OL nostalgia

[Well cataloged]

It's easy to romanticize the good old days, but sometimes it offers some useful perspective. Consider the 2004 Wildcats, a 6-7 team in a topsy - turvy season (beating Ohio State, losing to Hawaii).

Our offensive line that year included Trai Essex, Zach Strief, Ike Ndukwe and Matt "Chesty" Ulrich. Strief is still in the NFL and Essex and Ndukwe had some years in, too. I think Ulrich did some time there too but can't exactly recall. These guys matched up with anyone and reflected Randy Walker's emphasis on offense and the running game.

It's mid-week, I'm nursing the wounds like everyone else, the only good thing about Durham was The Pit, and so I gravitate to thoughts of that outstanding line, the strength of that team.

 

[FloridAlum]

It's easy to romanticize the good old days, but sometimes it offers some useful perspective. Consider the 2004 Wildcats, a 6-7 team in a topsy - turvy season (beating Ohio State, losing to Hawaii).

Our offensive line that year included Trai Essex, Zach Strief, Ike Ndukwe and Matt "Chesty" Ulrich. Strief is still in the NFL and Essex and Ndukwe had some years in, too. I think Ulrich did some time there too but can't exactly recall. These guys matched up with anyone and reflected Randy Walker's emphasis on offense and the running game.

It's mid-week, I'm nursing the wounds like everyone else, the only good thing about Durham was The Pit, and so I gravitate to thoughts of that outstanding line, the strength of that team.

The Pit, yummy

 

[FeralFelidae]

They were 6-6. In 2004, 6-6 was not sufficient to secure bowl eligibility and Northwestern did not get to play a 13th game.

 

[mikewebb68]

Wait I thought I learned from this board that if you have a spectacular offensive line (and naturally, an excellent OL coach!) you are guaranteed an excelentl season? What happened?

 

[corbi296]

Wait I thought I learned from this board that if you have a spectacular offensive line (and naturally, an excellent OL coach!) you are guaranteed an excelentl season? What happened?

No, what you heard from some on this board is that a good OL usually is the result of a good OL coach and without a good OL, it's very difficult to have a good team. A good OL alone doesn't guarantee a good season but a bad OL makes it very hard to have a good season.

 

[kaTNap]

They were 6-6. In 2004, 6-6 was not sufficient to secure bowl eligibility and Northwestern did not get to play a 13th game.

6-6 was sort-of bowl eligible. You could go to a bowl if there weren't enough 7-5 teams to fill available slots. In 2004, there weren't enough "available slots" left to include NU.

 

[phatcat]

My memory has a very short Half-Life.

Can someone comment on the OL in 2012? Were we successfully running the ball just because we executed the read option so well, despite subpar DL?

I remember Mark bring through some pretty big holes

 

[BigNUFan51]

My memory has a very short Half-Life.

Can someone comment on the OL in 2012? Were we successfully running the ball just because we executed the read option so well, despite subpar DL?

I remember Mark bring through some pretty big holes

Brandon Vitable and Pat Ward were high end Big Ten lineman.

 

[mikewebb68]

Brandon Vitable and Pat Ward were high end Big Ten lineman.

But wait , I thought our OL has been "pretty much" terrible every single season since we hired Cushing?

 

[freewillie07]

But wait , I thought our OL has been terrible every single season?

It has underperformed every single season, yes.

 

[mikewebb68]

It has underperformed every single season, yes.

So was phatcat's memory in 2012 just faulty, then?

 

[freewillie07]

So was phatcat's memory in 2012 just faulty, then?

Just because a rushing attack was good for a season doesn't mean the OL performed well.

See: Northwestern football each of the last three seasons with Justin Jackson.

 

[mikewebb68]

Just because a rushing attack was good for a season doesn't mean the OL performed well.

See: Northwestern football each of the last three seasons with Justin Jackson.

Read phatcat's post again. "I remember Mark bring (sic) through some pretty big holes" If his observation is not correct, fine, but just don't shape things to fit your narrative.

 

[corbi296]

Brandon Vitable and Pat Ward were high end Big Ten lineman.

They were? By what standard?

 

[corbi296]

Brandon Vitable and Pat Ward were high end Big Ten lineman.

