(11-11-2018 02:18 AM)7 Wrote:  

(11-10-2018 02:23 AM)dpgohuskies Wrote:  As the season has progressed I feel like we have gotten better every week, Childers is on the verge of being special, every week he gets better, and now its starting to be about his running the ball, every time we have been great offensively our qb has been a big part of the running game via read option, as the qb gets better the results get better

He’s made improvements, but I think all he’s really done is get back to the level he was at last year. He’s fine, but he’s also not good.

The deep pass still has little accuracy rarely giving his WRs a chance to catch it, but his TE TD pass was on the money.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

(11-11-2018 02:12 PM)Teamduh Wrote:  

(11-11-2018 02:18 AM)7 Wrote:  

(11-10-2018 02:23 AM)dpgohuskies Wrote:  As the season has progressed I feel like we have gotten better every week, Childers is on the verge of being special, every week he gets better, and now its starting to be about his running the ball, every time we have been great offensively our qb has been a big part of the running game via read option, as the qb gets better the results get better

He’s made improvements, but I think all he’s really done is get back to the level he was at last year. He’s fine, but he’s also not good.

The deep pass still has little accuracy rarely giving his WRs a chance to catch it, but his TE TD pass was on the money.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

Childers gives NIU exactly what they need to win the MAC. He runs the offense very well. He is incredibly consistent as these stats show. If the goal is to win the MAC, given our defense, Carey has the right guy in Childers. He has the skills for nasty November weather. I will agree however, the comparisons to Harnish or Lynch are ridiculous.

http://sny.stats.com/cfb/players.asp?id=264422

(11-11-2018 02:33 PM)Djud Wrote:  

(11-11-2018 02:12 PM)Teamduh Wrote:  

(11-11-2018 02:18 AM)7 Wrote:  

(11-10-2018 02:23 AM)dpgohuskies Wrote:  As the season has progressed I feel like we have gotten better every week, Childers is on the verge of being special, every week he gets better, and now its starting to be about his running the ball, every time we have been great offensively our qb has been a big part of the running game via read option, as the qb gets better the results get better

He’s made improvements, but I think all he’s really done is get back to the level he was at last year. He’s fine, but he’s also not good.

The deep pass still has little accuracy rarely giving his WRs a chance to catch it, but his TE TD pass was on the money.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

Childers gives NIU exactly what they need to win the MAC. He runs the offense very well. He is incredibly consistent as these stats show. If the goal is to win the MAC, given our defense, Carey has the right guy in Childers. He has the skills for nasty November weather. I will agree however, the comparisons to Harnish or Lynch are ridiculous.

http://sny.stats.com/cfb/players.asp?id=264422

he is progressing as the season goes along, stepping up in the pocket, making some better throws, still plenty of room to get better

He is not lynch or harnish level, but he can never be as effective as they were if he is not making plays in the running game, everything you want to do gets easier when the qb can hurt you running and we are starting to see more of that now

Harnish/Lynch could take over games with zone read skills, it is a devastating offensive tool, all starts on the ground

Not a coincidence to me that offense numbers are better as the rushing offense, both qb and rb has shown more

They ran very little read option with Lynch

I've said it before but I think Childers/Harbs read option would be extremely effective. I don't know why we don't run it. I really don't like the fake jet sweep and run up the middle. The DE's and LBs don't go for the jet sweep at all. I think the DEs and the LBs would bite big time on the Harbs read and Childers would have a lot of running room. I would love to see it.

(11-16-2018 10:55 AM)badmoonrising13 Wrote:  I've said it before but I think Childers/Harbs read option would be extremely effective. I don't know why we don't run it. I really don't like the fake jet sweep and run up the middle. The DE's and LBs don't go for the jet sweep at all. I think the DEs and the LBs would bite big time on the Harbs read and Childers would have a lot of running room. I would love to see it.

Jet sweeps are most successful when you have.......SPEED.
EX: Argereos Turner (That was our TD vs Ohio State)
EX: Akeem Daniels back in the day.

We don't have SPEED.
Frankly, it seems we "show" it half the time and it's really just silly. Why bother?

Which brings me to our OC Coach U....AGAIN...

(11-11-2018 08:33 PM)7 Wrote:  They ran very little read option with Lynch

They ran power option quite a bit, which Lynch was not particularly good at reading. However, When JL6 had his read, said "yeah, he's coming upfield, that's a keep", and the end hadn't actually come upfield, he was still so damn good that he got through the hole that wasn't really there.

They rarely zoned it with Lynch. Harnish did a lot more zone read as a senior, if I remember correctly. I could be wrong about that, though. I haven't watched much from 2011 recently. It could have been almost all gap scheme the same as what they did with Lynch. 2012 and 2013 they were blocking down and pulling a guard all the time.

