Bump for football discussion...

[AFVolunteer]

...I've lurked on this board ever since the outback announcement was made, and appreciate both the good natured trolling from both sides, and the excellent football discussion. However, I've been off the board for the past week or so, and it's tough to wade through the trash talking threads to get to any of the real football ones. So I'm starting another one for any latecomers, or anyone who is bored and wants to rehash. A couple of my thoughts:

- Game can't get here soon enough. Regardless of who wins, both UT and NU fans can be grateful that we're at least playing against a team that matters and in a game that folks are looking forward to. There is nothing more depressing than trying to get excited about bowl games during the holidays, flipping on a game and trying to get excited watching some 5-7 team play against South City State U in the Weedeater bowl.

- I just watched your hype video. Your coach is intense. No doubt he's a defensive guy given his background, but he just exudes defense.

- I've seen a lot of bitching and moaning about you guys getting blown out in two games and us playing 4 games close. My thoughts...who cares. I think you guys have better wins and worse losses. But you have 2 more wins than us. But we played two playoff teams. In the end, it's a wash in my opinion. Your style of play dictates close wins, and without having watched any of your games, typically teams that use your pattern (little to no offense but stout defense), don't do well if they get behind early. So to me, if Tennessee jumps out early, maybe that's a bad sign for you, but after that who really cares. I can assure you having a "close loss" to NU will not be any sort of moral victory for me. And I know the converse is true. I won't be upset in the least if we win by 1. I will if we lose by 1. As I'm sure is true for you guys.

- Some notes on our team (no doubt you've heard many of these before, but again, I'm really hoping for a response in kind about your own team so I don't have to hunt for the good discussions again):

-- Our QB is effectively a third running back at times. Some games, we scheme for him to run a lot. Others, not so much. He can obviously extend plays with his legs, but when we can exploit him as a runner, we typically have success. He is very inconsistent as a passer. Sub-par on the deep ball (him, receivers, whatever...we don't throw deep with success). Decent yet inconsistent at medium and even short range. He's pretty good at limiting turnovers through the air. He'll often throw the ball away or scramble rather than try to squeeze one into double coverage. He's not the best at sensing pressure if coming from his blind side, and he does have a tendency to cough it up while running/scrambling, though we've been fortunate to not have lost too many this year.

-- Hurd is our starting back. He's powerful, yet shifty. Often won't bust a 60 yard play, but can turn a 1 yard loss into a 3 yard gain or a 3 yard gain into a 6 or 10 yard gain. He's quite tall for a RB, and thus is deceptively powerful (looks leaner than he is). Kamara is our backup RB, and he'll play a lot. He can run between the tackles, but not as big nor as powerful as Hurd, and hes faster. He's much more likely to bounce it outside, and much more likely to bust a long one than Hurd. Kamara will often come out of the backfield for short passes, in an effort to get the ball in his hands on the edge quickly. Will be interesting to see these guys matchup against your D, which is no doubt very good. We've gone against some stout run D's this year, typically with success (but one look at our record shows that success doesn't necessarily translate into a win).

-- Our O-line is young overall, and will execute lots of pulling/misdirection. I don't think we have any chance to line up and pound the ball in between the tackles all game. Again, we've played against solid run D this year, and have had success, but it hasn't been from smash mouth running. We offer lots of eye candy in order to be effective...WRs/RBs in motion, lots of misdirection, multiple reads etc. based on where the D is crashing.

-- I think our O vs. your D is the intriguing matchup. On the opposite side, I won't say as much about our D unless asked, but our front 7 is our strength. Cam Sutton is our best corner, and he's solid in run D as well. After him, the play is inconsistent on the back end. Our best safety will be coming off the bench, Todd Kelly Jr. He'll get lots of PT and is easily our best at pass D, but we'll have two seniors starting in front of him that are bigger hitters, but still play out of position at times. Pass D is where we can be exploited. Run D is better. Our D ends, particularly #9 are very good. Was a freshman AA last year and while he started somewhat slowly, has really picked it up the last half of the season. We're not especially good at generating turnovers. We're very good on 3d down D. Terrible FWIW on 4th down D...so go for it on 4th all the time!

-- Our special teams unit is honestly one of, if not the strength, of our team. Our punter flips the field when needed and pins folks inside of 20 quite often. I'm too lazy to look it up, but I'm pretty sure he's a national leader in both categories. Placekicker was somewhat inconsistent early in the year, but a lot of that was due to him kicking 45+ yarders. He's been solid of late, and almost all year 44 and in. Punt and kick return game is obviously very good as I think has been discussed. I think 3 KR and 3 PR for TDs this year. I don't think any of our 3 headed return team (Evan Berry at KR, and Sutton/Kamara at PR) are quite as skilled as their stats might lead one to believe, but rather we spend a lot of practice time focused on ST, so you'll see our guys often catch the ball already moving forward and try to hit the first hole with more speed than the average returner. Beyond that, the blocking is very good. I'm interested to see if you guys try to kick away or take your chances. If I'm a NU fan, I'd take my chances as long as you are fundamentally sound in your special teams D. We won't make crazy video game type moves in our return game...it's typically just try to make the first guy miss 1 on 1, then hit whatever lane we've created as fast as possible.

In my opinion, if we can't get our passing game going (which has happened at times this year), then you guys can load the box and your already stout D can really force us to be one dimensional. Clearly a low scoring game favors the Cats, so I hope we can out some points up on your D and special teams. If this game is close going into the 4th quarter, think that bodes very well for you. Our coach tends to coach tight at times, especially when leading and if it's close/late. If you guys aren't leading, another good strategy is to let us go up by 17 points, then start your comeback. We're 0-2 this year with 17 point leads (actually, I don't know how many 17 point leads we've had, but we blew 2 of them). Don't worry about not being built for big comebacks...Florida has almost no offense and they managed to do it.

I'd love another quick analysis of your own team. This is what I know. Your offense doesn't score much, but doesn't need to because your defense is so stout. Any other highlights. How is your passing game? I'm guessing we'll load the box and try to make you guys beat our corners 1 on 1 (which they can be beat, especially opposite Sutton). What are the weaknesses in your D? What concerns you about the game? Who are your playmakers that I should watch during the game, even if they aren't near the ball every play?

Thanks in advance. Great board, by the way. I loved Chi town as a kid. My grandparents lived there and I spent 2-3 weeks a year there during my childhood. Have yet to get back as an adult. Currently I'm two hours south of Tromsø (reference another thread)...and I can assure you that there are no college football watch parties out here. Cheers,

AFVol

 

[chicagocatfan24]

Great post

 

[Alaskawildkat]

Thanks for a lot of excellent points. I agree with you on many of them, especially with regard to the over emphasis by some of the Tennessee fans regarding our two losses. One thing that gets lost in the noise though is the attitude change that came after the second loss when the players themselves met on their own early in the morning before practices began for the following week. Losing was a new experience to this team and the Iowa game was truly a carry over from the Michigan loss.

(I was at our homecoming game against Iowa and we ended the half on a high note with the promise of a comeback. However, our defense just could not get off the field in the second half and there was clear frustration evident by the players to the extent that it appeared to me that the team members were just giving up on each other. Talking to at least one of the players after the game reinforced that perception.)

In that meeting called by the players after the Iowa loss the players themselves took ownership of the team. The attitude adjustment acted as a catalyst to right the team chemistry and halt what could have been more of the same. Your team too stopped a downward spiral to win its last five games so that adds to the interest of where these teams are presently at in terms of being ready to compete in the bowl game.

