Indiana dominated the Cats D last week, while this week, NU completely shut down the MD running game, forced turnovers, and had a timely pass rush that pressured Billy Edwards and limited his ability to deliver home run balls. After watching both games (both opponents came in with QBs and receivers at the top of the B1G stat charts) a few things jumped out at me.

Indiana’s offense overall is really good. I thought the most significant factor leading to their dominance was the way their interior linemen completely owned NU’s DTs. The fact that they opened a significant crease on almost every inside run forced the Cats to hold their LB’s for run support, opening the middle of the field for slants. The last nail in the coffin was the missed interception opportunities early. The Cats, I believe, had 3 good shots at picks they couldn’t complete. Once Indiana established dominance, they kept the Cats D completely off balance the rest of the game.

Maryland’s interior O Line, by contrast, was really dominated. They are not very good. They did not give their RB’s any lanes (on the non-safety, for example) and were often collapsed on passing downs. I don’t know for sure how much better the Cats inside defense was due to Bastone’s return, but I really wish he had been available a week earlier. I thought Maryland’s ability to move the ball was almost completely limited to good execution on their part of plays at the periphery, with good wide receiver out routes and WR blocking. When they got to the red zone and the area to operate reduced, they were really unable to get anything done.

It was great to see the defense bounce back. I hope they repeat next week!

Our communication was intermittent and he left a lot of my questions unanswered, but I thought I had enough to write a story about Leyrer's unique experience at NU last weekend. Here's the story....

Three-star tackle Jack Leyrer talks about what was undoubtedly the loneliest visit in Northwestern history last weekend.

Texas OL Jack Leyrer's unique visit to Northwestern pays off

On phone get message ' you are being redirected'. If I go directly to Floridalum board I get 'Error 403 Forbidden,' Can access Board on Tablet. Can anyone help?
Go Cats

This is devastating news. This kid is a beast.

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He took the ball, left the quarterback.

Great to see him back. Probably my favorite player on this edition.

Check out my takeaways from Northwestern's massive win on the road in College Park.

I've talked to a couple sources now and I am confident I have a bead on NU's first-team offensive line for Saturday.

Before I just list them out, does anyone want to hazard a guess on who will start, from left to right? I'll even give you one: Caleb Tiernan will start at left tackle.

(By the way, @CoralSpringsCat, @gocatsgo2003 and @mshelton33 don't get to guess.)

10 day contract. Good for him.

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Unbelievable game taking all kicking duties.
3-3 FGs which came in critical situations trying to keep it more than 1 TD margin.
4-4 PATs
Almost 50 yard/punt average!
Almost all kickoffs in the end zone

Of course, NU also loses as a ‘dog.

Still, this is a little interesting.

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Happy Victory Saturday everybody.

Go (Tiger) Cats Go (Tiger) Cats Go (Tiger) Cats Go

Check out my takeaways from Northwestern's massive win on the road in College Park.

Although I did blindly predict it in this week's haiku. Some will say Maryland is not that good, but was NU much better? I mean this was basically a blow out--on their home field. Predicated on this, the Cats could go bowling. Wisconsin, Purdue and one other--Iowa, Illinois or Michigan? I believe Michigan is beatable this year.

That 4th quarter reminded me of the first Utah bowl.

Lausch looked less like baby Kafka and more like baby Thor. Remember when Thor figured out he could throw it pretty much anywhere near Austin Carr, and he'd catch it? Lausch flings it with same confidence to AJ and Bryce in the same fashion.

OLine really struggling. Not cohesive.

Porter looks still nicked up. Caleb had a couple of nice runs, one called back.

We have our Coco back to normal

I don't know why we don't do this any more. Is there some more sophisticated way of chatting during the game that I'm not young enough for?

No effect on us at NU but this could be Katrina level destruction.

Lausch’s stat line was surprising to me, only 18 passes. Seemed to me we were pass heavy. But we actually didn’t run that many plays because Maryland had the ball like the entire 3rd quarter. He sure made those 10 completions count. He made the throws a B1G QB needs to make. Henning should’ve probably caught another perfectly placed 30 yarder. And he’s making these big strides with a patchwork OL and not much of a running game.

I actually did pen a haiku this past week, but wasn't sure it would fit on this week's haiku thread. In retrospect I guess there is a relevant connection to our cascading win against Maryland.
















Cascading downward,

So the rush of water flows,

Lifting up my soul.

FOR THIS FRIDAY, AN ALASKA AURORA DISPLAY FROM EARLIER TODAY

Captured in the early hours of this October Friday, curtains of Northern Lights dance high in the sky above the roof of my home.
Watch as the multi colored lights of the Aurora shift from left to right and right to left.
Link to my YouTube Video Capturing the Curtains of Dancing Northern Lights:

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While this below display is less vibrant, my YouTube video does capture a unique explosive episode of the Aurora's electrical magnetic display unlike any I have ever seen in person or as filmed by others. The flashing is even accompanied by sounds of the machine gun like explosions.

It is almost as though witnessing a celestial phenomenon akin to what one would see from a telescope in outer space watching the universe's creation:
Link to the Exploding Aurora:


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And here are some still photos of the Northern Lights as captured by my camera this very early Friday morning:

I thought it warranted its own thread.

Why does he insist on handing off 6 yards behind the Line when you are 2 ft. short of the first.
I don't think it a has been successful all year. Doesn't he look at his own statistics?

I have 4 tickets in the east stands towards the south end zone i cannot use, and would love to get them to NU fans. I have a parking pass in the Library Place lot as well, which allows tailgating if interested. Feel free to direct message me.

I am well aware I am very likely in the minority of people that didn’t know this, but I didn’t realize the family Mac Uihlein came from. Holy crap.

Was watching a short doc about Super PACs when it showed his grandparents are some of the largest political donators in the country. Had no idea. Did more reading about him and his family after that.

This is nothing more than me admitting I had no clue about his familial background. This is NOT any sort of judgment on him or his family’s political ties/influence, so let’s not go there.

Last week the Cats were competitive for three quarters, including offensive volleying with #15 Indiana. The Hoosiers pulled away at the end, but the Cats showed significant improvement against B1G level competition from their game in Seattle two weeks before.

This week the Cats travel to their first non-lakeside game this season in College Park. Maryland is 3-2, also with a loss to Indiana in their last game by a similar score and also winless in B1G play. With the offense starting to synch and the return of Carmine Bastone, is it nuts to think the Cats could get to an even 3-3 at the halfway mark? I think not.

Wilbon's Medill BSJ 27
Wilbon's Lacy-Smith Award 21 (not the Lacey Smith who taught English history at NU).