(11-16-2018 12:12 PM)cawoo22 Wrote:  

(11-11-2018 08:33 PM)7 Wrote:  They ran very little read option with Lynch

They ran power option quite a bit, which Lynch was not particularly good at reading. However, When JL6 had his read, said "yeah, he's coming upfield, that's a keep", and the end hadn't actually come upfield, he was still so damn good that he got through the hole that wasn't really there.

They rarely zoned it with Lynch. Harnish did a lot more zone read as a senior, if I remember correctly. I could be wrong about that, though. I haven't watched much from 2011 recently. It could have been almost all gap scheme the same as what they did with Lynch. 2012 and 2013 they were blocking down and pulling a guard all the time.

cawoo-

You know football more than most here. (Don't blush.)

Curious as to your thoughts on Coach U. How much of a difference would a better OC make here with the current talent.

If you're not comfortable answering here I understand.

(You can just PM me and then I'll post... )

(11-16-2018 12:12 PM)cawoo22 Wrote:  

(11-11-2018 08:33 PM)7 Wrote:  They ran very little read option with Lynch

They ran power option quite a bit, which Lynch was not particularly good at reading. However, When JL6 had his read, said "yeah, he's coming upfield, that's a keep", and the end hadn't actually come upfield, he was still so damn good that he got through the hole that wasn't really there.

They rarely zoned it with Lynch. Harnish did a lot more zone read as a senior, if I remember correctly. I could be wrong about that, though. I haven't watched much from 2011 recently. It could have been almost all gap scheme the same as what they did with Lynch. 2012 and 2013 they were blocking down and pulling a guard all the time.

I remember Harnish running all over WMU in 2011 with the zone read. They couldn't defend it.

(11-16-2018 12:29 PM)Doggone Wrote:  

(11-16-2018 12:12 PM)cawoo22 Wrote:  

(11-11-2018 08:33 PM)7 Wrote:  They ran very little read option with Lynch

They ran power option quite a bit, which Lynch was not particularly good at reading. However, When JL6 had his read, said "yeah, he's coming upfield, that's a keep", and the end hadn't actually come upfield, he was still so damn good that he got through the hole that wasn't really there.

They rarely zoned it with Lynch. Harnish did a lot more zone read as a senior, if I remember correctly. I could be wrong about that, though. I haven't watched much from 2011 recently. It could have been almost all gap scheme the same as what they did with Lynch. 2012 and 2013 they were blocking down and pulling a guard all the time.

I remember Harnish running all over WMU in 2011 with the zone read. They couldn't defend it.

Yeah, I was thinking about that game, in particular. Just ran it over and over again until Bill Cubit said, "Somebody fire me, please, because I'm Bill Cubit and we don't do this defense thing at WMU."

(11-16-2018 12:23 PM)thxjoenovak Wrote:  

(11-16-2018 12:12 PM)cawoo22 Wrote:  

(11-11-2018 08:33 PM)7 Wrote:  They ran very little read option with Lynch

They ran power option quite a bit, which Lynch was not particularly good at reading. However, When JL6 had his read, said "yeah, he's coming upfield, that's a keep", and the end hadn't actually come upfield, he was still so damn good that he got through the hole that wasn't really there.

They rarely zoned it with Lynch. Harnish did a lot more zone read as a senior, if I remember correctly. I could be wrong about that, though. I haven't watched much from 2011 recently. It could have been almost all gap scheme the same as what they did with Lynch. 2012 and 2013 they were blocking down and pulling a guard all the time.

cawoo-

You know football more than most here. (Don't blush.)

Curious as to your thoughts on Coach U. How much of a difference would a better OC make here with the current talent.

If you're not comfortable answering here I understand.

(You can just PM me and then I'll post... )

I'll probably sound kind of wishy-washy here because I'm not exactly sure. I can't ignore those FBS rankings, but my eyes tell me NIU has a decent offense as long as they can dictate the situations of the game. Northern needs to be able to establish the run, play disciplined football, and be stronger and tougher than their opponent in order to wear them down in the second half where all of the physical beatings occur.

In a game like Toledo, they were able to do that magnificently. Just beat the living piss out of that team. Toledo looked like they wanted no part of that game after the first quarter. It's part of NIU's identity as an offense/defense/ and special teams all working together to physically dominate and demoralize the opponent.

Now, Wednesday, very little of that happened. Why? Mistakes and penalties. The offense did not pull their weight by playing disciplined football. They had penalties, drops, and turnovers. NIU won't beat anyone above a Kent St/Bowling Green/Ball State level team by doing that. Plus, at best, it was a stalemate with Miami as to who was stronger and nastier. So, all of that goes into the negative column which makes it tough for NIU to do well offensively.

That said, they know what they are and try to play within that box and usually succeed. Wednesday was a bad game. They're not usually that undisciplined, because they can't be.