 

[gocatsgo2003]

Thanks for the reasoned and reasonable post. While I don't know that I have quite as much to say, here's my quick positional/unit breakdown:

Offense -- our Achilles Heel this year, the offense has shown flashes of its potential but is too often lacking in explosiveness. The Illinois game showed me both what our offense could be and what it is. We came out throwing the ball off of play action and making plays downfield only to revert back to our run-heavy, game management offense before halftime. The offense is limited by our lack of consistent productivity from our offensive line and (especailly) wideouts. I expect to see plenty of "Justin Jackson the Ballcarrier" against Tennessee.

QB -- Thorson has all the tools to be successful, but has been maddeningly inconsistent. He's not the natural runner that Dobbs is, but he can make some plays with his feet both in the designed run game and scramble situations. He's made some poor decisions typical of a young QB, but our hope is that the extra practices have given him time to settle into his role as a starter (wasn't named until a week before the opener against Stanford).

RB -- Jackson is a more physical runner than his slender build might suggest, consistently relying on his outstanding vision and balance to fall forward. He's just got a knack for reading and setting up blocks to make something out of nothing, especially in the zone scheme. Long is his primary backup and is a more physical, downhill runner. We've also seen Solomon Vault in the backfield, but I think he would be better-utilized as a receiver in the passing game, be it out of the backfield or the slot.

WR -- As you might have guessed by my lead-in, there's not a lot to say about this group. Austin Carr has been our most consistent wideout, but is a physically limited former walk-on. Christian Jones was a great wideout in 2013, but is coming off of an ACL injury that seems to have limited his explosiveness in 2015 (he also suffered a strange case of the drops in the middle part of the season). The group of Mike McHugh, Cameron Dickerson, and others have been pretty much nondescript. I would expect Tennessee to play a lot of man-press coverage to challenge this group to make plays while putting as many guys as possible in the box to stop Jackson.

SB (Superback, our version of an H-back/tight end) -- Vitale is a multifaceted athlete that we've used in a bunch of different ways this year. In our bowl victory over Mississippi State a couple years ago, we saw some creative integration of our SBs in the run game and I'm hoping we can find some ways to get Vitale the ball. Without many playmakers at WR, we have to find a pass threat somewhere. Garrett Dickerson (Cam's brother) is a great-looking athlete, but has suffered from some "dropsies" this year and has been utilized mostly as an in-line blocker.

OL -- We've had a bunch of injuries at this position and their performance has been pretty inconsistent as a result. We aren't even 100% sure who our starting five will be, but our best guess is a left-to-right of Hance, Mogus, North, Frazier, Olson. Hance is a young kid who is coming into his own at LT while Mogus is a highly-experienced LG. North was our starting center, then benched for a while after some errant snaps early in the season. Frazier is amother highly-experienced guy at RG while Olson has been pretty average at RT. You'll probably also see Mertz, Park, Mahoney, and others rotate in. As a group, they've been about average in the run game and below-average in the pass game.

Defense -- the clear strength of this team. We have a lot of speed and experience in the back half with a lot of production from the front four. We've been very good playing assignment football and tackling well this year, which I think matches up well with the run offense that Tennessee puts together. We are also a LOT more athletic on this side of the ball than many realize.

DB -- VanHoose is an All-Big Ten type player, but out for the game after suffering an injury in bowl practices. Watkins was our primary nickel throughout the year and I don't think we will see too much of a drop-off there. On the other side, I think Matt Harris is actually our better corner, a pro-type prospect. Henry is a somewhat limited athlete, but has played a TON of football. Igwebuike is a first-year starter, but a great athlete and good tackler. We also get Queiro back, who's a longer, lanky athlete that started out as our nickel before breaking his arm. These guys can run and tackle, not making many mistakes. It will be a challenge for Dobbs to get a consistent passing game going.

LB -- Anthony Walker is an All-American and the headliner of the group. He was pressed into starting duty last year and has really taken off this year. He's a legitimate pro prospect in his own right and flashes next-level abilities to close on the ball. Don't sleep on Hall or Drew Smith, both of whom are pretty solid athletes in their own right. Hall was forced into a starting role after an injury to our Will backer, but is a very good athlete. Smith isn't quite the same athlete, but a very physical player with a lot of experience. We can run and tackle with anyone.

DL -- Dean Lowry is just a good football player. At 6-5 290, he can set the edge as a DE on run down and often moves inside to DT in passing situations. On the other side, Gibson is another highly experienced player who really started coming on as a pass rusher toward the end of the year. He's got pretty good size himself and is no slouch against the run. Washington and Odenigbo are our two pass rush specialists; both lack ideal size, but can get to the passer. We rotate a lot of DTs, most notably Lancaster, Kuhar, Thompson, and a couple others. Lancaster is a mobile 300 pound kid who's still learning to play DT. Thompson is a highly-recruited true freshman who has playing strength beyond his physical stature. He really came on at the end of the year and was playing very good football. Kuhar is the physical, run-stopper of the bunch who is still recovering from an ACL tear last November.

Special Teams -- we've heard a lot about Tennessee's teams (and rightfully so), but we aren't too bad there either. Vault has two KOR TDs on the year and Shuler has shown flashes as a PR. Niswander won't hit too many "pretty" punts, but he's been effective this year. Mitchell has had his fair share of misses as a PK, but seems to buckle down in the clutch at the end of the game.


Well, that turned out to be longer than I expected... but hopefully is at least a little of what you're looking for.

 

[shakes3858]

QB: Thorson RS Freshman. Throws most passes low and away. I believe he does this because he's told not to lose the game by throwing INTs. He does have an arm, but needs to improve decision making. He can run, but he's not a shifty runner. If he has a lane, he can hit full speed and run by defenders. He also struggles on the zone read and takes his route too horizontally. I think (hope) a bigger factor for his struggles this year was that he wasn't named the starting QB until a week before the season. He was splitting time in camp and spring practices with 2 other QBs. I think the month between games and the 15 practices as "the guy" will really help him.

RB: Our fast guy is Solomon Vault. Our bigger physical guy is Warren Long. Our starter is Justin Jackson. He's not real big. He's not real fast. He just uses his vision and some shiftiness to get in the hole. It's almost unexplainable how he gets yards. Expect Jackson to get lots or carries on inside zones and outside zones.

WR: This is a frustrating group. They don't run great routes, drop lots of balls... Christian Jones had a great JR year, but tore his ACL a week before the 2014 season. He redshirted and came back. He hasn't looked like the same player he was, but again I'm hoping a month of rest will help him.

Superback: Our version of a tightend, WR, H-back cross over. His name is Dan Vitale. He'll be all over the field.

Oline: Difficult group to figure out. We run a lot of Olineman on the field. The theory is playing a guy who's a little bit worse, but is fresh is better than playing the starter who is tired. We've also had a lot of guys in and out of the lineup with nagging type of injuries. Starting OG Matt Frazier might be our best lineman. He had a staph infection leading up to the season and my understanding is it was pretty bad. He came back and has played well, but the more time away from his illness the better he will get. We've also keep moving Geoff Mogus back and forth between LT and LG. I though he would be our best Olineman going into the year, but switched to LT and then moved inside when our young OTs were doing well but our LG was struggling. We will be playing RS FR Blake Hance at LT. He's been playing well.. but a RS FR vs Barnett is going to be a tough day for him. As a group, the Oline are better at run blocking than pass protection.

