Sorry for the stream of consciousness format, but the following are my observations:
Defense:
While no doubt there is room for improvement, our defense appears to be without any obvious weakness at any position group. Not only are they skilled and physical, they looked very smart and disciplined. They also were having a hell of a lot of fun flying around making plays which is contagious. While only a limited sample, this does look like an elite top tier B1G defense to me. Even if Stanford's offense is very average (despite returning 10 starters including a quality 5th year senior QB), it was still a very impressive dominating overall defensive performance. Needless to say, I am excited about this defense.
DL - Physical, fast, deep and purpose-driven. A lot of different guys were not only dominating-to-holding the LOS, but were getting off blocks and making plays. It looks like Odenigbo can play a lot more in 1st and 2nd down situations now, which is great news. Lowrey and Gibson are (not surprisingly) total studs. XWash played less than I expected, but we have at least 4 quality DEs. I think our DTs not only are not a weakness, but a likely team strength. All 5 guys that played at DT can help us especially when we play Minny, Iowa and Wisky and we can really can take advantage of the depth. Lancaster's huge 3rd down play on that first drive end around was simply outstanding for a big, young DT. The blend of awareness and athleticism to make that play was outstanding. We not only have DTs that plug, but we have playmakers that get off blocks in there, which is great to see. Lancaster in particular has me really excited.
Beyond just the sacks, a lot of Hogan's slight misfires on near completions were off target due to DL pressure/presence. Even Quiero's pick came on a play where the (right) DE messed up Hogan's timing (by delaying his throw). We seemed to be able to pretty consistently impact the QB (from multiple angles) even when rushing just 4. Given that Stanford reputedly has a veteran and quality OL, this bodes very well for B1G play. (We also have a lot of safeties, linebackers and even corners that are very effective blitzers).
LB - If you have eyes, you can tell Walker is a star in run and pass defense. He's not just a terrific athlete, he's an extremely high football IQ player. Prater was very solid in his first start and appears to have all the tools to become a good Will LB. at Sam, Smith still has a bit more work to do to become more consistent, but he's a fierce hitter that makes big plays. If there is a weakness to this defense, it might be the depth at LB. This is the group IMO that had biggest drop off from 1s to 2s. A few of the 2nd team guys that played to spell the starters were noticeably tentative. Hopefully we can get those young guys some more reps and confidence prior to the B1G season.
DBs - We have playmakers that go at least two deep. Our secondary will let Doc do whatever he wants and allow him to get creative with weekly game plans. These guys are not only excellent cover guys, but they are very physical tacklers/hitters. This group exceeds their preseason hype IMO.
Offense:
OL is improved and more physical, but they're still hardly world beaters (yet). The good news is they don't need to be. They got hat on hat and sustained blocks pretty well even if they didn't overwhelm Stanford up front. I rarely saw defenders unblocked at the point of attack (unlike the last few years), which tells me communication and execution was pretty good. I really liked what I saw out of Park and Mertz. Park looks pretty physical. Mertz just glues his big body to defenders rendering them to darkness. North got manhandled a few times by Stanford's undersized NT and needs to play with better leverage or get more guard help. I think Park may move to center full time when Frazier gets back to full go (at G). Pass blocking wasn't great, but who cares if you can get away with running the ball 68% of the time. I think both OTs have significant room to improve in edge pass blocking. This may limit our deep ball opportunities.
RB: JJ was good a year ago, but he's also made huge strides. The flashes of brilliance a year ago were on display consistently vs. Stanford. The OL did not give him big holes, but they did allow him to get the kind of space he needs to make people whiff. Long was good running down hill, and I think Vault made some JJ type of plays. Vault earned more carries, but it's hard to take those away from JJ.
WR and SB: While improved, it would be nice to find more playmakers than just CJ and MS. It wasn't evident to me we have much else at WR. I hope Dickerson is back soon. Vitale had an off day catching the ball, but was a beast blocking. G Dickerson is a very physical blocker too. I loved the 3rd down play he made stretching for the first down marker.
