Wow, now that was a GOOD football game between two very good football programs. Really did the MAC proud last night. How in the world did we ever let Dan Lefevour of Downers Grove end up in Mt. Pleasant Michigan?!? Watching Nate Davis and Lefevour operate last night was a thing of beauty.
I hope CMU gets a quality bowl bid. Lefevour and that CMU offense deserve to show what they can do in a good bowl. My hat is definitely off to Brady Hoke, Nate Davis and Ball State. Just WOW.
Ol' Butch and Brady are definitely going to be courted by other schools. It will be interesting to see where they both might wind up.
A couple observations -
** Those CMU uniforms looked great.
** Dan Lefevour looks about 12 years old, especially with a helmet on
** This was the first non-NIU football game that I sat in a chair and watched every minute. No channel flipping, no going to kitchen (except on commercials) and loved every minute of this game.
Lord Stanley Wrote:A couple observations -
** Those CMU uniforms looked great.
** Dan Lefevour looks about 12 years old, especially with a helmet on
** This was the first non-NIU football game that I sat in a chair and watched every minute. No channel flipping, no going to kitchen (except on commercials) and loved every minute of this game.
I wish I could say the same thing, but I just
had to watch all the passionate gay love scenes on the LOGO Channel.
Nigel Incubator-Jones Wrote:Wow, now that was a GOOD football game between two very good football programs. Really did the MAC proud last night. How in the world did we ever let Dan Lefevour of Downers Grove end up in Mt. Pleasant Michigan?!? Watching Nate Davis and Lefevour operate last night was a thing of beauty.
I hope CMU gets a quality bowl bid. Lefevour and that CMU offense deserve to show what they can do in a good bowl. My hat is definitely off to Brady Hoke, Nate Davis and Ball State. Just WOW.
Ol' Butch and Brady are definitely going to be courted by other schools. It will be interesting to see where they both might wind up.
I agree.
Great game, great publicity, two great dual threat QB's, two great winning coaches.
Unfortunately, all MAC teams are likely to get toilet bowls.
Nigel Incubator-Jones Wrote:Wow, now that was a GOOD football game between two very good football programs. Really did the MAC proud last night. How in the world did we ever let Dan Lefevour of Downers Grove end up in Mt. Pleasant Michigan?!? Watching Nate Davis and Lefevour operate last night was a thing of beauty.
I hope CMU gets a quality bowl bid. Lefevour and that CMU offense deserve to show what they can do in a good bowl. My hat is definitely off to Brady Hoke, Nate Davis and Ball State. Just WOW.
Ol' Butch and Brady are definitely going to be courted by other schools. It will be interesting to see where they both might wind up.
I also wondered how we let Lefevour go to CMU - forgot he was from Downers Grove. And I agree with the other poster - Lefevour looks really young. I wonder if NIU's stressing of our running game makes us less attractive to good QB recruits. I don't think we've ever been set up for a good pocket passer - seems like we've always been better at run blocking than pass blocking.
It's pretty simple. Look at the Catholic school recruited kids by Novak. Not a lot. He never showed face at our school and we had about 3-5 guys a year play D1 ball and another 10-15 at lower levels. I'm not saying he hated Catholics or anything like that but his base was CPL, Wisconsin, rural IL, and Minnesota.
Of the NIU QB's I saw play in HS (Horvath NC, Nicholson BR, and Davis R-B) LeFevour was the best. I knew he'd be good. Very cerebral.
If Kill was the coach it may have been different, we'll never know. I agree, he is very good in that offense. Would he have been as productive in the 2 TE, running game approach of the prior administration, who knows. I don't know if Coach was interested in a dual threat QB. (Britt Davis) If we was would he have been comfortable letting him do his thing. (Billy Lowe) It's a question we'll never know the answer to.
Unfortunately, what happened is that CMU, WMU and Ball State were beating NIU in the recruiting game the last few years of Joe Novak's tenure. Jerry Kill MUST recruit better than Novak was. The bar has definitely been raised in the MAC West. Plus Toledo has historically recruited well too.
I do not agree with NIJ much, but right on here. I was glued to the tv for the last 2 qtrs. That was must see tv.
I did not much care for how on TV at nite the CMU jersey color resembled djion mustard more than gold.
Otherwise they were cool.
We didn't even recruit Lefevour. We did not run the type of offense that they run at CMU when Novak was here. Notice how every dual-threat QB we had on our team didn't play, switched positions, or left the program. Nate Davis is definitely the better QB and has all the tools to be in the NFL and he doesn't need to run for 100 yards. He can sit back in the pocket and gun balls to his receivers all night.
epasnoopy Wrote:Nate Davis is definitely the better QB and has all the tools to be in the NFL and he doesn't need to run for 100 yards. He can sit back in the pocket and gun balls to his receivers all night.
