Euphoria versus Reality
- Thread starter docrugby1
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No one's booking a ticket to Pasadena. We're celebrating a win over a ranked, academic rival that was favored in the double-digits over us yesterday, on the heels of two seasons that haven't given us much to celebrate. The win was led by a RS freshman playing in his first game ever. Enjoy it for what it was and for the likelihood of coming out next week 2-0.
Ohio State is the only team on our schedule that right now,I would favor! That's for the BT Championship! We have a Lock Down defense better than MSU right now! Take that to the bank!
I didn't read the OP well enough. I thought he was just being over the top to annoy. My bad.
Speaking of our RS Freshman QB, I would guess this will prove to be an "average" game for him. In some games, he'll play better, in some he'll play worse. The big question, how will that translate in won-lost record?
Thank goodness for JJ and what appears to be a decent o-line. That will take some pressure off Thorson as he gains experience.
I disagree, his mistakes came from miscommunications with his receivers, they were all mental errors. He will get better from game to game. The arm that kid has is incredible, and his top speed is pretty awesome too. I expect great things from Thorson this season, Stanford was only the beginning.
They weren't all miscommunications. There was one throw he forced toward the back of the end zone that should have been intercepted by an underneath defender he didn't see, for example.
But on balance I thought it was a good performance for a RS FR making his first collegiate start. He made some great throws and at no point did he ever look rattled by the circumstances.
I fully agree.
Well, if Stanford had made only 2 or 3 of its 5-6 near-INT's and we end up losing his start would look much more shaky....
Stanford definitely bailed him out.
Some have said that NU also could have had some picks, and dropped some passes, etc...that may well be true, and happens in every game... YET if BOTH teams had gotten all their opportunities (which rarely happens), Stanford would have won handily. Their 4:40 (PT) wake-up time may well have had something to do with their near misses.
Thorson did poorly overall, but the fact that this was his first start and only as a RS frosh obviously does matter and raises the assessment to passable....especially given that Stanford refused to win the game.
Nevertheless, don't get me wrong...I'd expect CT to be a solid contributor now and in the future (baring unfortunate developments). NU has a solid QB, who should get better with experience.
Very Good. Next time NU has a game where we drop 4-5 balls and lose I'll remember we would have won handily if only we'd caught the ball.
Right PA. For a second I thought I had been switched to the Inside NU board. Wow, what a tough audience!
We dominated this game. It wasn't luck. We might have caught them off guard, but we took just about every aspect of this game. Watch it again.
Did Stanford not realize they would need to wake up early for this game? Why is this an issue/excuse? This is the first game of the season, they aren't in class yet, if it's such an issue why didn't they alter kids schedules to get them acclimated ahead of time.
Agree. 21 year old kids pumped for the game will have no problem getting up at 4:40. And if Stanford didn't adjust their practice schedule to the reality of an 11:00 am Chicago start, that's their fault.
The reality is that we have alot of work to do before we play minny but i think we can win. Duke will b one we can lose and i havent the slightest how thorson will react in a hostile environment but im goin to the game and think we have a decent shot to win.
I know im getting ahead of myself but im starting to being conflicted over going to our bb game on january 2 or 3 against wiscy, or was it maryland, or going to a big bowl game. This sucks but in a good way. Warning: overly optimistic.
They're not stupid.
They practiced all last week at 9:00 AM West Coast time to prepare for the 11:00 Central kickoff. The also moved sleep schedules to an earlier bedtime and wake up.
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[QUOTE="Turk, post: 79173, member: 44i havent the slightest how thorson will react in a hostile environment but im goin to the game and think we have a decent shot to win.[/QUOTE]
I have only been to one game at Duke but unless their fanbase has changed a great deal it will not be as strongly hostile of an environment as he will see in the B1G games or even close.
I have only been to one game at Duke but unless their fanbase has changed a great deal it will not be as strongly hostile of an environment as he will see in the B1G games or even close.
Do you know that for a fact, or just assume it to be so? (an honest question, not disputing your statement). Of course, it'd make sense for them to do so.