Now, to me, with the talent NIU currently has, I tend to look at them a lot like looked at 2008 and 2009, parts of a good offense but it's missing things they have to have.

I think the offensive line has been pretty darn good (but not on Wednesday). That's your anchor for the offense.

The running backs have been better than I expected, particularly Harbison.

I was ready to jump ship on Childers 6 weeks ago, but I've come around on him. He's certainly not perfect, but he is improving from the beginning to the end of this season. He's made more mistakes this year than last, but he's also been allowed to run more of the offense and take more chances. He needs to keep developing. He still is a lot like Harnish was a soph. Now, the thing I always caution people with when I say that is very few QBs make that jump that Harnish did in his junior year. He went from talented but erratic to Vern Smith. Maybe Childers can, more likely he'll end up short of that, but he's tough and nasty and I like him, despite what he isn't right now.

The WRs are where the offense is seriously deficient. Childers needs help to be good and they rarely provide it. They rarely make tough catches and often don't make the simple ones, either. If you're going to face a tough defensive front, you have to make plays in the passing game. Here's another comparison with the 2008/2009 team. In 2008, NIU was throwing to Greg Turner, Matt Simon, Marcus Perez, Landon Cox, and a freshman Nathan Palmer. Not exactly knocking down the door of any record books. Now, this current group has it all over that one athletically, but those guys rarely dropped balls. They also didn't get open very much. Against Ball State in '08 (remember when Ball State seemed unstoppable? Me neither), BSU was able to just man up on the WRs and get after the run game and NIU was dead in the water. Now, I think this year's group could get off those jams, but I don't know if they'd catch the ball once they did.

Every message board in the country has the same refrain: "We've got plenty of talent! They just need to be coached up!" I think this offense has been coached up pretty well. I don't know how you coach up dropped balls, honestly. Recruit better receivers, would be my response.

They need a dynamic playmaker out wide. Put Kenny Golladay or Martel Moore on the outside and I think a lot of the problems would go away. I bet a lot of drops would as well, since guys wouldn't be feeling as pressured. Of course, I don't know any of those guys as players or people. I don't know what their habits are, who's conscientious, lazy, or whatever.

As far as Uremovich goes, I'm not sure. The gameplans are limited, but sound. You can always nitpick with individual play calls (and I have, too). I always joke with the our OC at Plano: "They don't give a damn what you call, Coach, as long as it's the Touchdown Plays. Those are way back in the "T"s. You're always starting at the "A"s running "Army"! (our term for power)." Offensively, you're creating a stew so all the parts taste better together than they would separately. When you start taking bites out of the potatoes before you throw them in the pot is when you get weird-ass "get me 18 points on this play"-calls

I think NIU has a physical identity as an offense that they had almost completely lost when Bob Cole was the OC. NIU's physicality had diminished to where they were no longer the strongest, nastiest team in the MAC. They have that back. So, even though those numbers nationally look bad (I won't deny that), NIU plays what I view as winning football and I think they're closer to being great than it looks.

So, if you want him replaced, OK. I can see that. But be careful what you wish for because you could very likely end up with an OC who has to wow you with his brilliance (I'm an offensive guy, but this is a problem among offensive guys). If not interested in the bubble screen being the base play of the offense again like it was under Cole.

Ultimately, I like the idea of NIU being a G5 version of Wisconsin. That's fine with me. There are probably many on this board who would prefer something flashier, but I like when NIU grinds schools into dust.

Thanks for reading and f*^& Western Michigan.

Thanks for an incredible post Cawoo. My football IQ went up a few points after reading that.

(11-16-2018 02:49 PM)cawoo22 Wrote:  

(11-16-2018 12:23 PM)thxjoenovak Wrote:  

(11-16-2018 12:12 PM)cawoo22 Wrote:  

(11-11-2018 08:33 PM)7 Wrote:  They ran very little read option with Lynch

They ran power option quite a bit, which Lynch was not particularly good at reading. However, When JL6 had his read, said "yeah, he's coming upfield, that's a keep", and the end hadn't actually come upfield, he was still so damn good that he got through the hole that wasn't really there.

They rarely zoned it with Lynch. Harnish did a lot more zone read as a senior, if I remember correctly. I could be wrong about that, though. I haven't watched much from 2011 recently. It could have been almost all gap scheme the same as what they did with Lynch. 2012 and 2013 they were blocking down and pulling a guard all the time.

cawoo-

You know football more than most here. (Don't blush.)

Curious as to your thoughts on Coach U. How much of a difference would a better OC make here with the current talent.

If you're not comfortable answering here I understand.

(You can just PM me and then I'll post... )

I'll probably sound kind of wishy-washy here because I'm not exactly sure. I can't ignore those FBS rankings, but my eyes tell me NIU has a decent offense as long as they can dictate the situations of the game. Northern needs to be able to establish the run, play disciplined football, and be stronger and tougher than their opponent in order to wear them down in the second half where all of the physical beatings occur.

