So here's the deal on the quarterback situation

[lou v]

I couldn't get to sleep in my hotel tonight, so I stayed up and wrote about what Fitz (and Thorson and Green) had to say about NU's "fluid" quarterback situation.

Quarterback still a question for Northwestern

 

[Alaskawildkat]

"Green also made maybe the best pass of the night, an 11-yard completion to Flynn Nagel on third-and-8 in the third quarter. That was when he realized “I could do this,” he said."


Great line. It was also when I think we as fans also realized he "could do this."

I note that before the first half was even over all four quarterbacks had played. I will bet there are not that many FBS games where the fans of both teams had no idea who would play at QB until game day and ended up seeing all four attempting drives before half of the game was completed.

 

[phatcat]

How about some in-game management? If it was medical, fine, but he says it wasn't. The timing was ridiculous. All's well that ends well.

I'll leave these quotes for GCG to comment:

. “We had kind of a series plan that we were going to go through, if that makes sense at all,”

And

“This was well choreographed, well thought out, well planned.”

 

[zeek55]

The coaches basically had already pre-planned which series which QB was going to play before the game.

We're lucky that the first half played out the way it did, and we got 31 points following the plan (partially with all those extra drives that Sindelar gifted us).

We should be able to get away with that scheme against Duke and Akron. So I fully expect that TJ Green will see significant snaps the next 2 weeks.

But against Michigan (4 weeks away including the bye), we absolutely need to have Clayton ready to play the whole game with TJ as the backup. Pre-planned series swaps won't fly as we enter the heart of the B1G season.

 

[Fitz51]

The coaches basically had already pre-planned which series which QB was going to play before the game.

We're lucky that the first half played out the way it did, and we got 31 points following the plan (partially with all those extra drives that Sindelar gifted us).

We should be able to get away with that scheme against Duke and Akron. So I fully expect that TJ Green will see significant snaps the next 2 weeks.

But against Michigan (4 weeks away including the bye), we absolutely need to have Clayton ready to play the whole game with TJ as the backup. Pre-planned series swaps won't fly as we enter the heart of the B1G season.

This sounds like the most likely scenario and a good summary.

 

[techtim72]

I thought Clayton's movement looked a little tired as the game wore on. Tells me he is far from fully healed and that Fitzgerald and the doctors knew what they were doing in alternating quarterbacks.

 

[TejasCat]

We should be able to get away with that scheme against Duke and Akron. So I fully expect that TJ Green will see significant snaps the next 2 weeks.

Duke is better than Purdue. Every Vegas power ranking that I've seen has them ahead of Purdue. Expect us to be a FG favorite. Definitely not a game where we can just toss Green in there and expect to win easily.

 

[Deeringfish]

Duke is better than Purdue. Every Vegas power ranking that I've seen has them ahead of Purdue. Expect us to be a FG favorite. Definitely not a game where we can just toss Green in there and expect to win easily.

Beating Duke is not nearly as important to NU as beating Purdue right now.

 

[Deeringfish]

The one thing I was disappointed in was the delay of game penalty when Green first went in. The coaches should have had him better prepared on how to call his first play of his first series. There should not ave been any confusion.

 

[zeek55]

Duke is better than Purdue. Every Vegas power ranking that I've seen has them ahead of Purdue. Expect us to be a FG favorite. Definitely not a game where we can just toss Green in there and expect to win easily.

It's not a conference/division game.

If they pre-plan for CT/Green snaps for Duke/Akron; that's okay in the context of keeping CT continuing to work his way to 100% for Michigan on Sept 29. It feels as if CT will get 2-ish (depending on length) series followed by a Green series against Duke and Akron.

Let's hope he doesn't even need to play a large part of the Akron game if we get to a big lead.

Against Michigan, I expect CT to start and play the whole way as long as he's healthy. The priority has to be the heart of the B1G schedule starting on Sept 29. If Green is taking a series here and there against Duke to keep CT fresh, then we've got to manage it and see if we can win as we did against Purdue.

