Help Us Out: Team A or Team B?

[westlotpirates]

The West Lot Pirates are working on a little project that will probably serve as a discussion piece on our next podcast. In advance of that, we wanted to ask the board for a little help!

Consider the rosters of the following two teams. Imagine they are going to play head-to-head, and reply to this post with your answers to the following 3 questions:

1.Who ya got?

2.Is it close, or does your team run away with it?

3.Regardless of which team you picked, would your decision change if Justin Jackson switched teams?

A couple of notes:
--Starters and reserves are listed for each team. Value depth as much or little as you want.
--Team A is obviously younger, so feel free to be as optimistic or as pessimistic as you'd like relative to the talent on the roster.
--Let's assume Team A operates out of a more Bajakian-style(we think) double tight-end offense(better fit for the personnel). Team B runs a more traditional Northwestern spread.

TEAM A

OFFENSE
QB: Clayton Thorson (Matt Alviti)
RB: Solomon Vault (Malin Jones, Austin Anderson, Jordan Perkins)
WR: Christian Jones, Genson Hooper Price (Bryce Kirtz, Malik Washington)
TE: Garrett Dickerson, Trey Pugh (Thomas Gordon)
OL: Tommy Doles, Peter Skoronski, Eric Olsen, Zach Franks, Josh Priebe (Ben Wrather, Jack Konopka, Cam Kolwich)

DEFENSE
DL: Ifeadi Odenigbo, Jordan Thompson, Trent Goens, Earnest Brown (Trevor Kent, Deonte Gibson, Devin O’Rourke)
LB: Khalid Jones, Cullen Coleman, Nathan Fox (Andrew Leota)
DB: Traveon Henry, Greg Newsome, Coco Azema, Rod Heard (Rod Campbell, Jaheem Joseph, Marcus McShephard)

TEAM B

OFFENSE
QB: Zach Oliver (Aidan Smith/Andrew Marty)
RB: Justin Jackson (Isaiah Bowser, John Moten, Jeremy Larkin)
WR: Austin Carr, Ben Skowronek, Flynn Nagel, (Kyric McGowan, Riley Lees, JJJ)
TE: Cam Green (Charlie Mangieri)
OL: Rashawn Slater, Ian Park, Brad North, Jared Thomas, Nik Urban (Shane Mertz, Blake Hance, Gunner Vogel)

DEFENSE
DL: Dean Lowry, Tyler Lancaster, Joe Gaziano, Samdup Miller (Alex Miller, Xavier Washington, Jake Saunders)
LB: Anthony Walker, Paddy Fisher, Nate Hall (Blake Gallagher, Joe Jones, Brett Walsh, Jaylen Prater)
DB: Nick VanHoose, Matt Harris, Godwin Igwebuike, Kyle Queiro (Montre Hartage, Travish Whillock, Jared McGee)

 

[DkeCat]

The West Lot Pirates are working on a little project that will probably serve as a discussion piece on our next podcast. In advance of that, we wanted to ask the board for a little help!

Consider the rosters of the following two teams. Imagine they are going to play head-to-head, and reply to this post with your answers to the following 3 questions:

1.Who ya got?

2.Is it close, or does your team run away with it?

3.Regardless of which team you picked, would your decision change if Justin Jackson switched teams?

A couple of notes:
--Starters and reserves are listed for each team. Value depth as much or little as you want.
--Team A is obviously younger, so feel free to be as optimistic or as pessimistic as you'd like relative to the talent on the roster.
--Let's assume Team A operates out of a more Bajakian-style(we think) double tight-end offense(better fit for the personnel). Team B runs a more traditional Northwestern spread.