In a game like Toledo, they were able to do that magnificently. Just beat the living piss out of that team. Toledo looked like they wanted no part of that game after the first quarter. It's part of NIU's identity as an offense/defense/ and special teams all working together to physically dominate and demoralize the opponent.

Now, Wednesday, very little of that happened. Why? Mistakes and penalties. The offense did not pull their weight by playing disciplined football. They had penalties, drops, and turnovers. NIU won't beat anyone above a Kent St/Bowling Green/Ball State level team by doing that. Plus, at best, it was a stalemate with Miami as to who was stronger and nastier. So, all of that goes into the negative column which makes it tough for NIU to do well offensively.

That said, they know what they are and try to play within that box and usually succeed. Wednesday was a bad game. They're not usually that undisciplined, because they can't be.

Now, to me, with the talent NIU currently has, I tend to look at them a lot like looked at 2008 and 2009, parts of a good offense but it's missing things they have to have.

I think the offensive line has been pretty darn good (but not on Wednesday). That's your anchor for the offense.

The running backs have been better than I expected, particularly Harbison.

I was ready to jump ship on Childers 6 weeks ago, but I've come around on him. He's certainly not perfect, but he is improving from the beginning to the end of this season. He's made more mistakes this year than last, but he's also been allowed to run more of the offense and take more chances. He needs to keep developing. He still is a lot like Harnish was a soph. Now, the thing I always caution people with when I say that is very few QBs make that jump that Harnish did in his junior year. He went from talented but erratic to Vern Smith. Maybe Childers can, more likely he'll end up short of that, but he's tough and nasty and I like him, despite what he isn't right now.

The WRs are where the offense is seriously deficient. Childers needs help to be good and they rarely provide it. They rarely make tough catches and often don't make the simple ones, either. If you're going to face a tough defensive front, you have to make plays in the passing game. Here's another comparison with the 2008/2009 team. In 2008, NIU was throwing to Greg Turner, Matt Simon, Marcus Perez, Landon Cox, and a freshman Nathan Palmer. Not exactly knocking down the door of any record books. Now, this current group has it all over that one athletically, but those guys rarely dropped balls. They also didn't get open very much. Against Ball State in '08 (remember when Ball State seemed unstoppable? Me neither), BSU was able to just man up on the WRs and get after the run game and NIU was dead in the water. Now, I think this year's group could get off those jams, but I don't know if they'd catch the ball once they did.

Every message board in the country has the same refrain: "We've got plenty of talent! They just need to be coached up!" I think this offense has been coached up pretty well. I don't know how you coach up dropped balls, honestly. Recruit better receivers, would be my response.

They need a dynamic playmaker out wide. Put Kenny Golladay or Martel Moore on the outside and I think a lot of the problems would go away. I bet a lot of drops would as well, since guys wouldn't be feeling as pressured. Of course, I don't know any of those guys as players or people. I don't know what their habits are, who's conscientious, lazy, or whatever.

As far as Uremovich goes, I'm not sure. The gameplans are limited, but sound. You can always nitpick with individual play calls (and I have, too). I always joke with the our OC at Plano: "They don't give a damn what you call, Coach, as long as it's the Touchdown Plays. Those are way back in the "T"s. You're always starting at the "A"s running "Army"! (our term for power)." Offensively, you're creating a stew so all the parts taste better together than they would separately. When you start taking bites out of the potatoes before you throw them in the pot is when you get weird-ass "get me 18 points on this play"-calls

I think NIU has a physical identity as an offense that they had almost completely lost when Bob Cole was the OC. NIU's physicality had diminished to where they were no longer the strongest, nastiest team in the MAC. They have that back. So, even though those numbers nationally look bad (I won't deny that), NIU plays what I view as winning football and I think they're closer to being great than it looks.

So, if you want him replaced, OK. I can see that. But be careful what you wish for because you could very likely end up with an OC who has to wow you with his brilliance (I'm an offensive guy, but this is a problem among offensive guys). If not interested in the bubble screen being the base play of the offense again like it was under Cole.

Ultimately, I like the idea of NIU being a G5 version of Wisconsin. That's fine with me. There are probably many on this board who would prefer something flashier, but I like when NIU grinds schools into dust.

Thanks for reading and f*^& Western Michigan.

Impressive analysis of our current Huskies. I think the offense had a bad night on Wednesday and I expect them to rebound in Kalamazoo. Too many lateral passes called by coach U. Those throws are not in Childers "wheel house". This offense is best going north and south. That is no secret.

