motorboatjonesNU
Special Teams Player
From the NU side of things, I think we'll be able to run the football. It seems pretty obvious that we're going to establish the run game first.
This game may be a throwback somewhat to the option teams in the number of rushing attempts. I'm looking for about a 75-25 run to pass ratio; maybe more if the game is tight. I'd be surprised if Ganz threw more than 20 times.
Looking at WMU defensively, they have decent, but not great, speed overall. Same could be said for size. Their front four seem to get more outside penetration than upfield. MU's Maclin and others got a lot of YAC against them. I don't see them matching up well for all 4 qtrs. I think the simplified offense, conditioning from 1s vs 1s, and more intuitive playcalling will set us up for success in the second half. Edit: Because we're 3=deep at I back, getting fresh legs in there repeatedly will probably wear them down after half.
Offensively, WMU can move the ball, mainly through the air (about a 2-to-1 ratio). This should be a tough test for our secondary. Their QB Hiller is prone to the INT (17 last year) and their O-line gives up some sacks (28). BUT - vs. Indiana last year, the Hoosiers sacked Hiller 8 times, yet still had to hold off a furious late rally. That game was in Kalamazoo, so playing in Lincoln with the roar of 84,000+ every time he gets canned might get in his head. It should be noted that WMU also garnered 28 sacks themselves.
Because NU probably won't throw so much and BP's focus on creating turnovers, I think we should win the turnover battle. We should win if the TO margin is even, and if it's +2 in favor of us, we might blow them out. WMU was also penalized 95 times last year. Again, with a simplified offense and a renewed focus on discipline, we may have the edge here.
Special teams: This should be huge. WMU averaged 43 yds per punt and 36 yds net last year. They averaged 24 yds per KO ret and 8 per punt ret. We averaged 22 yds per KO return and 8 per punt ret. We did, however, hold our opponents to a lower punt return avg. thann WMU did vs. their opp., so we may be able to win the field position battle.
I picked NU to win 36 - 20. Just too many unanswered questions on defense to go further than that.
This game may be a throwback somewhat to the option teams in the number of rushing attempts. I'm looking for about a 75-25 run to pass ratio; maybe more if the game is tight. I'd be surprised if Ganz threw more than 20 times.
Looking at WMU defensively, they have decent, but not great, speed overall. Same could be said for size. Their front four seem to get more outside penetration than upfield. MU's Maclin and others got a lot of YAC against them. I don't see them matching up well for all 4 qtrs. I think the simplified offense, conditioning from 1s vs 1s, and more intuitive playcalling will set us up for success in the second half. Edit: Because we're 3=deep at I back, getting fresh legs in there repeatedly will probably wear them down after half.
Offensively, WMU can move the ball, mainly through the air (about a 2-to-1 ratio). This should be a tough test for our secondary. Their QB Hiller is prone to the INT (17 last year) and their O-line gives up some sacks (28). BUT - vs. Indiana last year, the Hoosiers sacked Hiller 8 times, yet still had to hold off a furious late rally. That game was in Kalamazoo, so playing in Lincoln with the roar of 84,000+ every time he gets canned might get in his head. It should be noted that WMU also garnered 28 sacks themselves.
Because NU probably won't throw so much and BP's focus on creating turnovers, I think we should win the turnover battle. We should win if the TO margin is even, and if it's +2 in favor of us, we might blow them out. WMU was also penalized 95 times last year. Again, with a simplified offense and a renewed focus on discipline, we may have the edge here.
Special teams: This should be huge. WMU averaged 43 yds per punt and 36 yds net last year. They averaged 24 yds per KO ret and 8 per punt ret. We averaged 22 yds per KO return and 8 per punt ret. We did, however, hold our opponents to a lower punt return avg. thann WMU did vs. their opp., so we may be able to win the field position battle.
I picked NU to win 36 - 20. Just too many unanswered questions on defense to go further than that.
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