Defense: our defense is downright special.
DEs: Dean Lowry is a big beast. Deonte Gibson is more of a speed rusher. Their backups are more the speed rushing types.

DTs: We play a lot of them and they're good. Keeping the fresh man on the line seems to be really helping us down the stretch.

LBs: Anthony Walker is an all-american. He's quick and can make a lot of tackles for loss in the running game. Hall came in midseason due to a season ending injury to starter Jaylen Prater. He's played well. Drew Smith is a collision waiting to happen. He just likes to hit people.

CBs: Fantastic and lots of depth which we will need. 4 year starter Nick VanHoose went down with a finger injury in bowl practices and will be out. Matthew Harris is fast and can cover. I've been extremely impressed by his ability to play the ball while it's in the air. Keith Watkins will get the start for VanHoose. He's a little more sound tackler according to some on the board. Expect to see Marcus McShepard as well. Both guys are experienced and I'm confident both can step in for VanHoose. Losing him for the game will hurt, but it won't be a disaster on the field.

Safeties: Traveon Henry is a 3.5 year starter. Years ago, he was a big hitter and more of a 4th LB rather than a safety. He's really worked on his coverage skill, lost some weight to bring up his speed and has turned into a really great player. Godwin Igwebuike will play the other safety. He was an RB in high school. Superb athlete and plays really smart as well (except for one infamous play against Nebraska).

 

[shakes3858]

Thanks for the reasoned and reasonable post. While I don't know that I have quite as much to say, here's my quick positional/unit breakdown:

Offense -- our Achilles Heel this year, the offense has shown flashes of its potential but is too often lacking in explosiveness. The Illinois game showed me both what our offense could be and what it is. We came out throwing the ball off of play action and making plays downfield only to revert back to our run-heavy, game management offense before halftime. The offense is limited by our lack of consistent productivity from our offensive line and (especailly) wideouts. I expect to see plenty of "Justin Jackson the Ballcarrier" against Tennessee.

QB -- Thorson has all the tools to be successful, but has been maddeningly inconsistent. He's not the natural runner that Dobbs is, but he can make some plays with his feet both in the designed run game and scramble situations. He's made some poor decisions typical of a young QB, but our hope is that the extra practices have given him time to settle into his role as a starter (wasn't named until a week before the opener against Stanford).

RB -- Jackson is a more physical runner than his slender build might suggest, consistently relying on his outstanding vision and balance to fall forward. He's just got a knack for reading and setting up blocks to make something out of nothing, especially in the zone scheme. Long is his primary backup and is a more physical, downhill runner. We've also seen Solomon Vault in the backfield, but I think he would be better-utilized as a receiver in the passing game, be it out of the backfield or the slot.

WR -- As you might have guessed by my lead-in, there's not a lot to say about this group. Austin Carr has been our most consistent wideout, but is a physically limited former walk-on. Christian Jones was a great wideout in 2013, but is coming off of an ACL injury that seems to have limited his explosiveness in 2015 (he also suffered a strange case of the drops in the middle part of the season). The group of Mike McHugh, Cameron Dickerson, and others have been pretty much nondescript. I would expect Tennessee to play a lot of man-press coverage to challenge this group to make plays while putting as many guys as possible in the box to stop Jackson.

SB (Superback, our version of an H-back/tight end) -- Vitale is a multifaceted athlete that we've used in a bunch of different ways this year. In our bowl victory over Mississippi State a couple years ago, we saw some creative integration of our SBs in the run game and I'm hoping we can find some ways to get Vitale the ball. Without many playmakers at WR, we have to find a pass threat somewhere. Garrett Dickerson (Cam's brother) is a great-looking athlete, but has suffered from some "dropsies" this year and has been utilized mostly as an in-line blocker.

OL -- We've had a bunch of injuries at this position and their performance has been pretty inconsistent as a result. We aren't even 100% sure who our starting five will be, but our best guess is a left-to-right of Hance, Mogus, North, Frazier, Olson. Hance is a young kid who is coming into his own at LT while Mogus is a highly-experienced LG. North was our starting center, then benched for a while after some errant snaps early in the season. Frazier is amother highly-experienced guy at RG while Olson has been pretty average at RT. You'll probably also see Mertz, Park, Mahoney, and others rotate in. As a group, they've been about average in the run game and below-average in the pass game.

Defense -- the clear strength of this team. We have a lot of speed and experience in the back half with a lot of production from the front four. We've been very good playing assignment football and tackling well this year, which I think matches up well with the run offense that Tennessee puts together. We are also a LOT more athletic on this side of the ball than many realize.

DB -- VanHoose is an All-Big Ten type player, but out for the game after suffering an injury in bowl practices. Watkins was our primary nickel throughout the year and I don't think we will see too much of a drop-off there. On the other side, I think Matt Harris is actually our better corner, a pro-type prospect. Henry is a somewhat limited athlete, but has played a TON of football. Igwebuike is a first-year starter, but a great athlete and good tackler. We also get Queiro back, who's a longer, lanky athlete that started out as our nickel before breaking his arm. These guys can run and tackle, not making many mistakes. It will be a challenge for Dobbs to get a consistent passing game going.

LB -- Anthony Walker is an All-American and the headliner of the group. He was pressed into starting duty last year and has really taken off this year. He's a legitimate pro prospect in his own right and flashes next-level abilities to close on the ball. Don't sleep on Hall or Drew Smith, both of whom are pretty solid athletes in their own right. Hall was forced into a starting role after an injury to our Will backer, but is a very good athlete. Smith isn't quite the same athlete, but a very physical player with a lot of experience. We can run and tackle with anyone.

DL -- Dean Lowry is just a good football player. At 6-5 290, he can set the edge as a DE on run down and often moves inside to DT in passing situations. On the other side, Gibson is another highly experienced player who really started coming on as a pass rusher toward the end of the year. He's got pretty good size himself and is no slouch against the run. Washington and Odenigbo are our two pass rush specialists; both lack ideal size, but can get to the passer. We rotate a lot of DTs, most notably Lancaster, Kuhar, Thompson, and a couple others. Lancaster is a mobile 300 pound kid who's still learning to play DT. Thompson is a highly-recruited true freshman who has playing strength beyond his physical stature. He really came on at the end of the year and was playing very good football. Kuhar is the physical, run-stopper of the bunch who is still recovering from an ACL tear last November.

Special Teams -- we've heard a lot about Tennessee's teams (and rightfully so), but we aren't too bad there either. Vault has two KOR TDs on the year and Shuler has shown flashes as a PR. Niswander won't hit too many "pretty" punts, but he's been effective this year. Mitchell has had his fair share of misses as a PK, but seems to buckle down in the clutch at the end of the game.


Well, that turned out to be longer than I expected... but hopefully is at least a little of what you're looking for.

I like the way I said it better.

 

[gocatsgo2003]

I like the way I said it better.

Kind of creepy how similar it was, though. Almost like we both spend WAAYYY too much time thinking about/watching Northwestern football.

 

[beetlemania74]

Godwin Igwebuike will play the other safety. He was an RB in high school. Superb athlete and plays really smart as well (except for one infamous play against Nebraska).

I'm drawing a blank here. Was it so infamous that I've completely struck it from my memory? Are you referring to the Hail Mary TD in '13, when GI was redshirting?