GO REAPERS

(11-16-2018 07:11 PM)142niu Wrote:  

(11-16-2018 02:49 PM)cawoo22 Wrote:  

(11-16-2018 12:23 PM)thxjoenovak Wrote:  

(11-16-2018 12:12 PM)cawoo22 Wrote:  

(11-11-2018 08:33 PM)7 Wrote:  They ran very little read option with Lynch

They ran power option quite a bit, which Lynch was not particularly good at reading. However, When JL6 had his read, said "yeah, he's coming upfield, that's a keep", and the end hadn't actually come upfield, he was still so damn good that he got through the hole that wasn't really there.

They rarely zoned it with Lynch. Harnish did a lot more zone read as a senior, if I remember correctly. I could be wrong about that, though. I haven't watched much from 2011 recently. It could have been almost all gap scheme the same as what they did with Lynch. 2012 and 2013 they were blocking down and pulling a guard all the time.

cawoo-

You know football more than most here. (Don't blush.)

Curious as to your thoughts on Coach U. How much of a difference would a better OC make here with the current talent.

If you're not comfortable answering here I understand.

(You can just PM me and then I'll post... )

I'll probably sound kind of wishy-washy here because I'm not exactly sure. I can't ignore those FBS rankings, but my eyes tell me NIU has a decent offense as long as they can dictate the situations of the game. Northern needs to be able to establish the run, play disciplined football, and be stronger and tougher than their opponent in order to wear them down in the second half where all of the physical beatings occur.

In a game like Toledo, they were able to do that magnificently. Just beat the living piss out of that team. Toledo looked like they wanted no part of that game after the first quarter. It's part of NIU's identity as an offense/defense/ and special teams all working together to physically dominate and demoralize the opponent.

Now, Wednesday, very little of that happened. Why? Mistakes and penalties. The offense did not pull their weight by playing disciplined football. They had penalties, drops, and turnovers. NIU won't beat anyone above a Kent St/Bowling Green/Ball State level team by doing that. Plus, at best, it was a stalemate with Miami as to who was stronger and nastier. So, all of that goes into the negative column which makes it tough for NIU to do well offensively.

That said, they know what they are and try to play within that box and usually succeed. Wednesday was a bad game. They're not usually that undisciplined, because they can't be.

Now, to me, with the talent NIU currently has, I tend to look at them a lot like looked at 2008 and 2009, parts of a good offense but it's missing things they have to have.

I think the offensive line has been pretty darn good (but not on Wednesday). That's your anchor for the offense.

The running backs have been better than I expected, particularly Harbison.

I was ready to jump ship on Childers 6 weeks ago, but I've come around on him. He's certainly not perfect, but he is improving from the beginning to the end of this season. He's made more mistakes this year than last, but he's also been allowed to run more of the offense and take more chances. He needs to keep developing. He still is a lot like Harnish was a soph. Now, the thing I always caution people with when I say that is very few QBs make that jump that Harnish did in his junior year. He went from talented but erratic to Vern Smith. Maybe Childers can, more likely he'll end up short of that, but he's tough and nasty and I like him, despite what he isn't right now.

The WRs are where the offense is seriously deficient. Childers needs help to be good and they rarely provide it. They rarely make tough catches and often don't make the simple ones, either. If you're going to face a tough defensive front, you have to make plays in the passing game. Here's another comparison with the 2008/2009 team. In 2008, NIU was throwing to Greg Turner, Matt Simon, Marcus Perez, Landon Cox, and a freshman Nathan Palmer. Not exactly knocking down the door of any record books. Now, this current group has it all over that one athletically, but those guys rarely dropped balls. They also didn't get open very much. Against Ball State in '08 (remember when Ball State seemed unstoppable? Me neither), BSU was able to just man up on the WRs and get after the run game and NIU was dead in the water. Now, I think this year's group could get off those jams, but I don't know if they'd catch the ball once they did.

Every message board in the country has the same refrain: "We've got plenty of talent! They just need to be coached up!" I think this offense has been coached up pretty well. I don't know how you coach up dropped balls, honestly. Recruit better receivers, would be my response.

They need a dynamic playmaker out wide. Put Kenny Golladay or Martel Moore on the outside and I think a lot of the problems would go away. I bet a lot of drops would as well, since guys wouldn't be feeling as pressured. Of course, I don't know any of those guys as players or people. I don't know what their habits are, who's conscientious, lazy, or whatever.

As far as Uremovich goes, I'm not sure. The gameplans are limited, but sound. You can always nitpick with individual play calls (and I have, too). I always joke with the our OC at Plano: "They don't give a damn what you call, Coach, as long as it's the Touchdown Plays. Those are way back in the "T"s. You're always starting at the "A"s running "Army"! (our term for power)." Offensively, you're creating a stew so all the parts taste better together than they would separately. When you start taking bites out of the potatoes before you throw them in the pot is when you get weird-ass "get me 18 points on this play"-calls

I think NIU has a physical identity as an offense that they had almost completely lost when Bob Cole was the OC. NIU's physicality had diminished to where they were no longer the strongest, nastiest team in the MAC. They have that back. So, even though those numbers nationally look bad (I won't deny that), NIU plays what I view as winning football and I think they're closer to being great than it looks.

