I'm going to go ahead and get the negative out of the way:

1-15(!!!!!) on third down.
16/35 passing for Lynch
10 points scored after the first quarter

That was an extremely uncharacteristic performance by the offense. After looking fantastic in the Purdue and Kent State games, that was by far the worst performance I've seen out of the offensive line all year. They were struggled to block Akron, which is really unexpected.

179 yards rushing and 4.6 a carry isn't bad per say, but you have grown to expect more from the offense as a unit.

I really wish we would go back to spreading teams out more. MAC teams really struggled to stop Lynch running the ball last year when NIU ran 4+ WR formations. The best play in the playbook last year was the QB. For whatever reason, Cole doesn't run nearly as many plays out of spread formations.

The best play NIU had today was Lynch running. He had 15 carries for 83 yards and you really felt like he was getting close to breaking one. I understand he's hurting, but today was a day where you needed to ride Lynch. A really strange performance by everyone on offense today.

Now lets get to the positive, how about the defense? After giving up 35 and 39 to Idaho and EIU, they've posted 3 straight really respectable efforts. If the defense is going to keep teams to 24 or less, this team won't lose another game.

I thought the corners played better today. It wasn't a great performance, but better. We really to struggle to defense play action passes out of the gun though. Particularly slants off play action. EIU killed us with it, and Akron ran it probably 6-7 times today. I'm sure other teams will take notice so we need to adjust.

5 TFL and 2 sacks, the d-line overall had a decent day. They didn't get much pressure early on, but it wasn't a bad effort by any means.

You can't say enough about Jimmie Ward.

Really hope Sims isn't going to be out too long. Wedel was shaky at best. The first blocked FG he kicked into his own lineman's ass. Reminded me of Nendick vs. EMU. The decision to kick the last FG was a bizarre one by Carey. If Sims is healthy, sure, but with a shaky Wedel you gotta go for that.

This team is 6-0 and hasn't put together a full effort yet. I'm going to choose to take a more positive feel from this game, because I'm pretty positive NIU won't go 1-15 on third down again this season. Focus on the improvement on defense and you'll be much happier.

They've got to play better. Somebody is going to catch them in a close game otherwise. CMU could be that team.

This is about as bad the offense can play, yet if Sims plays, the game isn't in danger at the end.

Looked like Akron committed to stop the run and Lynch was off throwing today, so it was a dog fight all the way to move the ball.
They stuffed the run and played closed in the secondary. Put the pressure on Lynch. This was another character maker for JL, he found a way to give us enough to win.

I didn't see a really crappy team in Akron, I saw a team with alot of good MAC caliber players that is a play maker away from winning seasons. Give some props to them.

But, give more props to our D. Again they persevered.

I keep waiting for a complete game as 7 mentioned. But I'm starting wonder if this team isis just not as good as their record suggests. Time will tell.

Here's my thoughts. I am a huge fan of the MAC -- and bouty-bouty against their conference rankings putting us as the bottom on ESPN.

But NIU needs to do more than (barely) win games. Oh, Akron almost beat Michigan? Yeah, UConn came close too, then was blown away by Buffalo. Point being, if that was NIU's ONLY struggle, it'd be OK. It's not. We all know it.

Lynch is not throwing well... the D is stepping up, but the O is going down. NIU needs to Establish themselves (which yes, usually means winning BIG when you're Supposed to)...

If all NIU fans want is to not lose, no matter what, no matter what Sun Belt vs MAC bowl game is played -- that's fine.

If you want MORE than that -- ESTABLISH yourselves!! We need it in our Conference! It helps out everyone in the long run as far as recruits go, to consistently be over CUSA, and to ever possibly go over the (new) AAC.

YES, if WMU is 0-11 walking into DeKalb, I am rooting for us to win. But come on. Lynch needs to be a LEADER. A better QB. I remember the olden days when you knew a great MAC QB vs one who was (merely) good/danergous. Don't let Lynch be that. Make him be better than last year. Let him get revenge against the Establishment of NCAA by Establishing themselves as WINNERS.

