Mayes is the nickel for sure. They've been rotating Brooks/Smalls/Olootu pretty much all year.

I would start Mayes at safety and if they feel he's their best option to play nickel corner bring in Moore only in those spots.

(10-20-2014 09:39 AM)BarsemaBone2 Wrote:  

(10-20-2014 09:37 AM)NIU007 Wrote:  They were picking on Moore's replacement (Brooks?). He seemed to make some mistakes but had very good coverage other times. The Miami TD in the corner was a very nice throw by the QB.

Mayes was his replacement. I think Brooks is the nickel at this point.

It was #31 (Brooks) that I was watching, so not really Moore's replacement I guess, but a CB. At least he got his head around some of time to make a play on the ball. I remember years where we had tight coverage but it didn't matter since the CB never looked for the ball.

Now if we can just keep them from finding spots on the field where there's nobody within 15 yards of them.

I would rather have one of the freshman CBs more than Brooks. He was playing 12 to 13 yards off the receiver so Miami could do just about anything underneath him for an easy completion. I liked how the CBs jammed the NU receivers at the line of scrimmage to throw them off their routes and they played aggressive at least. They might get beat long once in a while but at least they were fighting. Their zone coverage is horrible.

-Was that a quintessential MAC game or what? On D no ***** were given.

-Nice job by #bobcole in spreading the field early and getting Hare going in the running game. Also for 5 passes completed to tight ends and fullbacks. These things will help open up the offense.

-Great touch by Hare on his long TD pass to DaRon, just a super throw. Overall great game for him.

-How about Stingily blocking two guys to spring Bouagnon on his long run up the sideline.

-I hope we go back to a more conventional defense in upcoming games. At times on Saturday it seemed like we had no one in the box. I know they were worried mostly about Hendrix's passing and rightly so but still. Our run D needs to be much, much better against Ball State, Toledo and WMU who can all pound the rock.

(10-20-2014 10:16 AM)huskie87fan Wrote:  I would rather have one of the freshman CBs more than Brooks. He was playing 12 to 13 yards off the receiver so Miami could do just about anything underneath him for an easy completion. I liked how the CBs jammed the NU receivers at the line of scrimmage to throw them off their routes and they played aggressive at least. They might get beat long once in a while but at least they were fighting. Their zone coverage is horrible.

Most of the time when Smalls was out there he was playing press coverage, which I liked. And he should because he's 6' 2 200lbs.

Olootu know he's small because he always goes after the ball when the receiver comes down from the catch. He did it against Kyle Prater at the Northwestern game and he did it again in the Miami game. He doesnt try to out jump the 6'2 receiver. Very smart player from a football rich high school! Future looks bright, even Juwan Johnson looked good in fall camp as a saftey he already has the size

Besides the obvious poor defensive play, we are doing an awful job of forcing turnovers. We're ranked 114th in the nation and have only forced six takeaways through seven games...three of which came against Presby. Fortunately we've only turned it over five times which is 4th in the country. It would be nice to force 2+ turnovers next week and actually put a game away with the help of some extra possessions.

(10-20-2014 12:13 PM)armour248 Wrote:  Besides the obvious poor defensive play, we are doing an awful job of forcing turnovers. We're ranked 114th in the nation and have only forced six takeaways through seven games...three of which came against Presby. Fortunately we've only turned it over five times which is 4th in the country. It would be nice to force 2+ turnovers next week and actually put a game away with the help of some extra possessions.

Good point, we are still 5-2 despite forcing so few turnovers. Six turnovers in seven games is pretty meager. Getting that number up needs to be a goal of this team.

(10-20-2014 09:30 AM)BobL Wrote:  

(10-20-2014 09:23 AM)BarsemaBone2 Wrote:  I get why Logan and Moore are playing because it's risky to have an all-freshmen secondary with the exception of Durante, but I think you've seen the high-point for both of them. Why not give Mayes and the other freshmen corners more PT at this point?

Thought Olootu looked good Saturday. This secondary should be a strength in the coming years.

Also seemed to me that the Miami receivers were getting away with alot of pushing off on the CB's.

Yes. This was noticed by many in our section at the game.

Quote:Good point, we are still 5-2 despite forcing so few turnovers. Six turnovers in seven games is pretty meager. Getting that number up needs to be a goal of this team.

It's a good thing to have on your checklist. But when you barely beat Kent, lose to CMU so Solidly at home, and let Miami score so much on ya (they do have an O, to be fair, but 41?) -- I think the focus wouldn't be on turnovers unless/until said team realizes that they can't do any better given their players, etc. I think NIU can do better on D. They sure seemed better earlier in the season (but 2nd half of UNLV seemed to expose some things?).

It shouldn't be a surprise a team with 5 freshman seeing major time at DB is struggling a bit in the secondary and forcing turnovers.

Fumbles are kinda flukey.

(10-22-2014 01:38 PM)7 Wrote:  It shouldn't be a surprise a team with 5 freshman seeing major time at DB is struggling a bit in the secondary and forcing turnovers.

Fumbles are kinda flukey.

When there's zero pressure on the QB, you can't expect much more...

(10-22-2014 01:47 PM)HuskieTom51 Wrote:  

(10-22-2014 01:38 PM)7 Wrote:  It shouldn't be a surprise a team with 5 freshman seeing major time at DB is struggling a bit in the secondary and forcing turnovers.

Fumbles are kinda flukey.

When there's zero pressure on the QB, you can't expect much more...