So, if you want him replaced, OK. I can see that. But be careful what you wish for because you could very likely end up with an OC who has to wow you with his brilliance (I'm an offensive guy, but this is a problem among offensive guys). If not interested in the bubble screen being the base play of the offense again like it was under Cole.

Ultimately, I like the idea of NIU being a G5 version of Wisconsin. That's fine with me. There are probably many on this board who would prefer something flashier, but I like when NIU grinds schools into dust.

Thanks for reading and f*^& Western Michigan.

Impressive analysis of our current Huskies. I think the offense had a bad night on Wednesday and I expect them to rebound in Kalamazoo. Too many lateral passes called by coach U. Those throws are not in Childers "wheel house". This offense is best going north and south. That is no secret.

GO REAPERS

What throws are in Childers wheelhouse?

(11-16-2018 02:49 PM)cawoo22 Wrote:  

(11-16-2018 12:23 PM)thxjoenovak Wrote:  

(11-16-2018 12:12 PM)cawoo22 Wrote:  

(11-11-2018 08:33 PM)7 Wrote:  They ran very little read option with Lynch

They ran power option quite a bit, which Lynch was not particularly good at reading. However, When JL6 had his read, said "yeah, he's coming upfield, that's a keep", and the end hadn't actually come upfield, he was still so damn good that he got through the hole that wasn't really there.

They rarely zoned it with Lynch. Harnish did a lot more zone read as a senior, if I remember correctly. I could be wrong about that, though. I haven't watched much from 2011 recently. It could have been almost all gap scheme the same as what they did with Lynch. 2012 and 2013 they were blocking down and pulling a guard all the time.

cawoo-

You know football more than most here. (Don't blush.)

Curious as to your thoughts on Coach U. How much of a difference would a better OC make here with the current talent.

If you're not comfortable answering here I understand.

(You can just PM me and then I'll post... )

I'll probably sound kind of wishy-washy here because I'm not exactly sure. I can't ignore those FBS rankings, but my eyes tell me NIU has a decent offense as long as they can dictate the situations of the game. Northern needs to be able to establish the run, play disciplined football, and be stronger and tougher than their opponent in order to wear them down in the second half where all of the physical beatings occur.

In a game like Toledo, they were able to do that magnificently. Just beat the living piss out of that team. Toledo looked like they wanted no part of that game after the first quarter. It's part of NIU's identity as an offense/defense/ and special teams all working together to physically dominate and demoralize the opponent.

Now, Wednesday, very little of that happened. Why? Mistakes and penalties. The offense did not pull their weight by playing disciplined football. They had penalties, drops, and turnovers. NIU won't beat anyone above a Kent St/Bowling Green/Ball State level team by doing that. Plus, at best, it was a stalemate with Miami as to who was stronger and nastier. So, all of that goes into the negative column which makes it tough for NIU to do well offensively.

That said, they know what they are and try to play within that box and usually succeed. Wednesday was a bad game. They're not usually that undisciplined, because they can't be.

Now, to me, with the talent NIU currently has, I tend to look at them a lot like looked at 2008 and 2009, parts of a good offense but it's missing things they have to have.

I think the offensive line has been pretty darn good (but not on Wednesday). That's your anchor for the offense.

The running backs have been better than I expected, particularly Harbison.

I was ready to jump ship on Childers 6 weeks ago, but I've come around on him. He's certainly not perfect, but he is improving from the beginning to the end of this season. He's made more mistakes this year than last, but he's also been allowed to run more of the offense and take more chances. He needs to keep developing. He still is a lot like Harnish was a soph. Now, the thing I always caution people with when I say that is very few QBs make that jump that Harnish did in his junior year. He went from talented but erratic to Vern Smith. Maybe Childers can, more likely he'll end up short of that, but he's tough and nasty and I like him, despite what he isn't right now.

The WRs are where the offense is seriously deficient. Childers needs help to be good and they rarely provide it. They rarely make tough catches and often don't make the simple ones, either. If you're going to face a tough defensive front, you have to make plays in the passing game. Here's another comparison with the 2008/2009 team. In 2008, NIU was throwing to Greg Turner, Matt Simon, Marcus Perez, Landon Cox, and a freshman Nathan Palmer. Not exactly knocking down the door of any record books. Now, this current group has it all over that one athletically, but those guys rarely dropped balls. They also didn't get open very much. Against Ball State in '08 (remember when Ball State seemed unstoppable? Me neither), BSU was able to just man up on the WRs and get after the run game and NIU was dead in the water. Now, I think this year's group could get off those jams, but I don't know if they'd catch the ball once they did.

