WildcatReport breaks down the Wildcats' come-from-behind Holiday Bowl win over Utah.
After further review: Northwestern 31 Utah 20
After further review: Northwestern 31 Utah 20
After further review: Chappy breaks down NU's Holiday Bowl win
- Thread starter lou v
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Chappy, thanks again for all your hard work this season. I really enjoyed the recap; it gave me an opportunity to relive the pleasure of the game again.
I do actually disagree a little with your second takeaway, the plug and play. The D-line has consistently been the Cats’ deepest unit this and the last several years, and the wide receiver group was probably the second deepest this year, and so the outstanding play of Alex Miller, Ramaud Chiakhiao-Bowman and Riley Lees, while great, is confirmation of these position group’s depth. Mayo played his best game, and deserves credit, but I really don’t think the score is 20-3 at the half if Hartage plays. There was a step down in skill that was apparent even though it did not kill the Cats. Similarly (fortunately) there was no need to sub on the offensive line due to injury. That was the thinnest position group, as evidenced by the problems the Cats had early in the season when several starters were sidelined. Progress is being made in depth, but I don’t think the Cats have reached the plug and play status across the board.
I do actually disagree a little with your second takeaway, the plug and play. The D-line has consistently been the Cats’ deepest unit this and the last several years, and the wide receiver group was probably the second deepest this year, and so the outstanding play of Alex Miller, Ramaud Chiakhiao-Bowman and Riley Lees, while great, is confirmation of these position group’s depth. Mayo played his best game, and deserves credit, but I really don’t think the score is 20-3 at the half if Hartage plays. There was a step down in skill that was apparent even though it did not kill the Cats. Similarly (fortunately) there was no need to sub on the offensive line due to injury. That was the thinnest position group, as evidenced by the problems the Cats had early in the season when several starters were sidelined. Progress is being made in depth, but I don’t think the Cats have reached the plug and play status across the board.
You are a natural writer Chappy! Keep up the good work!
You make a good point - but overall I was very pleased with the resilience of the secondary this year. We got hit repeatedly and fairly hard throughout the year with the injury stick. Some games were better than others, but in general we responded to that adversity very well. Pretty good considering it was the first year under a new position coach.
NU basically played the last five games of the season (including the bowl) without three-quarters of its starting secondary and won four of them. Imagine what that injury situation would have done to NU 10 years ago. The season would’ve gone into the tank.
The depth of talent - what Fitz likes to call competitive depth - has increased dramatically in recent years.
Lou, I agree completely. The defensive backfield has developed more depth; I guess my main point is that the depth is not uniform across the board in all position groups. By my eye, the Dline was deepest this year, followed by wide receiver, superback, safeties, corners, placekicker, linebacker, running back, Oline, punter, QB. Running back gets an asterisk as Bowser probably was not ready the first part of the year, but clearly came forward as the year progressed. The cornerback injuries reached the point where it was vulnerable against OSU and Utah even though the first 4 were very competitive. QB took a depth step down this year. Alviti could really play and would have been able to step in for Thorson last year if that was required. With luck, the depth will generally continue to improve, and that injuries will not find the most vulnerable groups.
I want to second all the kudos to Chappy. Have loved your analysis all season long and really look forward to it.
What a fun season.
What a fun season.
Easily overlooked play. I was watching the replay for like the tenth time on the plane last night (nod to the poster fka xyzbob) where Mayo is beaten deep. They show the replay from the end zone and he is intently watching the receiver, not interfering, waiting to time his tackle until the instant the kid touches the football. Good stuff
Any chance that Rocamp could get more playing time? I know he had a key PBU in that one game, but don't think he saw much action after that.
He was at a disadvantage coming out of high school -- he had too many stars. He and another 4 star CB Parrker Westphal showed up on the radar of NUCBHG (NU Cornerback Hating Gods). Meanwhile 2 stars like Montre and Sherrick were able to slip under the radar. NUCBHG ended the careers of Matt Harris, Daniel Jones, and Dwight White too early. Hopefully Rod will become a solid contributor.
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