 

[chicagocatfan24]

I think he's talking about when Fitz chewed him out on the sideline with a ton of swear words and ESPN's mics caught the whole thing

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

QB: Thorson RS Freshman. Throws most passes low and away. I believe he does this because he's told not to lose the game by throwing INTs. He does have an arm, but needs to improve decision making. He can run, but he's not a shifty runner. If he has a lane, he can hit full speed and run by defenders. He also struggles on the zone read and takes his route too horizontally. I think (hope) a bigger factor for his struggles this year was that he wasn't named the starting QB until a week before the season. He was splitting time in camp and spring practices with 2 other QBs. I think the month between games and the 15 practices as "the guy" will really help him.

RB: Our fast guy is Solomon Vault. Our bigger physical guy is Warren Long. Our starter is Justin Jackson. He's not real big. He's not real fast. He just uses his vision and some shiftiness to get in the hole. It's almost unexplainable how he gets yards. Expect Jackson to get lots or carries on inside zones and outside zones.

WR: This is a frustrating group. They don't run great routes, drop lots of balls... Christian Jones had a great JR year, but tore his ACL a week before the 2014 season. He redshirted and came back. He hasn't looked like the same player he was, but again I'm hoping a month of rest will help him.

Superback: Our version of a tightend, WR, H-back cross over. His name is Dan Vitale. He'll be all over the field.

Oline: Difficult group to figure out. We run a lot of Olineman on the field. The theory is playing a guy who's a little bit worse, but is fresh is better than playing the starter who is tired. We've also had a lot of guys in and out of the lineup with nagging type of injuries. Starting OG Matt Frazier might be our best lineman. He had a staph infection leading up to the season and my understanding is it was pretty bad. He came back and has played well, but the more time away from his illness the better he will get. We've also keep moving Geoff Mogus back and forth between LT and LG. I though he would be our best Olineman going into the year, but switched to LT and then moved inside when our young OTs were doing well but our LG was struggling. We will be playing RS FR Blake Hance at LT. He's been playing well.. but a RS FR vs Barnett is going to be a tough day for him. As a group, the Oline are better at run blocking than pass protection.

Defense: our defense is downright special.
DEs: Dean Lowry is a big beast. Deonte Gibson is more of a speed rusher. Their backups are more the speed rushing types.

DTs: We play a lot of them and they're good. Keeping the fresh man on the line seems to be really helping us down the stretch.

LBs: Anthony Walker is an all-american. He's quick and can make a lot of tackles for loss in the running game. Hall came in midseason due to a season ending injury to starter Jaylen Prater. He's played well. Drew Smith is a collision waiting to happen. He just likes to hit people.

CBs: Fantastic and lots of depth which we will need. 4 year starter Nick VanHoose went down with a finger injury in bowl practices and will be out. Matthew Harris is fast and can cover. I've been extremely impressed by his ability to play the ball while it's in the air. Keith Watkins will get the start for VanHoose. He's a little more sound tackler according to some on the board. Expect to see Marcus McShepard as well. Both guys are experienced and I'm confident both can step in for VanHoose. Losing him for the game will hurt, but it won't be a disaster on the field.

Safeties: Traveon Henry is a 3.5 year starter. Years ago, he was a big hitter and more of a 4th LB rather than a safety. He's really worked on his coverage skill, lost some weight to bring up his speed and has turned into a really great player. Godwin Igwebuike will play the other safety. He was an RB in high school. Superb athlete and plays really smart as well (except for one infamous play against Nebraska).

Henry is not the best athlete or even best player in the secondary but he is the straw that stirs the drink. Heart and soul guy that will be in people's faces if they aren't doing their job. Look for him being the emotional leader out there.

 

[AFVolunteer]

Great stuff, folks. Thanks for the details. Exactly what I was looking for.

During our practice today, apparently the sun caused our punt returners to drop 6 punts. So again, if I'm NU, I'm definitely challenging our ST unit! Particularly given the commentary on your punter "getting it done."

 

[beetlemania74]

I think he's talking about when Fitz chewed him out on the sideline with a ton of swear words and ESPN's mics caught the whole thing

Ah, yes. That may have been a bit embarrassing (though, at the same time, perhaps proving to the skeptics that Fitz really does "care about winning"), but hardy "infamous" in my opinion. The breakdowns by the secondary at the ends of the Michigan and Nebraska games in 2012 were "infamous".

 

[WilliamDuVOL]

This is the type of discussion I like to see. Excellent thread.

 

[Hungry Jack]

The schematic matchup between UT's o-line and our front 7 should be interesting for those who understand the game well enough (disclaimer: probably excludes me). If UT likes to run trap and misdirection, they should feast on a team that overpursues or lacks discipline. That latter does NOT describe the Cats front 7, which in general, has maintained great lane/gap responsibility all season (Iowa game withstanding). Our two senior DEs have shown a remarkable ability to set the edge in the run defense, while the tackle rotation has kept the inside clean, allowing Walker and Co to pick a spot and commit to it.

So I see the trenches as a real chess match in the making.

 

[WilliamDuVOL]

The schematic matchup between UT's o-line and our front 7 should be interesting for those who understand the game well enough (disclaimer: probably excludes me). If UT likes to run trap and misdirection, they should feast on a team that overpursues or lacks discipline. That latter does NOT describe the Cats front 7, which in general, has maintained great lane/gap responsibility all season (Iowa game withstanding). Our two senior DEs have shown a remarkable ability to set the edge in the run defense, while the tackle rotation has kept the inside clean, allowing Walker and Co to pick a spot and commit to it.

So I see the trenches as a real chess match in the making.

Agreed. It will be interesting. We've rushed on teams with stout run defenses for more than they had allowed all season long, but will it be enough is the question. I really think our chances in this game depend on how well we pass.

 

[NUCat320]

Kind of creepy how similar it was, though. Almost like we both spend WAAYYY too much time thinking about/watching Northwestern football.

I preferred gocatsgo2003's version.

 

[WilliamDuVOL]

I'd prefer Turk's version over the other two, but that's just me

Earth flat. Jet fuel can't melt steel beams. NU good. UT bad. Sunrise. Sunset.

 

[NUCat320]

You got great writeups from shakes and GCG.

Some things to add:
We say 'designed runs ' with Thorson, which is to say QB draws or sweeps are where he excels. The big play versus Stanford was a 40+ yard draw for a TD at the end of the first half. I'm almost certain one of his long runs on Nebraska was also a draw. He definitely is 'developing', which is to say, not so good, on either the zone read or the speed option. He tends to pitch too soon and never get an angle on the speed option. On the zone read, he tends to give more than he keeps, by a large margin. The zone read is more of a threat, and I truly hope we don't see the speed option at all.

Thorson is very dangerous on scrambles. He's started sitting in the pocket a bit more before scrambling, and that's opened the door for big plays.

Thorson was hurt for most of the Penn State game (won by fifth year senior and backup Zach Oliver), came back to start against Purdue, was yanked in the second half of that game for Oliver, returned when Oliver threw a pick, then led a game-winning drive powered by a 13 yard scramble on 3rd and 13, and a beautifully executed read option, where he deked a DE who made a perfect adjustment when he kept. For me, that's when we knew CT was the guy - he was down, but not out, and willed the team to a win in a game where they played very poorly.

NU took some shots downfield early against Illinois, then went into a shell to protect to the lead. I think they'll be aggressive on Friday. Mchugh has caught a deep ball this season, and Shuler got one against Illinois, and Vitale got one out of the slot against (I think) Nebraska.

Re: Punting
Niswander has been effective. Fitz tends to punt away from guys. Expect few return opportunities (but lots of punts).

