Back on the ledge

[Purple Pile Driver]

i was disappointed at week 1, but settled down and recognized we had some positives, not sure I can find any this game. A few thoughts and apologies in advance for being negative nelly.

Clayton had a bad game. Very little help, but still was poor. Alviti looked good and I am happy for him as he seems to be a nice kid. Just don't start any QB controversy nonsense.

We got absolutely destroyed in the trenches. No way we should return 4 starters on OL and do this against an average P5 team. We have way too much talent on O to ever have a performance like this. From the outside, we have a major coaching issue on OL. We need more pass rush. Watching this was dying a death of a thousand cuts. Doc, we are getting picked apart, send the house a couple of times, see what happens.

Our LB's eeeeeeghad. Jones ran past them like they were standing still. Was expecting more from Paddy and Nate. Gallagher might have been the best, certainly didn't look worse than the experienced guys.

We were back to the 7 yard cushion again and got ate up by there #1 WR.

I have no idea what McCall was doing. You sure better find a way to get JJTBC involved. Wasn't even a decoy. Awful.

Williams had rust, but good to see him back.

Roberts should be returning kickoffs. He would have got a lot of practice today.

Still think we can get 7 wins, but will likely be 2-3 going to Maryland. Lose that game and we won't be over 500.

Our freshman are pretty good. They will play a lot more if this keeps up.

Our kicker was our best player today. Looks like he'll be good.

The HC, OC, and DC all get a F on this game.

The announcers and stadium environment bored the tears out of me.

The hopes I had for this season are severely tapered AGAIN after the second game of the season.

 

[Fitz51]

You're an NU fan. We should always be on the ledge. That's who we are.

 

[Alaskawildkat]

Hard to claim one play or call changed the game, but the erroneous targeting call that further depleted our already depleted secondary didn't help. It also took away the interception as a momentum changer.

 

[TheC]

Hard to claim one play or call changed the game, but the erroneous targeting call that further depleted our already depleted secondary didn't help. It also took away the interception as a momentum changer.

I think that would have just prolonged the inevitable. We got dominated on both sides.

 

[D_C_B]

PPD : you said that there is no way we should return 4 starters on the OL and be this bad.

Well, that's simply not true. There are two:

1. Our OL "talent" last year simply wasn't good enough to do what OL players need to do

and

2. Our OL coach is incompetent and can't make talented OL players any better.

Those are the choices. So is it the player's or is it the coaches?

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

PPD : you said that there is no way we should return 4 starters on the OL and be this bad.

Well, that's simply not true. There are two:

1. Our OL "talent" last year simply wasn't good enough to do what OL players need to do

and

2. Our OL coach is incompetent and can't make talented OL players any better.

Those are the choices. So is it the player's or is it the coaches?

I know which I would would choose.

 

[HappyNUyear]

BGSU lost to an FCS School and had 4 TD’s called back. NU better correct things quickly

 

[D_C_B]

I know which I would would choose.

I know which I would chose too. These kids are not to blame. They're being dealt a bad hand. This is without any doubt a staff issue, not a player issue. How do in know that? It's been going on for multiple iterations of players! They've rotated in better players after better players and nothing changes. The constant is Cushing. He needs to go.

 

[phatcat]

I know which I would chose too. These kids are not to blame. They're being dealt a bad hand. This is without any doubt a staff issue, not a player issue. How do in know that? It's been going on for multiple iterations of players! They've rotated in better players after better players and nothing changes. The constant is Cushing. He needs to go.

Either they were poorly recruited, poorly developed or poorly coached. The coaches make a lot of money. The kids are kids

 

[AtlantaCat]

Either they were poorly recruited, poorly developed or poorly coached. The coaches make a lot of money. The kids are kids

Great succinct post. Nailed it.

 

[IGNORE2]

Hard to claim one play or call changed the game, but the erroneous targeting call that further depleted our already depleted secondary didn't help. It also took away the interception as a momentum changer.

Strong teams use it as a rallying cry. Weak teams use it as an excuse.

 

[gocatsgo2003]

Great succinct post. Nailed it.

Wait, so all college football players are immune from criticism because they were once recruited and receive coaching?

 

[stpaulcat]

I know which I would chose too. These kids are not to blame. They're being dealt a bad hand. This is without any doubt a staff issue, not a player issue. How do in know that? It's been going on for multiple iterations of players! They've rotated in better players after better players and nothing changes. The constant is Cushing. He needs to go.

Now?

 

[Alaskawildkat]

Hard to claim one play or call changed the game, but the erroneous targeting call that further depleted our already depleted secondary didn't help. It also took away the interception as a momentum changer.

I think that would have just prolonged the inevitable. We got dominated on both sides.

