Just tweak a few things!

Luke Donald had achieved a #1 world ranking under the coaching of Pat Goss, but:

"Donald believes a change in philosophy is needed if he is to add a major championship to his CV and sees a need to address his flaws from tee to green."

https://www.skysports.com/golf/news...hes-in-a-bid-to-improve-performance-in-majors

This whole change of philosophy thing just came to mind for some reason.

Some musings on Trustee thinking....

1) College football has seen an unprecedented wave of change over the last few years - pandemic, transfer portal changes, NIL, SEC-B1G expansion, etc. This volatile environment has made everyone uncomfortable. Even programs that have embraced the change (i.e. Miami, Michigan State, and Texas A&M) are not feeling great. Very few, if any, programs are feeling comfortable.

2) Northwestern has undergone major leadership chaos/changes over the last few years. The solid and steady stewardship of Morty Shapiro and Jim Phillips was replaced with chaotic turnover in both positions. Both positions saw replacements named, who then had to be replaced with others.

3) The Pat Ryan gift for a new stadium has been an amazing blessing for the University, but has also diverted almost every available resource into getting it right. Lots of focus on the stadium throughout every level of the athletic department.

In such a volatile environment, Fitz is seen as a guy who is loyal, steady and high-quality while the rest of the organization undergoes major changes. Fitz is someone who always shows up at the right time, says the right thing, does the right thing. In other words, the Trustees are happy to let Fitz be Fitz while they figure out how to react to the volatile environment inside and outside of NU.

However, change is not out of the question...

4) The new AD Derrick Gragg is active, listening to lots of constituents, and perhaps most importantly, knows that football is the most important sport at NU. Gragg knows that the university needs to get football right.

5) The trustees act more like an 'insiders club' seeking consensus. You rarely, if ever, see Trustees speaking out of turn. They are all part of the same purple cabal (unlike say, Auburn or Texas or Ok State, where the Trustees vie for power among themselves). The trustee group is a consensus-building operation.

6) The trustees are sports fans. They were all in Dublin together for the Nebraska game. They were all in Salt Lake City for the NCAA tourney game vs Gonzaga. They hang out in the Wilson Club. They don't need NU sports to go 11-1 to be happy. But they really don't like going 1-11. Trustees may be rich, but they don't like to look stupid. By being 1-11 in the last 12 games, Fitz is starting to make them look stupid.

In the whisperings that I've heard, it is now possible for Trustees to cautiously say "Is Fitz the right guy? Is Fitz over his skis? Is Fitz the right person for this new environment? Why would Fitz hire JON?" Some are wondering if Fitz's greatest talent is "convincing us the trustees that he's the best Northwestern can do? Are we being duped? Is it time for a change?" These questions were rarely, if ever, contemplated 12 months ago. I believe the leash is getting shorter...

Bottom line:
- Massive change in college football over last few years
- Massive change at Northwestern
- Trustees seek consensus amongst themselves
- Being 1-11 over last twelve games is now opening the floodgates to question Fitz's competence
- The leash may be shorter than many presume

1. You’ve got your QB set now. Cats will always need a mobile QB to have any chance in the Bigten. Don’t even bother with another Hunter Johnson or Ryan Hilinski.

2. Everyone inside and outside the program knows JON has to go. He’s been terrible everywhere he’s been and NU no different. It’s the head coaches responsibility to recognize the mistake and fix it NOW!

3. The cats will always be able to come up with an RB or two and a couple WR’s and TE’s. The key is O-line, D-line and LB. The current LB’s are awful and OL and DL have be substandard last 2 years.

4. Focus the recruiting and protocol pick ups on fast, athletic LB’s and nasty linemen on both side of the ball. Too many cats and not enough Dogs!

The win in Dublin was great in person.
The loss in Evanston for homecoming was not great in person.
I am headed to Iowa City with the boys from 576 Lincoln for our annual road game.
I hope I can witness another win in person. I have never been to Kinnick, or to the University of Iowa, and am looking forward to visiting a new place.
Go Cats!

Fitz is great for the program for countless reasons. But I think a lot about how the way he handles change differs from the best coaches out there.

Think about Alabama's trajectory under Saban. Early in his tenure they were absolutely terrifying on D. Their offense was painful to watch, especially considering the talent they had. That was the formula Saban believed would generate championships (he wasn't wrong). He pushed back on changes that were sweeping college football in the mid-2010s, famously responding "is this what we want football to be?" to a question about up-tempo, no huddle, spread offenses.

But to his credit, Saban saw the writing on the wall. He's rebuilt Alabama into one of the most consistently high-powered offenses in the game. Lo and behold, he continues winning championships.

At the end of the day, the premier program in CFB was willing to entirely reinvent itself to adapt to the changing football landscape. Do we see Fitz willing to do the same?