Nate Davis kind of reminds me of Josh Harris @BGSU. Kind of a funky motion with a rocket for an arm and some decent speed. I don't see him being a starter at the NFL level. I think he will be drafted 3rd to 5th rounds and could have a good career as a backup...but what the hell do I know. I'm just some idiot speculating on a message board.
Novak did not have a lot of affection for mobile quarterbacks, the closest thing to one there was in his era was probably Josh Haldi. That's why Britt Davis never got a chance at quarterback (the whole "he wanted to move to wide receiver because it gave him a better shot at the NFL" thing was crap, he was told to move there if he wanted to play by the staff) and that is why LeFevour wasn't recruited.
La Fevour was not highly recruited and did not distinguish himself as a QB in high school, most thought he would be a strong safety. CMU lucked out on him. I see Harnish as very similiar to Lafevour. I think Harnish will be an outstaning qb. Also in the last 23 games we have lost 10 by 7 pts or less. Its the close ones that get a big season. Also, this will be the first full recruiting season with the Y in operation.
It's not just the quarterback position where you can see the talent differential between a NIU versus CMU, Ball State, WMU. You look across the field and those three teams have more pure athletes. On offense and defense.
People on this blog liked to be dismissive of the low rankings attached to Joe Novak's last few recruiting classes. Well, I think we can see that NIU has to recruit better. CMU, Ball State and WMU have been doing better than us in the recruiting game and have raised the bar for the MAC West. It will also be interesting to see who Tom Amstutz's successor at Toledo is, because they have traditionally been one of the best schools in the MAC in going after talent.
Nigel Incubator-Jones Wrote:It's not just the quarterback position where you can see the talent differential between a NIU versus CMU, Ball State, WMU. You look across the field and those three teams have more pure athletes. On offense and defense.
People on this blog liked to be dismissive of the low rankings attached to Joe Novak's last few recruiting classes. Well, I think we can see that NIU has to recruit better. CMU, Ball State and WMU have been doing better than us in the recruiting game and have raised the bar for the MAC West. It will also be interesting to see who Tom Amstutz's successor at Toledo is, because they have traditionally been one of the best schools in the MAC in going after talent.
WMU didn't beat us by much, and neither did CMU (after the comeback). So I don't think the talent differential is that much. They have a good, experienced QB and that goes a long way towards carving up MAC defenses.
the evaluation of a recruiting class cannot be determined for at least a couple of years. You just don't know for sure how it will turn out. I think this years srs are doing pretty well. A couple of plays here and there and this team has a great record. I would like to see the wide reciever position upgraded. Coach Kill will do a great job.
gcd Wrote:the evaluation of a recruiting class cannot be determined for at least a couple of years. You just don't know for sure how it will turn out. I think this years srs are doing pretty well. A couple of plays here and there and this team has a great record. I would like to see the wide reciever position upgraded. Coach Kill will do a great job.
I'm not going to argue the point with a long-time unabashed supporter of Joe Novak. You're entitled to your opinion. I happen to disagree based on the level of talent I have seen play on the football field the past two years. Example of what I allude to is the clear erosion of talent on our offensive line and at wide receiver. Plus, we lack the caliber of athleticism on defense that WMU and Ball State have started to flash.
NIUHuskies09 Wrote:It's pretty simple. Look at the Catholic school recruited kids by Novak. Not a lot. He never showed face at our school and we had about 3-5 guys a year play D1 ball and another 10-15 at lower levels. I'm not saying he hated Catholics or anything like that but his base was CPL, Wisconsin, rural IL, and Minnesota.
Of the NIU QB's I saw play in HS (Horvath NC, Nicholson BR, and Davis R-B) LeFevour was the best. I knew he'd be good. Very cerebral.
Blame that on the recruiters not on Joe...he goes where they tell him are the best prospects. NIU can't get everybody...some players may not like NIU for whatever reason ..believe it or not.
NIUHuskies09 Wrote:It's pretty simple. Look at the Catholic school recruited kids by Novak. Not a lot. He never showed face at our school and we had about 3-5 guys a year play D1 ball and another 10-15 at lower levels. I'm not saying he hated Catholics or anything like that but his base was CPL, Wisconsin, rural IL, and Minnesota.
Of the NIU QB's I saw play in HS (Horvath NC, Nicholson BR, and Davis R-B) LeFevour was the best. I knew he'd be good. Very cerebral.
I'm not trying to pick a fight here, but based on saying you knew LeFevour would be good, could you kindly give us a name we could recruit now? Maybe you could tell us whether Lynch will be any good. Problem is, we need to hear it now, not in 2011.