 

[stpaulcat]

Beating Duke is not nearly as important to NU as beating Purdue right now.

Beating Duke is important, if only because it's Duke.

 

[willycat]

Beating Duke is important, if only because it's Duke.

Somewhat agree but going 3-0 to start the season is the most important thing.

 

[JoeWildcat]

The one thing I was disappointed in was the delay of game penalty when Green first went in. The coaches should have had him better prepared on how to call his first play of his first series. There should not ave been any confusion.

I think this was a case of the coaches and players not yet being adjusted to the new rule that they start the play clock immediately after touchdowns and kickoffs. The tempo after those plays used to be more leisurely, and refs allowed teams to get organized before whistling the ball in play, but now the 40 second clock is supposed to start immediately, and I think it will catch some teams by surprise for a few games.

 

[hdhntr1]

I think this was a case of the coaches and players not yet being adjusted to the new rule that they start the play clock immediately after touchdowns and kickoffs. The tempo after those plays used to be more leisurely, and refs allowed teams to get organized before whistling the ball in play, but now the 40 second clock is supposed to start immediately, and I think it will catch some teams by surprise for a few games.

Glad we got it out of the way in a victory. Fool me once........ Now our coaching staff is fully aware

 

[wildelk2]

Not surprised Green played; really surprised he came in when he did. The more he played the more comfortable he was. My take overall was that we sure didn't look like the sluggish 3/4 ready to play September team we've seen in the past. And damn glad we got those turnovers !!!

 

[mikewebb68]

I thought Clayton's movement looked a little tired as the game wore on. Tells me he is far from fully healed and that Fitzgerald and the doctors knew what they were doing in alternating quarterbacks.

This. He missed a TD throw to Larkin late that he normally makes in his sleep.

 

[mikewebb68]

Duke is better than Purdue. Every Vegas power ranking that I've seen has them ahead of Purdue. Expect us to be a FG favorite. Definitely not a game where we can just toss Green in there and expect to win easily.

Duke is picked to finish 10th in the ACC, behind Wake Forest and Pitt.

 

[NJCat]

Duke is picked to finish 10th in the ACC, behind Wake Forest and Pitt.

Yes, ESPN has them #10 in the ACC:
http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/24086662/acc-preseason-power-rankings

But......

Collegefootballnews has Duke #35 in the nation, with NU #42 and Purdue #48....
https://collegefootballnews.com/201...lege-football-rankings-previews-no-1-to-130/4

Orlando Sentinel has Duke #32 (NU #19)
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/college-football-rankings/

FWIW, they are up 17-0 on Army in the third quarter.....

 

[mikewebb68]

Yes, ESPN has them #10 in the ACC:
http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/24086662/acc-preseason-power-rankings

But......

Collegefootballnews has Duke #35 in the nation, with NU #42 and Purdue #48....
https://collegefootballnews.com/201...lege-football-rankings-previews-no-1-to-130/4

Orlando Sentinel has Duke #32 (NU #19)
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/college-football-rankings/

FWIW, they are up 17-0 on Army in the third quarter.....

Saw zero in that Army game that scared me about Duke. They actually only outgained Army by 16 yrds.

 

[Deeringfish]

I think this was a case of the coaches and players not yet being adjusted to the new rule that they start the play clock immediately after touchdowns and kickoffs. The tempo after those plays used to be more leisurely, and refs allowed teams to get organized before whistling the ball in play, but now the 40 second clock is supposed to start immediately, and I think it will catch some teams by surprise for a few games.

Really, well there is no excuse for that. If Green is coming in, he is coming with some kind of script on his first series. The coaches should have had him and the whole offense better prepared for his first series. If it was his second series I kind of get it but I can't believe that they would put a guy in for his first live action at the beginning of a drive, knowing that they would be putting him in at this point and there was;t a set play to run with out delay.
Let's have a pitch count, but be totally unprepared for the very first transition.

