Wow, is our offense bad. Words fail. Here's the drive chart:

First Quarter
7 plays, fumble
6 plays,TD
10 plays, turn over on downs (like last week, third and 2 and Harbison doesn't touch it then or on fourth down where we try to throw to our sixth string tight end)

Second Quarter
4 plays, punt
4 plays, punt
3 plays,punt

Third Quarter
17 plays, TD
9 plays,punt
2 plays, interception

Fourth Quarter
3 plays, punt
3 plays, punt
2 plays, interception

The offensive ineptitude over the last two games is just stunning. Obviously defenses have figured out how to stuff our run game and that is very bad for us. I have defended Childers as much as anyone but something has to change. Our receivers are not good either but you can't change them. You can try changing the QB. What is there really to lose when you have this lack of production. Can Graham not lift his arm at all? He's played a lot and done well in relief over the years. How much worse can he be.

Other thoughts:
-Our defense is covering up how truly bad the offense is. We really should have been blown out tonight. What a game by Sutton Smith, too bad it was wasted.

-It has really hurt the last two games to be missing our three tight ends who can catch a pass (Brinkman, Crawford and Lersch). I know Crawford has missed the whole season, just saying. We really need these guys given how weak the receiver corps is. Hopefully one or two of them can play in Detroit.

-Tough break for Corcoran on the targeting call. The QB delivered just as much of the blow but that's the way the rule is written. I would even be OK with that being a penalty but to throw him out is ridiculous. They need to adjust that rule. It probably won't happen until an Alabama or Ohio State guy gets tossed on a similar play, then it will happen real quick.

-The two point conversion was an illegal pick. Not that it matters but that one was obvious.

-Getting back to the offense, the most frustrating part for me is that there doesn't seem to be light at the end of the tunnel. I've said before, and still contend, that Coach Carey is doing a better job all around now but dealing with roster weaknesses from poor recruiting earlier in his tenure. His staff has done a great job recruiting defense but a very poor job recruiting QBs and receivers. Behind Childers are freshmen QBs and I doubt they are like WMU's freshman. Same at receiver, next year all but Tears will be freshmen and sophomores. It would be great to see them go all out for JUCO/grad transfers but I doubt that happens. Tyrice Richie would be nice, maybe they can find three more like him.

-WMU's QB is super impressive. Great arm, good decision maker, made some insane throws. How nice it is to be able to complete throws downfield.

-I thought about going to this game to get last week out of my system, thank God I did not.

-Let's steal one in Detroit next week, what the hell. This team is not good but they're all we have.

(11-20-2018 11:04 PM)NIU1981 Wrote:  Wow, is our offense bad. Words fail. Here's the drive chart:

First Quarter
7 plays, fumble
6 plays,TD
10 plays, turn over on downs (like last week, third and 2 and Harbison doesn't touch it then or on fourth down where we try to throw to our sixth string tight end)

Second Quarter
4 plays, punt
4 plays, punt
3 plays,punt

Third Quarter
17 plays, TD
9 plays,punt
2 plays, interception

Fourth Quarter
3 plays, punt
3 plays, punt
2 plays, interception

The offensive ineptitude over the last two games is just stunning. Obviously defenses have figured out how to stuff our run game and that is very bad for us. I have defended Childers as much as anyone but something has to change. Our receivers are not good either but you can't change them. You can try changing the QB. What is there really to lose when you have this lack of production. Can Graham not lift his arm at all? He's played a lot and done well in relief over the years. How much worse can he be.

Other thoughts:
-Our defense is covering up how truly bad the offense is. We really should have been blown out tonight. What a game by Sutton Smith, too bad it was wasted.

-It has really hurt the last two games to be missing our three tight ends who can catch a pass (Brinkman, Crawford and Lersch). I know Crawford has missed the whole season, just saying. We really need these guys given how weak the receiver corps is. Hopefully one or two of them can play in Detroit.