While it is difficult to argue otherwise, I did notice our defensive players seemed to become more tentative after that targeting call. Overly focusing on avoiding penalties can be counter productive to aggressive play. After that point in the game there were repeated times where it looked like Duke's offensive players slipped past our defenders despite physical contact that just didn't look physical enough.

 

[GlideCat]

Wait, so all college football players are immune from criticism because they were once recruited and receive coaching?

They are and should be less criticized than coaches. But most importantly the situation must be analyzed.

Is the player group consistently playing well but has one terrible game? This would likely be on the players. Or...

Is the player group consistently underperforming through multiple generations of players but, on occasion, has a good game? This would more likely be on the coach or coaches.

 

[gocatsgo2003]

They are and should be less criticized than coaches. But most importantly the situation must be analyzed.

Is the player group consistently playing well but has one terrible game? This would likely be on the players. Or...

Is the player group consistently underperforming through multiple generations of players but, on occasion, has a good game? This would more likely be on the coach or coaches.

Don't disagree with this. At all. There is just a hilariously large group who blame everything 100% on the coaches.

 

[willycat]

Don't disagree with this. At all. There is just a hilariously large group who blame everything 100% on the coaches.

The coaches do the evaluating and recruiting, correct?

 

[gocatsgo2003]

The coaches do the evaluating and recruiting, correct?

And the players do the playing.

 

[stpaulcat]

And the players do the playing.

Sure they do, but this has been going on for five years now, which suggests the coaches are either recruiting the wrong players or they are not giving them the mentoring they need.

 

[D_C_B]

Now?

No. Yesterday.

 

[D_C_B]

And the players do the playing.

Are you taking the coaches' side over the players - again?

Shame.

 

[gocatsgo2003]

Are you taking the coaches' side over the players - again?

Shame.

Nope. Pointing out that the players deserve at least some of the blame (and there's plenty to go around at the moment), despite what you and your little cabal seem to think.

 

[Cat In The Cradle]

Can someone explain with offensive line knowledge/experience what "lack of coaching" really means with this position group? Is some technique missing? Is it missed block assignments? Is it strength and conditioning shortcomings? Is it the absence of resolve? Is it the regular rotation and turnover of players from left to right and/or guard to tackle?

 

[D_C_B]

Nope. Pointing out that the players deserve at least some of the blame (and there's plenty to go around at the moment), despite what you and your little cabal seem to think.

It ain't no little cabal no more...

 

[gocatsgo2003]

It ain't no little cabal no more...

Of people who think that the players deserve precisely zero blame for under-performance? I think (or at least would hope) that that is a small group.

 

[D_C_B]

No. The cabal that you were referring to is the "Cushing-must-go" cabal, of which you profess to be a member. Or did you forget?

 

[gocatsgo2003]

No. The cabal that you were referring to is the "Cushing-must-go" cabal, of which you profess to be a member. Or did you forget?

No, it wasn't. I guess I'll add "reading comprehension" to the things with which you struggle a little more than average:

Nope. Pointing out that the players deserve at least some of the blame (and there's plenty to go around at the moment), despite what you and your little cabal seem to think.

 

[D_C_B]

No, it wasn't. I guess I'll add "reading comprehension" to the things with which you struggle a little more than average:

Uh, yes it was. You tried to take me to task for repetitively only posting on only one subject all day Sunday, remember? Something about me saying the same thing 27 times in 12 hours? Remember that? Do you? I hope so. It was only yesterday.

So there actually was no topic other that I was referring to, and no other cabal for me to be part of, other than the "dump Cushing" cabal since that was my one and only, sole topic of discussion - and that is 100% according to you and straight of your own mouth! That was my cabal. It has to be. It's the only possibility for what my "little cabal" could be.

It ain't me who is having difficulty with reading comprehension. It's you.

 

[gocatsgo2003]

Uh, yes it was. You tried to take me to task for repetitively only posting on only one subject all day Sunday, remember? Something about me saying the same thing 27 times in 12 hours? Remember that? Do you? I hope so. It was only yesterday.

So there actually was no topic other that I was referring to, and no other cabal for me to be part of, other than the "dump Cushing" cabal since that was my one and only, sole topic of discussion - and that is 100% according to you and straight of your own mouth! That was my cabal. It has to be. It's the only possibility for what my "little cabal" could be.

It ain't me who is having difficulty with reading comprehension. It's you.

I read your posts. You even asked me for player-specific commentary, which I provided. Implicit in all your "FIRE CUSHING" rants and the lack of any criticism of players is that you think they're basically immune from said criticism.

 

[D_C_B]

I read your posts. You even asked me for player-specific commentary, which I provided. Implicit in all your "FIRE CUSHING" rants and the lack of any criticism of players is that you think they're basically immune from said criticism.

You still don't understand, do you? Or are you just instigating a squabble for the sake of instigating?