However, it'd still take their biological clocks to adjust to actually fall asleep at the desired time....you may go to bed whenever, but obviously you may still fall asleep several hours after the official bed time...and still lack proper rest in the morning....how much of a factor that may be is another matter, but I do believe that insufficient sleep can significantly affect performance, especially at certain roles that require more concentration, and where a tiny adjustment may be the difference between making a huge play or just missing it (QB, receivers, INT-attempting DB's, etc)....I am sure you have a very interesting perspective on this matter, although I suppose that other things being equal, the issue under discussion may affect an OL less than other roles (within reason, obviously).
Why are certain posters on this board so anxious to make excuses for our opponents? I trust those excuses will be equally valid for us when we drop one.
Nope. Everyone is affected...mistakes by linemen are just as important as mistakes by the backfield.
Agree on the mistakes...just meant that since the OL is more physical than other roles, PERHAPS a couple of missing sleep hours or jet-lag may affect an OL somewhat less than it would a QB or receiver...just an educated guess.
Like I wrote, I didn't doubt you...just wanted to be sure...anyhow my point about the biological clock remains...to wake up ca 4:30a and still have 8-9 hours of sleep time, you must be ASLEEP about 8PM local time...everyday... (and NOT wake-up and stay awake long in the middle of the night)... a LOT easier said than done...some guys may have just shown up to early practice with missing sleep hours and made up for it with a mid-day nap (for example)...thus repeating the cycle everyday until game time...not sure this did happen but it is certainly plausible it did to at least some of them.
More than the time change, I really think weather had a bigger impact. That is something you really can't prepare for fully. Fitz said it post-game - we really benefited from the fact that the weather in Chicago all week long was hot and humid, just like on gameday, so the players could get hydrated and acclimated to it.
May well have prepared them for the game itself, but also could well have had the unintended consequence of making their practices less effective. Disrupted their already established practice schedule and had them exerting themselves during the cooler morning hours instead of the hot afternoon that would better have replicated the actual hot Gameday experience.
Temperature may have been a contributing factor...however it seems that the Palo Alto temperatures the week preceding the game weren't all that different from Evanston's (I suppose humidity was also comparable)....Palo Alto temperatures were about 80°F (trending downward)....In Evanston they were between 80 and 91....significantly hotter in Evanston but not by a huge margin....game time temperature was about 84.
But they had to practice at 9am, before it got too hot, in order to acclimate to the time
I suppose TV money had a lot to do with this, but obviously an evening game would have been much better for SU....certainly a KO not earlier than 11a their time should have been their requirement.
I heard that the fish they ate last week was farm-raised. And the feng shui in their hotel was awful. I'm sure that had a lot more to do with the outcome than our play.
Seriously...we won by two scores. Their offense had less than 300 total yards. We will surely experience some ups and downs this season, but this game wasn't close enough to wonder if time zone issues or practice temperatures were the difference.
Seriously...we won by two scores. Their offense had less than 300 total yards. We will surely experience some ups and downs this season, but this game wasn't close enough to wonder if time zone issues or practice temperatures were the difference.
Fair point...that may have taken off 10°F, which would have increased the difference with Evanston's.But they had to practice at 9am, before it got too hot, in order to acclimate to the time
Two scores you say? Well, that certainly sounds like quite the comfortable Northwestern victory. Ain't never seen anything bad happen in a game in which we were up by two scores late in the game.
We just want to believe that Stanford really is a good team. We'll find out in two weeks when they play USC.
Yes, Stanford dropped some INT's. We missed two pick 6's, one at the end of the game and one somewhere in the 2nd half where Walker (I think) bobbled and drop a sure run to the end zone.
Linemen are human beings just like QB's and receivers. Their dull scratching and grunting in the dirt has just as much effect on a game as mistakes by out-to-lunch skill people. A guess? Yes. Educated? No.
NU alum (Duke MBA), don't often check NU boards but wanted to see what's up after a nice win. First (and only) thread I've read, I'm literally laughing from talk about wake up times and temperatures. Was hoping this was a joke thread but doesn't appear to be. Reminds me of an Evanston winter - just brutal.
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