Re: LB
Walker is the star. Smith has played quite a bit for the past three years, nickel for two years and now as a starter. He'll make his impact mostly as a blitzer. He has a knack. Injuries forced Hall into duty, but the board loves what he's done. He'll be in space more and in the backfield less.

Our two most prominent players wear #18 - Thorson on offense, and Walker on defense. It's weird to me.

Re: DL
Odenigbo was an all American and announced his decision during the Under Armour game a few years ago. That was huge in these parts (though our coach has said 'no egos, no hat dances' about recruiting classes previously). He hadn't played a lot of football, and was a HS LB (I'm fairly certain) projected to DE. He's been good, but probably not matched expectations. He definitely has potential and has made big plays in the past.

We don't get a lot of four stars, so those that come tend to be saddled with unrealistic expectations.

 

[kreggk]

Great stuff, folks. Thanks for the details. Exactly what I was looking for.

During our practice today, apparently the sun caused our punt returners to drop 6 punts. So again, if I'm NU, I'm definitely challenging our ST unit! Particularly given the commentary on your punter "getting it done."

Surrrrrre, you're trying to convince the NU braintrust to kick to your punt returners. The #2 return unit in the country.... got it.

 

[AFVolunteer]

Surrrrrre, you're trying to convince the NU braintrust to kick to your punt returners. The #2 return unit in the country.... got it.

Ha, I didn't realize that semi-anonymous posters on this forum were the "NU braintrust!"

 

[AFVolunteer]

Agree with the chess match comment regarding your D line vs. our run game. Here's a 40 minute clip of our season highlights. Obviously, it's only the good plays but for anyone that just needs 40 mins to kill and Friday can't get here fast enough, it's a quick glimpse at what we'll try to do. You can see the misdirection/zone reads out of our backfield, see some of our ST units, Dobbs running, etc. What you can't see is much of our defense (particularly the secondary getting exploited) or all the missed passes on O.



Anyone have a link to your highlights this year? Or should I just watch the Stanford game or something?

 

[gocatsgo2003]

Agree with the chess match comment regarding your D line vs. our run game. Here's a 40 minute clip of our season highlights. Obviously, it's only the good plays but for anyone that just needs 40 mins to kill and Friday can't get here fast enough, it's a quick glimpse at what we'll try to do. You can see the misdirection/zone reads out of our backfield, see some of our ST units, Dobbs running, etc. What you can't see is much of our defense (particularly the secondary getting exploited) or all the missed passes on O.

View embedded media

Anyone have a link to your highlights this year? Or should I just watch the Stanford game or something?

This guy does a pretty good job. They're unofficial, but pretty comprehensive: http://www.northwesternhighlights.com/

Wisconsin is probably the game to watch if you want to see NU at its best (on defense) and worst (on offense).

 

[RockyTopRowdy58]

Surrrrrre, you're trying to convince the NU braintrust to kick to your punt returners. The #2 return unit in the country.... got it.

#2 in average yards per return.
#1 in total yards
#2 in touchdowns... We have 3, Bama has 4. We had one called back vs Arkansas. It was the right call, but Kamara would have housed it regardless, IMO.

 

[AFVolunteer]

Thanks for the highlight vid. After watching it, and re-reading this thread, here's my take:

- Thorson is no slouch as a runner. He's got both good size (so lazy tackling will not bring him down), and once he gets in the open field, he's got really nice speed. What year is he? I suspect he's going to be a good one down the road. As far as being inconsistent, he sounds similar to Dobbs (and TN in general as regards to our QB strategy). Sounds like they've both been coached not to lose the game with turnovers...whether that be via a pick 6 or just giving the other team good field position. For you guys, you rely on your D to dominate/keep you in games. So it's not worth trying to force one in there for a perfect throw. You'd rather punt it away, force a three and out (or a turnover from your D), then get the ball in better field position than before, or at least with a new set of downs. For us, we expect our ST units to flip the field, so we use the same sort of logic. I think Dobbs is coached to scramble/get down or throw it away rather than force one. We'd rather use our talented punter and return men to give us as good or better field position even if our D gives up some yardage, than squeeze in the perfect throw. Thus, and this obviously goes with all teams, but maybe it's more of a priority for UT & NU in how it's crept into our offensive gameplans, winning the turnover battle seems to be a focus.

- Speaking of turnovers, again without looking up the stats, it appears that your D is much better at takeaways than we are. Sorry to hear about Van Hoose (sp?)...he made some nice plays in the backend. I'm curious how your secondary matches up to us without him. If your line gets pressure/gets in our backfield quickly, Dobbs is again more likely to tuck it and run or take a sack than to force one into tight coverage for a pick, which I saw happen quite often in your highlights. It'll be interesting to see if your inevitable pressure you guys will get will force Dobbs into poor decisions, or just set us back a few yards. Also, when you get pressure quick, it's when Hobbs typically starts to scramble. He's similar to Thorson in that he's (deceptively) big, and he's probably significantly better at this moment in time as a pure runner in traffic. As I said before though, he can be prone to coughing it up while running. If you guys generate turnovers, I predict it'll happen from hitting Dobbs from the blindside (though our LT is a 4th year senior, and fairly solid) or laying the wood on him while he's running through traffic. I don't see him giving up the ball through the air...he's just not overly aggressive and his decision making is typically very good, albeit somewhat conservative.

- Another thing regarding our offense is the fact that we typically play fairly fast/up tempo. We run a lot of plays on offense, and try to run them quick. While it sounds like you rotate plenty of guys on D, it can still cause some fatigue when we keep it running without subbing (thus not allowing you an opportunity to sub). Because of your depth, I don't expect it to cause many problems, but due to the heat/humidity, it could cause some issues on a long drive, for example. And with your ball control type offense that I expect you play, it can even backfire somewhat for us if your D can force several 3 and outs (tiring out our own D).

- Love your rb. I'm really looking forward to watching him play. He's shifty and has nice vision. Our front 4 (and their backups) are quite good, and I think maybe somewhat overlooked in all of this (relevant) discussion about your D. We've been hit by the injury bug to both our lines, but our D line is still way deeper and more talented than our O-line at this point. Similar to you it seems, our D-line vs your O-line sounds like our D strength vs your O weakness. Our O-line vs. your D-line is more of the same (our weakness vs. your strength). Because of this, I expect lots of negative yardage plays on both sides. Over 4 quarters, I still (admittedly very biased) like our chances to put up more plays/points on your D vs our O than the other way around. What concerns me is the fact that your front 7 seems both big and fast enough to cause turnovers. If we cough the ball up more than once giving you good field position, that's a recipe for disaster.

- your special teams unit looks pretty good as well. Looks possible for both teams to bust a big play or two on STs, even if it doesn't go for 6.

- Vitale looks very effective, somewhat similar to how we use our TE at least in passing plays. We rarely if ever use a FB/SB type player to run it out of the backfield (as it sounds like Vitale can do at times), but at least in the passing situations, he seems similar to how we'll use Ethan Wolf (#82).

Now a few more questions. How is your ST D? In other words, your punt return and kick return coverage units? TD returns make the highlight film, but this game might turn into a field position battle with your limited O unable to put it in the end zone, and your stout D keeping us from doing the same. What about turnovers? On both O and D? Do you cause a lot? On O, are your prone to throwing INTs and/or fumbling?

