Nov. 25, 2015
The Blame Game or
“Survive and Advance – Part Deux”
Wisky Drunkard Nation is plain pizz’d off. They’re P.O.’d about
“poor” officiating; about the Wisky coaching staff’s offensive play
calling – against “Just NU”; about Wisky QB Joel Stave passing-out
picks like Halloween Bite-sized Snickers – to “Just NU”; about how the
best rushing defense in all of Division 1A gave-up 149 net rushing
yards – to “Just NU”; about how and why Wisky’s rushing attack was
stoned for minus-26 (yes, you read that correctly) while serving the
visiting team 3 of 5 hot-n-flaky French Pastry turnover fumbles – to
“Just NU”; about how Wisky’s OL got shredded for 6 total sacks and 11
TFLs – to “Just NU”; about how Wisky’s O couldn’t buy a 3rd down
conversion (a mere 2 of 13) – against “Just NU”.
I don’t know about you, but I’m sensing a deleterious pattern
here. A pattern of deep seeded angst; of Maalox-moment heartburn;
of searching for any appropriate sacrificial scapegoat (after all, dead
goats tell no tales); but most of all, of simple-minded searching for
someone or something upon whom Wisky Nation could blame the Drunkards’
unbelievable, improbable 13-10 loss to “Just NU.” Of course,
there’s always the ultimate patsy, the ever-silent, never-interviewed
guilty party upon whom an enraged, delusional, indignant,
alcohol-addled Wisky Drunkard fan base can always point-to and hang
this Badger loss… The game officials. How dare these
zebra-striped custodians of the game’s integrity reverse their original
on-field calls – despite the undeniable fact that, in every case, the
reversed or overturned call was the correct one, as indisputable video
reply evidence revealed conclusively, time & again. Over the
course of the contest and especially after the final gun sounded,
virtually every Wisky-oriented internet blog website went absolutely
bananas. Every bitchin’ badger-backer demanded something,
anything to be done. Some called-for restitution of sorts; while
others wanted immediate redress of grievances, as if a hanging chad or
two was discovered dangling out of the back pockets of the refs and
would dictate a score recount or do-over from some oversight
authority. Many demanded disciplinary action taken or suspensions
imposed upon on the officiating crew for what they concluded was
blatant and biased penalty calls levied on the host Badgers, like was
done to the bumbling buffoon officiating crew that turned a collective
blind eye to multiple infractions and mitigating field play instances
which occurred during Miami of FL’s 8-lateral, Bozo the Clown’s circus
KO return for TD against the hapless, numb-skulled Dookies. Other
intrepid Wisky fans (obviously under-the-Bud-Light-influenced
Mensa-types) were pounding their Doc Watsons on the table and shouting
rubbish about some pre-ordained, agreed-upon conspiracy – originating
from the zebra’s locker room or, better still, some dank and dusty,
smoke-filled back room located in the bowels of the B1G offices in Park
Ridge, IL – in which it had been pre-decided that the Wildcats were to
be afforded unfair or undeserved consideration on every borderline
violation by game refs - like the selective enforcement of obvious
holding violations penalties that were rarely flagged. Call-out
the CIA, the FBI, the NSA… Hell, bring-on Homeland Security or
the TSA… Anybody. Who’s gonna answer to this miscarriage of
justice. Da Badgers couldn’t possibly lose to an inferior “Just
Northwestern” team in the Cathedral of Camp Randall. “Just
NU” never does that… Had never done that… Not in my
lifetime! Someone’s gonna pay! Somebody’s gotta pay!!!
“What the hell’s going on out here… Everybody grabbin’ out there;
nobody tackling. Just grabbin’, everybody – grab, grab, grab;
nobody tackling.”
No wait… That quote is taken out of context from another famous
bygone Grizzly-bear football coach who prowled the Frozen Tundra
sidelines of another gridiron team from behind the Cheddar
Curtain.