-Tough break for Corcoran on the targeting call. The QB delivered just as much of the blow but that's the way the rule is written. I would even be OK with that being a penalty but to throw him out is ridiculous. They need to adjust that rule. It probably won't happen until an Alabama or Ohio State guy gets tossed on a similar play, then it will happen real quick.

-The two point conversion was an illegal pick. Not that it matters but that one was obvious.

-Getting back to the offense, the most frustrating part for me is that there doesn't seem to be light at the end of the tunnel. I've said before, and still contend, that Coach Carey is doing a better job all around now but dealing with roster weaknesses from poor recruiting earlier in his tenure. His staff has done a great job recruiting defense but a very poor job recruiting QBs and receivers. Behind Childers are freshmen QBs and I doubt they are like WMU's freshman. Same at receiver, next year all but Tears will be freshmen and sophomores. It would be great to see them go all out for JUCO/grad transfers but I doubt that happens. Tyrice Richie would be nice, maybe they can find three more like him.

-WMU's QB is super impressive. Great arm, good decision maker, made some insane throws. How nice it is to be able to complete throws downfield.

-I thought about going to this game to get last week out of my system, thank God I did not.

-Let's steal one in Detroit next week, what the hell. This team is not good but they're all we have.

If targeting comes up in an OSU game they will find a way to say it wasn't targeting. I already saw that happen.

The pick play. Why was it illegal? because it looked like our dbs were blocking just the same as the wrs and the 1 db never moved to the outside. I think the d just screwed it up.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

it's so bad...so bad...Harbison averaged 2.7 a carry last night? Since the 2nd half of Miami, our running game has been completely shut down except for some childers scrambles.

I 'think' the receivers at least didn't have as many obvious drops last night? But even pass protection was bad, and Childer's was bad.

For the first time in probably around 20 years I am simply bored of NIU football.

Looking back now I think I may have been overly harsh in my criticism of the O-line after the Miami game. It's not that they aren't trying. Our opponents have clearly figured something out schematically to stop the run. Toledo was trying to do it. They stacked the box all night and had their linebackers about one foot behind their D-line. Miami did better and WMU better still. Each team is watching film and building off the last game. Expect more of the same in Detroit.

(11-21-2018 09:56 AM)NIU1981 Wrote:  Looking back now I think I may have been overly harsh in my criticism of the O-line after the Miami game. It's not that they aren't trying. Our opponents have clearly figured something out schematically to stop the run. Toledo was trying to do it. They stacked the box all night and had their linebackers about one foot behind their D-line. Miami did better and WMU better still. Each team is watching film and building off the last game. Expect more of the same in Detroit.

If we can't complete a pass in the middle of the field in the 5 - 20 yards range, the safeties and LB's can just slam down.

(11-21-2018 10:23 AM)17Huskies Wrote:  

(11-21-2018 09:56 AM)NIU1981 Wrote:  Looking back now I think I may have been overly harsh in my criticism of the O-line after the Miami game. It's not that they aren't trying. Our opponents have clearly figured something out schematically to stop the run. Toledo was trying to do it. They stacked the box all night and had their linebackers about one foot behind their D-line. Miami did better and WMU better still. Each team is watching film and building off the last game. Expect more of the same in Detroit.

If we can't complete a pass in the middle of the field in the 5 - 20 yards range, the safeties and LB's can just slam down.

That’s why we need a QB who can actually throw the ball downfield to keep defenses honest.

(11-21-2018 09:56 AM)NIU1981 Wrote:  Looking back now I think I may have been overly harsh in my criticism of the O-line after the Miami game. It's not that they aren't trying. Our opponents have clearly figured something out schematically to stop the run. Toledo was trying to do it. They stacked the box all night and had their linebackers about one foot behind their D-line. Miami did better and WMU better still. Each team is watching film and building off the last game. Expect more of the same in Detroit.