That is true. When the QB has enough time to pull out his lunch pail, eat a nice sandwich, read the Gideon's Bible he stole from the hotel the night before, and then finally look for a receiver and pass, you can rest assure that he will always find someone open to get the ball to. A mediocre QB who can get the ball to a receiver will look good against our D. Pressure the QB, and you'll see a different picture.

(10-22-2014 01:52 PM)Dog Fan Wrote:  

(10-22-2014 01:47 PM)HuskieTom51 Wrote:  

(10-22-2014 01:38 PM)7 Wrote:  It shouldn't be a surprise a team with 5 freshman seeing major time at DB is struggling a bit in the secondary and forcing turnovers.

Fumbles are kinda flukey.

When there's zero pressure on the QB, you can't expect much more...

That is true. When the QB has enough time to pull out his lunch pail, eat a nice sandwich, read the Gideon's Bible he stole from the hotel the night before, and then finally look for a receiver and pass, you can rest assure that he will always find someone open to get the ball to. A mediocre QB who can get the ball to a receiver will look good against our D. Pressure the QB, and you'll see a different picture.

Whatever happened to Ruben Dunbar ? Also, I can't believe that Perez Ford is not converted to LB. He is 50 lbs too light to be a DE.

(10-22-2014 01:59 PM)HuskieTom51 Wrote:  

(10-22-2014 01:52 PM)Dog Fan Wrote:  

(10-22-2014 01:47 PM)HuskieTom51 Wrote:  

(10-22-2014 01:38 PM)7 Wrote:  It shouldn't be a surprise a team with 5 freshman seeing major time at DB is struggling a bit in the secondary and forcing turnovers.

Fumbles are kinda flukey.

When there's zero pressure on the QB, you can't expect much more...

That is true. When the QB has enough time to pull out his lunch pail, eat a nice sandwich, read the Gideon's Bible he stole from the hotel the night before, and then finally look for a receiver and pass, you can rest assure that he will always find someone open to get the ball to. A mediocre QB who can get the ball to a receiver will look good against our D. Pressure the QB, and you'll see a different picture.

Whatever happened to Ruben Dunbar ? Also, I can't believe that Perez Ford is not converted to LB. He is 50 lbs too light to be a DE.

He's literally been playing outside linebacker in the 3-4 all season. I don't think he's put his hand in the ground one time.

I'm not going to sit here and act like the defense has been good the last two weeks because it hasn't, but it was the best unit on the team the first 5 games. They're a little up and down, but it's a really young group. They'll be okay.

(10-22-2014 01:59 PM)HuskieTom51 Wrote:  

(10-22-2014 01:52 PM)Dog Fan Wrote:  

(10-22-2014 01:47 PM)HuskieTom51 Wrote:  

(10-22-2014 01:38 PM)7 Wrote:  It shouldn't be a surprise a team with 5 freshman seeing major time at DB is struggling a bit in the secondary and forcing turnovers.

Fumbles are kinda flukey.

When there's zero pressure on the QB, you can't expect much more...

That is true. When the QB has enough time to pull out his lunch pail, eat a nice sandwich, read the Gideon's Bible he stole from the hotel the night before, and then finally look for a receiver and pass, you can rest assure that he will always find someone open to get the ball to. A mediocre QB who can get the ball to a receiver will look good against our D. Pressure the QB, and you'll see a different picture.

Whatever happened to Ruben Dunbar ? Also, I can't believe that Perez Ford is not converted to LB. He is 50 lbs too light to be a DE.

Good question. I'm not sure I've even seen him on the sidelines at the games.

Saw him last week in pads.

BTW, will we face a better QB than Hendrix of Miami? IMWO, he get a chance to play on Sundays.

(10-22-2014 05:58 PM)NIU05 Wrote:  BTW, will we face a better QB than Hendrix of Miami? IMWO, he get a chance to play on Sundays.

He's completing just under 50% of his passes AFTER playing us. I don't see it.

(10-22-2014 01:52 PM)Dog Fan Wrote:  

(10-22-2014 01:47 PM)HuskieTom51 Wrote:  

(10-22-2014 01:38 PM)7 Wrote:  It shouldn't be a surprise a team with 5 freshman seeing major time at DB is struggling a bit in the secondary and forcing turnovers.

Fumbles are kinda flukey.

When there's zero pressure on the QB, you can't expect much more...

That is true. When the QB has enough time to pull out his lunch pail, eat a nice sandwich, read the Gideon's Bible he stole from the hotel the night before, and then finally look for a receiver and pass, you can rest assure that he will always find someone open to get the ball to. A mediocre QB who can get the ball to a receiver will look good against our D. Pressure the QB, and you'll see a different picture.

To be fair, the D-Line isn't exactly big on experience either. According to the roster there are only 3 upper-classmen D-Linemen (Meehan, Gordon, Compton), which is equal to what we have the secondary (Durante, Logan, Moore). The two other starters listed at the top of the 2-deeps are William Lee (Freshmen) and Corey Thomas (only played in 1 game last year according to the official bio).

The only unit that has experience across the board is the linebackers and I don't think it's a surprise that they've been the most consistent unit overall on the defense.

But I agree, the D-Line controlling the line of scrimmage makes a big difference in how the rest of the defense looks.

Holy ****, just looking through the current roster, assuming TL and KHJ get medical red-shirts this year, there will only be 14 seniors on the roster next year, if everybody stays:

Canada, Clinton-Earl, Compton, Conlon, Ford, Lemon, TL, Logan, Maxwell, Mays, Mac, Moore, Ness, Tennenbaum