Truth be told, we are just an average team. We beat the bad teams, and lose to the good ones. Our coaching is OK (good on defense, average on offense, non-existent on special teams) and our talent level is middle of the pack.

We do not have the impact players on offense that you need to win the MAC. Our best offensive player is Chad Spann, who splits time with Me'co Brown for reasons only the coaching staff can provide. Our offensive line, quarterback and receivers are just average. Another year may make them collectively better, but you would hope that someone can step their game up to the next level to help us win a MAC championship.

Our 'D' has played admirably, but as we saw today, the best offense in the MAC will shred the best defense.

(11-27-2009 10:35 PM)TheNEWguy Wrote:  

(11-27-2009 07:30 PM)Nigel Incubator-Jones Wrote:  Joe Novak could never win the "must-win" game. Jerry Kill seems to be carrying on the sorry legacy.

I was patient with Jerry Kill and in his corner. But unfortunately, I am starting to have my doubts. The fact that he CANNOT friggin recruit is starting to really, really piss me off. Joe Novak could recruit. And was smart in his recruiting. Meanwhile Kill seems fascinated with chasing "skill players" from far flung states that nobody cares about. Dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb.

Kill seems to lose more "should win" games than Novak.

That is where they differ.

+1
A stat that we need to change real quick.

(11-28-2009 12:33 AM)niu79 Wrote:  Truth be told, we are just an average team. We beat the bad teams, and lose to the good ones. Our coaching is OK (good on defense, average on offense, non-existent on special teams) and our talent level is middle of the pack.

We do not have the impact players on offense that you need to win the MAC. Our best offensive player is Chad Spann, who splits time with Me'co Brown for reasons only the coaching staff can provide. Our offensive line, quarterback and receivers are just average. Another year may make them collectively better, but you would hope that someone can step their game up to the next level to help us win a MAC championship.

Our 'D' has played admirably, but as we saw today, the best offense in the MAC will shred the best defense.

Isn't Kill the coach of the special teams?....just saying

I'm with Nigel, I made excuses for Kill last year, thinking he probably just needed to adjust to this level. I figured he'd get it together. I'm not seeing that, so then I decided.. well maybe he's just a bad coach, but his recruiting is supposed to be great, so it'll be fine. But now I'm not even seeing that. If he's a bad in game coach, who can't recruit.. what purpose does he serve? Two or three years from now when all of Novak's guys are gone, if he doesn't turn this recruiting around real quick, it could be an ugly situation here.

I just see nothing to be positive about two years in. The players like him, which I guess is a good thing, but is that enough to justify his performance?

(11-27-2009 10:35 PM)TheNEWguy Wrote:  

(11-27-2009 07:30 PM)Nigel Incubator-Jones Wrote:  Joe Novak could never win the "must-win" game. Jerry Kill seems to be carrying on the sorry legacy.

I was patient with Jerry Kill and in his corner. But unfortunately, I am starting to have my doubts. The fact that he CANNOT friggin recruit is starting to really, really piss me off. Joe Novak could recruit. And was smart in his recruiting. Meanwhile Kill seems fascinated with chasing "skill players" from far flung states that nobody cares about. Dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb.

Kill seems to lose more "should win" games than Novak.

That is where they differ.

What are you talking about? I don't like Kill but this is simply false. I don't think we lost one "should win" game last year. This year, you have Toledo for sure and maybe Idaho. Novak was good for at least one should win loss a year, so at most they are even.

If Jerry Kill doesn't get the recruiting thing going in a big hurry, then NIU football is in danger of becoming Eastern Michigan football in a big hurry. THAT is the sobering fact of matters that should be keeping all good NIU fans up at night.

(11-27-2009 05:03 PM)NIU8110 Wrote:  We should be favorites to win the MAC west next year with Danny Boy gone

WHY?

GO HUSKIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(11-27-2009 04:17 PM)NIUHuskies86 Wrote:  2008
at 7-6 Minnesota: L 27-31
at 9-4 Western Michigan: L 26-29
at 12-2 Ball State: L 14-45
vs. 8-5 Central Michigan: L 30-33 (OT)
vs. 8-5 Navy: L 0-16
vs. 8-5 Lousiana Tech (Independence Bowl): L 10-17

2009
at 8-3 Wisconsin: L 20-28
vs. 7-4 Idaho: L 31-34
at 9-3 Ohio: L 31-38
at 10-2 Central Michigan: L 31-45

0-10. And additionally, the 2008 team had a loss at a 5-7 Tennessee team who ended up losing at home to a 4-8 Wyoming team that fired their head coach, and that same Tennessee team also had their coach "step down". This years Huskies lost to a 5-6 Toledo team with their 3rd string QB playing most of the game, and last I looked that Toledo team was down 10 at the half to Bowling Green and thus on their way to 5-7.

