Former Duke player's take on the Stanford game and the upcoming match-up with Duke.
One of the rare upsets thus far, which has Duke's next opponent ranked @ #23 in the AP Poll after week 2, was Northwestern's bruising victory at home over a then ranked #21 Stanford team over Labor Day weekend. Having watched the majority of that game two things were apparent to me.
1.) Stanford is not nearly the team they have been the last 4 or 5 years. They are inexperienced for the first time in recent memory all over their defense and Kevin Hogan is not an NFL QB. He arguably isn't even much better than an average college football QB.
2.) Northwestern is down right tough on both sides of the ball and won't be an easy out in the Western division of the Big10 for any opponent they face.
- Can't say I disagree with the take on Hogan too much (might make it as a back-up in the NFL).
While Hogan is the active QB with the most wins, he has been the beneficiary of a top-flight O-line (not so much last year), physical running game, NFL caliber TEs and a stout D.
So coming into most games, Hogan has had the advantage over the opposing QBs.
One of the few exceptions was the Rose Bowl against MSU where Cook outplayed Hogan (MSU needed that as Stanford's D was really able to limit the Spartan run game).
That season, Siemian had better stats against the MSU D (was also the leading rusher for the 'Cats) and Hogan didn't even have to face the leader/captain of the MSU D, Max Bullough, who had been suspended for the game.
Stanford's lack of experience on D is a bit overplayed; while Stanford lost many starters, not like the remaining players didn't have game experience (after all, aside from half of a season of experience for Walker, the NU LBer corps was pretty inexperienced).
Another thing to keep in mind is how much these two teams mirror one another. They both have athletic QB's starting only their third game of their entire career. They also both deploy the shotgun spread option / zone read attack on offense meaning each defense will know the other teams offense intimately from practicing against that scheme day in and day out.
That said, as far as my eyes can see, Duke has far greater overall team speed than Northwestern does. Additionally, the fact this game is played in Durham is more important than many know being that Northwestern's game surface is thick long cut grass they use to equalize team speed in the Big10.
http://www.dukebasketballreport.com/2015/9/15/9328395/some-keen-insights-into-duke-northwestern
Think the 'Cats have the edge on the D-line and maybe the O-line (depending on the health situation) - which should help negate the advantage Duke has at QB (while not having much game experience, a RS JR should be ahead of a RS Frosh, esp. a RS JR who was getting the back-up snaps last season).
Secondaries are probably even (w/ the 'Cats maybe having more depth - not knowing enough about the depth on the other side).
I'd give the edge to Duke at wide-out (hopefully, the secondary won't make that too much of an issue), but think the speed on NU's end is being under-valued (aside from that clutch 3rd down catch, Shuler didn't get much action and neither did the other speed guys like Vault, Anderson, Roberts, Nagel, etc.). What's the deal w/ Buckley?
Might just come down to field position, turnovers and/or playcalling, that is unless the 'Cats come out and play the more physical ball.
Don't know how it has been in Chicago-land since the Stanford game, but if it is hot and humid, the depth at D-line and the secondary will help the 'Cats. Otoh, the lack of depth at LBer and the O-line might become an issue.
Not many posters on the Duke SB Nation blog - but then again, it's called the Duke Basketball Report.
One of the rare upsets thus far, which has Duke's next opponent ranked @ #23 in the AP Poll after week 2, was Northwestern's bruising victory at home over a then ranked #21 Stanford team over Labor Day weekend. Having watched the majority of that game two things were apparent to me.
1.) Stanford is not nearly the team they have been the last 4 or 5 years. They are inexperienced for the first time in recent memory all over their defense and Kevin Hogan is not an NFL QB. He arguably isn't even much better than an average college football QB.
2.) Northwestern is down right tough on both sides of the ball and won't be an easy out in the Western division of the Big10 for any opponent they face.
- Can't say I disagree with the take on Hogan too much (might make it as a back-up in the NFL).
While Hogan is the active QB with the most wins, he has been the beneficiary of a top-flight O-line (not so much last year), physical running game, NFL caliber TEs and a stout D.
So coming into most games, Hogan has had the advantage over the opposing QBs.
One of the few exceptions was the Rose Bowl against MSU where Cook outplayed Hogan (MSU needed that as Stanford's D was really able to limit the Spartan run game).
That season, Siemian had better stats against the MSU D (was also the leading rusher for the 'Cats) and Hogan didn't even have to face the leader/captain of the MSU D, Max Bullough, who had been suspended for the game.
Stanford's lack of experience on D is a bit overplayed; while Stanford lost many starters, not like the remaining players didn't have game experience (after all, aside from half of a season of experience for Walker, the NU LBer corps was pretty inexperienced).
Another thing to keep in mind is how much these two teams mirror one another. They both have athletic QB's starting only their third game of their entire career. They also both deploy the shotgun spread option / zone read attack on offense meaning each defense will know the other teams offense intimately from practicing against that scheme day in and day out.
That said, as far as my eyes can see, Duke has far greater overall team speed than Northwestern does. Additionally, the fact this game is played in Durham is more important than many know being that Northwestern's game surface is thick long cut grass they use to equalize team speed in the Big10.
http://www.dukebasketballreport.com/2015/9/15/9328395/some-keen-insights-into-duke-northwestern
Think the 'Cats have the edge on the D-line and maybe the O-line (depending on the health situation) - which should help negate the advantage Duke has at QB (while not having much game experience, a RS JR should be ahead of a RS Frosh, esp. a RS JR who was getting the back-up snaps last season).
Secondaries are probably even (w/ the 'Cats maybe having more depth - not knowing enough about the depth on the other side).
I'd give the edge to Duke at wide-out (hopefully, the secondary won't make that too much of an issue), but think the speed on NU's end is being under-valued (aside from that clutch 3rd down catch, Shuler didn't get much action and neither did the other speed guys like Vault, Anderson, Roberts, Nagel, etc.). What's the deal w/ Buckley?
Might just come down to field position, turnovers and/or playcalling, that is unless the 'Cats come out and play the more physical ball.
Don't know how it has been in Chicago-land since the Stanford game, but if it is hot and humid, the depth at D-line and the secondary will help the 'Cats. Otoh, the lack of depth at LBer and the O-line might become an issue.
Not many posters on the Duke SB Nation blog - but then again, it's called the Duke Basketball Report.