I don't want to fight with you. So let's go over this one more time. You said I had a "little cabal". I said "it ain't so little". The cabal we were taking about is mine, not yours. Your cabal may be a cabal of people unafraid to criticize players. But those are your words and your thought and perhaps your little group. And that's all fine and good.

However, my little cabal has nothing to do with your topic or your thoughts or your words. (Yes, believe it not, my thoughts on NU football do not center around you). My cabal is about my topics and thoughts. And my topic... the one and only topic I've been referring to all day yesterday and today - as you said yourself! - is my "fire Cushing" rants. You said it yourself!

But now, apparently for the sake of argument (because there's no other logical explanation), you're saying that's not the theme of my little cabal, that's it's somehow the inverse of something you've been doing - that the real theme of my little cabal is being anti-player criticism.

That is total hogwash, and the evidence of what hogwash it is comes directly from you - the fact that according to you, I had posted 27 times before you flew in to correct me. So my topic can't be any sort of implied inverse reaction to you or anti-gcg thought because you hadn't even posted yet yesterday before my topic was crystal clear!

This is nuts. Yesterday, you take me to task for posting too much on one, solitary topic. Today, you act as if my topic never even existed and all the "fire Cushing" stuff was really just a roundabout way of not criticizing the players. Yeah, that's what I meant when I spoke about Harbaugh negative recruiting against Cushing. That was really just my way of saying how great Tommy Doles is. Yeah, uh-huh, that's it! LOL!

I just hope for your sake you understand how ridiculous your position sounds to folks here.

 

[epicbret]

The blame goes on both parties, I thought that was assumed.

The players are getting their asses handed to them on the lines. That's all them, win the battles.

The Coaches are not getting these guys to play to their capabilities, misjudged their capabilities, and have yet to adjust to their lack of success. That's on them.

Mix the two together and you have abysmal line play.

 

[hdhntr1]

PPD : you said that there is no way we should return 4 starters on the OL and be this bad.

Well, that's simply not true. There are two:

1. Our OL "talent" last year simply wasn't good enough to do what OL players need to do

and

2. Our OL coach is incompetent and can't make talented OL players any better.

Those are the choices. So is it the player's or is it the coaches?

Yes

 

[StreamCat]

You still don't understand, do you? Or are you just instigating a squabble for the sake of instigating?

I don't want to fight with you. So let's go over this one more time. You said I had a "little cabal". I said "it ain't so little". The cabal we were taking about is mine, not yours. Your cabal may be a cabal of people unafraid to criticize players. But those are your words and your thought and perhaps your little group. And that's all fine and good.

However, my little cabal has nothing to do with your topic or your thoughts or your words. (Yes, believe it not, my thoughts on NU football do not center around you). My cabal is about my topics and thoughts. And my topic... the one and only topic I've been referring to all day yesterday and today - as you said yourself! - is my "fire Cushing" rants. You said it yourself!

But now, apparently for the sake of argument (because there's no other logical explanation), you're saying that's not the theme of my little cabal, that's it's somehow the inverse of something you've been doing - that the real theme of my little cabal is being anti-player criticism.

That is total hogwash, and the evidence of what hogwash it is comes directly from you - the fact that according to you, I had posted 27 times before you flew in to correct me. So my topic can't be any sort of implied inverse reaction to you or anti-gcg thought because you hadn't even posted yet yesterday before my topic was crystal clear!

This is nuts. Yesterday, you take me to task for posting too much on one, solitary topic. Today, you act as if my topic never even existed and all the "fire Cushing" stuff was really just a roundabout way of not criticizing the players. Yeah, that's what I meant when I spoke about Harbaugh negative recruiting against Cushing. That was really just my way of saying how great Tommy Doles is. Yeah, uh-huh, that's it! LOL!

I just hope for your sake you understand how ridiculous your position sounds to folks here.

This is a silly disagreement over two words.

 

[willycat]

Of people who think that the players deserve precisely zero blame for under-performance? I think (or at least would hope) that that is a small group.

Do you really think Cushing would be coaching at any other Power 5 school, with his resume? Played at U.of Chicago and coached and Laverne. LAVERNE!

 

[GlideCat]

This is a silly disagreement over two words.

That must mean this is a message board.

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

Officially hijacked.

 

[hdhntr1]

i was disappointed at week 1, but settled down and recognized we had some positives, not sure I can find any this game. A few thoughts and apologies in advance for being negative nelly.

Clayton had a bad game. Very little help, but still was poor. Alviti looked good and I am happy for him as he seems to be a nice kid. Just don't start any QB controversy nonsense.