Jerry Kill's best wins are a road win against a 5-7 Purdue team this year and a 3 point home win against a 6-6 Bowling Green team that didn't go bowling and fired it's coach after last year. I understand Coach Kill isn't going anywhere (especially after Compher gave him a two year contract extension for who knows what reason), but we had better hope he's a heck of a recruiter, because he has proven he is an absolutely atrocious coach in games which the opponent has as much or more talent on the field. The team has actually had chances to win a lot of those games, but simple execution (usually on defense and/or special teams) has betrayed them pretty much every time.

Completely off base. He is playing for the most part with the table scraps left to him by Joe Novak. The cabinet was almost empty. Give him a few years to build stock and then repost. It will make more sense at that time.

We have a tougher time beating teams with winning records than teams with losing records.
Well, doesn't everyone?

We can't win close games.
If only we could have surrendered more points to the teams we blew out, we would have more close game victories.

We can't win the "must win" games.
How many "must win" games did Eastern Mich even play this year? How many must win games did NIU have in 2007?

It is an accomplishment to even set up a "must win" games. While the Huskies are playing "must win" games, the majority of other MAC teams are just playing out the season.

The 2009 Huskies played like a second place MAC West team.

(11-28-2009 08:34 AM)Nigel Incubator-Jones Wrote:  If Jerry Kill doesn't get the recruiting thing going in a big hurry, then NIU football is in danger of becoming Eastern Michigan football in a big hurry. THAT is the sobering fact of matters that should be keeping all good NIU fans up at night.

oh no.. don't encourage NEWguy. i worry for him. the guy needs some sleep!

(11-28-2009 08:34 AM)Nigel Incubator-Jones Wrote:  If Jerry Kill doesn't get the recruiting thing going in a big hurry, then NIU football is in danger of becoming Eastern Michigan football in a big hurry. THAT is the sobering fact of matters that should be keeping all good NIU fans up at night.

If you ever went to a game, instead of spending all your time on this board pontificating about how we are a mid-major and don't ever expect anything more, you might see different. I give you: Darnell Bolding, Meco Brown, Kiaree Daniels, Adam Coleman, Perez Ashford, Devon Butler, Jordan Delegal, Nabal Jefferson, Kyle Jenkins, Martel Moore and Chris Smith. These are all 1st or 2nd year players that saw significant playing time this year. When you have to play true freshman rather than redshirt, that says depth was not there in upper classes. That is certainly not the fault of a coach that has signed 2 classes. Now feel free to go back to your usually rants, I know you will. Maybe it's time to talk about your Denali again....

Agreed. See signature.

To say kill can recruit based on the fact he plays his guys is just stupid.

Who knows if his kids will turn in to players? I can't say as of right now, can you? I think Anthony Johnson is going to be the BEST OF THIS CLASS. Write that down, the guy is player.

I think Jerry Kill has the right idea when he goes and gets JUCO players to fill a need short term. Smith/Bolding/Daniels have all been great for us, and I think Jenkins will fill a nice hole for us next season.

If we can grab a JUCO safety you won't hear anyone complain (we are in on 2 from butler CC)

Kill has expanded his horizons to JUCO and I love that part of his classes. When you grab a player from JUCO you get a guy who is ready to play, you don't have to wait and you get a chance to "reload" instead of having to rebuild. For that I say Kill is MILES AHEAD OF NOVAK. However, I'm not a huge fan of whiffing on so many players and having to scramble late.

Again, something DS won't ever understand is that recruiting matters. This season you are seeing a lot of worry based on THE FACT guys with offers from NIU are giving their verbals to other schools. And when you can't get guys from the top of your list you have to slide down a bit. That's the only real complaint anyone can make about Kill recruiting.

Complaints about where the players come from is simply an opinion, the FACT (DS pay attention), once again, is that we seem to missing on a high number of players this season. It could make for a reach of a class.

