CSNbbs

Wolfe ran behind what many described as an exceptional offensive line last year.

This year the O line has potential & will develop but not start anywhere near as good as last year's did against UMichigan.

Unless NIU is more successful keeping the OSU D honest and not stacking the line of scrimmage, do you foresee Wolfe & Oline duplicating his performance and teams total yards vs UM 05 compared to OSU 06?

Much was made of UMs weak D going into last season and such is not the case with OSU in 2006.

IMO - Without 100+ yds from Wolfe, NIU has little chance of contolling ball&clock and staying with Buckeyes until the end.

How concerned are you about Oline in opening game and ability of NIU offense to force OSU Ds to respect deep pass & play honest ?

Don't forget that OSU has only 2 starters returning on defense this year! The new starters will be studs, but it may take their defense a while to jell. That's why I think we can score against the Buckeyes. And we'll have to score a lot to stay in the game!

It's NO secret. We cannot cough up the ball more than once and expect to be in a position to win.

OSU's green D may be better than UM's last year.

huskiebob Wrote:Don't forget that OSU has only 2 starters returning on defense this year! The new starters will be studs, but it may take their defense a while to jell. That's why I think we can score against the Buckeyes. And we'll have to score a lot to stay in the game!

He said it for me! Michigan's D may have been thought of to have been weak, but i bet you it was more proven than Ohio State's will be in 2006. Last i read, one of the their only 2 starters returning on defense was out to injury during the spring. Ohio State could potentially only return 1 starter on defense. We bring back 2 starters on our offensive line from last year. And two other players who have experience playing the two guard positions. Eddie Adamski is the only player who i believe has no playing experience. And everyone around here seems to believe that Adamski will be good. Our line will be fine, if it does not hold up well in the beginning we can just make Wolfe run to the outside. Wolfe is fast, has good vision, can breakaway from tackles, and has good footwork. Plus we have two stud Qb's returning. I think the game is going to totally come down to keeping Smith from running around our defense. If we can limit his mobileness we win!

Are we caught on D between containment and having a traditionally insufficient pass rush plus an undersized secondary ?

How do you spell A K R O N T W I C E O V E R ?

Doesn't Ohio State have to find a new kicker too? I believe their starting kicker graduated as well. If i'm right, we have another leg-up on them. Chris Nendick is a proven kicker!

epasnoopy Wrote:Doesn't Ohio State have to find a new kicker too? I believe their starting kicker graduated as well. If i'm right, we have another leg-up on them. Chris Nendick is a proven kicker!

The kicker having a "leg-up" That is very funny.

epasnoopy Wrote:Doesn't Ohio State have to find a new kicker too? I believe their starting kicker graduated as well. If i'm right, we have another leg-up on them. Chris Nendick is a proven kicker!

Do you honestly think Chris Nendick is the "leg-up" that we need to defeat the Buckeyes? Some of you guys have some huge hopes and I'm not trying to ruin your parade, but I'll be suprised if we get within 20.

Sorry guys, but Ted Ginn is going to light up our secondary.

DiehardHuskie Wrote:Sorry guys, but Ted Ginn is going to light up our secondary.

He'll tear up our kick off and punt coverages as well. This could turn out to be a very ugly game, but I hope not.

Not worried about the O-Line. It may take a game or two to gel, but we'll be alright. On a similair note, remember how bad our O-Line was during last years spring game?

epasnoopy Wrote:Doesn't Ohio State have to find a new kicker too? I believe their starting kicker graduated as well. If i'm right, we have another leg-up on them. Chris Nendick is a proven kicker!

Leg-up? You are a psycho! if NIU beats Ohio State it will be a miracle. I would like to know what the other "leg-ups" we have on Ohio State. Our inexperienced recieving core, young offensive line, and terrible secondary are all going to be huge problems in the Ohio State game. I am going to be watching the game, hoping that the Huskies can pull off the HUGE upset, but I realize that we are doing this for a paycheck, and thus is the life of the Mid-Major team.

garyindiana Wrote:

epasnoopy Wrote:Doesn't Ohio State have to find a new kicker too? I believe their starting kicker graduated as well. If i'm right, we have another leg-up on them. Chris Nendick is a proven kicker!

Leg-up? You are a psycho! if NIU beats Ohio State it will be a miracle. I would like to know what the other "leg-ups" we have on Ohio State. Our inexperienced recieving core, young offensive line, and terrible secondary are all going to be huge problems in the Ohio State game. I am going to be watching the game, hoping that the Huskies can pull off the HUGE upset, but I realize that we are doing this for a paycheck, and thus is the life of the Mid-Major team.

I would suppose we have a "leg up" at running back too.