To those obnoxious, boorish, drunken-lout, snowball-throwing,
classless, ka-vitching Wisky Drunkard fans, I say: “Get over it” or
even better, “Tell it to the Judge, son.” Allow me to preface
what I’m about to detail in the next few paragraphs with this
significant titillating tidbit of college pigskin trivia: In
2015, the Wildcats have been on the receiving end of the most egregious
errors in game officiating ever witnessed at a B1G contest this season,
especially throughout the State Penn game. Wisky fans… We NU fans
have been there and have been forced to swallow that bitter pill, which
we did with dignity, class and, yes, our fair share of grumbling to one
another. That’s as expected. However despite those past
referee indiscretions, this contest most certainly was not some
Hollywood B-movie zebra-plot make-up call game. No way, no
how. To those sad-sack Wisky fans looking for a patsy, a
scapegoat, an Isis-funded conspiratorial cabal, they need only focus
their gaze on the man in the mirror to uncover the deserving culprit
behind this loss. Arrogant, entitlement-laden, self-serving
Stephen A. Smith-like bombast and bluster will get you nowhere when
searching for the cause of the Badger’s loss to “Just NU.”
First, consider this: the MadTown Drunkards haven’t beaten any 2015
opponent with a winning record. You read that correctly…
Noooo-oooo-oooo-BODY! After having played “Just Northwestern”
last Saturday, Da Badgers still haven’t. And before this contest,
Wisky still was nationally ranked despite their record against wholly
milquetoast foes. Ruminate on that seminal factoid; then
start talking Cheddar Curtain conspiracy theory with Jerry Springer…
As for those examples of “poor” game officiating, let’s deep dive into the most bitched-about downs:
● The reversed punt return for a TD:
Wisky PR, Alex Erickson, waved his hands side-to-side below his shoulders.
The referees saw it clearly and flagged it as an illegal fair catch
signal. Period. End of story. It doesn’t matter if
the PR waves his hands knee high like he’s dancing the roaring
20s-styled Charleston, or waves his hands in front of him at waist
level like he’s cleaning-busing a restaurant table or waves his
outstretched hands up and down at his sides like NFL WR Terrell Owens
doing the “Dirty Bird” arm-flap. It is an I-L-L-E-G-A-L fair
catch signal because he doesn’t wave his hands over his
shoulders. Wisky fans can retort all they want in the courtroom
of public opinion that the PR’s wave was never intended as a fair catch
signal but was instruction to his punt return teammates to get away
from him (and the bean falling into his hands) . However, by
rule, when a PR waves his hands side-to-side, it’s considered a fair
catch signal, regardless of intention. The side-to-side hand wave
is a legislated mechanism whose sole purpose is to protect the PR; and
Erickson’s wave did just that because it prompted NU’s converging punt
coverage personnel (two of them, in fact) to pull-up, leaving the PR
untouched and free to convert the catch. Whether or not the PR
wanted to deceive the Wildcat punt coverage team is immaterial.
Erickson did what he did and was called on the carpet for his
infraction. Next question.
● The reversed 23-yard TD reception at the 0:31 mark of Q4:
This play is the least controversial of all.
WR Troy Fumagalli, made a highlight reel catch of Joel Stave’s
well-thrown 23-yard toss for an apparent game-tying TD. However,
in making the catch, the WR collapsed to the turf to ensure a
clean grab of the bean; and in doing so, his right his knee definitely
touched the turf at NU’s 1 yard line before Fumagalli crossed the goal
line. Anyone ka-vitching this TD reversal needs to the remove the
blinders off his face.
● The reversed 1-yard TD reception at the 0:25 mark of Q4:
This play is the most controversial and rightfully
so. WR Jazz Peavy attempts to snatch Joel Stave’s guided missile
throw, gets both his mitts on it then struggles to maintain
control. Mind you, the Wisky WR needs to gain and show definitive
control of the thrown pigskin throughout the entire action of the catch
– which includes his fall/roll to the turf. That’s the
rule. Period. End of story. Peavy has his fingertips
on the pill and is trying to secure it to his chest. NU cover CB
Nick VanHoose gets his right hand under and through Peavy’s right arm
onto the bean as it sits under the wrists – not in the hands – of the
WR. VanHoose yanks and dislodges the pill slightly from Peavy’s
near grasp as the WR takes two steps to his right. As the Wisky
WR continues his motion into his fall and roll, the ball remains
dislodged from his grasp – clearly noticeable in video replays.
