NUCat320 said:

Whoa.

For what it’s worth, Lausch’s 227 passing yards — in his first start — are better than all but one game in Sullivan’s career. (Sullivan went 16-23 for 265 in that glorious Maryland win last season.)

That’s okay, because Sullivan is an excellent runner! He made plays with his legs! But actually, Sullivan’s career high rushing at NU was 56 yards on 14 carries.

Lausch had 62 yards, on only 7 carries, tonight. And he didn’t run in the second half!

I think Lausch is probably better. And I presume that Sullivan was told that he’d have a chance to compete with two other guys in the summer. And Sullivan chose to backup McNamara instead.

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How did Lausch do yesterday?

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Alaskawildkat said:

Here is link from yesterday’s Tailgate in Seattle where both WGN’s Northwestern Play-by-Play announcer Dave Eanet and NU’s new AD Mark Jackson Spoke.

Just to hear Jackson’s enthusiasm in taking on his new role is worth a watch-listen as he is flanked by the Northwestern Spirit Swuad and an animated Willie the Wildcat!

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Two things about the short speech that Mark Jackson made at the NAA event. He introduced himself as "Mark"--anyone could walk up to Jim Phillips and address him as "Jim", but somehow, Gragg had always insisted that everyone refer to him as "Dr. Gragg", including all that worked with him. Second, Jackson told the crowd that anyone was welcome to call him if they ever needed anything and that he would always be available. He also circulated through the crowd, talking to anyone that came up to him and did not have a bodyguard. I don't recall Gragg being available to anyone ever, including the football team in a time of crisis.

Sounds like Mark Jackson is a lot more like Jim Phillips. Time will tell how this works out but he made a good first impression.

We stinks. Period.

Hope Cam Porter isn’t out long. Henning and Himon do a good job with their speed, but they aren’t going to be able to run through the middle very often.

My dentist said they are bad for your teeth.

hdhntr1 said:

Not great but a whole lot better

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I hope you don't mean that this is acceptable. Those numbers would be Iowa bad. This was a dreadful performance at all levels by the offense. We will lose every single game in which the offense performs that poorly

hdhntr1 said:

If he had said, "We really needed to get some O points on the board at that point", would it have set better with you?

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Yes.

We definitely put the suck in succor

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AdamOnFirst said:

Pistol makes a ton of sense. The RB is set closer or the same depth to the line then they typically are in the single back and I form and they have every downhill option available to both of them.

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You may recall a guy named Clayton Thorson that converted about 100 short yardage plays from under center.

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DaCat said:

I watched a lot of the UM-USC game and I agree. Mullings is a big bruising converted linebacker. I thought of our own Cullen Coleman when I saw him play, With Tyus gone, we could use a big short yardage runner.

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I totally agree and have been saying that for a few years now. He was a running back in high school. Instead the 5th year senior is rotting on the sideline waiting for a chance at linebacker. I could see him being a Ron Dayne type RB.

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NUCat320 said:

This logic is very strange:
“You know, at some point, if we remained down 15, we were going to have to go for two as early as it was in the game,” he said. “Still significant time in the third quarter, thought that getting it down to 12 would allow us to, instead of chasing a tie, go get two touchdowns and go win the football game.”

Basically, I don’t want to be down 17-8, because then we’ll have to either take the two here, or on the next one (assuming we hold them scoreless the rest of the way).

Oh well, NU didn’t even belong on the same field as that team. Thankfully, the nine-team Big Ten West will never exist.

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If he had said, "We really needed to get some O points on the board at that point", would it have set better with you?

DaCat said:

It all begins with the QB play.

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It begins with the OL and at present, that is not a strength

AdamOnFirst said:

Pistol makes a ton of sense. The RB is set closer or the same depth to the line then they typically are in the single back and I form and they have every downhill option available to both of them.

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They just need to practice under center exchanges. It's amazing to me that the most basic and standard way of starting every play could become a "lost art." They have a bye week so I'd say it's worth it to burn the whole week working on snaps and short yardage packages.

phatcat said:

Like 12/27 for 120 yds with a TD and an Int? Still pretty terrible

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Not great but a whole lot better. It would have kept drives going opening up other opportunities and keeping their O off the field and kept us in the game where anything could have happened

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ricko654321 said:

Too many depressing things to talk about on offense so in the interest of finding a positive topic - 13 Josh Fussell came in at CB and looked really good I thought. Tight coverage and a couple nice breaks on the ball. As a redshirt Freshman thought he looked athletic and promising. Reminded me of when Sherrick came in off the bench and was lockdown in his first game. Hoping we have another talent. Looked better than 12 right away IMO, admittedly small sample size, and I think potentially better than 10 as well. Hope he can keep it up.

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#10 got beat badly twice, one for a touchdown. Not good for our top DB.