Northwestern Play-by-Play

[Mavric]

Nice RPO to get us started.

 

We did a great job getting Trey Palmer the ball in the first quarter.  After that?  Not so much.

 

 

[Mavric]

I was pretty disappointed in this play watching it live.  But I missed the part that there was not one but two players blitzing right at the hole we were targeting.  The OL actually did a decent job getting just enough of all the defenders to give Grant enough room to move the sticks.

 

 

[Mavric]

Nice route combination here with Brown clearing out and everyone else heading right.

 

 

[admo]

1 hour ago, Mavric said:

I was pretty disappointed in this play watching it live.  But I missed the part that there was not one but two players blitzing right at the hole we were targeting.  The OL actually did a decent job getting just enough of all the defenders to give Grant enough room to move the sticks.

 

 

I vividly remember saying "Oh wow, that's like Rex". 

 

Not saying you, but I never drink before or during games just so I can soak up little plays like this lol  (well not since a few of the Pellini games).  

[Undone]

You can see the change in philosophy that Whipple & Thompson bring in on the 3rd & 1 at Northwestern's 12 yard line early in the second quarter.

 

Four receivers, not even a play action play - pure passing play. Grant picks up a great block, O-line gives Thompson space and he finds Palmer:

 

 

[Undone]

So the biggest plays of the game arguably were:

 

-The fumble after the great reception inside their red zone in the second quarter

-The blown pass interference call by the zebras in the fourth

-The idiotic decision to go for the onside kick

 

I mean...we're making progress. If our receivers can catch & hang on to the ball we might win a lot more games than it feels like right now*.

 

*Edit: But probably not if our defense is really as bad as it looked in game one. The tackling was terrible, not picking up their tight end going out on routes was terrible, hardly any pressure...ugh...

[Husker in WI]

11 minutes ago, Undone said:

So the biggest plays of the game arguably were:

 

-The fumble after the great reception inside their red zone in the second quarter

-The blown pass interference call by the zebras in the fourth

-The idiotic decision to go for the onside kick

 

I mean...we're making progress. If our receivers can catch & hang on to the ball we might win a lot more games than it feels like right now*.

 

*Edit: But probably not if our defense is really as bad as it looked in game one. The tackling was terrible, not picking up their tight end going out on routes was terrible, hardly any pressure...ugh...

 

I agree, but I suspect the defense will look better moving forward. Tackling can be fixed (although it's been a problem for Henrich/Farmer for a while), and 85 plays wears on a defense. DL could be the problem many thought it would be, but I'm hopeful - just frustrating because I think it was Sirles called out exactly what he thought the NW gameplan would be a while ago. Grind it out in the run game and use short passes to build confidence, frustrate the DL, and force guys to tackle. We looked unprepared for that. 

 

You can also add blowing a coverage leading to a long TD to the list - they were driving, but that was a TD we just gave them.

[84HuskerLaw]

33 minutes ago, Undone said:

You can see the change in philosophy that Whipple & Thompson bring in on the 3rd & 1 at Northwestern's 12 yard line early in the second quarter.

 

Four receivers, not even a play action play - pure passing play. Grant picks up a great block, O-line gives Thompson space and he finds Palmer:

 

 

Not so much change in philosophy as just a QB being protected and making a careful

Throw. Good execution.  

[Mavric]

I'm curious to see more on a rewatch.  After the first quarter, I was pretty unimpressed with Thompson.  His accuracy wasn't very good.

 

Lots of plays like this that were a completion but not that great of a throw.

 

 

[Undone]

1 minute ago, 84HuskerLaw said:

Not so much change in philosophy as just a QB being protected and making a careful

Throw. Good execution.  

 

The point was that in that down & distance scenario previously, the majority of the time the play call would be a Martinez keeper.

So yeah, it's a change in philosophy offensively. The change is, now the QB throws the ball to make plays instead of keeping it & running it.

[Husker in WI]

1 minute ago, 84HuskerLaw said:

Not so much change in philosophy as just a QB being protected and making a careful

Throw. Good execution.  

 

The change in philosophy is we're not running a QB wrap on 3rd and 1 because he's the only guy trusted to make a play. Although I do wish we'd seen a little more QB run game - we don't need the 20+ carries we sometimes had last year, but Martinez scored at will on options last year against NW. Obviously they will have made adjustments, but it seems like something you should at least try a few times.

[Undone]

1 minute ago, Mavric said:

I'm curious to see more on a rewatch.  After the first quarter, I was pretty unimpressed with Thompson.  His accuracy wasn't very good.

 

Lots of plays like this that were a completion but not that great of a throw.

 

 

 

I don't know man...kinda hard to nitpick that one though isn't it? It's 3rd & 1 in the red zone, game one, you're nervous...the throw is to your most athletic receiver. He's going to catch that.

 

Palmer doesn't have a whole lot of momentum after turning to look for the ball on that route, so I'm not sure he gets into end zone if it's a bit low & away. 

 

Wind up punching it into the end zone either way on the drive.   

[84HuskerLaw]

3 minutes ago, Undone said:

 

The point was that in that down & distance scenario previously, the majority of the time the play call would be a Martinez keeper.

So yeah, it's a change in philosophy offensively. The change is, now the QB throws the ball to make plays instead of keeping it & running it.

Oh. Agree on that.  But the type of play was similar.  Not a pro set under center play action.  I call that philosophy.  

[Undone]

3 minutes ago, 84HuskerLaw said:

Not a pro set under center play action.  I call that philosophy.  

 

I'd say that actually falls more under "scheme," but it's trivial.   

[Mavric]

4 minutes ago, Undone said:

 

I don't know man...kinda hard to nitpick that one though isn't it? It's 3rd & 1 in the red zone, game one, you're nervous...the throw is to your most athletic receiver. He's going to catch that.

 

Palmer doesn't have a whole lot of momentum after turning to look for the ball on that route, so I'm not sure he gets into end zone if it's a bit low & away. 

 

Wind up punching it into the end zone either way on the drive.   

 

I don't think so.  That's a throw that travels 17 yards in the air right over the middle to a receiver that's moving half speed at best.  But it's high and behind him.  He's lucky the receiver didn't get lit up.