Peavy falls to the turf, rolls then slides on his backside out of
bounds across the end zone sideline, (and this is the IMPORTANT PART)
with the ball laying atop the WR’s stomach with no hand(s) around the
ball for a single, irrefutable instant. Only after his slide
motion ceased, did Peavy get both hands on the bean once more. By
rule, the WR didn’t maintain control of the ball through the entire motion of the catch, which includes his fall and roll to the turf, AND his behind was out of bounds
when he finally did re-establish control. The call: “Incomplete
pass” is totally correct. Wisky Nation can and will debate this
pass reception-or-pass incompletion until Elsie the dairy cow rambles
back to her barn stall. However, it doesn’t diminish the fact
that the referees established the correct call with an enormous assist
from video reply. And making the correct call on a close,
eye-blink quick field play is what the appropriately employed video
reply’s original purpose is all about.
Bitchin’ ‘bout it like Stephen A. Smith don’t mean a dang thang.
● The uncalled illegal motion at the 0:06 mark of Q4:
This uncalled infraction was a total miss on the
officiating crew’s part and wholly understandable given the mitigating
circumstances. On the 2nd-n-goal down following the video
reversal of Peavy’s TD “catch” bid, ‘Cat DE Deonte Gibson crashed into
the Drunkard backfield from his right defensive edge position,
then corralled Wisky QB Joel Stave standing behind his pocket
protection and wrestled him to the turf for a 10-yard sack with an
assist from fellow DT C.J. Robbins who fell on the Stave’s legs.
When the host team QB got to his feet, he definitely was in
distress. With the Wisky home crowd whipped-up into a frenzied
lather screaming their lungs out; the Drunkards with no time-outs left
and the clock winding down; the referees reset the LOS at the NU 11
yard line for a 3rd-n-goal down with 10 scant seconds left. Once
Wisky’s OL quickly lined-up on the LOS, Stave couldn’t ambulate quickly
enough to his OC after having sustained a lower leg injury, so he
directed his RB, Dare Ogunbowale, to get under center, receive the snap
and spike the ball. That’s when the officiating crew literally
lost it.
The refs full attention was diverted from the
action on the field to the vengeful, boorish behavior literally thrown
in their direction from the raucous, half-in-the-bag Wisky fan base in
the stands. After Stave got sacked, the scenario at Camp Randall,
in a word, turned U-G-L-Y and downright dangerous. Public address
announcers and stadium security pleaded in vain to the vitriolic,
out-of-control crowd in an effort to curb their abusive activity
(like throwing ice-balls and whatever else was at hand) directed
against the players, coaches, officials, cheerleaders, chain gang,
grounds crew and security personnel on field of play, on the sidelines
and in the end zones. Then it happened.
Just as Ogunbowale reached under the center, Wisky
QB Stave, standing behind his RB, took three steps towards the LOS,
shouting instructions to Ogunbowale – a classic illegal motion
infraction that occurred before the ball was snapped.
No call. A moment after Stave’s leisurely waltz towards his RB,
Ogunbowale took the snap from center then promptly spiked the bean,
killing the game clock at 0:06. Still no call.
The BTN broadcast crew were equally confused and
livid watching this passion play unfold before them; and stated on the
air that there was a uncalled illegal motion penalty from Stave’s
stroll to the LOS that dictated a 5 yard step-off AND a subsequent ten
second run-off from the game clock – effectively ending the game right
then and there. Nothing from the referees. Fitz was going
bonkers along the NU sidelines; and when on-field broadcast cameras and
mics were trained on the Wildcat HC, he could be heard calling for the
penalty yardage assessment and the much more important 10 second
run-off. Still nada from the referees.