QB: Clayton showed his youth, but also showed me he's a playmaker. Other than his big TD run and terrific 3rd down pass to MS down the stretch, he was pretty effective making the throws to move the sticks on 3rd down and 4-8 type situations. That's the skill set that could really make what otherwise looks like a very efficient rushing offense extend and finish some drives and score some points. I love his poise. He showed pretty good pocket presence after his first pass where he held the ball too long. I hope he can accelerate his development curve and be trusted to do more as the season goes along because that'll be the difference between a decent bowl game and a special season for this team IMO. He made some dangerous deeper throws between the hash marks that could/should have been picked, so I'm sure those will be good teachable moments. (However, those throws were at 100 MPH making them tough for a DB in position to pick.)
ST:
The kick/punt coverage units looked very good, but it would be nice to get more distance and hang time on punts. (I realize some of the shorter punts may have been on purpose to keep the ball away from SU's returner.). Hopefully Mitchell continues to be clutch.
Thoughts about Stanford:
- At this stage in the season, we don't really know much about NU or Stanford. I'm pretty sure Stanford is a solid 6+ win bowl team, but I'm not sure they're world beaters anymore, especially on defense. Even if Stanford's offense is average, the NU defense's performance was impressive though. I saw almost zero mental and physical errors even though they were playing fast and loose.
Broad Comments:
- I sensed a quiet confidence from this team including both players and coaches over the Spring-to-Summer-to-Fall camp period. There was not a lot of jawing about championships or other typical chest-beating pronouncements that come off as a bit desperate. I liked that.
- Since the end of last year, our strength and conditioning emphasis changed from the "functional strength" approach we've employed the past 2-3 years to more old school heavy/power lifting once again. It showed. We appear MUCH more physically powerful in the trenches on both sides of the ball than what I've seen in many seasons. Stanford has developed the reputation of having strong and powerful OL and DL and the best strength program around. Even if they're mediocre overall as a team this year, spending 60 minutes rag dolling their OL and DL is an incredibly powerful early indicator of good things to come.
- These guys had a hell of a lot of fun Saturday. You could see it the way they celebrated great plays. I think they have a good chemistry working. That brotherhood stuff isn't just coach speak, but really can make a difference especially in adverse situations.
- It's only one game, but there's good reasons for optimism. It's not so much that we beat Stanford, but rather how we beat them. We looked like the smarter, stronger, more athletic and more driven team. We just looked superior in almost every phase.
Defense:
While no doubt there is room for improvement, our defense appears to be without any obvious weakness at any position group. Not only are they skilled and physical, they looked very smart and disciplined. They also were having a hell of a lot of fun flying around making plays which is contagious. While only a limited sample, this does look like an elite top tier B1G defense to me. Even if Stanford's offense is very average (despite returning 10 starters including a quality 5th year senior QB), it was still a very impressive dominating overall defensive performance. Needless to say, I am excited about this defense.
DL - Physical, fast, deep and purpose-driven. A lot of different guys were not only dominating-to-holding the LOS, but were getting off blocks and making plays. It looks like Odenigbo can play a lot more in 1st and 2nd down situations now, which is great news. Lowrey and Gibson are (not surprisingly) total studs. XWash played less than I expected, but we have at least 4 quality DEs. I think our DTs not only are not a weakness, but a likely team strength. All 5 guys that played at DT can help us especially when we play Minny, Iowa and Wisky and we can really can take advantage of the depth. Lancaster's huge 3rd down play on that first drive end around was simply outstanding for a big, young DT. The blend of awareness and athleticism to make that play was outstanding. We not only have DTs that plug, but we have playmakers that get off blocks in there, which is great to see. Lancaster in particular has me really excited.
Beyond just the sacks, a lot of Hogan's slight misfires on near completions were off target due to DL pressure/presence. Even Quiero's pick came on a play where the (right) DE messed up Hogan's timing (by delaying his throw). We seemed to be able to pretty consistently impact the QB (from multiple angles) even when rushing just 4. Given that Stanford reputedly has a veteran and quality OL, this bodes very well for B1G play. (We also have a lot of safeties, linebackers and even corners that are very effective blitzers).
LB - If you have eyes, you can tell Walker is a star in run and pass defense. He's not just a terrific athlete, he's an extremely high football IQ player. Prater was very solid in his first start and appears to have all the tools to become a good Will LB. at Sam, Smith still has a bit more work to do to become more consistent, but he's a fierce hitter that makes big plays. If there is a weakness to this defense, it might be the depth at LB. This is the group IMO that had biggest drop off from 1s to 2s. A few of the 2nd team guys that played to spell the starters were noticeably tentative. Hopefully we can get those young guys some more reps and confidence prior to the B1G season.