Every message board in the country has the same refrain: "We've got plenty of talent! They just need to be coached up!" I think this offense has been coached up pretty well. I don't know how you coach up dropped balls, honestly. Recruit better receivers, would be my response.

They need a dynamic playmaker out wide. Put Kenny Golladay or Martel Moore on the outside and I think a lot of the problems would go away. I bet a lot of drops would as well, since guys wouldn't be feeling as pressured. Of course, I don't know any of those guys as players or people. I don't know what their habits are, who's conscientious, lazy, or whatever.

As far as Uremovich goes, I'm not sure. The gameplans are limited, but sound. You can always nitpick with individual play calls (and I have, too). I always joke with the our OC at Plano: "They don't give a damn what you call, Coach, as long as it's the Touchdown Plays. Those are way back in the "T"s. You're always starting at the "A"s running "Army"! (our term for power)." Offensively, you're creating a stew so all the parts taste better together than they would separately. When you start taking bites out of the potatoes before you throw them in the pot is when you get weird-ass "get me 18 points on this play"-calls

I think NIU has a physical identity as an offense that they had almost completely lost when Bob Cole was the OC. NIU's physicality had diminished to where they were no longer the strongest, nastiest team in the MAC. They have that back. So, even though those numbers nationally look bad (I won't deny that), NIU plays what I view as winning football and I think they're closer to being great than it looks.

So, if you want him replaced, OK. I can see that. But be careful what you wish for because you could very likely end up with an OC who has to wow you with his brilliance (I'm an offensive guy, but this is a problem among offensive guys). If not interested in the bubble screen being the base play of the offense again like it was under Cole.

Ultimately, I like the idea of NIU being a G5 version of Wisconsin. That's fine with me. There are probably many on this board who would prefer something flashier, but I like when NIU grinds schools into dust.

Thanks for reading and f*^& Western Michigan.

Glad I asked. Appreciate your insight and hope you post more often.

(11-16-2018 09:35 PM)Djud Wrote:  

(11-16-2018 07:11 PM)142niu Wrote:  

(11-16-2018 02:49 PM)cawoo22 Wrote:  

(11-16-2018 12:23 PM)thxjoenovak Wrote:  

(11-16-2018 12:12 PM)cawoo22 Wrote:  They ran power option quite a bit, which Lynch was not particularly good at reading. However, When JL6 had his read, said "yeah, he's coming upfield, that's a keep", and the end hadn't actually come upfield, he was still so damn good that he got through the hole that wasn't really there.

They rarely zoned it with Lynch. Harnish did a lot more zone read as a senior, if I remember correctly. I could be wrong about that, though. I haven't watched much from 2011 recently. It could have been almost all gap scheme the same as what they did with Lynch. 2012 and 2013 they were blocking down and pulling a guard all the time.

cawoo-

You know football more than most here. (Don't blush.)

Curious as to your thoughts on Coach U. How much of a difference would a better OC make here with the current talent.

If you're not comfortable answering here I understand.

(You can just PM me and then I'll post... )

I'll probably sound kind of wishy-washy here because I'm not exactly sure. I can't ignore those FBS rankings, but my eyes tell me NIU has a decent offense as long as they can dictate the situations of the game. Northern needs to be able to establish the run, play disciplined football, and be stronger and tougher than their opponent in order to wear them down in the second half where all of the physical beatings occur.

In a game like Toledo, they were able to do that magnificently. Just beat the living piss out of that team. Toledo looked like they wanted no part of that game after the first quarter. It's part of NIU's identity as an offense/defense/ and special teams all working together to physically dominate and demoralize the opponent.

Now, Wednesday, very little of that happened. Why? Mistakes and penalties. The offense did not pull their weight by playing disciplined football. They had penalties, drops, and turnovers. NIU won't beat anyone above a Kent St/Bowling Green/Ball State level team by doing that. Plus, at best, it was a stalemate with Miami as to who was stronger and nastier. So, all of that goes into the negative column which makes it tough for NIU to do well offensively.

That said, they know what they are and try to play within that box and usually succeed. Wednesday was a bad game. They're not usually that undisciplined, because they can't be.

Now, to me, with the talent NIU currently has, I tend to look at them a lot like looked at 2008 and 2009, parts of a good offense but it's missing things they have to have.

I think the offensive line has been pretty darn good (but not on Wednesday). That's your anchor for the offense.

The running backs have been better than I expected, particularly Harbison.

I was ready to jump ship on Childers 6 weeks ago, but I've come around on him. He's certainly not perfect, but he is improving from the beginning to the end of this season. He's made more mistakes this year than last, but he's also been allowed to run more of the offense and take more chances. He needs to keep developing. He still is a lot like Harnish was a soph. Now, the thing I always caution people with when I say that is very few QBs make that jump that Harnish did in his junior year. He went from talented but erratic to Vern Smith. Maybe Childers can, more likely he'll end up short of that, but he's tough and nasty and I like him, despite what he isn't right now.