With the clock stopped via the spiked ball, Stave
limps to the Wisky sidelines and is replaced by a cold-as –ice 2nd
string QB, Bart Houston. The hastily installed QB received the
snap from center in his shotgun set position then heaves a hard-thrown
pass in the direction, but wide of his intended target WR, Tanner
McEvoy. Incomplete… Game Over. Then a biblical shower of
snowballs from the stands rained down upon the gridiron of Camp Randall
delivered by a totally ticked-off, intensely intoxicated Wisky
crowd.
The itemized explanations above provide enough details on how and why
the Wisky Drunkards’ 3 late-Q4 TDs were reversed – and rightfully
so. Tossing expletives or snowballs at the officiating crew
doesn’t matter in the least, except to underscore the classless and
ignorant demeanor of many, but not all, of the loutish, inebriated
Wisky fans in attendance. If the University of Wisconsin
powers-that-be possessed any level of introspection and interest in the
health and well-being for their fan base and the fans of visiting
teams, they should be both embarrassed and ashamed into taking
appropriate proactive steps to prevent its reoccurrence in future games
at the Camp Randall Cathedral of the Holy Cow. If not , I most
definitely will not spend my time and hard-earned money to attend
another NU football game behind the Cheddar Curtain. Until those
steps or sanctions are made (and I don’t expect the university
administration of the MadTown Drunkards to do anything so rash), all I
can say is: “Eff-You Very Much, Wisky. Good riddance to bad
rubbish.”
So after having explained how Wisky lost this contest, permit me to
itemize how NU won this game via the following Keys to Victory…
How the ‘Cats Jailed the Drunkards
With No Chance of Parole
French Pastry Chefs
The ‘Cat defense and special teams were an absolute monster as they
forced 5 Wisky fumbles while recovering 3 in Wisky territory.
These French Pastry delights were very significant if only because they
curtailed three Wisky offensive drives and proffered Clayton Thorson
& Co. a trio of additional offensive possessions to make as much
scoreboard hay as they could muster. Regrettably, not one of
these three post-fumble recovery drives resulted in points of any kind,
despite giving the Wildcat O starting field positions at the Wisky 43,
the Wisky 30 and the Wisky 37. ‘Cat K Jack Mitchell didn’t
enhance his reputation as NU’s unflappable, highly reliable 3-point
generator when he missed a pair of FG attempts, a 27-yarder in late-Q1
and another 40-yarder at the start of Q4, both of which came on the
heels of 2 of those 3 fumble recovery-provided possessions. Had
Jack converted either of those two FG attempts, then this knock-down,
drag-out donnybrook transitions into a completely different
prizefight.
In contrast, missed extra scoring opportunities off TOs were not a part of the field play profile of NU’s lock-down secondary.
On Wisky’s second possession of the game, the inspired, relentlessly
powerful ‘Cat pass pressure tipped a Joel Stave toss that was converted
into a hot-n-flaky INT by ‘Cat CB Nick VanHoose, giving the Wildcat O a
short field to paydirt from the Drunkard 19 yard line. Three
sequential Justin Jackson rushes delivered a first-score TD off that
INT giving the visiting ‘Cats a 7-to-zippo lead in the first 6 minutes
of the contest. This crucial TD conversion literally set the tone
for to-be-continued Purple defensive-to-Purple offensive handshakes to
come throughout the contest and infused the collective Badger team
psyche with deep-seeded doubts regarding what might be done to halt
NU’s D from overwhelming the yardage production capabilities of their
physically challenged Wisky O.
The coup de gras for Wisky’s O occurred after Joel Stave’s last
and most damaging INT of the afternoon late in Q4, when he took
possession of the bean following an impressively executed kill-punt off
the foot of the ‘Cats’ newest defensive asset, P Hunter Niswander, that
was downed at the Badger 3 yard line by NU’s punt coverage team.