The more I think about it, I see this game going one of two ways. Close win by NU or UT win by a decent margin. Again, that's not intended to be disrespectful, but it's more just based on the way/style that we both play. And again, I can assure you that a 1 point loss to NU will not make me feel any better than a 20 point loss to you. So I don't care if we win by 1 or 20, I just want the W. And I know you guys feel the same way. I'll try to watch some of the Wisconsin game later tonight. Thanks to all for the great comments.

 

[shakes3858]

I'm drawing a blank here. Was it so infamous that I've completely struck it from my memory? Are you referring to the Hail Mary TD in '13, when GI was redshirting?

Apparently, Godwin was a half field Safety and didn't know what the F.... he was doing.

I think he's talking about when Fitz chewed him out on the sideline with a ton of swear words and ESPN's mics caught the whole thing

He just said one swear word.

Ah, yes. That may have been a bit embarrassing (though, at the same time, perhaps proving to the skeptics that Fitz really does "care about winning"), but hardy "infamous" in my opinion. The breakdowns by the secondary at the ends of the Michigan and Nebraska games in 2012 were "infamous".

Please tell me those skeptics don't exist.

 

[gocatsgo2003]

Thanks for the highlight vid. After watching it, and re-reading this thread, here's my take:

- Thorson is no slouch as a runner. He's got both good size (so lazy tackling will not bring him down), and once he gets in the open field, he's got really nice speed. What year is he? I suspect he's going to be a good one down the road. As far as being inconsistent, he sounds similar to Dobbs (and TN in general as regards to our QB strategy). Sounds like they've both been coached not to lose the game with turnovers...whether that be via a pick 6 or just giving the other team good field position. For you guys, you rely on your D to dominate/keep you in games. So it's not worth trying to force one in there for a perfect throw. You'd rather punt it away, force a three and out (or a turnover from your D), then get the ball in better field position than before, or at least with a new set of downs. For us, we expect our ST units to flip the field, so we use the same sort of logic. I think Dobbs is coached to scramble/get down or throw it away rather than force one. We'd rather use our talented punter and return men to give us as good or better field position even if our D gives up some yardage, than squeeze in the perfect throw. Thus, and this obviously goes with all teams, but maybe it's more of a priority for UT & NU in how it's crept into our offensive gameplans, winning the turnover battle seems to be a focus.

- Speaking of turnovers, again without looking up the stats, it appears that your D is much better at takeaways than we are. Sorry to hear about Van Hoose (sp?)...he made some nice plays in the backend. I'm curious how your secondary matches up to us without him. If your line gets pressure/gets in our backfield quickly, Dobbs is again more likely to tuck it and run or take a sack than to force one into tight coverage for a pick, which I saw happen quite often in your highlights. It'll be interesting to see if your inevitable pressure you guys will get will force Dobbs into poor decisions, or just set us back a few yards. Also, when you get pressure quick, it's when Hobbs typically starts to scramble. He's similar to Thorson in that he's (deceptively) big, and he's probably significantly better at this moment in time as a pure runner in traffic. As I said before though, he can be prone to coughing it up while running. If you guys generate turnovers, I predict it'll happen from hitting Dobbs from the blindside (though our LT is a 4th year senior, and fairly solid) or laying the wood on him while he's running through traffic. I don't see him giving up the ball through the air...he's just not overly aggressive and his decision making is typically very good, albeit somewhat conservative.

- Another thing regarding our offense is the fact that we typically play fairly fast/up tempo. We run a lot of plays on offense, and try to run them quick. While it sounds like you rotate plenty of guys on D, it can still cause some fatigue when we keep it running without subbing (thus not allowing you an opportunity to sub). Because of your depth, I don't expect it to cause many problems, but due to the heat/humidity, it could cause some issues on a long drive, for example. And with your ball control type offense that I expect you play, it can even backfire somewhat for us if your D can force several 3 and outs (tiring out our own D).

- Love your rb. I'm really looking forward to watching him play. He's shifty and has nice vision. Our front 4 (and their backups) are quite good, and I think maybe somewhat overlooked in all of this (relevant) discussion about your D. We've been hit by the injury bug to both our lines, but our D line is still way deeper and more talented than our O-line at this point. Similar to you it seems, our D-line vs your O-line sounds like our D strength vs your O weakness. Our O-line vs. your D-line is more of the same (our weakness vs. your strength). Because of this, I expect lots of negative yardage plays on both sides. Over 4 quarters, I still (admittedly very biased) like our chances to put up more plays/points on your D vs our O than the other way around. What concerns me is the fact that your front 7 seems both big and fast enough to cause turnovers. If we cough the ball up more than once giving you good field position, that's a recipe for disaster.

- your special teams unit looks pretty good as well. Looks possible for both teams to bust a big play or two on STs, even if it doesn't go for 6.

- Vitale looks very effective, somewhat similar to how we use our TE at least in passing plays. We rarely if ever use a FB/SB type player to run it out of the backfield (as it sounds like Vitale can do at times), but at least in the passing situations, he seems similar to how we'll use Ethan Wolf (#82).

Now a few more questions. How is your ST D? In other words, your punt return and kick return coverage units? TD returns make the highlight film, but this game might turn into a field position battle with your limited O unable to put it in the end zone, and your stout D keeping us from doing the same. What about turnovers? On both O and D? Do you cause a lot? On O, are your prone to throwing INTs and/or fumbling?

The more I think about it, I see this game going one of two ways. Close win by NU or UT win by a decent margin. Again, that's not intended to be disrespectful, but it's more just based on the way/style that we both play. And again, I can assure you that a 1 point loss to NU will not make me feel any better than a 20 point loss to you. So I don't care if we win by 1 or 20, I just want the W. And I know you guys feel the same way. I'll try to watch some of the Wisconsin game later tonight. Thanks to all for the great comments.

Trying to answer in order best I can...

• Thorson is a redshirt freshman in his first year playing (and starting), which is a big reason he's inconsistent. Very talented, but inconsistent.
• Our DBs should be fine without VanHoose. I was impressed watching Watkins when he played both as nickel and in spot starting duty, actually think he might be a little better in run support than VanHoose was this year.
• Tempo is something we are very familiar with and shouldn't/wouldn't be either too much of a surprise or issue
• Our coverage units have been OK this year, not great. The opening KOR for a TD against Michigan was a back breaker, but no real issues besides that (and the Wisconsin PR TD that was called back). Our KOs got much better after our starting kicker got healthy enough to handle that duty as well. He's got a stronger leg and can consistently get it into the end zone.
• We are +0.42 for turnover margin, so we have been surprisingly good at keeping down turnovers despite an inexperienced QB. That's mostly because he's not asked to do much that he cannot handle at this point in his career. Our RBs are typically pretty good with ball security. On defense, we have shown the ability to force turnovers, but it's not quite as consistent as one would hope if that's going to be a main driver in defensive performance.

Regarding your last comment, I thought Tennessee was all about "quality losses" this year. Seems like a 1-point loss to the #13 team in the country would count, no?

 

[Hungry Jack]

Agree with the chess match comment regarding your D line vs. our run game. Here's a 40 minute clip of our season highlights. Obviously, it's only the good plays but for anyone that just needs 40 mins to kill and Friday can't get here fast enough, it's a quick glimpse at what we'll try to do. You can see the misdirection/zone reads out of our backfield, see some of our ST units, Dobbs running, etc. What you can't see is much of our defense (particularly the secondary getting exploited) or all the missed passes on O.