WMU committed to taking away the Harbs inside running and it worked. The coaches better recognize that Buffalo (or whoever we face in the MACC) will almost certainly do the same thing and have a game plan to counter it. Of course, the question then is can that game plan be executed?

(11-21-2018 09:56 AM)NIU1981 Wrote:  Looking back now I think I may have been overly harsh in my criticism of the O-line after the Miami game. It's not that they aren't trying. Our opponents have clearly figured something out schematically to stop the run. Toledo was trying to do it. They stacked the box all night and had their linebackers about one foot behind their D-line. Miami did better and WMU better still. Each team is watching film and building off the last game. Expect more of the same in Detroit.

Yep and to beat that NIU tried to pass around it but failed miserably. Take what the defense gives you and between the fumbles and ints you get an offense that can only score 1 or 2 times a game.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

NIU1981, thanks for putting together the drive chart and your thoughts.

We had 262 yards of total offense and 14 points against a very bad WMU D. 1 TD was the 58-yard pass to Tears who was wide open due to blown coverage. Our secondary got lit up for 285 yards on 19 for 35 passing by a true freshman. Thus, a true freshman QB had more yards passing than we had in total offense.

Therefore, our O is as bad as it looks and our D secondary is struggling. We are limping into the MACC against likely Buffalo, with a good QB and defense. The only positive is that Buffalo's run defense gives up 180 yards a game.

(11-21-2018 11:22 AM)NILAW Wrote:  NIU1981, thanks for putting together the drive chart and your thoughts.

We had 262 yards of total offense and 14 points against a very bad WMU D. 1 TD was the 58-yard pass to Tears who was wide open due to blown coverage. Our secondary got lit up for 285 yards on 19 for 35 passing by a true freshman. Thus, a true freshman QB had more yards passing than we had in total offense.

Therefore, our O is as bad as it looks and our D secondary is struggling. We are limping into the MACC against likely Buffalo, with a good QB and defense. The only positive is that Buffalo's run defense gives up 180 yards a game.

This is a great post, 37% of our passing yards came on 1 play when a DB slipped leaving Tears completely uncovered. It magnifies the offensive struggles. The lack of a passing attack has a huge negative impact on the running game.
I truly feel bad for Childers. He is doing his absolute best, but it is simply not enough. Given his limitations as a passer, he must make plays with his legs, which for the most part, he has. He also must eliminate turnovers, which has not been the case. I don’t believe a QB change is the right move. Way too late in the season. Carey, to his credit, has had this kid's back throughout his career. He needs to ride this ship to the end of the season, and open it up for competition in the spring. Childers may turn things around the next two games. Criticizing Childers is fair, bashing him is not.

(11-21-2018 11:45 AM)Djud Wrote:  

(11-21-2018 11:22 AM)NILAW Wrote:  NIU1981, thanks for putting together the drive chart and your thoughts.

We had 262 yards of total offense and 14 points against a very bad WMU D. 1 TD was the 58-yard pass to Tears who was wide open due to blown coverage. Our secondary got lit up for 285 yards on 19 for 35 passing by a true freshman. Thus, a true freshman QB had more yards passing than we had in total offense.

Therefore, our O is as bad as it looks and our D secondary is struggling. We are limping into the MACC against likely Buffalo, with a good QB and defense. The only positive is that Buffalo's run defense gives up 180 yards a game.

This is a great post, 37% of our passing yards came on 1 play when a DB slipped leaving Tears completely uncovered. It magnifies the offensive struggles. The lack of a passing attack has a huge negative impact on the running game.
I truly feel bad for Childers. He is doing his absolute best, but it is simply not enough. Given his limitations as a passer, he must make plays with his legs, which for the most part, he has. He also must eliminate turnovers, which has not been the case. I don’t believe a QB change is the right move. Way too late in the season. Carey, to his credit, has had this kid's back throughout his career. He needs to ride this ship to the end of the season, and open it up for competition in the spring. Childers may turn things around the next two games. Criticizing Childers is fair, bashing him is not.