Three plays later, the harassed and rattled Stave tossed his worst pass
of the contest from the Wisky 11 straight into mitts of MLB Anthony
Walker, who returned the hand-delivered French Pastry pick 3 yards to
the Badger 20. Facing that enticing short field, the enigmatic
push me-pull you ‘Cat O drove the LOS to the Wisky 8, only to get
pushed back to their original starting field position at the Drunkard
20 via a 7-yard TFL, followed by a 5-yard brainfart OL false-start
penalty. K Jack Mitchell wiped NU’s gaffe-plagued offensive slate
clean as he provided the needful playmaking deliverable by booting his
2nd FG of the tilt to notch an additional three ultra-precious points
to the Wildcats’ scoreboard total, giving the visiting team a 6 point
lead with just under 4 minutes left in the contest. From that
point until the final gun sounded, the over-the-top histrionics
regarding officiating calls commenced, along with the various
consequences spawned from those highly-disputed call
reversals.
Bottom line: 10 of NU’s 13 total points were scored after the ‘Cats D
forced the Drunkard offense to bake and serve satisfying turnovers back
to the Wildcats, making Wisky’s 5 TO count to NU’s zero TO count
differential the contest’s most significant, game-deciding Key to
Victory of all.
Sack ‘Em
Another super-important final game statistic for the Wildcat D tells
the tale of overwhelming dominance over the Wisky offense quite
succinctly: 6 total sacks on Drunkard QB Joel Stave along with numerous
hurries and harassments of every sort, coupled with 11 total
TFLs. That factoid indicates that NU’s defensive front 7 held the
Wisky offense to minus yards generated on 11 of its 62 total downs over
the entire game: an utterly mind-boggling achievement.
That one figure alone provides positive proof that the Wildcat defense
consistently controlled the LOS, which ultimately forced the Wisky
offense to become one dimensional and overly dependent on their passing
attack – an offensive paradigm which, in the final analysis, is
completely out of character with regards to the standard Drunkard
offensive game plan that Wisky’s offensive brain trust had employed
with great success over the prior 10 games in their 2015 season.
In other words, the ‘Cats beat the Drunkards at their own game of
controlling the LOS and compelled Wisky’s offensive coaches to
hand-over the team’s yardage production playmaking reins into the
shaky, less-than-stellar hands and arm of their limited skillset QB,
Joel Stave. Despite collecting 203 yards of the host team’s total
229 total net yards through the air, the MadTown Drunkards could move
the bean into the ‘Cats’ red zone on just 2 of its 14 offensive
possessions, converting on only one of those two possessions – posting
7 measly points on the scoreboard for the effort.
When facing a B1G opponent, that’s not a winning game plan. When
that pass-first game plan was exercised employing the offensive
personnel recruited specifically to execute the Wisky Drunkards’
rush-dependent yardage generation paradigm, it was like pounding a
square peg into a round hole with a heavy hammer. In the end, the
peg will get shredded in the process and be useless once pounded into
place. When competing against a B1G Division Championship
Contender football program, like NU, it can be the Great Equalizer
(read: The Kiss of Death). And it was.
Holy Cow, Harry… Is it ever cathartic to write those last three words!
Minus-26
This Key to Victory is essentially an extension of the previous Key,
and expands upon the former’s message. Since Wisky’s offense has
been constructed following the exacting blueprint conceived and
implemented by former Badger HC legend, Barry Alvarez, 2 full decades
ago, with a predominant emphasis on their ground game prowess, to get
stoned for minus yards over an entire 60 minutes is more that an mere
aberration from the norm, it’s an unequivocal travesty. The
MadTown Drunkard O couldn’t maintain any semblance of yardage
production continuity from one possession to the next – Wildcat DC, Doc
Hankwitz, formulated a defensive game plan to achieve that specific
objective; then turned it over to his defense. The Wildcat
defensive front 7 personnel populating Doc’s 2-deep depth chart
responded to that game plan, executing it with passion, precision and
reckless abandon. True, the Badger passing attack did gain
substantive yards against NU’s secondary, but to be limited to 7 total
points for four quarters in the process, that’s a virtual
failure. Couple that limited point production with the
statistical fact that the once-prolific Wisky ground game was stoned
for minus-26 total net yards rushing over the entire contest, it’s a
catastrophe of epic proportions. Similar to what happened when
the MadTown Drunkards competed against the Iowa HogEyes, scoring a
miniscule 6 points against the HogEyes’ equally unimpressive 10, for
Wisky’s first and only loss of the 2015 season some six weekends in the
past.
