Our secondary was exposed big time. BG contained Lynch, forced him out of his normal game....end of story. A solid regular season, but a very poor ending.
NOTE: NIU needs some size in their secondary....number 82 had a field day. How many wide open receptions did they have? I lost count

(12-06-2013 11:19 PM)bigdhuskie Wrote:  Our secondary was exposed big time. BG contained Lynch, forced him out of his normal game....end of story. A solid regular season, but a very poor ending.
NOTE: NIU needs some size in their secondary....number 82 had a field day. How many wide open receptions did they have? I lost count

The Huskies were absolutely outplayed, but it's not size they need in the secondary...it's corners that can actually stick with their receivers. Don't get me wrong, size always helps, but those guys are rare and go to the big programs. ( Melvin was such a unique corner for us, even though he gave up plays he was solid and used his size well) Our corners relied on our safeties far too much all year, and our linebackers have serious problems getting depth into the slant zones. Bowling Green did an outstanding job of taking advantage of those two issues we had.

(12-06-2013 11:30 PM)NIU010 Wrote:  

(12-06-2013 11:19 PM)bigdhuskie Wrote:  Our secondary was exposed big time. BG contained Lynch, forced him out of his normal game....end of story. A solid regular season, but a very poor ending.
NOTE: NIU needs some size in their secondary....number 82 had a field day. How many wide open receptions did they have? I lost count

The Huskies were absolutely outplayed, but it's not size they need in the secondary...it's corners that can actually stick with their receivers. Don't get me wrong, size always helps, but those guys are rare and go to the big programs. ( Melvin was such a unique corner for us, even though he gave up plays he was solid and used his size well) Our corners relied on our safeties far too much all year, and our linebackers have serious problems getting depth into the slant zones. Bowling Green did an outstanding job of taking advantage of those two issues we had.

It didn't seem like we couldn't cover guys, it seemed like we didn't know who was supposed to cover who or what area.

Looks like Marshall is getting their asses kicked by rice... Looks a lot like what I just witnessed in Detroit.


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(12-07-2013 11:33 AM)NIU17 Wrote:  

(12-06-2013 11:30 PM)NIU010 Wrote:  

(12-06-2013 11:19 PM)bigdhuskie Wrote:  Our secondary was exposed big time. BG contained Lynch, forced him out of his normal game....end of story. A solid regular season, but a very poor ending.
NOTE: NIU needs some size in their secondary....number 82 had a field day. How many wide open receptions did they have? I lost count

The Huskies were absolutely outplayed, but it's not size they need in the secondary...it's corners that can actually stick with their receivers. Don't get me wrong, size always helps, but those guys are rare and go to the big programs. ( Melvin was such a unique corner for us, even though he gave up plays he was solid and used his size well) Our corners relied on our safeties far too much all year, and our linebackers have serious problems getting depth into the slant zones. Bowling Green did an outstanding job of taking advantage of those two issues we had.

It didn't seem like we couldn't cover guys, it seemed like we didn't know who was supposed to cover who or what area.

And that's just inexcusable this late in the year.

(12-07-2013 05:17 PM)OldTtimeNIU Wrote:  

Corners are our biggest weakness followed by linebackers (too slow)....

No wonder DB's are a large part of this year's recruiting class, would like to see NIU pick up more LB"s as well as you have alluded to

Quote:Our secondary was exposed big time.

They just played horribly. That's really it. How much was the D-coordination setup against BGSU or the players adapting to their gameplan, I don't know. BGSU didn't have to "work for it" every time. The run D was not that strong either. Overall, it was just bad. NIU's D has been exposed overall against Idaho, EIU, and Purdue (520+ yards).

Quote:BG contained Lynch, forced him out of his normal game....end of story

Other teams have too, but he's been able to barrel his way out of it by running it against weak D teams, and also by some key plays (against BSU). I've seen many of their games... this reminded me a lot of the FSU game at the end of last year. They contain Lynch... ok. He's been contained before. Akron did it reasonably well (Lynch threw under 50%, ran for under 100 yards), and that was a reasonably close game against a living, but sub-.500 team.

In the end though, if NIU's D were to step up, that'd allow for more opportunities, IMO, for the O & Lynch to better adjust and get things rolling. But BGSU has a great D, and their O can be very good -- and it was, especially when NIU's D didn't show. I guess when hype, fame, and expectations get the best of ya, ya fall (see Fresno vs San Jose).

Quote:BG contained Lynch, forced him out of his normal game....end of story

I guess. The offense still had 454 yards, went 8/15 on third down and Lynch had almost 350 yards of offense. We averaged 5.6 YPC. Unfortunately the turnovers and field goal attempts really hurt us. Not to mention the completely absence of running back play in the first half and strange play calling at times.

Anybody watching the Mizzou-Auburn game? Mizzou offense is making the Auburn defense look a lot like we did yesterday. Wide open guys. Announcer even said, 'have you ever seen guys that wide open?'
Since last night? No.

(12-07-2013 07:05 PM)NIU17 Wrote:  Anybody watching the Mizzou-Auburn game? Mizzou offense is making the Auburn defense look a lot like we did yesterday. Wide open guys. Announcer even said, 'have you ever seen guys that wide open?'
Since last night? No.

And Auburn is running through Mizzou's D like Swiss cheese.

I hope the NIU coaches are watching the Auburn offense. They run effective QB runs as a secondary option off the RB/Sweep/Bubble, not the primary option.

(12-07-2013 07:08 PM)NIU17 Wrote:  

(12-07-2013 07:05 PM)NIU17 Wrote:  Anybody watching the Mizzou-Auburn game? Mizzou offense is making the Auburn defense look a lot like we did yesterday. Wide open guys. Announcer even said, 'have you ever seen guys that wide open?'
Since last night? No.

And Auburn is running through Mizzou's D like Swiss cheese.

No defense played in the SEC championship...


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Quote:No defense played in the SEC championship...

True dat!

Quote:I hope the NIU coaches are watching the Auburn offense.

I think both Auburn & Missouri's coaches have been watching NIU's D from last night -- because it's definitely on par there!

OSU is losing to Michigan State 7-17.
Their title hopes may go up in smoke.