You are right; it is way to late in the season to make a QB change. Making a QB change now would be very gutsy and inconsistent with Carey's conservative nature. Carey has had Childers back, but one has to wonder if that has changed with the turnovers. We should have the answer if there is a true QB competition next spring. Bottom line is we have to go with Childers' strength; running, and he has run much better than earlier in the year. It was working last night and should work in the MACC if Buffalo (or whoever) focuses on taking away the Harbs middle running as WMU did successfully. I could see a heavy dose of zone reads plays and hope Childers makes the right decisions. Childers will have to pass some to keep the D honest, so go with his best and the safest routes; he seems to hit the out fairly well, and I would think play action off the zone read. Childers is what he is and he will be our QB for the MACC and bowl game; so develop a game plan to go with his strength.

(11-21-2018 12:06 PM)NILAW Wrote:  

(11-21-2018 11:45 AM)Djud Wrote:  

(11-21-2018 11:22 AM)NILAW Wrote:  NIU1981, thanks for putting together the drive chart and your thoughts.

We had 262 yards of total offense and 14 points against a very bad WMU D. 1 TD was the 58-yard pass to Tears who was wide open due to blown coverage. Our secondary got lit up for 285 yards on 19 for 35 passing by a true freshman. Thus, a true freshman QB had more yards passing than we had in total offense.

Therefore, our O is as bad as it looks and our D secondary is struggling. We are limping into the MACC against likely Buffalo, with a good QB and defense. The only positive is that Buffalo's run defense gives up 180 yards a game.

This is a great post, 37% of our passing yards came on 1 play when a DB slipped leaving Tears completely uncovered. It magnifies the offensive struggles. The lack of a passing attack has a huge negative impact on the running game.
I truly feel bad for Childers. He is doing his absolute best, but it is simply not enough. Given his limitations as a passer, he must make plays with his legs, which for the most part, he has. He also must eliminate turnovers, which has not been the case. I don’t believe a QB change is the right move. Way too late in the season. Carey, to his credit, has had this kid's back throughout his career. He needs to ride this ship to the end of the season, and open it up for competition in the spring. Childers may turn things around the next two games. Criticizing Childers is fair, bashing him is not.

You are right; it is way to late in the season to make a QB change. Making a QB change now would be very gutsy and inconsistent with Carey's conservative nature. Carey has had Childers back, but one has to wonder if that has changed with the turnovers. We should have the answer if there is a true QB competition next spring. Bottom line is we have to go with Childers' strength; running, and he has run much better than earlier in the year. It was working last night and should work in the MACC if Buffalo (or whoever) focuses on taking away the Harbs middle running as WMU did successfully. I could see a heavy dose of zone reads plays and hope Childers makes the right decisions. Childers will have to pass some to keep the D honest, so go with his best and the safest routes; he seems to hit the out fairly well, and I would think play action off the zone read. Childers is what he is and he will be our QB for the MACC and bowl game; so develop a game plan to go with his strength.

Oh sure he hits the out fairly well, but it’s such a slow delivery and the defense knows it’s coming because he can’t throw anywhere else. Hence the pick 6’s he’s been throwing. Let’s not forget about a few of the almost pick 6’s as well. Almost had 2 last night alone.

(11-21-2018 12:15 PM)JoeNovak Wrote:  

(11-21-2018 12:06 PM)NILAW Wrote:  

(11-21-2018 11:45 AM)Djud Wrote:  

(11-21-2018 11:22 AM)NILAW Wrote:  NIU1981, thanks for putting together the drive chart and your thoughts.

We had 262 yards of total offense and 14 points against a very bad WMU D. 1 TD was the 58-yard pass to Tears who was wide open due to blown coverage. Our secondary got lit up for 285 yards on 19 for 35 passing by a true freshman. Thus, a true freshman QB had more yards passing than we had in total offense.