‘Nuf said… Over and Out.
Stand & Deliver
Unfortunately for most of NU’s 2015 campaign, the week-to-week ‘Cat OL
had resembled a patchwork quilt with ten different combinations
of mixed and matched personnel given the starter’s mantle before
each of NU’s ten games thus far. Not once had the Wildcats’
full complement of 5 starting OL players been able to finish one game
and then the same 5 be among the starting OL personnel heading into the
following Saturday’s contest. That circumstance meant that
literally every individual OL player had experienced some game-ending
injury that relegated him to the PUP list (Physically Unable to Play)
and riding pine, giving him the time necessary to lick his wounds and
eventually become healthy enough once more to rejoin the OL rotation
for a future game – in other words, the injured OL player, despite
being desperately needed, was forced to miss critical playing
time. This is nothing new for any collegiate OL squad, but for
the ‘Cats, it’s been a particularly daunting challenge. Status
reports from winter workouts and pre-season Kamp Kenoshia practices
cited OL coach Adam Cushing’s general missive given to every individual
player in his cadre that he was NEVER to consider himself a 2nd
stringer, but to work as if he was a starting OL all along in
preparation to answer the call for “Next Man Up.” In addition,
every lineman was expected to hone his blocking skillset not towards
one specific position, but have the capacity to assume the starter’s
role for any OL position across the LOS. Essentially, that
directive upped the ante of what it would take to become a valuable
“member in good standing” within Cushing’s OL rotation. Each and
every Purple offensive linemen, to a man, took Cushing’s off-season
directive personally to heart and steeled himself with an attitude to
become one of his OL coach’s complete set of interchangeable parts –
with little to no field play drop-off whenever, wherever or however an
OL substitute was needed. As the individual battles within NU’s
2015 B1G conference war wore on, with its typically high attrition
ratio among the Big Uglies, each OL’s determined due diligence when
preparing himself to survive and thrive within this uncompromising
“Next Man Up” war of attrition was reaping huge dividends.
And the fruits of those labors were revealed in the biggest way against
the Wisky Drunkard defensive front 7. Although substantial single
rushing play gains were limited, the ‘Cat OL opened large-enough seams
within the MadTown Drunkards’ defensive front 7 often enough to allow
‘Cat RB Justin Jackson to do what he does best and collect 139 total
net yards and NU’s only TD off 35 carries against the NCAA Division
1A’s best rushing defense. Those results were possible only
because NU’s stable of healthy ‘Cat OL players were totally prepared to
fill-in for any injured OL teammate while still maintaining Cushing’s
expected high quality blocking profile. That’s saying a
lot.
Sleeping Dog Strategy
As the game wore on and the minutes inexorably burnt off the clock
reducing the window of opportunity for either team to get that crucial
score to capture the lead, it appeared that newbie QB, Clayton Thorson,
was given the executive directive to NOT DO ANYTHING that would give
the Drunkards any chance to take control of the game – like a
devastating INT or a fumble deep in NU territory. It was
basically a “Let the sleeping dog lie” strategy, meant to ensure that
the MadTown Drunkards were not given any emotionally charged momentum
to awaken their offense from its slumber with enough time on the clock
to drive the bean into scoring position and deliver the game-clinching
points. Unfortunately, that dubious directive nearly exploded in
collective faces of NU’s offensive brain trust as the Wisky D turned
the ball over to its O on downs with 1:48 on the game clock for one
last-ditch possession; and the Badger O came to life and drove the bean
down to the NU 1 yard line with 24 seconds remaining and an unreal,
inexplicable chance to score that elusive prized TD.