Ferentz junior needs a game to build off of.

In this epic battle of bad versus, bad, what unit comes out on top - I think Iowa hits 30 but only with the help of two defensive TDs given that NU is a turnover machine. NU will cough it up at least 4 times.

Then join us next week when OSU goes for 100 at Ryan Field.

All of Fitz' goals are still in front of him!

PS - I really like Sullivan but yesterday should have been his 7th start, not first.

It is not as if we have played a 'Murderers Row' of opponents up until this point. However, other than the Wisconsin game, we have not been blown out. Yes, we have been humiliated on a weekly basis, but the scores have not been lopsided (other than Wisconsin). That is about to change. Iowa will look like an Air Raid offense against us. Ohio State will not take a knee and have mercy. Minnesota has a twelfth year QB and and NFL RB, the will motor boat us. Purdue has under achieved all year. They will likely wake up for one week. Illinois will ask Mrs. Lincoln how was the play.
I feel bad for the players and their parents.

Per Rittenberg:

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HOFer died today at age 100.

"we need to execute". "We were a few plays away". Yada yada yada. No accountability for Jon or Fitz. Nothing will change. Death sprial continues.

Had we gotten mauled at least it might have instigated change.

It’s only used in sports context, and it sounds effing stupid. I hate it.

How many schollies for 2023? I’m surprised that Collins focused on guards with roper snd barnhiser and berry being back and only hunger and Nicholson for bugs. Thoughts?

FloridAlum loved limericks:

There once was a DC named JON.
Whose defense was like a wan-ton
It wiggled to the right
When it was supposed to stay tight
and got eaten along with Sichuan

Beat Iowa!

Yeah, yeah "Stats are for losers" but I thought it was interesting.

Earlier this season, UTEP had a 100-yard touchdown return by a defensive lineman, they won their first ever game in the Eastern Time Zone, and now this. It has been a strange season. A player blocks a point after with his helmet, which knocks his helmet off. He runs towards the ball for a couple of seconds, then throws his hands up and gets out of the way, then his teammate scoops up the ball and returns it for 2 points. Then the refs talk about it for a few minutes, then throw a flag on him because he "participated" in the play after his helmet came off. The 2 points are waived off and FAU got to re-kick the PAT again to tie the game up.

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Being a UTEP fan, I watched this live at the same time as I was watching NU's 4th quarter. I was not a happy camper, but thankfully UTEP managed to score a field goal at the end of the game to win.

Doesn't look like he made a single adjustment from last year.

Wait, it took 10 not 1 play to carve our D up on the first drive so that's an improvement.

Never thought I'd say the Cats are outmatched against the Terps, but that seems to be the case this year.

Time to prognosticate:

Felines 17
Terrapins 31

Because somebody complained there wasn’t a thread, here’s one: here are my post game ups, downs, and flats. I see more ups in this one, but since we’re already in a bad spot the “flats” are bad. Agree with me? Disagree? Have your own thoughts?

Up:
The pass rush: NU’s pass rush overall was really a problem for Maryland today. Lots of guys got in on the action and it was a big difference maker. I credit some of the blitz schemes as part of this too, which definitely caused a lot of problems. More of this please.

Aidan Hubbard as a potential 3-4 rush backer: liked the tackle he made in space after having discussed this here the other day.

LBs running downhill on the first half: very aggressive in the first half via the run and it worked out (until it didn’t, later). At least they got the upside of this strategy some today.

The running game and scheme with Sullivan: NU did a way better job on the ground orchestrating various positions to get numbers and advantages in the running game with Sullivan at QB. Big help!

The ball going to Malik Washington: he’s pretty good

AJ Hampton: he’s caught shit around here but he was an impact returner today

The flat:
Generally bad/confused/lost LB play: enough said

Coverage in general: yup, still pretty bad with major breakdowns at times

Jake as OC: while I think Jake is less part of the problem than many others and today he did some improved things (the touchdown pass to Hull was truly a wonderful play), there were also some times when we took less advantage of number opportunities than were available to us. Ultimately, I’d still like to see NU switch to a coordinator who more specializes an RPO, spread out style compared to Jake and his more pro style background. I don’t think Jake is a bad OC, it’s just not what I’d like to see NU doing.

WRs who aren’t Malik Washington: they’re still bad.

The down
My hopes for Sullivan helping the passing game: while the running game was improved by Sully, the passing game was still pretty awful. He missed several downfield opportunities that were there and ultimately the horses aren’t really there outside, especially when Gordon is dinged. If I never see Navarro targeted downfield again I’ll be okay with that. So much for hopes there.

Run fits late: Ew.

The wildcat: you’ve got a perfectly good drive going predicated on numbers advantages and option looks and you go and grind things down with the stupid wildcat. Just gross.

Health

I'll be in Io_a next week, but this is just tragic.