy has been a
regrettable “go-to” staple for the Wildcat offense. IMHO, it is a
major cause for the ‘Cats’ H-2 scoring woes that are a well-chronicled
characteristic in every game played thus far this season. Perhaps
it’s born of the fact that individual players populating the Wildcat
receiving corps just cannot seem to gain consistent separation from
their opposing coverage DBs when running downfield pass routes.
Or perhaps it’s due to the indisputable point that the ‘Cat OL has been
particularly hard-pressed to keep their Senior starting QB, Clayton
Thorson, standing upright behind his pocket protection long enough to
complete his progressions when scanning for that open receiver.
Whatever the cause, the box score statistics are more than a little
telling: heading into their game against Moo U, the ‘Cat offense had
scored a scant 13 points total in H-2 across all 4 games played in 2018
thus far. And with the forced absence of their medically retired
feature RB, Jeremy Larkin, coupled with McCall’s stubborn reliance on
his dink-n-dunk passing game, prospects for reversing this H-2 scoring
drought were close to non-existent.
Then, suddenly… something miraculous came down. To the surprise
of many among Wildcat Nation watching this offensive snorefest, Mick
McCall unexpectedly opened his playbook to the chapters detailing NU’s
up-to-now dormant vertical passing attack. Not only that, but
just as suddenly… ‘Cat WRs began to gain substantial and consistent
separation from their cover DBs. And… NU’s OL kept their
vulnerable Senior QB, Clayton Thorson, more upright than usual, as he
stood relatively hurry-free behind his pocket protection. And… CT
responded to this welcomed reprieve from pass rush pressure by flexing
his repressed vertical passing muscles and delivering the bean on
target and in stride to those open receivers with a regularity that had
been unseen for entire quarters of earlier played games. And not
a moment too soon!
In late Q1, Wildcat Soph WR Kyric McGowan took full advantage of a pass
coverage gaffe by Moo U’s secondary and sprinted downfield along the NU
sidelines a full 20 yards behind the nearest Green Meanie DB. CT
not only recognized this wide-open receiver running free & clear in
the deep left zone, he capitalized on this fortunate circumstance by
tossing a high arching, picture-perfect pass that dropped softly right
into McGowan’s eager mitts. McGowan did his part by making the
grab and turning-on his afterburners for a 77-yard explosion pass play,
the longest pass completion of CT’s 4-year Northwestern QB career,
netting the Wildcats an easy pith-n-catch TD and a 7-3 lead, mere
seconds before Q1 ended. Holy Vertical Pass, Batman!!!
But that highlight reel pass completion was only the start of the
Clayton Thorson aerial circus against Moo U. At the 14:37 mark of Q2,
the ‘Cats reclaimed possession of the bean at NU’s 49 yard line.
On the 3rd offensive play from scrimmage, CT saw Purple WR JJ Jefferson
sprinting downfield on a flag route to the right endzone pylon after
having gained the slightest of separation behind his cover DB.
Thorson promptly delivered another high-arching vertical pass to the
Frosh wideout who, at the very last instant, dove forward with
outstretched arms, snagged the pill mere inches off the turf, brought
it into his body then crumpled and rolled onto the end zone grass with
ball firmly in hand for NU’s 2nd highlight reel pass completion TD of
the game. The formerly enthusiastic home team fans in the stands
of Spartan Stadium who witnessed Mr. JJ’s acrobatic catch now sat in
mesmerized, slack-jawed silence as the Wildcats increased their lead
14-3. That eerie hush emanating from the green-clad patrons was
exceedingly noticeable over the BTN2Go broadcast’s audio feed.
Beeee-Yoooo-Teeee-Full!
Then H-2 arrived – OC Mick McCall’s all-too-familiar enigmatic “crisis
of conscience” half. However, instead of succumbing to the
pressure of performing at a B1G level over the final 30 minutes of this
grapple, Thorson & Co. eschewed the H-2 woes of their previous 4
games and continued to execute their productive vertical passing
attack. Despite enduring a bizarre mid Q3 offensive series in
which CT’s 6-yard pass clanked off the facemask of its intended
receiver and careened softly into the midsection of a Moo U DE who
grabbed the giftie INT and turned the ball over to the Moo U offense at
the NU 33 – a TO that was converted to the 2nd TD score in early Q3
that gave the Green Meanies a 19-14 lead, Thorson kept his composure
and focused on moving the chains.