DBs - We have playmakers that go at least two deep. Our secondary will let Doc do whatever he wants and allow him to get creative with weekly game plans. These guys are not only excellent cover guys, but they are very physical tacklers/hitters. This group exceeds their preseason hype IMO.
Offense:
OL is improved and more physical, but they're still hardly world beaters (yet). The good news is they don't need to be. They got hat on hat and sustained blocks pretty well even if they didn't overwhelm Stanford up front. I rarely saw defenders unblocked at the point of attack (unlike the last few years), which tells me communication and execution was pretty good. I really liked what I saw out of Park and Mertz. Park looks pretty physical. Mertz just glues his big body to defenders rendering them to darkness. North got manhandled a few times by Stanford's undersized NT and needs to play with better leverage or get more guard help. I think Park may move to center full time when Frazier gets back to full go (at G). Pass blocking wasn't great, but who cares if you can get away with running the ball 68% of the time. I think both OTs have significant room to improve in edge pass blocking. This may limit our deep ball opportunities.
RB: JJ was good a year ago, but he's also made huge strides. The flashes of brilliance a year ago were on display consistently vs. Stanford. The OL did not give him big holes, but they did allow him to get the kind of space he needs to make people whiff. Long was good running down hill, and I think Vault made some JJ type of plays. Vault earned more carries, but it's hard to take those away from JJ.
WR and SB: While improved, it would be nice to find more playmakers than just CJ and MS. It wasn't evident to me we have much else at WR. I hope Dickerson is back soon. Vitale had an off day catching the ball, but was a beast blocking. G Dickerson is a very physical blocker too. I loved the 3rd down play he made stretching for the first down marker.
QB: Clayton showed his youth, but also showed me he's a playmaker. Other than his big TD run and terrific 3rd down pass to MS down the stretch, he was pretty effective making the throws to move the sticks on 3rd down and 4-8 type situations. That's the skill set that could really make what otherwise looks like a very efficient rushing offense extend and finish some drives and score some points. I love his poise. He showed pretty good pocket presence after his first pass where he held the ball too long. I hope he can accelerate his development curve and be trusted to do more as the season goes along because that'll be the difference between a decent bowl game and a special season for this team IMO. He made some dangerous deeper throws between the hash marks that could/should have been picked, so I'm sure those will be good teachable moments. (However, those throws were at 100 MPH making them tough for a DB in position to pick.)
ST:
The kick/punt coverage units looked very good, but it would be nice to get more distance and hang time on punts. (I realize some of the shorter punts may have been on purpose to keep the ball away from SU's returner.). Hopefully Mitchell continues to be clutch.
Thoughts about Stanford:
- At this stage in the season, we don't really know much about NU or Stanford. I'm pretty sure Stanford is a solid 6+ win bowl team, but I'm not sure they're world beaters anymore, especially on defense. Even if Stanford's offense is average, the NU defense's performance was impressive though. I saw almost zero mental and physical errors even though they were playing fast and loose.
Broad Comments:
- I sensed a quiet confidence from this team including both players and coaches over the Spring-to-Summer-to-Fall camp period. There was not a lot of jawing about championships or other typical chest-beating pronouncements that come off as a bit desperate. I liked that.
- Since the end of last year, our strength and conditioning emphasis changed from the "functional strength" approach we've employed the past 2-3 years to more old school heavy/power lifting once again. It showed. We appear MUCH more physically powerful in the trenches on both sides of the ball than what I've seen in many seasons. Stanford has developed the reputation of having strong and powerful OL and DL and the best strength program around. Even if they're mediocre overall as a team this year, spending 60 minutes rag dolling their OL and DL is an incredibly powerful early indicator of good things to come.
- These guys had a hell of a lot of fun Saturday. You could see it the way they celebrated great plays. I think they have a good chemistry working. That brotherhood stuff isn't just coach speak, but really can make a difference especially in adverse situations.
- It's only one game, but there's good reasons for optimism. It's not so much that we beat Stanford, but rather how we beat them. We looked like the smarter, stronger, more athletic and more driven team. We just looked superior in almost every phase.