 

[Just Gary]

Really, well there is no excuse for that. If Green is coming in, he is coming with some kind of script on his first series. The coaches should have had him and the whole offense better prepared for his first series. If it was his second series I kind of get it but I can't believe that they would put a guy in for his first live action at the beginning of a drive, knowing that they would be putting him in at this point and there was;t a set play to run with out delay.
Let's have a pitch count, but be totally unprepared for the very first transition.

Part of that had to do with the first string line not in sync with Green. They are just so use to Thorson that they could not get Green's rhythm. You could see it on the second play as well when a linemen moved early being a bit unnerved. The QB-line sync happens quickly with Thorson and you can see the line quickly get in place because Thorson moves to his position with plenty of time on the clock. Green delays moving into position. So the line doesn't set as quick because they were waiting for Green expecting the same routine as Thorson but Green is a little different. After the first few snaps, the line adjusted their response time. Now that they been through a game with Green, the line should be fine.

What I saw is Thorson getting weaker and Green getting stronger as the night progressed. Green is not Thorson but he appeared calm. I still remember the deer eyes Clayton had during the Stanford game ion his first game. Green just looked normal out there.

Was it wrong to pull Thorson after the first two series? I guess we can point to it and say that broke our momentum. Still, it is hard for me to think that keeping Thorson in would have helped us score more than 31 points in the first half. Pulling Thorson in the third series didn't prevent us from scoring in the second half. And even with pulling him, we won and that is all that is needed right now. Thorson was definitely not 100% by the fourth but he did show what he is capable of doing in those first two drives. And if he would have gotten injured, we would have been all over the coaching staff for trying to rush him back too fast. We got the best result last night. We beat a conference opponent on the road. We tested the back-up and gave him confidence. We saw our offensive line run and pass block in mid-season form during the first game of the season. And I think we may have caught Purdue at the right time as they will cause some teams trouble this year. Well, Purdue also caught us with an injured QB, so I guess we will just call it a fair fight. Anyway, it is way too early to project what will happen to either team.

 

[villox]

I think most of us thought Fitz was just being cute/coy with all the “we’ll find out at 8:06pm” talk. This situation tells me the concern was real and may remain that way going forward.

 

[NJCat]

Saw zero in that Army game that scared me about Duke. They actually only outgained Army by 16 yrds.

Well, they outscored them by 20. Which is less than pretty much the same Duke team outscored NU by last season.

Don't sleep on the Dookies. They are solid.

 

[Deeringfish]

Part of that had to do with the first string line not in sync with Green. They are just so use to Thorson that they could not get Green's rhythm. You could see it on the second play as well when a linemen moved early being a bit unnerved. The QB-line sync happens quickly with Thorson and you can see the line quickly get in place because Thorson moves to his position with plenty of time on the clock. Green delays moving into position. So the line doesn't set as quick because they were waiting for Green expecting the same routine as Thorson but Green is a little different. After the first few snaps, the line adjusted their response time. Now that they been through a game with Green, the line should be fine.

What I saw is Thorson getting weaker and Green getting stronger as the night progressed. Green is not Thorson but he appeared calm. I still remember the deer eyes Clayton had during the Stanford game ion his first game. Green just looked normal out there.

Was it wrong to pull Thorson after the first two series? I guess we can point to it and say that broke our momentum. Still, it is hard for me to think that keeping Thorson in would have helped us score more than 31 points in the first half. Pulling Thorson in the third series didn't prevent us from scoring in the second half. And even with pulling him, we won and that is all that is needed right now. Thorson was definitely not 100% by the fourth but he did show what he is capable of doing in those first two drives. And if he would have gotten injured, we would have been all over the coaching staff for trying to rush him back too fast. We got the best result last night. We beat a conference opponent on the road. We tested the back-up and gave him confidence. We saw our offensive line run and pass block in mid-season form during the first game of the season. And I think we may have caught Purdue at the right time as they will cause some teams trouble this year. Well, Purdue also caught us with an injured QB, so I guess we will just call it a fair fight. Anyway, it is way too early to project what will happen to either team.

Thanks for that post. The way you describe it helps me to think of it as something that would be difficult to prepared for in a practice situation.
One of the best things we could hope for is Green being good enough for us to start debating who is the better QB in different situations. I hope he does really well.

