In all my time as a Huskie fan I've never seen a team of ours be this fun to watch on Defense. Sutton, Corcoran, Pugh, Johnson, Jones, Lurry are all fun to watch. Can't wait to watch them dismantle Kent State. If they can keep this up and stay healthy with a few touchdowns mixed in from our offense. We will be in Detroit this year!

The defense is the best MAC defense I've ever seen and hopefully they'll be even better next year. Pretty sure Kane will go be a millionaire somewhere else next year so hopefully we will have a solid replacement in place. With Santa as an upperclassmen and the bulk of the defense returning we should be among the favorites for the G5 spot next year.

(10-02-2017 05:29 PM)BDB5yp Wrote:  In all my time as a Huskie fan I've never seen a team of ours be this fun to watch on Defense. Sutton, Corcoran, Pugh, Johnson, Jones, Lurry are all fun to watch. Can't wait to watch them dismantle Kent State. If they can keep this up and stay healthy with a few touchdowns mixed in from our offense. We will be in Detroit this year!

BEST ever seen in deKalb. EVER!

(10-02-2017 08:49 PM)NIU05 Wrote:  

(10-02-2017 05:29 PM)BDB5yp Wrote:  In all my time as a Huskie fan I've never seen a team of ours be this fun to watch on Defense. Sutton, Corcoran, Pugh, Johnson, Jones, Lurry are all fun to watch. Can't wait to watch them dismantle Kent State. If they can keep this up and stay healthy with a few touchdowns mixed in from our offense. We will be in Detroit this year!

BEST ever seen in deKalb. EVER!

I love defense also. I am usually hesitant to use superlatives like best ever; but I have to agree that this is the best NIU defense I have seen since I became a fan in 1983.

This defense justifies Carey's ultra-conservative philosophy. The problem is we do not have an offense that can come back from 17 point deficits, after miscues by our offense and special teams gave up 21 points. Our O does not have to score on every drive. They just have to make sure our D does not come out to a short field.

(10-02-2017 09:41 PM)NILAW Wrote:  

(10-02-2017 08:49 PM)NIU05 Wrote:  

(10-02-2017 05:29 PM)BDB5yp Wrote:  In all my time as a Huskie fan I've never seen a team of ours be this fun to watch on Defense. Sutton, Corcoran, Pugh, Johnson, Jones, Lurry are all fun to watch. Can't wait to watch them dismantle Kent State. If they can keep this up and stay healthy with a few touchdowns mixed in from our offense. We will be in Detroit this year!

BEST ever seen in deKalb. EVER!

I love defense also. I am usually hesitant to use superlatives like best ever; but I have to agree that this is the best NIU defense I have seen since I became a fan in 1983.

That 83 era team with the DTs....Kellar and ???? was outstandings as well

(10-02-2017 10:36 PM)Huskie_Jon Wrote:  This defense justifies Carey's ultra-conservative philosophy. The problem is we do not have an offense that can come back from 17 point deficits, after miscues by our offense and special teams gave up 21 points. Our O does not have to score on every drive. They just have to make sure our D does not come out to a short field.

Wish he were more conservative against SDSU. Wish he took some more calculated risks against Nebraska (to not give them an opportunity to come back). He needs better feel for the game. It was so obvious that our offensive line was controlling the line of scrimmage in the fourth quarter. Bring Childers in and pound the rock!

(10-02-2017 10:36 PM)Huskie_Jon Wrote:  This defense justifies Carey's ultra-conservative philosophy. The problem is we do not have an offense that can come back from 17 point deficits, after miscues by our offense and special teams gave up 21 points. Our O does not have to score on every drive. They just have to make sure our D does not come out to a short field.

You're wrong; we do have an offense that is capable of coming back from a huge deficit, the SDSU game was evidence of that; we clearly now have quick strike capability. You are correct, we didn't need to do that (make a big play) when we are driving the ball with obvious success late in the game.

