epocSoN

Stafford pushed a guy to the ground (from behind-- a clip) 20 yards away from where the punt was being recovered.

 

I didn't check to see whether it was before or after the punt was fallen on, but still a very stupid play by Staff. Why do we have to have one of these boneheaded errors that gives away a possession (SJB roughing the punter, Staff's today) every week?

 

Dang.

It was not a clip. Stafford was the defender on the play. We were punting.

Touche. I automatically think of any shove to the back as a clip. You're right.

 

I thought the call was BS, but there's still no reason for it.

Honestly, I thought it was a legit call (the flag...not having to repunt it). Stafford was clearly retaliating for something and IIRC, it was after NU recovered the punt and the play was basically called dead. I'm trying to find video or even mention of it in an article, but the flag was warranted IMO.

My only question is if the flag came before or after we recovered the punt. I didn't see what happened with Stafford but it seemed to be a late flag.

Here's another one though. What about the one on Northwestern final TD drive where they picked up 9 yards on a 3rd down, and they called a defensive holding on us. They tacked the penalty on to the end of the run. Sharp and Davison were flabbergasted. Isnt it either get the play or get the penalty? They turned a 9 yard gain into 24, and pretty much allowed for that last TD.

The only thing I can think of here is if it was enough for it to technically be a personal foul, which would be applied to the end of the play?

I thought the officials had a poor game. On the 4th down we went for, we lined up and snapped the ball. They came running in and stopped the play and reset the clock, but never explained why? This allowed Northwestern to see the formation we wanted to run, get set and make adjustments. We probably wouldn't of gotten it anyway, but it's something little that pisses me of off.

Another thing that happened was when we stopped Northwestern on 3rd down about 2 feet short of the first down. For some reason the officials came on to measure, even though it was obvious that it was nowhere near a first down. The extra time for measurement pretty much gave Northwestern a free timeout, and time to decide if they wanted to go for it, rather than being hurried to make a decision of going for it or not.

It's just annoying.

Yeah, I don't think we got outcoached at all. We had some pretty bad mistakes. We're good at shooting ourselves in the foot and starting cold. That's a trend. But if we show this kind of resiliency...well, what's more important?

 

Last drive, NW got 39 yards on 7 plays. Not bad, not horrible show from the D. I'm more concerned that they had three legitimate, long TD drives on us.

I only recall two drives that Northwestern had on us.

Their longest drive lasted 3:52 min and was an 11 play touchdown that started on their own 48.

The other was a 2:38 min, 8 play drive that started on their own 50.

I thought overall our D played great. I think we would have held them to 17 pts if we didn't have our turnovers.

On the punt that Northwestern fumbled and we recovered, they through a flag on Damien Stafford for a personal foul.

It appeared to me that the flag came after we recovered the fumble. So why shouldn't we have gotten the ball 1st and ten but pushed back 15 yards?

The TV coverage did a bad job showing what exactly happened so perhaps somebody has a better understanding of exactly what happened?

Braxton Miller is 10 times the QUARTERBACK Dennard Robinson will ever be. And so is Taylor Martinez. If we treat Robinson like a quarterback, he will smoke us. If we treat him like just another running back, just man up press the receivers and do not respect his throwing ability, I believe that would give us the best chance.

Which is why I think we play him this time around and keep the game close. I don't see them blowing us out again this year.

No way Epoc. No way is this a blowout. I'm nervous about it, but offesively, Michigan has shown a lot more vulnerabitlty than one would think. They still have issues.

Agreed. I think this will be our most difficult game left on the schedule, but I think it's winnable. Sounds weird to say after the sh#t show we put on today, but the great thing about playing stupid and somehow winning is that we can put it all together at any given moment and be great. Who knows, it could happen. I'm just not holding my breath.

Braxton Miller is 10 times the QUARTERBACK Dennard Robinson will ever be. And so is Taylor Martinez. If we treat Robinson like a quarterback, he will smoke us. If we treat him like just another running back, just man up press the receivers and do not respect his throwing ability, I believe that would give us the best chance.

Which is why I think we play him this time around and keep the game close. I don't see them blowing us out again this year.

Should we put Cain Colter in this too?

Might as well make it a two-pher and put Semien on there as well.

Welp, the game has finally arrived. We get Michigan in our house, and a chance at revenge for the beat down we took last year. The winner of this game will most likely go on to win the Big 10 title.

Predictions

- Close game till the 4th quarter

- We contain Robinson much better than last year, keeping him under 200 total yards.

- Penalties and preparation are still an issue, and ruin multiple drives for our offense.

- Burkhead does not play, we still don't see enough of Heard.

- Our special teams will score a touchdown

- We lose a close game in the end.

What are you predictions for next week?

