Northwestern, 37, Illinois State, 3: post-game
by Rodger Sherman on Sep 11, 2010 2:12 PM CDT
in Northwestern Wildcats Football
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I'll be honest: like most of you, I expected a win today. But it's easy still to be impressed with how well NU played, even if it is hard to take any judgment from games against FCS teams. The Cats had their largest margin of victory of the Pat Fitzgerald era, kept their opponent from scoring a touchdown, forced a bunch of turnovers, and let virtually every player on the roster get into the game. (Seriously, there are players who did things who even I didn't know existed.) Anyway, here's your postgame thread for you to feel guilty about crapping on an opposing team's life so thoroughly and once again refer to how great a human being Dan Persa is. (Right now, I have the "great person" chart listing him between Gandhi and Stephen Seagal, which is pretty good.) Recap coming probably tomorrow morning - I'm about to get on my plane back to Chicago now. In fact, I'm posting this from the Jetblue terminal at the airport, where they gave me free internet because it's the best place ever.W!
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A win is a win
though I must admit that even with the opponent considered they still looked a lot better.
I wonder how much the “night game at opponent” factor came into play last week.
Reality has a little-known Northwestern bias
NU prez knows how to get PUMPED
2-0...
10 more wins to go. Am I the only one worried about the next contest against Rice, though? That could spell trouble.
I don't know if I'm that confident
They looked decent against Texas and it’s a road game far away. However, today’s game makes me feel a lot better. The run wasn’t forced too much until the game was locked up and they looked very comfortable with the standard gameplan. I was worried it would be like Vandy where they forced the run at the expense of actually getting yards. If Fitz calls the Rice game like this it’ll be a W.
Rice went 2-10 last year and allowed 43 points per game
would be very disappointing if we can’t put up a lot of points against them
Right, we never struggle against teams that were 2-10 last year.
by Batman42 on Sep 11, 2010 9:50 PM CDT via mobile up reply actions
It would be like needing a field goal as time expires to beat an 0-12 MAC team as time expires
because that never happened.
Reality has a little-known Northwestern bias
NU prez knows how to get PUMPED
exactly!
Every year the Cats have a loss that shouldn’t happen. Last year it was Syracuse and Minnesota, and we almost gave up the Eastern Michigan game. I wouldn’t take Rice foregranted. They need to play strong and consistent throughout the game in order to win.
weird for me to be more optimistic than most NU fans
you guys are definitely right that past NU teams have struggled vs inferior competition, I just have a different feel for this team. last year’s team didn’t really come together until the 2nd half of the Indiana game, which was in week 8. with how Persa is throwing the ball right now, and given how crappy Rice’s defense is, they should be able to put up a ton of points.
im still concerned about NU’s defense, but they should be able to hold Rice under 30, or at least I would hope so. we’ll see.
Good win for you guys
Minny is an embarrassment
The Mayans predicted the end of the Joe Paterno era.
Which person ranks higher
Ghandi or Seagal?
by Batman42 on Sep 11, 2010 9:49 PM CDT via mobile reply actions
not gonna say
just know that they’re close. and that dan persa is in between.
by Rodger Sherman on Sep 13, 2010 10:32 AM CDT up reply actions
At rice next
Let us know how things go. we head there next year.
A futile crusade to prevent mass ignorance
HammerAndRails, SBNation's Boilermaker Blog
Still unhappy with the kicking game
While Saturday’s win was all-around better play than week 1, is anyone else still as concerned as I am about the kicking game? How many more field goals and extra points does Demos have to botch before something’s done? I was glad to see Budzien playing in the 4th quarter, and what do you know? He made the extra point. It’s time to give Budzien a chance. The only thing consistent about Demos is his inconsistent performance and mental meltdowns. I’m very worried about our special teams if Fitz doesn’t do something about the kicking game. They can not be counted on with the game on the line!
I've never ever liked Demos
but I always thought it was more for his punting than his field goal kicking. Now that he doesn’t have to split the time anymore, I figured he should live up to his All-Big Ten billing that everyone is giving him. Instead, he’s put up two Outback Bowl-esque performances. The only thing that is saving him is that watching other games around the country, it seems like no one can kick.
"You just don't know understand how frustrating this is"- Kevin Borseth
Demos hasn't done anything wrong
It’s the snap and hold.
by NUHighlights on Sep 12, 2010 4:21 PM CDT up reply actions
really?
he’s missed 3 kicks in 2 games, including an extra point, and none of it is his fault?
Rewatching the game, the missed PAT yesterday was on him. But everything else had the snap in the ground and/or Williams couldn’t give him a clean hold.
by NUHighlights on Sep 12, 2010 7:03 PM CDT up reply actions
I'm with Loretta8
The snaps haven’t been the problem on all of the misses or the blocked kick at Vandy. If you remember, Demos fell apart at Illinois last year and let 9 points get away, then he fell apart again in the Outback Bowl and has missed field goals and extra points in each game this year. Markshausen may not be holding for him this year, but that’s still no excuse!
on the blocked kick
So, it’s Demos’ fault that the defender shot through the offensive line and was in his face as he kicked? What’s he supposed to do, magically hook his kick around the block?
Demos didn’t have a great game against Illinois State. Maybe it was the snap/holder, maybe it was the wet turf, maybe he just kicked poorly.
But it seems he’s being sh#t on a lot more for his few bad performances and not being given credit at all for his great performances, which in some instances, have won us games we’ve had no business winning.
Demos isn’t perfect, but he’s no slouch.
He was ridiculous outside the Illinois and Auburn games, the two disaster games.
by NUHighlights on Sep 13, 2010 1:34 PM CDT up reply actions
yeah he's a decent kicker
unfortunately for him his worst career game came on the biggest stage possible.
his biggest problem seems to be that he doesn’t have a short memory; after he misses one kick he doesn’t seem to recover well and instead just completely melts down.
agreed on that
When Demos has a bad day, it always seems to be a really, really bad day. And, as you said, one of those happened to be on NU’s biggest stage in years. But compared to some of our previous kickers, Demos is solid.
I think one thing that can’t be discounted is that he’s working with a new holder and a new long snapper, so maybe the timing and technique are a bit off. Let’s hope all this gets ironed out so that it doesn’t hurt the ’Cats when it counts, like it almost did with the Vandy game.
he’s certainly a massive improvement over those lean years when the kicking duties were handled by David Wasalewski, Brian Huffman and Joel Howells.
that's like saying that Pabst Blue Ribbon is better than Old Style
when you say Demos is better than Wasalewski, Huffman or Howells. One of my beefs with NU football is they never aggressively recruit and develop special teams players. We haven’t had a real punt return threat since Jeff Backus graduated. And Demos is just another one of my subpar kickers we’ve endured since Sam Valenzisi graduated. Demos is a grad student, not an 18 year old freshman. He doesn’t (or shouldn’t) need three games to get used to a new holder. He doesn’t measure up, IMHO.
The time of the year has come...
Where between my two football teams (NU and ND)… The Cats have a better record than the Irish…
Seems to come a bit earlier each year (though I guess technically it happened the same time last year).
Go USA, Braves, BU Terriers, Irish, Caps, Colts, Hoyas, NU Cats, Wizards, DC United, Washington Freedom
BU Hockey: National Champions 1971, 1972, 1978, 1995, 2009
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