(10-03-2017 08:18 AM)Djud Wrote:  

(10-02-2017 10:36 PM)Huskie_Jon Wrote:  This defense justifies Carey's ultra-conservative philosophy. The problem is we do not have an offense that can come back from 17 point deficits, after miscues by our offense and special teams gave up 21 points. Our O does not have to score on every drive. They just have to make sure our D does not come out to a short field.

You're wrong; we do have an offense that is capable of coming back from a huge deficit, the SDSU game was evidence of that; we clearly now have quick strike capability. You are correct, we didn't need to do that (make a big play) when we are driving the ball with obvious success late in the game.

I'm going to lean more to Huskie_Jon's argument. Kind of. While we did hit deep balls vs SDSU, it was primarily vs their one weak corner while playing man. When they switched to a zone defense later in the second half, that pass wasn't there for us. While Santa has a great deep ball, defenses can play that when they know you need a lot points quickly. Constant fly patterns won't work. Our problem is we have no intermediate route tree. If your down 20 points in the third, you don't need to get it all back in one pass. You can throw it 20-15-30-10. But it's hard to get 25-35 yards a pass when you're only throwing towards the sideline. That safety first pass mentality isn't conducive to making many 15 to 30 yard down field passes(except for bombs, which are fairly safe) But even if we fell down 20, it's probably due to TOs or a special teams gaffe. I'm confident our D could hold while our now capable offense can make 3 drives in a half. We can overcome a large deficit, just as long as we have time to run our offense.

What concerns me more is getting into 1st and long situations because of penalties. 1st or 2nd and 20 is hard to overcome with 5 yard outs and screens. I feel like any holding penalty is an automatic drive killer.

(10-03-2017 08:55 AM)Rabid Squirrel Wrote:  

(10-03-2017 08:18 AM)Djud Wrote:  

(10-02-2017 10:36 PM)Huskie_Jon Wrote:  This defense justifies Carey's ultra-conservative philosophy. The problem is we do not have an offense that can come back from 17 point deficits, after miscues by our offense and special teams gave up 21 points. Our O does not have to score on every drive. They just have to make sure our D does not come out to a short field.

You're wrong; we do have an offense that is capable of coming back from a huge deficit, the SDSU game was evidence of that; we clearly now have quick strike capability. You are correct, we didn't need to do that (make a big play) when we are driving the ball with obvious success late in the game.

I'm going to lean more to Huskie_Jon's argument. Kind of. While we did hit deep balls vs SDSU, it was primarily vs their one weak corner while playing man. When they switched to a zone defense later in the second half, that pass wasn't there for us. While Santa has a great deep ball, defenses can play that when they know you need a lot points quickly. Constant fly patterns won't work. Our problem is we have no intermediate route tree. If your down 20 points in the third, you don't need to get it all back in one pass. You can throw it 20-15-30-10. But it's hard to get 25-35 yards a pass when you're only throwing towards the sideline. That safety first pass mentality isn't conducive to making many 15 to 30 yard down field passes(except for bombs, which are fairly safe) But even if we fell down 20, it's probably due to TOs or a special teams gaffe. I'm confident our D could hold while our now capable offense can make 3 drives in a half. We can overcome a large deficit, just as long as we have time to run our offense.

What concerns me more is getting into 1st and long situations because of penalties. 1st or 2nd and 20 is hard to overcome with 5 yard outs and screens. I feel like any holding penalty is an automatic drive killer.

Solid post! Santa's accuracy on deep throws is incredible; perhaps it is because he doesn't have to read the defense and just let his arm strength work. This (underneath routes/reads) is where the inexperience shows.

(10-03-2017 09:44 AM)Djud Wrote:  

(10-03-2017 08:55 AM)Rabid Squirrel Wrote:  

(10-03-2017 08:18 AM)Djud Wrote:  

(10-02-2017 10:36 PM)Huskie_Jon Wrote:  This defense justifies Carey's ultra-conservative philosophy. The problem is we do not have an offense that can come back from 17 point deficits, after miscues by our offense and special teams gave up 21 points. Our O does not have to score on every drive. They just have to make sure our D does not come out to a short field.