View embedded media

Impressive showings by Dobbs and Hurd in that film. Hurd moves incredibly well for such a big guy. Frankly, he reminds me of Tony Gonzalez in his build and athleticism. And that TE looks very dangerous too. Cats D will have its hands full. If they do not tackle well, gonna be a long day.

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

Thanks for the highlight vid. After watching it, and re-reading this thread, here's my take:

- Thorson is no slouch as a runner. He's got both good size (so lazy tackling will not bring him down), and once he gets in the open field, he's got really nice speed. What year is he? I suspect he's going to be a good one down the road. As far as being inconsistent, he sounds similar to Dobbs (and TN in general as regards to our QB strategy). Sounds like they've both been coached not to lose the game with turnovers...whether that be via a pick 6 or just giving the other team good field position. For you guys, you rely on your D to dominate/keep you in games. So it's not worth trying to force one in there for a perfect throw. You'd rather punt it away, force a three and out (or a turnover from your D), then get the ball in better field position than before, or at least with a new set of downs. For us, we expect our ST units to flip the field, so we use the same sort of logic. I think Dobbs is coached to scramble/get down or throw it away rather than force one. We'd rather use our talented punter and return men to give us as good or better field position even if our D gives up some yardage, than squeeze in the perfect throw. Thus, and this obviously goes with all teams, but maybe it's more of a priority for UT & NU in how it's crept into our offensive gameplans, winning the turnover battle seems to be a focus.

- Speaking of turnovers, again without looking up the stats, it appears that your D is much better at takeaways than we are. Sorry to hear about Van Hoose (sp?)...he made some nice plays in the backend. I'm curious how your secondary matches up to us without him. If your line gets pressure/gets in our backfield quickly, Dobbs is again more likely to tuck it and run or take a sack than to force one into tight coverage for a pick, which I saw happen quite often in your highlights. It'll be interesting to see if your inevitable pressure you guys will get will force Dobbs into poor decisions, or just set us back a few yards. Also, when you get pressure quick, it's when Hobbs typically starts to scramble. He's similar to Thorson in that he's (deceptively) big, and he's probably significantly better at this moment in time as a pure runner in traffic. As I said before though, he can be prone to coughing it up while running. If you guys generate turnovers, I predict it'll happen from hitting Dobbs from the blindside (though our LT is a 4th year senior, and fairly solid) or laying the wood on him while he's running through traffic. I don't see him giving up the ball through the air...he's just not overly aggressive and his decision making is typically very good, albeit somewhat conservative.

- Another thing regarding our offense is the fact that we typically play fairly fast/up tempo. We run a lot of plays on offense, and try to run them quick. While it sounds like you rotate plenty of guys on D, it can still cause some fatigue when we keep it running without subbing (thus not allowing you an opportunity to sub). Because of your depth, I don't expect it to cause many problems, but due to the heat/humidity, it could cause some issues on a long drive, for example. And with your ball control type offense that I expect you play, it can even backfire somewhat for us if your D can force several 3 and outs (tiring out our own D).

- Love your rb. I'm really looking forward to watching him play. He's shifty and has nice vision. Our front 4 (and their backups) are quite good, and I think maybe somewhat overlooked in all of this (relevant) discussion about your D. We've been hit by the injury bug to both our lines, but our D line is still way deeper and more talented than our O-line at this point. Similar to you it seems, our D-line vs your O-line sounds like our D strength vs your O weakness. Our O-line vs. your D-line is more of the same (our weakness vs. your strength). Because of this, I expect lots of negative yardage plays on both sides. Over 4 quarters, I still (admittedly very biased) like our chances to put up more plays/points on your D vs our O than the other way around. What concerns me is the fact that your front 7 seems both big and fast enough to cause turnovers. If we cough the ball up more than once giving you good field position, that's a recipe for disaster.

- your special teams unit looks pretty good as well. Looks possible for both teams to bust a big play or two on STs, even if it doesn't go for 6.

- Vitale looks very effective, somewhat similar to how we use our TE at least in passing plays. We rarely if ever use a FB/SB type player to run it out of the backfield (as it sounds like Vitale can do at times), but at least in the passing situations, he seems similar to how we'll use Ethan Wolf (#82).

Now a few more questions. How is your ST D? In other words, your punt return and kick return coverage units? TD returns make the highlight film, but this game might turn into a field position battle with your limited O unable to put it in the end zone, and your stout D keeping us from doing the same. What about turnovers? On both O and D? Do you cause a lot? On O, are your prone to throwing INTs and/or fumbling?

The more I think about it, I see this game going one of two ways. Close win by NU or UT win by a decent margin. Again, that's not intended to be disrespectful, but it's more just based on the way/style that we both play. And again, I can assure you that a 1 point loss to NU will not make me feel any better than a 20 point loss to you. So I don't care if we win by 1 or 20, I just want the W. And I know you guys feel the same way. I'll try to watch some of the Wisconsin game later tonight. Thanks to all for the great comments.

Hurd seems to pop outside real quick. I would think Nate Hall and Hitman Smith will need to have a good game. It looks like he rarely runs up the middle from his highlight runs?

 

[YesterdaysCat]

Thanks for the highlight vid. After watching it, and re-reading this thread, here's my take:

- Thorson is no slouch as a runner. He's got both good size (so lazy tackling will not bring him down), and once he gets in the open field, he's got really nice speed. What year is he? I suspect he's going to be a good one down the road. As far as being inconsistent, he sounds similar to Dobbs (and TN in general as regards to our QB strategy). Sounds like they've both been coached not to lose the game with turnovers...whether that be via a pick 6 or just giving the other team good field position. For you guys, you rely on your D to dominate/keep you in games. So it's not worth trying to force one in there for a perfect throw. You'd rather punt it away, force a three and out (or a turnover from your D), then get the ball in better field position than before, or at least with a new set of downs. For us, we expect our ST units to flip the field, so we use the same sort of logic. I think Dobbs is coached to scramble/get down or throw it away rather than force one. We'd rather use our talented punter and return men to give us as good or better field position even if our D gives up some yardage, than squeeze in the perfect throw. Thus, and this obviously goes with all teams, but maybe it's more of a priority for UT & NU in how it's crept into our offensive gameplans, winning the turnover battle seems to be a focus.

- Speaking of turnovers, again without looking up the stats, it appears that your D is much better at takeaways than we are. Sorry to hear about Van Hoose (sp?)...he made some nice plays in the backend. I'm curious how your secondary matches up to us without him. If your line gets pressure/gets in our backfield quickly, Dobbs is again more likely to tuck it and run or take a sack than to force one into tight coverage for a pick, which I saw happen quite often in your highlights. It'll be interesting to see if your inevitable pressure you guys will get will force Dobbs into poor decisions, or just set us back a few yards. Also, when you get pressure quick, it's when Hobbs typically starts to scramble. He's similar to Thorson in that he's (deceptively) big, and he's probably significantly better at this moment in time as a pure runner in traffic. As I said before though, he can be prone to coughing it up while running. If you guys generate turnovers, I predict it'll happen from hitting Dobbs from the blindside (though our LT is a 4th year senior, and fairly solid) or laying the wood on him while he's running through traffic. I don't see him giving up the ball through the air...he's just not overly aggressive and his decision making is typically very good, albeit somewhat conservative.