RobertN Wrote:

epasnoopy Wrote:Doesn't Ohio State have to find a new kicker too? I believe their starting kicker graduated as well. If i'm right, we have another leg-up on them. Chris Nendick is a proven kicker!

The kicker having a "leg-up" That is very funny.

I'm glad one of you got the leg-up joke! But i was right, their kicker graduated. Some of you are such downers and have very little faith. San Diego State only lost like 27-6 against Ohio State. I think we're better than San Diego State. Ohio State played Michigan in its last game. Their entire team was better by then, but their offense only put out 400-plus yards against Michigan like NIU did. You guys may say, "Well look at what Ohio State did to Notre Dame!" To that i say, who cares! Notre Dame was a good offensive team, not defensive team. Notre Dame was worse than NIU in most statistical defensive categories. Now Ohio State loses 3 starters on offense and 9 on defense. Be more optimistic!

RobertN Wrote:

garyindiana Wrote:

epasnoopy Wrote:Doesn't Ohio State have to find a new kicker too? I believe their starting kicker graduated as well. If i'm right, we have another leg-up on them. Chris Nendick is a proven kicker!

Leg-up? You are a psycho! if NIU beats Ohio State it will be a miracle. I would like to know what the other "leg-ups" we have on Ohio State. Our inexperienced recieving core, young offensive line, and terrible secondary are all going to be huge problems in the Ohio State game. I am going to be watching the game, hoping that the Huskies can pull off the HUGE upset, but I realize that we are doing this for a paycheck, and thus is the life of the Mid-Major team.

I would suppose we have a "leg up" at running back too.

Hell yeah, we're better than them at running back! Wolfe is better than all of their running backs!

epasnoopy Wrote:Some of you are such downers and have very little faith.

Is it the little faith or the eagerness to rebuff those with any hope?

dynovinyl Wrote:

epasnoopy Wrote:Some of you are such downers and have very little faith.

Is it the little faith or the eagerness to rebuff those with any hope?

Its definitely very little faith. Any team that commits 5 turnovers is most likely going to lose the game, but we didn't get blown away by Michigan. We need to hold onto the ball better against Ohio State!

epasnoopy Wrote:

dynovinyl Wrote:

epasnoopy Wrote:Some of you are such downers and have very little faith.

Is it the little faith or the eagerness to rebuff those with any hope?

Its definitely very little faith. Any team that commits 5 turnovers is most likely going to lose the game, but we didn't get blown away by Michigan. We need to hold onto the ball better against Ohio State!

perhaps the reason we commited the 5 turnovers was because we were the worse team in that game. I am a big NIU fan, but i am also a realist. Ohio State spends more money on their football program alone then we spend on all of our sports combined! Just because we play the "Big Boys" once or twice a year does not make us a "Big Boy."

garyindiana Wrote:

epasnoopy Wrote:

dynovinyl Wrote:

epasnoopy Wrote:Some of you are such downers and have very little faith.

Is it the little faith or the eagerness to rebuff those with any hope?

Its definitely very little faith. Any team that commits 5 turnovers is most likely going to lose the game, but we didn't get blown away by Michigan. We need to hold onto the ball better against Ohio State!

perhaps the reason we commited the 5 turnovers was because we were the worse team in that game. I am a big NIU fan, but i am also a realist. Ohio State spends more money on their football program alone then we spend on all of our sports combined! Just because we play the "Big Boys" once or twice a year does not make us a "Big Boy."

But realists were the same people who said we could never beat Iowa State, Maryland, and Alabama! I understand our odds to lose the game are higher than our odds to win the game, but stop acting like NIU is guaranteed to lose! Just because you spend more money on your football team than an entire school's athletic department does not mean you are guaranteed a win! Hell, Alabama, Maryland, and Iowa State probably spend more money on their football than our entire athletic program as well, but that didn't stop us from beating them. If you wanna be a realist, then realize the fact that they only return 2 players on defense. Realize the fact that they lost their best wide receiver. Realize that they lost their place kicker. Realize that just because their a "Big Time" school does not mean that can't lose to a Mid-Major!

garyindiana Wrote:perhaps the reason we commited the 5 turnovers was because we were the worse team in that game. I am a big NIU fan, but i am also a realist. Ohio State spends more money on their football program alone then we spend on all of our sports combined! Just because we play the "Big Boys" once or twice a year does not make us a "Big Boy."

Michigan was better than us. Ohio State is obviously better than us on paper and, yes, they do spend waaaaaayyyy more money than we do. I also do not claim that we are a "big boy." However, there is a reason the games are played. On any given day, you never know what can happen. We play the game right, a few things go our way, and we have a shot. Is it a long shot? Probably, but that doesn't mean I'm throwing in the towel before we even get there. That's why the pessimissism is quesitoned.