Overall, a very solid performance, especially from the defense. When you consider that we fumbled away a TD on the 1 yard line and almost handed them a FG with botched snaps, and that they were MAC champs last year returning a QB and 8/11 starters on defense, I’d say it was an impressive showing.
Offense-
QB Mike Wright is very quick when he scrambles. I like that we didn’t overuse that though, he’s trying to be a passer first. The throwing didn’t look very pretty but the results weren’t bad yday. Doesn’t seem to be much zip on the ball at all and some of the mid range ones came out wobbly. The accuracy was overall pretty good yday, he was reliable in completing the hooks and outs to the outside that the Miami DBs were giving us with their coverage. When he throws over the middle it makes me nervous haha. Worth keeping in mind though that this Miami D gave up only 255 ypg and 15 ppg last year so they are pretty good. I saw some hints of trickery and creative play calling from Lujan, although the wrinkles didn’t work that well in week 1, eg with the botched end around / throwback pass (I think that’s what we were trying to do to Wright). Will be curious to see how we do against B1G competition.
Elsewhere, I like our collection of skill position players. Kirtz looks like a complete WR and Henning is talented too, gotta find better ways to get him in space because it seems like their D was ready for the scrimmage passes and jet sweep to him. Cam Porter is a very good back and Komolafe a nice change of pace. Aside from the QB development, the thing that will probably hold us back on O is once again the OL. Pass protection was decent, but we struggled to open up holes in the run game. I didn’t watch the OL closely enough to identify which guys were stronger or weaker. A bit more success later as the game went on, but B1G teams will probably have more depth. An OL that struggles to create yards on the ground + a QB without a ton of zip on his passes may make it hard to score more than 20 ppg. Countering that though, we did seem to develop rhythm in H2 by mixing up the play calling (ie don’t run on 1st and 10, throw outside routes against the soft coverage and then run on 2nd down / when they aren’t expecting it). Also we stopped shooting ourselves in the foot with botched snaps and penalties.
In conclusion, there is potential and promising signs on offense, but plenty to work on.
Defense- that was an A effort. Only 267 yards on 61 plays and just 1.7 ypc rushing (granted that’s skewed by the 4 sacks but that’s a good thing to see too!). The DL held up very stoutly against the run and our pass rush package on 3rd down got more pressure than we usually see. I’m sure we will find tougher competition in the B1G but it was nice to see 4 and 5 Saka and Soares speeding around the edge and running stunts on 3rd downs. Najee Story a nice sack too.
Our LB pair of Mueller and Mac Uihlein looked really strong. Solid tackling is always nice to see in game 1 (let’s not bring back Duke nightmares from the past) but good anticipation too - Uihlein darting forward for a sack when Gabbert attempted to scramble, Mueller with a couple nice plays in pass coverage. They didn’t rack up the huge tackle numbers that you sometimes see from NU LBs but IMO that is because Miami couldn’t sustain drives so their play count was lower, and the DL was doing a better job of mucking things up at the line. That may change against B1G OL but our front 6 was dominant yesterday.
Onto the secondary. Sad to lose Garnett Hollis to NIL $$ at WV along with Jaheem Joseph and then Rod Heard to ND, but this group held up fairly well. 10 Theran Johnson stepped into the #1 CB role nicely - we mostly left him on his own over there and they didn’t complete anything aside from short passes against him (and not even much of that?). They mostly seemed to target 12 Evan Smith. He was playing soft and tentative and had safety help over the top. I would say he struggled through the first 3 quarters. But then he made the great play for a pick and after that seemed to play with more assertiveness. He’s young and so it’s a pretty good start overall, plenty of time to grow and develop. Braden Turner showed some quickness and burst at the nickel corner / star LB spot (not sure what NU calls that). Solid in run support. Okay in coverage. And then I love our safeties - Coco and Devin Turner are great. I think we should start calling it the law firm of Turner, Smith, Johnson, Azema and Turner. Lots of youth aside from Coco but I think lots of potential. Plus Rob Fitz jumps in with the game sealing Int!!
Overall takeaway- this is a solid and well coached team that came out prepared for game 1. Plenty of room for development, especially on offense and with some of the youth in the secondary, but a promising start and most importantly we got the W to go 1-0. Our conference schedule is tough with Mich OSU Wash Wiscy Iowa, but I think we have a decent chance to get 6-7 wins and make a bowl game.
Go Cats!!
PS the stadium setting on the lake looks beautiful on TV, hopefully they get the down and distance thing settled before I make the trip to Chicago for Indiana on Oct 5!
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