The WRs are where the offense is seriously deficient. Childers needs help to be good and they rarely provide it. They rarely make tough catches and often don't make the simple ones, either. If you're going to face a tough defensive front, you have to make plays in the passing game. Here's another comparison with the 2008/2009 team. In 2008, NIU was throwing to Greg Turner, Matt Simon, Marcus Perez, Landon Cox, and a freshman Nathan Palmer. Not exactly knocking down the door of any record books. Now, this current group has it all over that one athletically, but those guys rarely dropped balls. They also didn't get open very much. Against Ball State in '08 (remember when Ball State seemed unstoppable? Me neither), BSU was able to just man up on the WRs and get after the run game and NIU was dead in the water. Now, I think this year's group could get off those jams, but I don't know if they'd catch the ball once they did.

Every message board in the country has the same refrain: "We've got plenty of talent! They just need to be coached up!" I think this offense has been coached up pretty well. I don't know how you coach up dropped balls, honestly. Recruit better receivers, would be my response.

They need a dynamic playmaker out wide. Put Kenny Golladay or Martel Moore on the outside and I think a lot of the problems would go away. I bet a lot of drops would as well, since guys wouldn't be feeling as pressured. Of course, I don't know any of those guys as players or people. I don't know what their habits are, who's conscientious, lazy, or whatever.

As far as Uremovich goes, I'm not sure. The gameplans are limited, but sound. You can always nitpick with individual play calls (and I have, too). I always joke with the our OC at Plano: "They don't give a damn what you call, Coach, as long as it's the Touchdown Plays. Those are way back in the "T"s. You're always starting at the "A"s running "Army"! (our term for power)." Offensively, you're creating a stew so all the parts taste better together than they would separately. When you start taking bites out of the potatoes before you throw them in the pot is when you get weird-ass "get me 18 points on this play"-calls

I think NIU has a physical identity as an offense that they had almost completely lost when Bob Cole was the OC. NIU's physicality had diminished to where they were no longer the strongest, nastiest team in the MAC. They have that back. So, even though those numbers nationally look bad (I won't deny that), NIU plays what I view as winning football and I think they're closer to being great than it looks.

So, if you want him replaced, OK. I can see that. But be careful what you wish for because you could very likely end up with an OC who has to wow you with his brilliance (I'm an offensive guy, but this is a problem among offensive guys). If not interested in the bubble screen being the base play of the offense again like it was under Cole.

Ultimately, I like the idea of NIU being a G5 version of Wisconsin. That's fine with me. There are probably many on this board who would prefer something flashier, but I like when NIU grinds schools into dust.

Thanks for reading and f*^& Western Michigan.

Impressive analysis of our current Huskies. I think the offense had a bad night on Wednesday and I expect them to rebound in Kalamazoo. Too many lateral passes called by coach U. Those throws are not in Childers "wheel house". This offense is best going north and south. That is no secret.

GO REAPERS

What throws are in Childers wheelhouse?

Definitely not the lateral passes. He is improving on his mid range passing. His RPO passes are solid. Deep ball still not there.

(11-16-2018 09:35 PM)Djud Wrote:  What throws are in Childers wheelhouse?

The 99 mph fastball. Kid has no feel for any other throw. Can't drop it in the basket, can't float one over the defender, can't get the bubble screen.

(11-17-2018 05:28 AM)numbersdontlie Wrote:  

(11-16-2018 09:35 PM)Djud Wrote:  What throws are in Childers wheelhouse?

The 99 mph fastball. Kid has no feel for any other throw. Can't drop it in the basket, can't float one over the defender, can't get the bubble screen.

Screen pass is not his forte

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

(11-17-2018 08:43 AM)Teamduh Wrote:  

(11-17-2018 05:28 AM)numbersdontlie Wrote:  

(11-16-2018 09:35 PM)Djud Wrote:  What throws are in Childers wheelhouse?

The 99 mph fastball. Kid has no feel for any other throw. Can't drop it in the basket, can't float one over the defender, can't get the bubble screen.

Screen pass is not his forte

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

I think his best pass route is the post. The one Wesley dropped. The one Brown caught for a TD vs FSU. He's hit that perfectly multiple times. So much so I dont know why they dont throw it more often since it's the only moderately deep route he can hit.

Cawoo, That's an excellent analysis of the offense and it's philosophy. It's not devoid of talent but rather it's like a cog missing a few teeth. I can't believe the entire wr group all cant catch. It's a function of the dysfunction. The inconsistency and timing has created doubt or pressure. Not to put too much of this on one guy, but IMO the wrs lost faith in Childers early in the season and almost expect pass plays to fail. Theyre still working through that.