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Michigan game is in Lincoln.

Regardless if you felt that NU should've/shouldn't have/could've beaten UCLA, if NU had just been sound in tackling, they probably DO win this game despite any of the other failures/miscues.

score:

NU 48

UCLA 17

rushing:

NU 315

UCLA 179

passing:

NU 213

UCLA 105

Regarding the LBs, I thought that many times they were in position to make plays (especially Compton), but they'd over run the play or ball carrier. They need to properly channel the aggression and break down when necessary.

Good:

Taylor Martinez (Iooks like an actual QB; hope this continues)

Pass protection

Running Backs (with Marrow, NU should always score when they're inside the 5)

ST return game

Average/Bad:

ST coverage (can we just kick the damned thing through the end zone?)

Run blocking (sans the 4th qrt, still had trouble opening holes through the middle)

Brett Maher (can't sugar coat it. he was bad)

D-line (USM carved them up with the zone read QB keep)

Score

NU - 37

USM - 17

Rushing:

NU - 275

USM - 134

Passing:

NU - 217

USM - 198

So far I see a dangerous UCLA offense, and equally generous defense. Obviously, are D talent is better than Rice, and if UCLA is as aggressive next week as they are today, Rex and Taylor should have a field day.

 

Ron Zook needs a throat lozenge or something; its painful to listen to. Plus, he seems to miss the mark with a lot of his comments.

 

Their offense can be dangerous, but as soon as they meet anyone that's physical and will slap them in the mouth they'll fold, imo.

Oh, I agree that NU's talent level should pose a better challenge than Rice. However, the type of plays they're running are the type of plays/scheme that seemed to fluster our D last year. Ultimately, I don't think the UCLA offense is as fast as Rice is making them seem.

So far I see a dangerous UCLA offense, and equally generous defense. Obviously, are D talent is better than Rice, and if UCLA is as aggressive next week as they are today, Rex and Taylor should have a field day.

Ron Zook needs a throat lozenge or something; its painful to listen to. Plus, he seems to miss the mark with a lot of his comments.

Kid has good film looks like he will not go down after the first hit but lacks breakaway speed. Would be a great add.

Dont need breakaway speed to be an effective runningback. Give me ball security, vision, and toughness before breakaway speed imo.

Agreed, see Emmit Smith

 

Note: I am not by any means comparing him to Emmit Smith

...but you just did

There will be four of us in section 27. I believe we're row 15.

We were 67% rush-heavy last year (611/293) And I think alot of that was running down the clock at the end of games. I'm changing my answer to 60/40. To put this in comparison, the late 2000's Texas Tech teams were near 76% pass-heavy.

This ^^. Thats why I dont think the 50/50 talk is wishful thinking. I wouldn't be surprised if Beck called over 50% pass plays prior to the fourth quarter in most games. Of course there will be the pass plays that Martinez will turn into runs, and I believe sacks are considered running plays too.

Memorial Stadium was rocking in this game. I'm not sure if anybody sat down more than a handful of plays the whole game.

 

My family likes to think this is because it was the first game we all attended together!

Unfortunately, this is the only Husker game I've ever attended at Memorial Stadium. Thankfully, it was a great one (sans TM injury). Who knew that injury, what seemed to me at the time was not that bad of a hit, would turn the fortune of the season, and perhaps even 2011.

Stuff on the internet not true??? That is the first I have heard of that. Now, guys keep me posted, I have to finish doing my bench reps of 425, then wash my silk shirt on my abs, then head off to my plastic surgery practice so that I can get home early to my two perfect 10 girlfriends.

You and I must have been separated at birth.

I'm going to say you finally get over your weakness to mobile QBs and eek out a win vs. UM then lose to Iowa at Kinnick.

 

Go on to face BB's squad in Indianapolis after having beat them earlier in the season but lose in the rematch to a strong Badger team bolstered by Aaron Rodgers and Donald Driver who have secretly donned cardinal jerseys and taken to the field in the title game as a way of escaping the burden of going undefeated in the NFL regular season.

 

Badgers beat USC in the Rose Bowl. Packers win their 14th NFL title which the Pope celebrates by raising Vince Lombardi from the dead. Ryan Braun openly admits to doping and single handily wins the world series.

 

Minnesota is declared financially insolvable and is sold to Canada.

 

California stops "happy cows" ad campaign.

 

/end year in sports.

C'mon. Be serious. No way we lose to Iowa.

Jaybird, you've now broadened the scope from your original post which was ESPN-centric. I guess to add another response to your original post would be that I think the extra media exposure has hurt some of the great programs of yesterday that don't/didn't have recruits in their backyards. The Huskers are a prime example of this. If it was still just NBC, CBS, ABC the Huskers (since they were already elite) got the most exposure along with the other elites. Just like how NU can no longer sell the weight room as well as we used to (many now have exercise palaces), they can no longer sell t.v. exposure to top recruits (they'll be on t.v. most anywhere they go). Even selling the ability to go to bowl games used to be a big deal in recruiting. T.V. (mostly ESPN) saturated the market with more bowls and another avenue to show them. Thats led to bowl games becoming easier for players to get to, regardless of the school they choose, and again, they know they'll be on t.v. Its also eroded the quality of bowl games. Where not only did a team have to be good, they also had to have a strong fan base to get to a "good" bowl and the additional t.v. exposure. LOL This paragraph kind of turned into a "how ESPN hurt Husker football" rant.

Back to your above post, I truly worry for the future of college football. I think its hit its apex. I can easily see a future where more teams are added to the new playoff (even beyound 8) and players start reaping additional financial incentives (perhaps outright pay). At that point we'll see an arc towards being a niche sport. It won't be the NFL and nobody will care about the players if they are truly paid "employees" instead of students. (I'd argue here that college football is nothing more than an extra-curricular activity for which a business model has been built around. Most don't care to agree.) If there was a good market for professional minor league football we'd still have some form of NFL Europe still in play. Thats where I think college football will get too big and ultimately implode.

