10-13-2013, 12:36 AM
I'm going to go ahead and get the negative out of the way:
1-15(!!!!!) on third down.
16/35 passing for Lynch
10 points scored after the first quarter
That was an extremely uncharacteristic performance by the offense. After looking fantastic in the Purdue and Kent State games, that was by far the worst performance I've seen out of the offensive line all year. They were struggled to block Akron, which is really unexpected.
179 yards rushing and 4.6 a carry isn't bad per say, but you have grown to expect more from the offense as a unit.
I really wish we would go back to spreading teams out more. MAC teams really struggled to stop Lynch running the ball last year when NIU ran 4+ WR formations. The best play in the playbook last year was the QB. For whatever reason, Cole doesn't run nearly as many plays out of spread formations.
The best play NIU had today was Lynch running. He had 15 carries for 83 yards and you really felt like he was getting close to breaking one. I understand he's hurting, but today was a day where you needed to ride Lynch. A really strange performance by everyone on offense today.
Now lets get to the positive, how about the defense? After giving up 35 and 39 to Idaho and EIU, they've posted 3 straight really respectable efforts. If the defense is going to keep teams to 24 or less, this team won't lose another game.
I thought the corners played better today. It wasn't a great performance, but better. We really to struggle to defense play action passes out of the gun though. Particularly slants off play action. EIU killed us with it, and Akron ran it probably 6-7 times today. I'm sure other teams will take notice so we need to adjust.
5 TFL and 2 sacks, the d-line overall had a decent day. They didn't get much pressure early on, but it wasn't a bad effort by any means.
You can't say enough about Jimmie Ward.
Really hope Sims isn't going to be out too long. Wedel was shaky at best. The first blocked FG he kicked into his own lineman's ass. Reminded me of Nendick vs. EMU. The decision to kick the last FG was a bizarre one by Carey. If Sims is healthy, sure, but with a shaky Wedel you gotta go for that.
This team is 6-0 and hasn't put together a full effort yet. I'm going to choose to take a more positive feel from this game, because I'm pretty positive NIU won't go 1-15 on third down again this season. Focus on the improvement on defense and you'll be much happier.
They've got to play better. Somebody is going to catch them in a close game otherwise. CMU could be that team.
1-15(!!!!!) on third down.
16/35 passing for Lynch
10 points scored after the first quarter
That was an extremely uncharacteristic performance by the offense. After looking fantastic in the Purdue and Kent State games, that was by far the worst performance I've seen out of the offensive line all year. They were struggled to block Akron, which is really unexpected.
179 yards rushing and 4.6 a carry isn't bad per say, but you have grown to expect more from the offense as a unit.
I really wish we would go back to spreading teams out more. MAC teams really struggled to stop Lynch running the ball last year when NIU ran 4+ WR formations. The best play in the playbook last year was the QB. For whatever reason, Cole doesn't run nearly as many plays out of spread formations.
The best play NIU had today was Lynch running. He had 15 carries for 83 yards and you really felt like he was getting close to breaking one. I understand he's hurting, but today was a day where you needed to ride Lynch. A really strange performance by everyone on offense today.
Now lets get to the positive, how about the defense? After giving up 35 and 39 to Idaho and EIU, they've posted 3 straight really respectable efforts. If the defense is going to keep teams to 24 or less, this team won't lose another game.
I thought the corners played better today. It wasn't a great performance, but better. We really to struggle to defense play action passes out of the gun though. Particularly slants off play action. EIU killed us with it, and Akron ran it probably 6-7 times today. I'm sure other teams will take notice so we need to adjust.
5 TFL and 2 sacks, the d-line overall had a decent day. They didn't get much pressure early on, but it wasn't a bad effort by any means.
You can't say enough about Jimmie Ward.
Really hope Sims isn't going to be out too long. Wedel was shaky at best. The first blocked FG he kicked into his own lineman's ass. Reminded me of Nendick vs. EMU. The decision to kick the last FG was a bizarre one by Carey. If Sims is healthy, sure, but with a shaky Wedel you gotta go for that.
This team is 6-0 and hasn't put together a full effort yet. I'm going to choose to take a more positive feel from this game, because I'm pretty positive NIU won't go 1-15 on third down again this season. Focus on the improvement on defense and you'll be much happier.
They've got to play better. Somebody is going to catch them in a close game otherwise. CMU could be that team.