- Another thing regarding our offense is the fact that we typically play fairly fast/up tempo. We run a lot of plays on offense, and try to run them quick. While it sounds like you rotate plenty of guys on D, it can still cause some fatigue when we keep it running without subbing (thus not allowing you an opportunity to sub). Because of your depth, I don't expect it to cause many problems, but due to the heat/humidity, it could cause some issues on a long drive, for example. And with your ball control type offense that I expect you play, it can even backfire somewhat for us if your D can force several 3 and outs (tiring out our own D).

- Love your rb. I'm really looking forward to watching him play. He's shifty and has nice vision. Our front 4 (and their backups) are quite good, and I think maybe somewhat overlooked in all of this (relevant) discussion about your D. We've been hit by the injury bug to both our lines, but our D line is still way deeper and more talented than our O-line at this point. Similar to you it seems, our D-line vs your O-line sounds like our D strength vs your O weakness. Our O-line vs. your D-line is more of the same (our weakness vs. your strength). Because of this, I expect lots of negative yardage plays on both sides. Over 4 quarters, I still (admittedly very biased) like our chances to put up more plays/points on your D vs our O than the other way around. What concerns me is the fact that your front 7 seems both big and fast enough to cause turnovers. If we cough the ball up more than once giving you good field position, that's a recipe for disaster.

- your special teams unit looks pretty good as well. Looks possible for both teams to bust a big play or two on STs, even if it doesn't go for 6.

- Vitale looks very effective, somewhat similar to how we use our TE at least in passing plays. We rarely if ever use a FB/SB type player to run it out of the backfield (as it sounds like Vitale can do at times), but at least in the passing situations, he seems similar to how we'll use Ethan Wolf (#82).

Now a few more questions. How is your ST D? In other words, your punt return and kick return coverage units? TD returns make the highlight film, but this game might turn into a field position battle with your limited O unable to put it in the end zone, and your stout D keeping us from doing the same. What about turnovers? On both O and D? Do you cause a lot? On O, are your prone to throwing INTs and/or fumbling?

The more I think about it, I see this game going one of two ways. Close win by NU or UT win by a decent margin. Again, that's not intended to be disrespectful, but it's more just based on the way/style that we both play. And again, I can assure you that a 1 point loss to NU will not make me feel any better than a 20 point loss to you. So I don't care if we win by 1 or 20, I just want the W. And I know you guys feel the same way. I'll try to watch some of the Wisconsin game later tonight. Thanks to all for the great comments.

Dobbs is a lot more elusive than Thorson and just looks more athletic; Thorson is very upright and stiff. I think that if Dobbs can throw the ball at all against NU's secondary, this game is a blowout. Our offense has no passing game, so if we throw the ball well against you guys, you've done something seriously wrong. With all this preparation, that shouldn't be an issue. I think Tennessee will win but not cover. I'm going with 6 points.

 

[YesterdaysCat]

Impressive showings by Dobbs and Hurd in that film. Hurd moves incredibly well for such a big guy. Frankly, he reminds me of Tony Gonzalez in his build and athleticism. And that TE looks very dangerous too. Cats D will have its hands full. If they do not tackle well, gonna be a long day.

Dobbs is really good at pulling back the ball. I think our former QB Colter was a little bit better, but Dobbs is way too much to handle, in my opinion, if he can complete any downfield passes.

 

[RockyTopRowdy58]

Hurd seems to pop outside real quick. I would think Nate Hall and Hitman Smith will need to have a good game. It looks like he rarely runs up the middle from his highlight runs?

No doubt our most productive runs from Hurd are outside the tackles. We rarely abandon the inside runs though. Fortunately, our OC understands that we have to at least show a good number of inside runs to keep a defense honest. We are totally okay with an inside run gaining 3 yards. 2nd and 7 is a manageable down and distance for any offense, and it maintains the potential for longer runs outside the tackles.

 

[SmellyCat]

Here's a 40 minute clip of our season highlights. Obviously, it's only the good plays but for anyone that just needs 40 mins to kill and Friday can't get here fast enough, it's a quick glimpse at what we'll try to do. You can see the misdirection/zone reads out of our backfield, see some of our ST units, Dobbs running, etc.

Thanks for this. Watched most of it, but got tired of seeing how elusive Dobbs is and what seemed like 20 return TDs.

I have to say I laughed at the punt that went out of out of bounds at the one-yard-line near the end of the Georgia game. You usually don't see plays like that in highlight packages like these, but that was about as important a play as Tennessee had in that one, especially when Georgia ran out of time knocking on the door of the red zone.

Looking forward to Friday. Hope the Cats' defense figures out how to bottle up Dobbs, Hurd, Kamara et al. I think they're up to the task.

 

[AFVolunteer]

Regarding your last comment, I thought Tennessee was all about "quality losses" this year. Seems like a 1-point loss to the #13 team in the country would count, no?

Oh, you must be confusing me with some other Vol fans. You can read my thoughts on this subject again in the very first post.

I know you're sort of ribbing me, but truth be told, I think any Vol fan (me included) would be lying if we didn't admit to some small moral victory knowing that we had the lead at Alabama late in the 4th, and that it took Oklahoma double overtime to pull out a win. But in the end, they were both losses. On the flip side however, the fact that you guys got blown out in your two losses matters very little to me. As I said, it appears your team is built for close wins. And something is obviously working as you mustered 10 of them. Unless you are fighting for a playoff spot, which neither of us are, then margin of victory counts for nothing really, right?

 

[AFVolunteer]

No doubt our most productive runs from Hurd are outside the tackles. We rarely abandon the inside runs though. Fortunately, our OC understands that we have to at least show a good number of inside runs to keep a defense honest. We are totally okay with an inside run gaining 3 yards. 2nd and 7 is a manageable down and distance for any offense, and it maintains the potential for longer runs outside the tackles.

I'll echo what Rowdy said...while we do still run in between the tackles, most of the big runs (i.e., highlight film material) come from the outside. Hurd and Kamara will both bounce outside way more than cut up the gut, but it's probably 2 or 3 to 1, outside to inside in order to keep the D honest. And as rowdy said, this happens particularly often early in the set of downs, in order to keep 3rd downs manageable. Also, quite a few of Dobbs' designed runs are draws up the gut, with Hurd or Kamara flashing outside. And Dobbs will take off up the middle many times when executing the zone read if the Def end goes outside to position himself for a RB tackle.

Hurd isn't the quickest at getting to the edge, but he can accelerate in a hurry for such a big dude which allows him to be more successful at bouncing out there than would sometimes appear. Kamara is much quicker at getting to the edge, and more likely to outrun the second level defense than Hurd, but easier to bring down.

Your linebackers are going to get a ton of tackles on Friday. I'm hoping we can limit their tackling at or behind the line of scrimmage, and force them to be mostly positive plays (for the good guys, of course).

 

[AFVolunteer]

Thanks for this. Watched most of it, but got tired of seeing how elusive Dobbs is and what seemed like 20 return TDs.

I have to say I laughed at the punt that went out of out of bounds at the one-yard-line near the end of the Georgia game. You usually don't see plays like that in highlight packages like these, but that was about as important a play as Tennessee had in that one, especially when Georgia ran out of time knocking on the door of the red zone.

Looking forward to Friday. Hope the Cats' defense figures out how to bottle up Dobbs, Hurd, Kamara et al. I think they're up to the task.

I'm not sure I've ever seen a punt included in a higntligh film before. But as you said, that might have been the play of the game, and it was from our punter (which is a tough thing to admit). He's been doing that kind of stuff all year, and the kid isn't even on scholarship. Been a huge unsung hero for us. Glad he made the highlights!!