TEAM A

OFFENSE
QB: Clayton Thorson (Matt Alviti)
RB: Solomon Vault (Malin Jones, Austin Anderson, Jordan Perkins)
WR: Christian Jones, Genson Hooper Price (Bryce Kirtz, Malik Washington)
TE: Garrett Dickerson, Trey Pugh (Thomas Gordon)
OL: Tommy Doles, Peter Skoronski, Eric Olsen, Zach Franks, Josh Priebe (Ben Wrather, Jack Konopka, Cam Kolwich)

DEFENSE
DL: Ifeadi Odenigbo, Jordan Thompson, Trent Goens, Earnest Brown (Trevor Kent, Deonte Gibson, Devin O’Rourke)
LB: Khalid Jones, Cullen Coleman, Nathan Fox (Andrew Leota)
DB: Traveon Henry, Greg Newsome, Coco Azema, Rod Heard (Rod Campbell, Jaheem Joseph, Marcus McShephard)

TEAM B

OFFENSE
QB: Zach Oliver (Aidan Smith/Andrew Marty)
RB: Justin Jackson (Isaiah Bowser, John Moten, Jeremy Larkin)
WR: Austin Carr, Ben Skowronek, Flynn Nagel, (Kyric McGowan, Riley Lees, JJJ)
TE: Cam Green (Charlie Mangieri)
OL: Rashawn Slater, Ian Park, Brad North, Jared Thomas, Nik Urban (Shane Mertz, Blake Hance, Gunner Vogel)

DEFENSE
DL: Dean Lowry, Tyler Lancaster, Joe Gaziano, Samdup Miller (Alex Miller, Xavier Washington, Jake Saunders)
LB: Anthony Walker, Paddy Fisher, Nate Hall (Blake Gallagher, Joe Jones, Brett Walsh, Jaylen Prater)
DB: Nick VanHoose, Matt Harris, Godwin Igwebuike, Kyle Queiro (Montre Hartage, Travish Whillock, Jared McGee)

B wins, and wins by a lot. B looks like the 2015 team. JJ wouldn’t change it.

 

[freewillie07]

B seems like the obvious answer... is this a trick question? What am I missing?

I don’t think JJ would tip the scales if he switched to A, but it wouldn’t hurt.

 

[westlotpirates]

We're curious how many people think it would be a blowout even considering that A has Thorson, and allowing for the possibility that A COULD have Thorson/Jackson compared to Oliver/Bowser. In theory A could have a very strong WR corps and a good but thin LB corps. B is positively terrifying in both of those areas, of course...

 

[westlotpirates]

6 starters and 2 reserves from Team B's Defense played professional football this year, and both of those numbers could be significantly higher in a few years haha.

With that said, in a "JJ is on Team A" situation, it's quite possible that A has the better offense in every area except WR as well as a D-line with 2+ pros... Just exploring all the angles!

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

Is this a loaded question to say stars don’t matter?

 

[westlotpirates]

Ha, no. We're getting away from stars on this one. And after all, BOTH of these teams are pretty darn great. Assuming everyone is healthy, we would all grab either of these O-Lines/D-Lines in a second.

B is stacked everywhere except quarterback AND WHEN HAS THAT EVER NOT WORKED OUT. A is the thinner roster (especially at running back and linebacker), but A was drawn from a much smaller pool of players...

 

[Deeringfish]

The B team. Never go against JJ and B's Defense has many of my all time favorite players.

 

[zbag51]

B’s defense is STACKED! I would take that team any day. With JJTBC running and Austin Carr catching, it (almost...) doesn’t matter who the QB is.

 

[runawayCat]

B, regardless of JJ.

 

[techtim72]

Clayton would be running for his life.

 

[hoosboot]

The West Lot Pirates are working on a little project that will probably serve as a discussion piece on our next podcast. In advance of that, we wanted to ask the board for a little help!

Consider the rosters of the following two teams. Imagine they are going to play head-to-head, and reply to this post with your answers to the following 3 questions:

1.Who ya got?

2.Is it close, or does your team run away with it?

3.Regardless of which team you picked, would your decision change if Justin Jackson switched teams?

A couple of notes:
--Starters and reserves are listed for each team. Value depth as much or little as you want.
--Team A is obviously younger, so feel free to be as optimistic or as pessimistic as you'd like relative to the talent on the roster.
--Let's assume Team A operates out of a more Bajakian-style(we think) double tight-end offense(better fit for the personnel). Team B runs a more traditional Northwestern spread.