NU’s first opportunity occurred on their possession immediately
following that Moo U TD off that crazy-bounce INT. After a
fair-catch kickoff return decision, McCall directed CT to “air it out”
and the ‘Cat O went into full pass-happy mode. Thorson completed
6 of 7 pass attempts, culminating with a 3rd highlight reel TD
pitch-n-catch to his favorite receiving target, SB Cam Green, who ran a
perfect fly route and caught CT’s masterful toss that was placed just
beyond the reach of the cover DB and into Cam’s hands 5 yards into the
endzone, giving the ‘Cats the lead once more that they would never
relinquish. To say that Thorson was “on his game” at this
juncture would have been some serious understatement. Most of Q4
was a battle for field position in which NU finally reset the LOS deep
into Moo U territory via a consequential Purple possession that
featured a series of pin-point passes from CT to a trio of Wildcat
receivers that forced the Green Meanie offense to work within the
shadow of their own goal posts. When the ‘Cat D stoned the Sparty
O for a change of possession at the Moo U 11, CT delivered the
game-clinching TD 3 downs later via a 2-yard QB sneak that increased
the home team’s deficit to 10 points with just under 3 minutes left in
regulation time.
“Turn out the lights; the party’s over…”
The Good Hands People
With Senior ‘Cat QB Clayton Thorson’s personal vertical passing
renaissance on obvious display throughout last Saturday’s tussle with
Moo U, most (if not all) of his notable passing statistics would have
been rendered moot had it not been for the extraordinary hands of his
WR corps. As CT was “dropping TD dimes” into the expectant mitts
of Messrs. Kyric McGowan, JJ Jefferson and Cam Green, one mustn’t
forget that those throws would have faded into back page reporting
obscurity had they been dropped – as, too frequently, had been the case
in the ‘Cats’ previous 4 games of the 2018 season.
The welcome return of the Wildcat vertical passing attack is a product
of a fickle two part dance – one in which, firstly, the QB identifies
the open WR sprinting downfield beyond his cover DB then delivers the
pill in stride and on target to that open receiver; and, secondly, that
receiving target quite literally keeps his eyes “on the ball” tracking
its trajectory into his hands, whereupon he squeezes the brown bean and
hugs it to his bosom like a newborn child. The delicate balance
at play in this two-part passing tango was especially in evidence on
JJ’s and Cam’s TD grabs, both of which were made on pin-point accurate
throws that had passed just out of the reach of their Moo U cover DBs
who were exercising “press coverage” techniques (read: the DBs were
hand fighting the WRs throughout the entire course of their pass route
to get a better angle at positioning their own mitts to deflect the
bean away from its intended target receiver). In fact, some of
the best examples of “press pass coverage” techniques within today’s
collegiate game are employed by the Meat-Chicken secondary. The
Dazed & Blue DBs are virtual masters at “press coverage” techniques
which easily could have drawn pass interference flags on any number of
downs the previous Saturday when defending Wildcat wideouts, but hardly
ever were, because its use is prevalently exercised and so well
disguised, especially when competing against “lesser talented” receiver
corps personnel, like the unit that NU fields.
However, in last Saturday’s Moo U game, the “Thorson-to-WR (fill-in the
name here)” vertical passing tango delivered immensely valuable
dividends in TD scores and/or scoring opportunities (in the form of FG
attempts), particularly in H-2. And when it comes to the 2nd part
of this dance, its ultimate success is predicated on the use of “Good
Hands” by Wildcat WRs. A tip of my hat to a job well done,
fellas!