ESPN absolutely has biases (hello NY) especially towards the larger cities. I won't speak for the start of ESPN, but today ESPN is about gathering as many eyeballs as possible, not balanced reporting/coverage. But like some others have posted, unfortunately their overall coverage is still the best.

To me, one of the biggest ways they've impacted college football over the past 10-20 years is non Saturday/Thursday coverage. Allowing a platform for less popular teams on Tuesday/Wednesday exponentially increased their exposure. The biggest benafactor was Boise St. They often got to showcase their blue field (I give them credit for using this novelty to their advantage) and then got better recruiting compared to their peers (other WAC/MWC/MAC type schools) based on extended tv coverage.

Without ESPN, I wonder how many of the less exposed conference (non BCS) would still be in existance at the D1 level.

Interesting that A&M and SMU got mentioned, but nothing about Texas. Perhaps they were never officially caught, but they were just as bad as A&M and SMU with paying players in the SWC days.

If you believe Jeff? Luchs, you can probably throw the top half of the SEC in this list. I would also agree that UCLA probably doesn't deserve to be on this list.

I got hooked by the Tom Lemming statement. When did Tom recognize Cosgrove? Would think it must have been before, or at the extreme early stages of his Husker stint.

At least I was able to guess who is candidate A.

Not a fan. The only thing positive I'll say is that I'm glad they didn't change the N on the helmet.

Spoke with ticket office today. Single game tix wont go on sale til July 23rd. Obviously, the sales rep wouldn't/couldn't(?) give me exact numbers, but intimated that some single game tix were still available (range is $50-end zone to $70-sidelines). Season tix are $152 (for endzone), plus $15 processing fee. With one season ticket, addtional single game tix can be purchased. However, the single game tix are not available in the same sections as the season tix.

I like endzone, so the convo then revolved around those tix. Maybe I got sold here, but the sales rep talked to her director and she was able to offer me one season and one single next to each other at one particular spot (not my ideal choice). Or they had other spots where you could have the same seat number, but adjacent rows.

I made the purchase for the one season and one single game tix that were next to each other. Ultimately, my original plan was to pay $50/ticket regardless of where I sat. I still think satisfactory seats will be available, at not much more than face value, once the game gets closer. The stadium seats appx 47k, and I gotta believe that there aren't that many die-hard Northwestern fans that aren't willing to make a few bucks than attend the Husker game.

Now I have to decide what to do with the one season ticket for the other games. I wonder if once its all said and done, if it wouldn't have been smarter to just by 2 season tickets for an extra hundo to resell after-market. One ticket will be probably be difficult to unload.

Sounds like he has high interest in our program.

Welcome to the Husker family, Marcus!

Interesting about the needing to purchase season tix comment. After speaking with the ticket office, they told me that single tickets would be available for every game and that the tix would go on sale mid/late July. I already have my plane tix bought so I'll pay what I have to. But the $125ish that tix are currently going for on the after-market sites is way more than what one should be able to get a ticket for as game day approaches.

 

Did you speak to the Northwestern ticket office recently?

 

Below is what I got from the athletic office earlier in this month. (complete with a nice pic of Pat for me to enjoy)

Of course they could just be "saying" they are nearly sold out to continue to drive season ticket sales. On the other hand, they did not mention anything about the BC, SD or Vany game. Which would lead one to believe that people are buying NU season ticket packages and single game only tickets to particular games.

 

Dear Jason,

Thank you for making the commitment to Northwestern Football this season as a season ticket holder. It is this group that forms an essential part of the success that has seen the Wildcats reach four-straight bowl games, and with your support the team will be challenging for its fifth this season.

As a season ticket holder you have the opportunity to request additional tickets to home games prior to their sale to the general public. Due to a significant growth in the numbers of our season ticket holders coupled with a tremendous home schedule, tickets for some home games will not be available for much longer. At this time a limited number of tickets are still available for home games versus Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska. If you already have made your requests for additional tickets there is no need for further action.

However, if you have not made any requests for additional tickets or would like to order more, you are strongly encouraged to contact your account executive.

They told me to call the first week of July to get exact date of single game purchase, so I'll find out then. I believe it was April or May when I last spoke with them specifically about the Husker game.

Interesting about the needing to purchase season tix comment. After speaking with the ticket office, they told me that single tickets would be available for every game and that the tix would go on sale mid/late July. I already have my plane tix bought so I'll pay what I have to. But the $125ish that tix are currently going for on the after-market sites is way more than what one should be able to get a ticket for as game day approaches.

Ball's in your court. How would you cover sports 24/7?

 

Sorry that I was just joking around last response. Honest answer - I'd put more women's college volleyball on. I'd slot two hours for a match, and if it wrapped up quicker I'd have my studio guys standing by to chit-chat until the next match started. More college baseball. More college sports of all kinds. Women's BB. Softball. College golf. Stuff like that.

 

Less talking heads. Less catch-phrase-driven shows. Let the sports be the stars, not the commentators. More shows like 30/30 or Outside the Lines, and less Around the Horn and PTI (although I don't mind PTI). I know ATH and PTI are very cheap to produce and have bigger audiences, but I'd prefer more sports and less of that stuff.

I'd agree that the sports ESPN chooses to cover, they do it the best. But thats my problem with ESPN. They're the most influential sports station, and they're also the most agenda driven. They're too much like the "news". Too agenda and rumor driven and not enough fact and balance driven.

If one didn't know much about sports, they'd think NY is where most every team resides, there were only a few teams in each sport, and that watching soccer is more popular in this country than watching hockey.