I'm with 7, I choose to focus on the D's improved play. They have been by far the biggest concern for this Huskie team, and we have see. Some significant improvement. This was our most pressing issue- we should be excited. The offense will come around... I don't believe any of us expect a 1-15 on third down again anytime in the near future- and that is for good reason. The team is good and getting better. Now we need to put it all together- our best football is still ahead of us this season.

I blame the offenses struggles on the lack of cannon at the game...

(10-13-2013 12:36 AM)7 Wrote:  Really hope Sims isn't going to be out too long. Wedel was shaky at best. The first blocked FG he kicked into his own lineman's ass. Reminded me of Nendick vs. EMU. The decision to kick the last FG was a bizarre one by Carey. If Sims is healthy, sure, but with a shaky Wedel you gotta go for that.

I think Carey was in a really tough spot. That was a very difficult decision. He had just watched Stingily lose a yard and his offensive line was getting no push at all. Perhaps if they ran a play action roll out or something. But I wouldn't have supported another Stingily run.

Separately, the defense is coming around. The slant/in routes kill us, especially on the PA. The WRs just slip into that area between the LBs and safeties and get open consistently.

The offense was so disappointing yesterday, really blah. One plus with this year's offense is that at least it gives me some confidence going into next year without the QB having to do literally everything. We can still win when we have a solid running back and don't have to rely on Lynch to be 90% of the yards each week.

I think Lynch is more hurt than we think. His mechanics were way out of whack yesterday. Yeah he ran the ball ok, but it wasn't a Lynch type performance. The defense stepped up big time and Jimmy Ward is a beast. Lets get the team to regroup and beat CMU next week and not let them hang around for 60 minutes.

At least 6 of those incompletions Lynch had to throw away. Sure seemed to me as if the Oline had a bad day all around.

Im not so sure the D played so much better...Akron QB missed alot of open receivers and more than a few drops.

A win is a win especially on a day when Ball State escapes with a narrow win and Ohio lost.

(10-13-2013 06:30 AM)UnknownScout Wrote:  I think Lynch is more hurt than we think. His mechanics were way out of whack yesterday. Yeah he ran the ball ok, but it wasn't a Lynch type performance. The defense stepped up big time and Jimmy Ward is a beast. Lets get the team to regroup and beat CMU next week and not let them hang around for 60 minutes.

I agree with this, I think that he is gutting it out and playing through pain. Hopefully it is something that can get incrementally better as the season goes on.

That game was all kinds of odd but how crazy is it that now with 6 wins we are bowl eligible for the 6 straight season yet that is not good enough anymore! 2 more wins to go and this Sr class is the winningest class ever...a record I doubt we will ever see broken.

Lynch is fine.

(10-13-2013 01:53 AM)Field Turf Wrote:  I keep waiting for a complete game as 7 mentioned. But I'm starting wonder if this team isis just not as good as their record suggests. Time will tell.

Hate to say it...but kind of have this feeling as well. We are a few points or plays away from being 4-2 or even 3-3, though good teams win which we have. I think we are good, but for some reason, other than maybe the Purdue game, I have felt uncomfortable with our play. Time will tell, but I think in just about every game we are off somewhere. Great teams click 80% of the time, though they still have the tough close wins too.

That win is sure to get us a nice solid boca raton bowl bid!

Anyone know why we don't throw the ball over the middle? It seems like we don't run slants or posts? When we do it seems to work, like at Iowa.

I think they go away from Stingly in too many series. Give him the ball. I also think he needs to run aggressively and not stutter step near the line. I just gave him props the other day for carrying a load, but when he changes direction or stutter steps, he loses all momentum and takes his advantage away. The holes weren't big yesterday, but if he powers through them, he would have picked up 4-5 yards.

Akron was nearly a touchdown away in 3 games this season from being 4-2. Akron needs a few impact players and then they'll be a force to deal with in MAC east

Lucky again this week, Akron has a bad QB. Missed several wide open passes.

Outside of one pass break-up, Paris Logan is a liability out there.

(10-13-2013 09:08 AM)thxjoenovak Wrote:  Lucky again this week, Akron has a bad QB. Missed several wide open passes.

Outside of one pass break-up, Paris Logan is a liability out there.

Yes, I watched BG last night and we would have been in a world of trouble if yesterday's Huskie team played yesterday's BG team.