Bends But Doesn’t Break
IMHO, the most valuable individual on the coaching staff of the
Northwestern University football team is Defensive Coordinator, Mike
“Doc” Hankwitz. Whereas HC Pat Fitzgerald undoubtedly is the face
of NU’s football program, Doc Hankwitz, without question, is the team’s
heart and soul leader. It’s been that way ever since he first
arrived in Evanston in 2008 and continues be so through the 2018
season. Doc not only is the team’s best football talent
evaluator, but he is also its most effective talent developer, most
insightful talent deployment manager, its most innovative game
planner and especially its most impactful high quality defensive
field play motivator. The fact that Doc was lured away from a
similar position on the Wisconsin football coaching staff, in which he
was perennially recognized as a renown defensive coaching guru, and,
once he became available, was hired immediately by newly installed
Wildcat Athletic Director Jim Phillips has been Dr. Phillips’ most
consequential employment coup of his illustrious career as Northwestern
AD. And ever since he darkened the doorstep of Nicholet Hall, Doc
has gotten and continues to get the best field play results from the
players under his tutelage; and the 2018 season is no exception to this
norm. Whereas in 2017, the NU defense was considered the team’s
most talent-laden unit and a national power in its own right, the 2018
version has shown that its greatest strength resides in its defensive
front 7 personnel while its weakest aspect can be found in its
defensive secondary. However, Doc’s defensive coaching wizardry
has come to the fore once again if only because the whole of his 2018
defense has been markedly greater than the sum of its individual
parts. In truth, Doc’s 2018 defense can be characterized most
succinctly by the key phrase: “bends but doesn’t break” and this
description was on full display in last Saturday’s NU versus Moo U
contest.
Once in Q1 and a second time in Q2, the Moo U offense mounted an
offensive drive that reset the LOS within the NU 10 yard line.
And despite the fact that they yielded substantial yardage during the
course of either of these Green Meanie possessions, Doc’s D stiffened
while playing within yards of their own goal line, forcing the Moo U
offense to settle for a FG rather than a TD score, essentially
proffering the Wildcats a combined -8 point differential across these
two home team scoring opportunities. The same situation occurred
again late in Q4 with the ‘Cats clinging to 29-19 lead, when the Moo U
offense drove the bean from their own 25 yard line to the NU 6.
Once more, Doc’s D held firm, stoning the Green Meanie possession on a
4th-n-goal down at the ‘Cat 1 yard line and ensuring the capture of the
game’s “W” flag for the visiting team from Evanston.
To be sure… “Bend but doesn’t break” is an apt descriptor.
Conclusion
Well, it took 4 games before the “Good CT” quarterback finally
demonstrated his quality playmaking talent in H-2; but it was a welcome
sight, never the less. Still, the 2018 ‘Cats are considered
little else than an “also ran” competitor when it comes to the B1G West
Division championship, and that’s an apropos evaluation. To
expand-upon and enhance that middling sentiment into something that
holds greater respect and acclaim will take a substantial infusion of
personal dedication and effort across every position on the NU football
team’s roster.
Without a doubt, the next few weeks will put the “Good CT”-led Wildcat
offense through the ringer, especially since the ‘Cat ground game has
transitioned into nothing less than an ugly rumor of its former “Jeremy
Larkin, featured RB” self. But that’s the “honest to Gawd’s
truth” of NU’s current gridiron situation. And being
situationally aware of what lies ahead is always a good thing.
The 0-5 Nebby BugEaters come to Evanston this coming weekend with high
hopes of spoiling NU’s 2018 homecoming festivities. I’m still
holding a lit torch for the Wildcats to reprise the football playmaking
abilities that I witnessed from the Purple team on the turf of Spartan
Stadium in East Lansing 7 day ago. I’m confident that Doc will do
his utmost best defensive game plan-wise to meet the challenge of
BugEater Wunderkind QB, Adrian Martinez, and his bevy of talented WRs;
and I hope that OC Mick McCall will do likewise for his offensive plan
that will be put to the test against the BugEater Black
Shirts.
It will be B1G Conference football at its competitive finest. I can’t wait…
The Waterboy
“Win with Grace, Lose with Dignity”
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The Waterboy is a former football player
and a Northwestern
alumnus. Aside from these facts, he has no affiliation with
Northwestern University. The commentary he posts here is his
own, and does not necessarily reflect the views of HailToPurple.com.