We got absolutely destroyed in the trenches. No way we should return 4 starters on OL and do this against an average P5 team. We have way too much talent on O to ever have a performance like this. From the outside, we have a major coaching issue on OL. We need more pass rush. Watching this was dying a death of a thousand cuts. Doc, we are getting picked apart, send the house a couple of times, see what happens.

Our LB's eeeeeeghad. Jones ran past them like they were standing still. Was expecting more from Paddy and Nate. Gallagher might have been the best, certainly didn't look worse than the experienced guys.

We were back to the 7 yard cushion again and got ate up by there #1 WR.

I have no idea what McCall was doing. You sure better find a way to get JJTBC involved. Wasn't even a decoy. Awful.

Williams had rust, but good to see him back.

Roberts should be returning kickoffs. He would have got a lot of practice today.

Still think we can get 7 wins, but will likely be 2-3 going to Maryland. Lose that game and we won't be over 500.

Our freshman are pretty good. They will play a lot more if this keeps up.

Our kicker was our best player today. Looks like he'll be good.

The HC, OC, and DC all get a F on this game.

The announcers and stadium environment bored the tears out of me.

The hopes I had for this season are severely tapered AGAIN after the second game of the season.

You never really got off of it did you?

Do you really think Cushing would be coaching at any other Power 5 school, with his resume? Played at U.of Chicago and coached and Laverne. LAVERNE!

There are plenty of P5 coaches who have resumes like his. Real question is would they still be coaching with his body of work

 

[stpaulcat]

Do you really think Cushing would be coaching at any other Power 5 school, with his resume? Played at U.of Chicago and coached and Laverne. LAVERNE!

Was that when Shirley was playing there?

 

[gocatsgo2003]

Do you really think Cushing would be coaching at any other Power 5 school, with his resume? Played at U.of Chicago and coached and Laverne. LAVERNE!

It's not rare at all for a guy who played D-III and coached D-III to get a graduate assistant job at a P5 school to move up the coaching ranks, which is how Cushing got his foot in the door at Northwestern. It's also somewhat rare for GAs to get full-time jobs at P5 schools once their GA tenure is up, but it was something Walker liked to do and the loyalty shouldn't really be a surprise to anyone.

Incidentally, that's the same way that MacPherson started his career (played linebacker at DePauw, coached at DePauw, coached at Kenyon, hired as a defensive GA by Randy Walker, two-year stint at EMU as safeties coach, then back to NU as RB coach), but I don't hear anyone bitching about "HE PLAYED D-III BALL AS A LINEBACKER AND NEVER COACHED ON THE OFFENSIVE SIDE OF THE BALL ABOVE D-III BEFORE NORTHWESTERN... CAN'T WE HIRE A BETTER RBs COACH THAN THE SAFETIES COACH FROM EASTERN MICHIGAN!?" now that the running backs look pretty good.

Similarly, I didn't hear anyone whining "BUT HE WAS A NON-SCHOLARSHIP FCS QB AND NEVER HAD A JOB ELSEWHERE, CAN'T WE FIND A BETTER RECEIVERS COACH THAN THIS GUY?!" when Kevin Johns' wideouts were performing well after he was a QB at non-scholarship Dayton before being hired on as a GA at Northwestern before being promoted to running backs then wide receivers coach/passing game coordinator.

 

[willycat]

It's not rare at all for a guy who played D-III and coached D-III to get a graduate assistant job at a P5 school to move up the coaching ranks, which is how Cushing got his foot in the door at Northwestern. It's also somewhat rare for GAs to get full-time jobs at P5 schools once their GA tenure is up, but it was something Walker liked to do and the loyalty shouldn't really be a surprise to anyone.

Incidentally, that's the same way that MacPherson started his career (played linebacker at DePauw, coached at DePauw, coached at Kenyon, hired as a defensive GA by Randy Walker, two-year stint at EMU as safeties coach, then back to NU as RB coach), but I don't hear anyone bitching about "HE PLAYED D-III BALL AS A LINEBACKER AND NEVER COACHED ON THE OFFENSIVE SIDE OF THE BALL ABOVE D-III BEFORE NORTHWESTERN... CAN'T WE HIRE A BETTER RBs COACH THAN THE SAFETIES COACH FROM EASTERN MICHIGAN!?" now that the running backs look pretty good.

Similarly, I didn't hear anyone whining "BUT HE WAS A NON-SCHOLARSHIP FCS QB AND NEVER HAD A JOB ELSEWHERE, CAN'T WE FIND A BETTER RECEIVERS COACH THAN THIS GUY?!" when Kevin Johns' wideouts were performing well after he was a QB at non-scholarship Dayton before being hired on as a GA at Northwestern before being promoted to running backs then wide receivers coach/passing game coordinator.

Guess you can continue to apologize for Cushing but it's getting very lonely on your side. Not that it matters but I have not been all that impressed with McPherson either and yes I've met him and others very close to him.