They were? By what standard? High end Big Ten lineman end up playing on Sundays. Those guys had lots of potential but it was never completely fulfilled on the field.

 

[High Hopes Cat]

Mike - while you're positioning this as a "gotcha" for those of us who think change is overdue with the OL coach, in my opinion that year is actuality among most damning. The line was certainly good in an absolute sense but as a unit well underperformed its potential. Coaches need to bring out the best in their players and Cushing seems to be unable to do so. In another post I mentioned that when they had good talent at their positions Hank and Brown delivered elite units, so when their positions had down years I never thought the calls for change were warranted. This was Cushing's chance to do the same and he didn't.

I feel bad for the kids as well. We all want to get the best out of ourselves and the amount of time dedicated to football is just massive. it's got to be frustrating to put in all that work and be held back by your coach who is supposed to be helping you. That year our OL could have been dominating and one of our best lines ever. They all have a lot to be proud of - all were good players. But when they look back there has to be some element of what might have been with better coaching unfortunately.

 

[TheC]

I am cursed by poor OL play. The only OL in football that may be worse than NU's these days belongs to my favorite pro team the Cincinnati Bengals. My lord are they atrocious. It really is incredible how crucial the OL is because when they are playing well, you don't really see them.... you just see the skill players able to make plays. But when they're bad.... ugh!

 

[gocatsgo2003]

I am cursed by poor OL play. The only OL in football that may be worse than NU's these days belongs to my favorite pro team the Cincinnati Bengals. My lord are they atrocious. It really is incredible how crucial the OL is because when they are playing well, you don't really see them.... you just see the skill players able to make plays. But when they're bad.... ugh!

Almost like getting consistently high-end line play is difficult, even at the professional level?

 

[D_C_B]

Wait I thought I learned from this board that if you have a spectacular offensive line (and naturally, an excellent OL coach!) you are guaranteed an excelentl season? What happened?

Actually, that's not quite what you learned: you learned that you can't have an excellent offense without and excellent offensive line. Every single coach and players in the history of the game knows this. I understand the confusion. But it's quite a different proposition.

 

[HawkCat]

I am cursed by poor OL play. The only OL in football that may be worse than NU's these days belongs to my favorite pro team the Cincinnati Bengals. My lord are they atrocious. It really is incredible how crucial the OL is because when they are playing well, you don't really see them.... you just see the skill players able to make plays. But when they're bad.... ugh!

Did you watch the Broncos last year? Oy! I certainly agree with your point.

 

[NU Houston]

I am cursed by poor OL play. The only OL in football that may be worse than NU's these days belongs to my favorite pro team the Cincinnati Bengals. My lord are they atrocious. It really is incredible how crucial the OL is because when they are playing well, you don't really see them.... you just see the skill players able to make plays. But when they're bad.... ugh!

That was a fun game last night, wasn't it?

Very surprising that the Bengals still haven't scored a TD this season. The Texans' offense didn't look much better, and the difference in the game was Watson's long TD run.

 

[aquacat]

Brandon Vitable and Pat Ward were high end Big Ten lineman.

I think Kain Colter along with Venric Mark are the best read option duo that I've seen in college football. We must have run that play at least a dozen times in every football game and teams still couldn't stop it.

 

[phatcat]

So was phatcat's memory in 2012 just faulty, then?

Assuredly

 

[mikewebb68]

Almost like getting consistently high-end line play is difficult, even at the professional level?

Bingo! As an aside, the Illini's OL play thus far thus evening is making our OL performance look downright spectacular...

 

[NU Houston]

I am cursed by poor OL play. The only OL in football that may be worse than NU's these days belongs to my favorite pro team the Cincinnati Bengals. My lord are they atrocious. It really is incredible how crucial the OL is because when they are playing well, you don't really see them.... you just see the skill players able to make plays. But when they're bad.... ugh!

And the Bengals fired their OC today, after two disappointing games to start the season.

 

[TheC]

And the Bengals fired their OC today, after two disappointing games to start the season.

Very uncharacteristic of Cincy. If they can do it then so can Fitz.

 

[NJCat]

Very uncharacteristic of Cincy. If they can do it then so can Fitz.

C'mon, its only been 8.17 years, give the poor guy a chance to prove he can be a Big 10 OL coach....