(11-27-2009 10:30 PM)DSniu41 Wrote:  

(11-27-2009 04:17 PM)NIUHuskies86 Wrote:  2008
at 7-6 Minnesota: L 27-31
at 9-4 Western Michigan: L 26-29
at 12-2 Ball State: L 14-45
vs. 8-5 Central Michigan: L 30-33 (OT)
vs. 8-5 Navy: L 0-16
vs. 8-5 Lousiana Tech (Independence Bowl): L 10-17

2009
at 8-3 Wisconsin: L 20-28
vs. 7-4 Idaho: L 31-34
at 9-3 Ohio: L 31-38
at 10-2 Central Michigan: L 31-45

0-10. And additionally, the 2008 team had a loss at a 5-7 Tennessee team who ended up losing at home to a 4-8 Wyoming team that fired their head coach, and that same Tennessee team also had their coach "step down". This years Huskies lost to a 5-6 Toledo team with their 3rd string QB playing most of the game, and last I looked that Toledo team was down 10 at the half to Bowling Green and thus on their way to 5-7.

Jerry Kill's best wins are a road win against a 5-7 Purdue team this year and a 3 point home win against a 6-6 Bowling Green team that didn't go bowling and fired it's coach after last year. I understand Coach Kill isn't going anywhere (especially after Compher gave him a two year contract extension for who knows what reason), but we had better hope he's a heck of a recruiter, because he has proven he is an absolutely atrocious coach in games which the opponent has as much or more talent on the field. The team has actually had chances to win a lot of those games, but simple execution (usually on defense and/or special teams) has betrayed them pretty much every time.

once again, in 2003, our self-proclaimed "miracle" season - we only beat ONE team that finished with a winning record

why is everybody obsessed with this stat all of a sudden..

is it frustrating that we can't beat a winning team and haven't since 2006? YES

The 2003 team didn't win the MAC West and didn't make a bowl game. As exciting as the OOC wins were and as many people as that year brought to the program, those facts still remain.

I didn't start this thread to say fire Jerry Kill, and I'd agree that the "record vs. winning teams" stat can be deceptive. But when you are 0-10 against winning teams in two years, that's not just a coincidence.

Some on this board that continue to bash Coach Kill for his awful two year record also now want to compare Coach Kill to Coach Novak…….

That’s a great idea; let’s look at the comparison……

Coach Novak took over a team in 1996 that was 3-8….
Coach Kill took over a Coach Novak team in 2008 that was 2-10…..

Coach Novak first two year record was 1-21…..
Coach Kill’s first two year record was 13-12…

Coach Novak’s ONLY win in two years was against Arkansas State (1AA) 31-30….
Coach Kill’s biggest of his 13 wins was against Purdue 28-21……

Coach Novak in his first two years major loses were to Penn St. 49-0, Oregon St. 67-28, Western Ill.(1AA) 17-0, Kansas St 47-7, NC St. 41-14 and Toledo 41-14….

Coach Kill’s in his first two years major loses were to Minnesota 31-27, Tennessee 13-9, Wisconsin 28-20, Central Michigan 45-28 and beat Toledo 38-7…..

It makes little difference who we win against and by how much…..As long as we win……

It makes a lot of difference what major team we lose to and by how much…..We must start beating the majors……

The comparisons of Coach Novak’s and Coach Kill’s first two year records is a great example of how far our program has come………


..............................................................GO HUSKIES..........................................

(11-28-2009 03:16 AM)7 Wrote:  

(11-27-2009 10:35 PM)TheNEWguy Wrote:  

(11-27-2009 07:30 PM)Nigel Incubator-Jones Wrote:  Joe Novak could never win the "must-win" game. Jerry Kill seems to be carrying on the sorry legacy.

I was patient with Jerry Kill and in his corner. But unfortunately, I am starting to have my doubts. The fact that he CANNOT friggin recruit is starting to really, really piss me off. Joe Novak could recruit. And was smart in his recruiting. Meanwhile Kill seems fascinated with chasing "skill players" from far flung states that nobody cares about. Dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb.

Kill seems to lose more "should win" games than Novak.

That is where they differ.

What are you talking about? I don't like Kill but this is simply false. I don't think we lost one "should win" game last year. This year, you have Toledo for sure and maybe Idaho. Novak was good for at least one should win loss a year, so at most they are even.

Agree with 7 on this. I don't see a difference between Novak and Kill. Forgive me for digging up these bad memories, but the point needs to be made.
Bad Novak losses since 2005
Akron 48 Huskies 42
Ball St 31 Huskies 17 at home
Akron 31 Huskies 30
Toledo 17 Huskies 13 at home
SIU 34 Huskies 31 at home
Eastern Michigan 21 Huskies 19 at home