1. The transfer portal has really changed things...and I am not sure it is good for NU.....I think it it good for FCS schools in general..In the end yesterday SIU was an experienced team playing against a lot of young kids on the NU D. And the mistakes and tentativeness in the secondary killed us. So what I guess I am saying is that with the portal and easy transfer stuff..... NU who is still a developmental system had a secondary yesterday who was still developing against a secondary for SIU which was experienced and of equal talent....When schools like SIU reload with portal players or JUCOS they are equally ranked coming out of high school as the kids we have at 2-deep on the depth chart. (basing this all on a look at SIU roster of 33 transfers....could use a closer look) and may have the advantage of experience. Seems to me we will see more FCS wins over P5 schools as the gap has closed. But it seems no one more than NU needed a loss like this at this point in time.
2. I liked what I saw as the game went along from some of the young dbs who played. No doubt they made mistakes and were tentative but I thought improvement and more aggression as the game went on.....I do not know who had responsibility for that damm tight end...lbs, safeties, dbs or a combination but there were what 5 BIG catches by that guy? I thought Johnson and Hollis both showed some ability though inconsistent yesterday.
3. You have to have a counter punch....yes we can run the ball but when they go to 8 and 9 in the box...you have to have some wide receivers that can get open. Even in the last drive when we were down 14 SIU ,when most teams play prevent defense....you remember all the times we would go with a 3 man rush....SIU sent 6 guys and played our receivers man to man.....We got very, very little separation...and had to return to flares to Hull...We will see an end to the run game soon if we cannot get receivers open against man to man. There was a Bacon sighting yesterday and the Hoop got another catch...and Malik is a legit receiver.. If we have no one else who can get open against man to man the offense will continue to decline. Is Bryce Kirtz healthy? 8 catches in 3 games......if it dont work try some of the other guys.
4. Fitz the two edged sword.. good side? confident and loyal bad side? confident and loyal.... we played a low risk conservative defense and offense yesterday. cuz Fitz did not think we would need to do anything but out talent them.......while Fitz says he trusts his kids and they have talent he does not coach that way.....SIU gambled on defense and were innovative on offense and seemed to read the room way better than us...dialing up some great calls on offense...even when we created several 2 and 11 situations and were not scared to blitz in the end...
5. Someone help me out here...are we getting below average, average or above average play from our linebackers.?..looks to me like they are a step slow specifically in pass coverage....and in reading the play. Paddy Fischer was not that fast but got to the play going down hill and made great deep drops in passing game...all you need is one weakness for an opponent to take advantage...
6. Risk Aversion- I felt like the SIU coaches helped their team perform at a high % of their abilities. I did not feel like we did the same. I would rather lose and take some chances than do the same thing over and over again with the same results, lose a close game. Fitz seems to me to be conservative. Does he put the kabash on his head defensive and offensive coaches in developing game plans or is it up to the coordinators. My other thought comes back to Fitz being loyal. Does he think his guys are better that they are and trying to scheme to their weaknesses is an insult instead of planning as if they can do things they cannot? These are good kids , who play hard...feel like the coaches need to do their part to get them over the hump.
7. This team is better than last year. Better at O-line, D-Line, Tight End position and when the secondary is healthy they are better. Not saying great but better....We are good enough to be competitive in most games...the devil will be in the details. But we have weaknesses at wide receiver, linebacker play that may let opponents neutralize our strengths. Hope we dont give up on these guys. I think they have a couple good wins ahead of them. And if we can hold on, develop the young kids we have recruited , continue the development of the young kids we have...I think we are moving uphill and not down.
2. I liked what I saw as the game went along from some of the young dbs who played. No doubt they made mistakes and were tentative but I thought improvement and more aggression as the game went on.....I do not know who had responsibility for that damm tight end...lbs, safeties, dbs or a combination but there were what 5 BIG catches by that guy? I thought Johnson and Hollis both showed some ability though inconsistent yesterday.
3. You have to have a counter punch....yes we can run the ball but when they go to 8 and 9 in the box...you have to have some wide receivers that can get open. Even in the last drive when we were down 14 SIU ,when most teams play prevent defense....you remember all the times we would go with a 3 man rush....SIU sent 6 guys and played our receivers man to man.....We got very, very little separation...and had to return to flares to Hull...We will see an end to the run game soon if we cannot get receivers open against man to man. There was a Bacon sighting yesterday and the Hoop got another catch...and Malik is a legit receiver.. If we have no one else who can get open against man to man the offense will continue to decline. Is Bryce Kirtz healthy? 8 catches in 3 games......if it dont work try some of the other guys.
4. Fitz the two edged sword.. good side? confident and loyal bad side? confident and loyal.... we played a low risk conservative defense and offense yesterday. cuz Fitz did not think we would need to do anything but out talent them.......while Fitz says he trusts his kids and they have talent he does not coach that way.....SIU gambled on defense and were innovative on offense and seemed to read the room way better than us...dialing up some great calls on offense...even when we created several 2 and 11 situations and were not scared to blitz in the end...
5. Someone help me out here...are we getting below average, average or above average play from our linebackers.?..looks to me like they are a step slow specifically in pass coverage....and in reading the play. Paddy Fischer was not that fast but got to the play going down hill and made great deep drops in passing game...all you need is one weakness for an opponent to take advantage...
6. Risk Aversion- I felt like the SIU coaches helped their team perform at a high % of their abilities. I did not feel like we did the same. I would rather lose and take some chances than do the same thing over and over again with the same results, lose a close game. Fitz seems to me to be conservative. Does he put the kabash on his head defensive and offensive coaches in developing game plans or is it up to the coordinators. My other thought comes back to Fitz being loyal. Does he think his guys are better that they are and trying to scheme to their weaknesses is an insult instead of planning as if they can do things they cannot? These are good kids , who play hard...feel like the coaches need to do their part to get them over the hump.
7. This team is better than last year. Better at O-line, D-Line, Tight End position and when the secondary is healthy they are better. Not saying great but better....We are good enough to be competitive in most games...the devil will be in the details. But we have weaknesses at wide receiver, linebacker play that may let opponents neutralize our strengths. Hope we dont give up on these guys. I think they have a couple good wins ahead of them. And if we can hold on, develop the young kids we have recruited , continue the development of the young kids we have...I think we are moving uphill and not down.