In all honesty. this Wisky scenario where the host team was in position
to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in the game’s last 2 minutes
never should have happened. It did because Fitz and OC Mick
McCall apparently lost all confidence in their newbie QB’s ability lead
the ‘Cat offense and move the bean downfield in H-2 – to burn time off
the clock and play the field position game via offensive yardage
generated 1st downs rather than relying on ‘Cat P Hunter Niswander’s
ability to boot the bean deep downfield into the MadTown Drunkards’
territory. Consequently, this lack of confidence resulted
in 3-n-out possessions on 6 of 8 ‘Cat offensive series in H-2, all
characterized by an acute reticence among NU’s coaching staff to call a
true vertical pass on a first or second down. The only down in
which Clayton Thorson was directed to throw was on third down – and
never a vertical pass, but a dink-n-dunk variety. This played
right into the Wisky offensive coaching staff’s wish-list to garner
that one final possession and steal the “W” flag after having chased
the ‘Cats scoreboard-wise over the previous 58 minutes.
To this writer, the jury is still out deliberating on the pros and cons
of “letting Wisky’s the sleeping dog offense lie” dormant and
controlled by the Wildcat D rather than allowing Thorson & Co. to
seal the deal offensively. One thing is certain, by calling for
and exercising this HC-dictated strategy the ‘Cats dodged a kill-shot
bullet not once, but 3 times in the last minute of
play.
Be careful what you ask for… You just might get it.
Conclusion
This isn’t your “Old Cardiac ‘Cats”… It’s the “New, Improved Cardiac
‘Cats.” This a Chicago’s B1G Ten Team that relies heavily upon
its defense to eliminate scoring chances from their opponents while
increasing possessions and providing more opportunities for its offense
to score points; rather than crafting a victory paradigm in which its
offense scores as many points as possible while playing a micro game of
“keep away” that limits the number of minutes – and subsequently the
number of possessions – an opponent’s offense can retain and operate
with “ball in hand,” reducing that foe’s capacity to score points
against a relatively more porous, vulnerable
defense.
To the faint of heart, you have been forewarned. The New, Improved Cardiac ‘Cats have arrived and are here to stay.
Ahead lies a wounded but still breathing and ever dangerous Ill-Annoy
team who would like nothing more than to lay a third B1G “L” on “Just
NU” while snatching that hard-to-get 6th win to make the PumpkinHeads
bowl eligible for their interim HC, Ryan Cubit - to be contested at
Chicago’s very own “UFO by the Lake” venue.
You can forget about the Ill-Wine-I’s dismal 5-and-6 record. You
can forget about the very forgettable “Land of Lincoln” Trophy as well
(hat, hat, hat, hat, hat, hat, hat, hat, hat, hat – indeed). This
is Chicago’s B1G Ten Team squaring-off against Rantoul’s B1G Ten Team
and all the bragging rights (whatever they might actually be) that go
to the victor. There’s a reason why the Ill-Annoy football
program culture has put-forth so much effort to re-establish “Just
Northwestern” as its primary rival: because no other B1G football
program gives enough of a tinker’s dam interest to proffer Rantoul’s
B1G Ten Team protected rival status. Except, perhaps, Da BuckNuts
and their equally forgettable mutual “rival trophy” The
Illi-Buck... Whatever. Hey, the stupid thing is a turtle
with Ill-Annoy v. BuckNut game scores etched into its shell for cryin’
out load. It looks as silly as it is irrelevant to either team.
The Waterboy
“Win with Grace, Lose with Dignity”
He’s a Lumberjack
This week’s Lumberjack Trophy is awarded to Senior DE Deonte Gibson.
Actually, this week’s Lumberjack trophy very well could have been
awarded to every member comprising NU’s defensive front 7.
However, Mr. Gibson’s dominant effort from his DE position and his
personal resolve to pursue and attack the ball, especially within
Wisky’s offensive backfield, was particularly noteworthy. Mr.
Gibson notched a personal career high of 4 TFLs off 6 total tackles – 3
of which were sacks that pushed the LOS upfield 24 yards. His
contribution towards stoning the previously prolific Wisky ground game
to minus-26 net yards was duly recognized by the B1G football officials
who awarded the Senior DE the B1G Ten’s Co-Defensive Player of the Week
accolades for Week 12.
Congratulations Deonte. It’s been a long time in coming, but your
intrepid leadership and commitment to defensive pigskin excellence
underscores your qualifications to be called a Purple Lumberjack.
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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.