Therefore, our O is as bad as it looks and our D secondary is struggling. We are limping into the MACC against likely Buffalo, with a good QB and defense. The only positive is that Buffalo's run defense gives up 180 yards a game.

This is a great post, 37% of our passing yards came on 1 play when a DB slipped leaving Tears completely uncovered. It magnifies the offensive struggles. The lack of a passing attack has a huge negative impact on the running game.
I truly feel bad for Childers. He is doing his absolute best, but it is simply not enough. Given his limitations as a passer, he must make plays with his legs, which for the most part, he has. He also must eliminate turnovers, which has not been the case. I don’t believe a QB change is the right move. Way too late in the season. Carey, to his credit, has had this kid's back throughout his career. He needs to ride this ship to the end of the season, and open it up for competition in the spring. Childers may turn things around the next two games. Criticizing Childers is fair, bashing him is not.

You are right; it is way to late in the season to make a QB change. Making a QB change now would be very gutsy and inconsistent with Carey's conservative nature. Carey has had Childers back, but one has to wonder if that has changed with the turnovers. We should have the answer if there is a true QB competition next spring. Bottom line is we have to go with Childers' strength; running, and he has run much better than earlier in the year. It was working last night and should work in the MACC if Buffalo (or whoever) focuses on taking away the Harbs middle running as WMU did successfully. I could see a heavy dose of zone reads plays and hope Childers makes the right decisions. Childers will have to pass some to keep the D honest, so go with his best and the safest routes; he seems to hit the out fairly well, and I would think play action off the zone read. Childers is what he is and he will be our QB for the MACC and bowl game; so develop a game plan to go with his strength.

Oh sure he hits the out fairly well, but it’s such a slow delivery and the defense knows it’s coming because he can’t throw anywhere else. Hence the pick 6’s he’s been throwing. Let’s not forget about a few of the almost pick 6’s as well. Almost had 2 last night alone.

The pick that would have been a pick 6 if the defender had not stepped out of bounds was on a flat route and I have no idea what Childers was seeing since it was well covered and it was a horrible decision. I don't disagree; I am being realistic. The chances of Carey making a change at QB are nil and none, so I am trying to think of a game plan that would emphasize Childers' strength. As I said, Childers will be our QB for the MACC and bowl game, so develop a game plan to go with his strength. Am I happy about it? No, but there really is no a viable alternative this late in the season, so we have to go with our best shot.

Carey keeps riding the wrong horse, did it with Graham and is doing it again with Childers. The time to change QB's was way back during the non-conference schedule when you could clearly see that Childers had not progressed at all from 2017. He started to nose-dive the last few games of 2017 and he continued that same play to start 2018. He should have been benched a long time ago.

(11-21-2018 02:01 PM)epasnoopy Wrote:  Carey keeps riding the wrong horse, did it with Graham and is doing it again with Childers. The time to change QB's was way back during the non-conference schedule when you could clearly see that Childers had not progressed at all from 2017. He started to nose-dive the last few games of 2017 and he continued that same play to start 2018. He should have been benched a long time ago.

I don't disagree, but that is the water under the bridge/split milk now. Do we have a QB on the bench that is better than Childers? I don't know and I don't know how anyone here could know that for sure. In addition to the recruiting, we don't seem to be able to coach up our QBs in recent years. Even Childers; he has had 3 years in the system and this is it? If this is Childers top end then we definitely need a change next year. I can't shake the sense that our coaches have not been able to coach up our QBs.

Besides not being able to coach up QBs, I have no confidence that the best QB is even playing.

(11-21-2018 02:17 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  Besides not being able to coach up QBs, I have no confidence that the best QB is even playing.

I agree. We here don't know, and with the recent history of poor decisions on the starting QB not having confidence the best QB is playing is fair and appropriate.

I just hope the other QBs don't transfer after not getting a legit chance to win the job.