Northwestern 42, Eastern Illinois 21: Postgame Thread

Here’s my attempts at bullets (much less informative and funny than Rodger!)

-We didn’t really learn anything new from Kain Colter. Only 13 pass attempts, and none of the ten he completed were really tough passes. We already knew the kid could run, but he’s got to protect himself. We saw last year how dangerous it is to have your QB take multiple hits like that. Say what you want about toughness, but this team needs a healthy Colter considering Persa likely won’t be as mobile when he returns.

-Running game was good, but I’m concerned about the Smith injury. I know Adonis didn’t look very good today, but I think he’s key to this team. He gives the ‘Cats someone with speed who can beat defenders to the edge. Now he’s got an apparent sprained ankle and his counterpart (Trumpy) is suffering from the aftereffects of a concussion. Neither injury is one with a definite timetable for return. Green and Schmidt were good against Eastern Illinois, but they’re probably not going to cut it in conference play.

-I was a little confused by some of the running plays. With Smith’s speed, you’d expect him to be the primary option back. Instead, Scmidt got most of those carries. He’s not especially fast and doesn’t do a whole lot in open space. I realize he did well today, but that’s not something I expect to stick going forward. Most of the plays to Smith that I remember were straight up the middle. He’s got to improve between the tackles, but forcing the issue wasn’t working.

-Secondary play was lackluster once again. EIU receivers were finding wide open spaces over the middle of the field. That cannot happen against FBS schools. Good pressure on the QB won’t mean a whole lot if NU routinely allows receivers to find open pockets like that. It looked to me (and I’m hardly a football expert so this is probably wrong) that there was a ton of communication between the LBs and DBs over who was covering what area of the field. On the 72-yard TD, Peters and a LB (forget who) both went after the under receiver and left the other guy on that side of the field wide open. It wasn’t guys getting beat; it was just poor execution.

Other than Mark’s two great returns, special teams had a shaky day. Flaherty’s kicks were short-with one going out of bounds—the FG by Budzien went right despite being the ball being in the center of the field, and Williams had a punt blocked. It was disappointing after the week that unit had against BC. That area can be the difference in close games, so hopefully the ’Cats clean things up.

-Lastly, and not football related, I had a great time watching the game at a bar/restaurant in Los Angeles with a bunch of NU alumni. I couldn’t watch the game in the comforts of my home because I don’t have BTN, and I ended up having a great time and meeting some really nice people. If alumni clubs near you have this kind of thing (the LA club watches every football game from this same place), I’d recommend checking it out even if it keeps you from the game thread here. The three people who I was sitting next to were all under thirty. One was getting his Ph.D in neuroscience, one was an engineer, and another was a resident at one of the best hospitals in LA. How the hell did I get into this school?