Marshall/Post Season Thoughts
Well, that didn't go as planned. You have to give Marshall a ton of credit. They're just better than NIU. With Cato and Shuler and that big ass RB they have, their offense is extremely dangerous. It would have been interesting to see them go up against a big boy in a New Years bowl. I'm not going to sit here and act like I enjoy losing 3 straight bowl games, but in two of those games NIU was completely overmatched, and I really don't think other than the New Years games these games mean anything. Yes, Carey being 0-3 in bowl games isn't fun, but I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.
That was really a bad matchup for NIU on defense. A really good senior QB and a really good senior WR going up against a secondary playing 5 freshman DBs, that's going to be tough to stop. I would have liked to see them do something different on Shuler, but I really kind of doubt it matters. That was the 11th time this year Marshall put up 40+, so NIU wasn't along in getting torn up.
When you're going up against an offense that's as good as Marshall's, you can't leave points on the field. I thought the offense moved the ball pretty well, especially in the first half, but you have to put up TDs on the boards in games like this. Then you add in the missed FG and KR TD Marshall had, and NIU just isn't good enough to overcome those against a team like Marshall.
I was disappointed in the offensive line. Marshall's defense was on the field for like 55 plays the first half, and for NIU's OL to get dominated as they were on the first drive in the second half was brtual. The OL certainly wasn't bad this season, but overall they were a letdown from expectations.
Sitting here and spending time being upset about this one is kind of dumb. NIU had a hell of a year. To win 11 games and the conference in a rebuilding year is nothing shy of fantastic. It was an amazing season. NIU just ran into a team that was flat out better than them today.
It really didn't make sense why in a game where NIU gave up 52 points, people were throwing Hare under the bus. Did he leave some plays on the field? Yes. Did he play poorly? No. He actually did a really nice job on third down hanging in the pocket and making throws. He ended the year completing 59% of his passes with 18 TD/2 INT and another 900 yards rushing and 8 TDs. Were high accuracy issues frustrating at times? Yes, especially on the deep ball. But something you have to keep in mind is not only was he's a first year starter, but he's never spent a camp as the starter before. In spring ball and fall ball last year, he was splitting reps with McIntosh and Maddie. His issues are fixable. You can improve deep ball accuracy. He's a great decision maker, has a strong arm, and is a good runner. I'm really excited to see what he looks like next year after a spring ball and fall ball repping with the ones. The fact he has room for improvement is a positive, not a negative. Improve the deep ball accuracy, maybe hang in the pocket a little longer rather than taking off right away, and I'll be interested to see if he changes his body at all. I think he could afford to drop some baby fat.
I can't begin to explain to you how excited I am about next year. How much fun is it going to be to line up Turner and Tommy in the slot on opposite sides of the field? Then you have two big bodied WRs in Canada and Golladay next to them. Then you have Beebe, Ezra, Glasper, Blake, and freshman behind them.
I have huge hopes for ACRB and Huff. ACRB averaged 5.8 in a pretty solid sample size of carries. Everyone here loves Huff, and I'm right there with you. Then you have KHJ as the third guy while he's healthy.
On defense, pretty much everyone is back but Durante, Meehan, and Santa. I'm really excited to see how the young DBs progress. Paris was a bonafide lock down corner the second half of the season, and the trio of true freshman so only improve. Rock/Boomer/Folliard is as good of a linebacking core there is in the conference, and with all the young DTs back as well as Perez, the defense should be better next season.
Everyone thought of this as a rebuilding year, and they still won 11 games and the conference. Assuming Hare progress with legit practice time, there's no reason to believe this team won't be better next year.
Go Huskies.
(This post was last modified: 12-24-2014 09:30 AM by 7.)
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