You're wrong; we do have an offense that is capable of coming back from a huge deficit, the SDSU game was evidence of that; we clearly now have quick strike capability. You are correct, we didn't need to do that (make a big play) when we are driving the ball with obvious success late in the game.

I'm going to lean more to Huskie_Jon's argument. Kind of. While we did hit deep balls vs SDSU, it was primarily vs their one weak corner while playing man. When they switched to a zone defense later in the second half, that pass wasn't there for us. While Santa has a great deep ball, defenses can play that when they know you need a lot points quickly. Constant fly patterns won't work. Our problem is we have no intermediate route tree. If your down 20 points in the third, you don't need to get it all back in one pass. You can throw it 20-15-30-10. But it's hard to get 25-35 yards a pass when you're only throwing towards the sideline. That safety first pass mentality isn't conducive to making many 15 to 30 yard down field passes(except for bombs, which are fairly safe) But even if we fell down 20, it's probably due to TOs or a special teams gaffe. I'm confident our D could hold while our now capable offense can make 3 drives in a half. We can overcome a large deficit, just as long as we have time to run our offense.

What concerns me more is getting into 1st and long situations because of penalties. 1st or 2nd and 20 is hard to overcome with 5 yard outs and screens. I feel like any holding penalty is an automatic drive killer.

Solid post! Santa's accuracy on deep throws is incredible; perhaps it is because he doesn't have to read the defense and just let his arm strength work. This (underneath routes/reads) is where the inexperience shows.

Santas deep ball is invaluable to the offense. Just complete one or two a game and a defense has to account. lets hope he continues to improve. He does seem to check down some...just not sure hes always checking down to the right guy. That's not easy and hopefully the other aspects in the shorter game come to him soon. QB is hard as hell to play.

(10-03-2017 09:44 AM)Djud Wrote:  

(10-03-2017 08:55 AM)Rabid Squirrel Wrote:  

(10-03-2017 08:18 AM)Djud Wrote:  

(10-02-2017 10:36 PM)Huskie_Jon Wrote:  This defense justifies Carey's ultra-conservative philosophy. The problem is we do not have an offense that can come back from 17 point deficits, after miscues by our offense and special teams gave up 21 points. Our O does not have to score on every drive. They just have to make sure our D does not come out to a short field.

You're wrong; we do have an offense that is capable of coming back from a huge deficit, the SDSU game was evidence of that; we clearly now have quick strike capability. You are correct, we didn't need to do that (make a big play) when we are driving the ball with obvious success late in the game.

I'm going to lean more to Huskie_Jon's argument. Kind of. While we did hit deep balls vs SDSU, it was primarily vs their one weak corner while playing man. When they switched to a zone defense later in the second half, that pass wasn't there for us. While Santa has a great deep ball, defenses can play that when they know you need a lot points quickly. Constant fly patterns won't work. Our problem is we have no intermediate route tree. If your down 20 points in the third, you don't need to get it all back in one pass. You can throw it 20-15-30-10. But it's hard to get 25-35 yards a pass when you're only throwing towards the sideline. That safety first pass mentality isn't conducive to making many 15 to 30 yard down field passes(except for bombs, which are fairly safe) But even if we fell down 20, it's probably due to TOs or a special teams gaffe. I'm confident our D could hold while our now capable offense can make 3 drives in a half. We can overcome a large deficit, just as long as we have time to run our offense.

What concerns me more is getting into 1st and long situations because of penalties. 1st or 2nd and 20 is hard to overcome with 5 yard outs and screens. I feel like any holding penalty is an automatic drive killer.

Solid post! Santa's accuracy on deep throws is incredible; perhaps it is because he doesn't have to read the defense and just let his arm strength work. This (underneath routes/reads) is where the inexperience shows.

IMO he tries too hard underneath. Worried more about the speed of his ball and is not relaxed and playing QB. His deep ball is a relaxed motion. The Int on the goalline is a fundamentally bad play. Throw a drop ball at the cone, let your WR make a play. Just not a good QB play. It's not just a bad pass it's a bad play.

Not only the best MAC defense they are top 10 nationally IMO. although EMU has played fine defense as well so far. Can't wait for that game