 

[CoralSpringsCat]

The one thing I was disappointed in was the delay of game penalty when Green first went in. The coaches should have had him better prepared on how to call his first play of his first series. There should not ave been any confusion.

Green was asked about it during the post game presser. He mentioned the rule had recently changed about the clock starting after the kickoff and that was what caused the issue. Sounded like the staff was upset with the refs on that one.

 

[Wrestlerneverdiesasacatfan]

Part of that had to do with the first string line not in sync with Green. They are just so use to Thorson that they could not get Green's rhythm. You could see it on the second play as well when a linemen moved early being a bit unnerved. The QB-line sync happens quickly with Thorson and you can see the line quickly get in place because Thorson moves to his position with plenty of time on the clock. Green delays moving into position. So the line doesn't set as quick because they were waiting for Green expecting the same routine as Thorson but Green is a little different. After the first few snaps, the line adjusted their response time. Now that they been through a game with Green, the line should be fine.

What I saw is Thorson getting weaker and Green getting stronger as the night progressed. Green is not Thorson but he appeared calm. I still remember the deer eyes Clayton had during the Stanford game ion his first game. Green just looked normal out there.

Was it wrong to pull Thorson after the first two series? I guess we can point to it and say that broke our momentum. Still, it is hard for me to think that keeping Thorson in would have helped us score more than 31 points in the first half. Pulling Thorson in the third series didn't prevent us from scoring in the second half. And even with pulling him, we won and that is all that is needed right now. Thorson was definitely not 100% by the fourth but he did show what he is capable of doing in those first two drives. And if he would have gotten injured, we would have been all over the coaching staff for trying to rush him back too fast. We got the best result last night. We beat a conference opponent on the road. We tested the back-up and gave him confidence. We saw our offensive line run and pass block in mid-season form during the first game of the season. And I think we may have caught Purdue at the right time as they will cause some teams trouble this year. Well, Purdue also caught us with an injured QB, so I guess we will just call it a fair fight. Anyway, it is way too early to project what will happen to either team.

CT can't be counted on to use his legs right now. Rest em and play Green

 

[willycat]

Green was asked about it during the post game presser. He mentioned the rule had recently changed about the clock starting after the kickoff and that was what caused the issue. Sounded like the staff was upset with the refs on that one.

Sounds to me that the staff should have been upset with themselves and not the refs. It's a rule, so have your 2nd string QB ready.

 

[willycat]

I think most of us thought Fitz was just being cute/coy with all the “we’ll find out at 8:06pm” talk. This situation tells me the concern was real and may remain that way going forward.

Fitz loves the cute stuff but as they say, if you have two starting QB's you have none. The QB shuffle will hurt NU down the line. Hopefully Thorson will close to 100% by the end of September.

 

[NUMBfan]

Fitz loves the cute stuff but as they say, if you have two starting QB's you have none. The QB shuffle will hurt NU down the line. Hopefully Thorson will close to 100% by the end of September.

"Cute Stuff" means having a healthy quarterback? In that case I'm with Fitz on the "Cute Stuff." It's absurd to think Fitz would be having a QB shuffle if Thorson hadn't been injured. (Necessity being the mother of invention, and all.)

 

[mikewebb68]

Well, they outscored them by 20. Which is less than pretty much the same Duke team outscored NU by last season.

Don't sleep on the Dookies. They are solid.

Dis you actually watch the game like I did, or is this based on your comprehensive transitive property score analysis?

 

[NJCat]

Dis you actually watch the game like I did, or is this based on your comprehensive transitive property score analysis?

I watched parts of the game. And Duke will be a handful for NU.

 

[mikewebb68]

I watched parts of the game. And Duke will be a handful for NU.

Not the Duke I saw vs. Army. They of course can improve in week 2, but our game vs. Purdue was at a significantly highrer level than Duke-Army. I exepect a strong showing from us, especially knowing what happened last year.

 

[Wrestlerneverdiesasacatfan]

Duke cannot run on us