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”









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.


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