TEAM A

OFFENSE
QB: Clayton Thorson (Matt Alviti)
RB: Solomon Vault (Malin Jones, Austin Anderson, Jordan Perkins)
WR: Christian Jones, Genson Hooper Price (Bryce Kirtz, Malik Washington)
TE: Garrett Dickerson, Trey Pugh (Thomas Gordon)
OL: Tommy Doles, Peter Skoronski, Eric Olsen, Zach Franks, Josh Priebe (Ben Wrather, Jack Konopka, Cam Kolwich)

DEFENSE
DL: Ifeadi Odenigbo, Jordan Thompson, Trent Goens, Earnest Brown (Trevor Kent, Deonte Gibson, Devin O’Rourke)
LB: Khalid Jones, Cullen Coleman, Nathan Fox (Andrew Leota)
DB: Traveon Henry, Greg Newsome, Coco Azema, Rod Heard (Rod Campbell, Jaheem Joseph, Marcus McShephard)

TEAM B

OFFENSE
QB: Zach Oliver (Aidan Smith/Andrew Marty)
RB: Justin Jackson (Isaiah Bowser, John Moten, Jeremy Larkin)
WR: Austin Carr, Ben Skowronek, Flynn Nagel, (Kyric McGowan, Riley Lees, JJJ)
TE: Cam Green (Charlie Mangieri)
OL: Rashawn Slater, Ian Park, Brad North, Jared Thomas, Nik Urban (Shane Mertz, Blake Hance, Gunner Vogel)

DEFENSE
DL: Dean Lowry, Tyler Lancaster, Joe Gaziano, Samdup Miller (Alex Miller, Xavier Washington, Jake Saunders)
LB: Anthony Walker, Paddy Fisher, Nate Hall (Blake Gallagher, Joe Jones, Brett Walsh, Jaylen Prater)
DB: Nick VanHoose, Matt Harris, Godwin Igwebuike, Kyle Queiro (Montre Hartage, Travish Whillock, Jared McGee)

This feels like a test of the "college is all about the quarterback" theory you see bandied about sometimes. IMHO, that theory is not particularly valid and this does a good job of showing why. Would Clayton look like more like Hunter did last year than Clayton did for four years in this setup? Is this informative towards why Hunter struggled? Could team A stop the run at all? IMHO, B wins by a lot.

 

[phatcat]

To me it looks like the first team v the Scout team, except Thor must have made the coach mad and got benched

 

[westlotpirates]

So, obviously, Team B is superior haha. We're pretty sure Zack could game-manage the gold mine of talent surrounding him.

FWIW, though...Team A is still a damn good team. You would obviously need CJones and ESPECIALLY Vault healthy, and LB is thin. But that's a potentially epic team in the trenches. And there's a strong chance the Team A wide receiver corps is really, really good. Add JJ to the mix and you'd put that offense against just about any defense...just not the Team B defense.

We'll get into the explanation for all of this on this week's pod, which will prob go up midweek. But as a primer, Team A was pulled from a pool of 43 possible players, while Team B was pulled from a pool of 141 possible players.

 

[phatcat]

Al Bundy votes:

 

[rogerkim]

1. Team B.
2. It is not close.
3. JJ does not make that big a difference if he switches teams.

For me, it is all about the trenches. Team B's OL is stacked, but the DL is scary good. I don't see any way that Team A keeps that DL at bay - Thorson would indeed be running for his life.

Then you add that LB crew behind the DL. And just for good measure, the secondary crew features some of the best DBs ever to play for NU. Lights out.

 

[ricko654321]

The West Lot Pirates are working on a little project that will probably serve as a discussion piece on our next podcast. In advance of that, we wanted to ask the board for a little help!

Consider the rosters of the following two teams. Imagine they are going to play head-to-head, and reply to this post with your answers to the following 3 questions:

1.Who ya got?