In the Big 10:

*Northwestern is the only private school

*Northwestern may have the highest academic standards, and maybe the highest football graduation rate.

*Northwestern is not a football school yet unlike the University of Chicago, which was in the Big10, did not drop Division 1 football.to focus on academics

*Unlike UNL or OSU, Northwestern is not the only sporting venue in town, let alone many other things to do in Chicago

*Northwestern campus does not have a lot of space to grow

*Northwestern would like to be where Stanford is, tops in academics but also tops in sports, but is making progress on the sports end.

 

A lakefront practice facility is the higher priority, which unlike the stadium will be used every day. Plus the fan base is not there like ND and UNL to fund stadium improvements for reasons above.

So the stadium, which is in a neighborhood like Wrigley, is what it is, and right-sized for now, and please come again in two years.

I have been nothing less that impressed with NU since we joined the B1G.

Do nothing until the season is over. Then we will talk.

I had to work during the game. I missed everything. I raced home and saw we had won, came here and I can't believe how negative everybody is being. Wow.

 

If this keeps up, the Huskerboard will turn into the derposphere. And nobody wants to be there.

Watch the game.... just watch... the game.

What I do get:

 

 

D. Robinson don't look near as scary!

Can I ask why not? Northwestern had a terrible gameplan, that doesn't mean that Michigan won't expose us.

The point is I would like to see him actually coach over freak out and yell. Seems to me his time would be much better spent with some back and fourth chatter with the players to understand why they did what they did, and make sure they understand what needs to be fixed and how. I don't think that can happen as well by screaming in their face for 5 seconds.

Sit him down and try to get a medical redshirt.

LOL he's not getting a medical redshirt.

Pretty sure Burkhead is going to be done for the year.

1. T-Mart has outplayed Beck's terrible play calling yet again.

2. Bo needs to learn to coach on the sideline, instead of just screaming at refs and players.

3. Our secondary is finally finding their identity. PHYSICAL ASS FOOTBALL

4. This team lacks discipline in almost every aspect of the game, but mostly from our coaching staff.

5. Burkhead is most likely our for the rest of the year, sad to lose him but thank god for our depth.

6. Beck went to the designed QB draw 7-8 times and it netted maybe 20 yards total, yet we didn't one run quick pass or screen the entire game. I would love an in depth reason as to why he decided to do this.

 

 

It is bizarre that he doesn't use Tmart's explosive speed more. Sooner or later he'll figure out we're not Kansas.

I keep hearing people say what a great runner T-mart is. I think they see his speed and mistake that for him being a great runner. I think he is a terrible ball carrier with amazing vertical speed.

This isn't necessarily a counter point to what you said, because I don't think you are calling Martinez a great runner. He does have explosive speed you are right about that.

But the announcers are always saying how great he is on his feet but I think he is the worst offensive weapon we have on their feet. I would take Ameer, Bell, Burkhead, Enunwa, Reed, Turner etc etc on their feet before Taylor.

Let me ask you all this. Do you think Bo's demeanor is HELPING in any way? Am I the only one that sees a correlation between Bo's behavior towards players and the absurd amount of mistakes we make? Do you guys honestly believe that him chewing out players after they come off the field is HELPING with this?

What do you expect him to do? High-five? Offer them a latte'? Back massage?

Perhaps some 'coaching' would be in order? There are ways to help people get better other than screaming in their face.

I think we have the best receiving crew that we have ever hard. Enunwa, Bell and Turner are flat out fantastic.

1. T-Mart has outplayed Beck's terrible play calling yet again.

2. Bo needs to learn to coach on the sideline, instead of just screaming at refs and players.

3. Our secondary is finally finding their identity. PHYSICAL ASS FOOTBALL

4. This team lacks discipline in almost every aspect of the game, but mostly from our coaching staff.

5. Burkhead is most likely our for the rest of the year, sad to lose him but thank god for our depth.

6. Beck went to the designed QB draw 7-8 times and it netted maybe 20 yards total, yet we didn't one run quick pass or screen the entire game. I would love an in depth reason as to why he decided to do this.

Winning the game doesn't change the fact that the coaches do not have a hold of this team. We lack disciplin in every aspect of the game.

I haven't seen any coaching on the sideline on Pelini's part all game. It's spent either yelling at players, refs or standing their looking clueless.

He has officially lost this team.

Welcome to the hotseat. One game of errors like this you can blame the players. 4 years of errors like this, you have to blame the staff.

Beck calls the worst plays on 3rd down possible. Thats the 4th REALLY bad 3rd down call.

Good lord there are some stupid posts in here. I'm glad I don't normally check this stuff during games.

What a great strategy. Kick the ball out of bounds at the 50. I'm sorry, but the culture of a Pelini team is downright poor!

How are those two statements connected in any way?