2.Is it close, or does your team run away with it?

3.Regardless of which team you picked, would your decision change if Justin Jackson switched teams?

A couple of notes:
--Starters and reserves are listed for each team. Value depth as much or little as you want.
--Team A is obviously younger, so feel free to be as optimistic or as pessimistic as you'd like relative to the talent on the roster.
--Let's assume Team A operates out of a more Bajakian-style(we think) double tight-end offense(better fit for the personnel). Team B runs a more traditional Northwestern spread.

TEAM A

OFFENSE
QB: Clayton Thorson (Matt Alviti)
RB: Solomon Vault (Malin Jones, Austin Anderson, Jordan Perkins)
WR: Christian Jones, Genson Hooper Price (Bryce Kirtz, Malik Washington)
TE: Garrett Dickerson, Trey Pugh (Thomas Gordon)
OL: Tommy Doles, Peter Skoronski, Eric Olsen, Zach Franks, Josh Priebe (Ben Wrather, Jack Konopka, Cam Kolwich)

DEFENSE
DL: Ifeadi Odenigbo, Jordan Thompson, Trent Goens, Earnest Brown (Trevor Kent, Deonte Gibson, Devin O’Rourke)
LB: Khalid Jones, Cullen Coleman, Nathan Fox (Andrew Leota)
DB: Traveon Henry, Greg Newsome, Coco Azema, Rod Heard (Rod Campbell, Jaheem Joseph, Marcus McShephard)

TEAM B

OFFENSE
QB: Zach Oliver (Aidan Smith/Andrew Marty)
RB: Justin Jackson (Isaiah Bowser, John Moten, Jeremy Larkin)
WR: Austin Carr, Ben Skowronek, Flynn Nagel, (Kyric McGowan, Riley Lees, JJJ)
TE: Cam Green (Charlie Mangieri)
OL: Rashawn Slater, Ian Park, Brad North, Jared Thomas, Nik Urban (Shane Mertz, Blake Hance, Gunner Vogel)

DEFENSE
DL: Dean Lowry, Tyler Lancaster, Joe Gaziano, Samdup Miller (Alex Miller, Xavier Washington, Jake Saunders)
LB: Anthony Walker, Paddy Fisher, Nate Hall (Blake Gallagher, Joe Jones, Brett Walsh, Jaylen Prater)
DB: Nick VanHoose, Matt Harris, Godwin Igwebuike, Kyle Queiro (Montre Hartage, Travish Whillock, Jared McGee)

I’m with the consensus here that it’s Team B and not particularly close. Switching JJ wouldn’t change it. The only thing that could get me to switch if you gave team A a top tier NFL QB. And even then it would be tight - he would probably need JJ too. Unless you went with a Brady / Belicheck setup where they just pass every play. If you gave team A Brady and also Belicheck as coach then I would feel comfortable taking them, he would figure out a way to scheme with that talent.

 

[westlotpirates]

Just a bump for anyone who missed the original post and wants to check it out before or while listening to Episode 423.

 

[CoralSpringsCat]

Just a bump for anyone who missed the original post and wants to check it out before or while listening to Episode 423.

So much for that...second 4-star this week. Delete!!

 

[westlotpirates]

Delete?!?! We're doubling down baby! What else can we reverse-jinx into existence? Should we do a pod on how new Offensive Coordinators are never successful? How about one about how the modern game makes it impossible for NU to win 2 Big Ten West crowns in three years?

 

[CoralSpringsCat]

Delete?!?! We're doubling down baby! What else can we reverse-jinx into existence? Should we do a pod on how new Offensive Coordinators are never successful? How about one about how the modern game makes it impossible for NU to win 2 Big Ten West crowns in three years?

I like your style. Just goes to show you that recruiting is truly an inexact science. NU will always have the academics to serve as a differentiator. It’s the relationships that are key. Some of the most recent coaching changes are beginning to pay dividends. Hopefully Coach Jake will also make a difference, sooner as opposed to later.