Unforgivable call on 3rd down in OT. I cannot fathom what he was thinking.
That loss belongs to Lujan
- Thread starter Medill '03
- Start date
It may have been a busted play.
But why Porter didn’t get the ball there… wow! What a mess.
Two downs to get a yard on their 3 yard line...; just mindboggling. Especially when Porter was rolling in OT.
Possibly the worst play call I’ve ever seen
This is the correct take. Porter was cooking and we go with that?
We were running to the left side at will, and dumbass Lujan calls a qb run to the right.
Fireable offense.
Fireable offense.
It wasn’t just that play. He called a horrible game all night. This ain’t the FCS.
Felt like he got cute at the worst possible time. THEY’LL NEVER EXPECT IT!
The problem of starting Wright is that he can’t get better. He is what he is at this age. And he’s not good enough. His two games look like his film. Not good enough to start for the worst teams in the SEC. Maybe Lujan is also terrible. I have no idea. I know his call was fireable it was so stupid. I don’t know what he can do this year to show improvement let alone match last year’s offense. So far he’s shown nothing at all. Nothing. Not a single interesting wrinkle or reliable offensive strategy. Of course it’s hard to do anything with a QB who can’t throw.
Porter was running the ball well all night including that 44 yard run on the first possession. So what does our idiot OC do? Drop Wright back to pass 38 times. What the hell is this guy thinking??
I can think of maybe three plays where it seemed like Wright had an idea of what he was doing while passing.
Loss also belongs to Wright and the OL (but more to Wright). Twice he had guys wide open in the end zone, Once right in the middle and he throw an odd ball 30 yards away. Maybe he got hit in the arm which would explain it. The second time we had an open guy running free in the end zone and he massively overthrew him when he should have lobbed it in.
And how many of his passes landed at the feet of the receiver.. Actually the Duke QB was doing the same thing, was that because of the wind? Is it the lighting in the stadium throwing them off?
Oh boy this might be a very long season unless we fix this stuff asap.
And how many of his passes landed at the feet of the receiver.. Actually the Duke QB was doing the same thing, was that because of the wind? Is it the lighting in the stadium throwing them off?
Oh boy this might be a very long season unless we fix this stuff asap.
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Hopefully Lujan will recognize and acknowledge that he made a terrible mistake. And hopefully Braun will do the same and hold Lujan accountable. But if either one of them tries to defend it then we are in very big trouble this season.
Honestly, I can't even begin to think about Lujan's role in tonight's loss past his selection of Wright at QB.
This guy is really, really bad. Those last two plays in OT will give me night terrors for years to come. Dude has no credible instincts - deer in headlights. Given his YEARS of playing experience, he should be better. He isn't. Busted deal.
Defense looked good.
Lujan called one of the worst end of game calls I've ever seen. To those saying Wright could've thrown it away may be wrong because the refs like to call intentional grounding on those bailout plays and the receivers were mostly blocking. The call is what did us in.
Wright has zero touch on his throws. It's like everything is a fastball. The missed screen pass to Henning in the 4th quarter on 3rd down at around the Duke 40 would've been a huge gain and he zipped it far over Henning's head. Henning looked at him like, what was that?!? Also the would be TD pass to Kirtz in the right corner of the end zone. We left so many points on the field tonight. Duke did too but only at the end, and they really should've and would've won in regulation had they not dropped an easy TD in the closing seconds.
Wright also does not stand in the face of pressure well. Bails out instead of stepping up in the pocket so there's little chance to really go downfield or across the middle much. Yeah the OL is again not doing well but when there were opportunities to step up he often instead pivoted and ran backwards/sideways.
Wright has zero touch on his throws. It's like everything is a fastball. The missed screen pass to Henning in the 4th quarter on 3rd down at around the Duke 40 would've been a huge gain and he zipped it far over Henning's head. Henning looked at him like, what was that?!? Also the would be TD pass to Kirtz in the right corner of the end zone. We left so many points on the field tonight. Duke did too but only at the end, and they really should've and would've won in regulation had they not dropped an easy TD in the closing seconds.
Wright also does not stand in the face of pressure well. Bails out instead of stepping up in the pocket so there's little chance to really go downfield or across the middle much. Yeah the OL is again not doing well but when there were opportunities to step up he often instead pivoted and ran backwards/sideways.
I'm about ready to see what Lausch can do since he was apparently so good that he jumped Sully (and from what I've seen, Sully is better than Wright, so Lausch must be REALLY good).
Sullivan quit rather than compete for the job. Then didn’t get the job in Iowa. I don’t want a guy not willing to win the job on my team.
Nah, it’s on Fitz for having the offensive talent cupboard as empty as it is
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a quarterback sweep work. And that wasn’t a busted play, it was clearly a quarterback sweep.
We spent three years or so criticizing a mediocre offensive line, and then lost our best one to the portal. On the QB sweep, literally one Wildcat player (Covey) executed his block successfully.
On that play Lang, who is a tall guy who motions, and not a tight end, lined up in a three point stance, a true tight end. The left side defensive end basically bull rushed Lang immediately, driving him into both Wrather and Thompson. So one Duke DE took out the three down linemen in the direction of the play. Thompson was trying to engage the wrong guy anyway, and his assignment was in the backfield immediately.
Gordon totally whiffed on his dude — who made the tackle. And lead blocker Porter actually laid a decent shoulder on a dude, but he had to deal with three. Again, three guys were neutralized by one Blue Devil, basically on the snap.
Wright went backwards rather than diving, meaning that there was no choice but to call a pass on fourth. If he had gone to the ground when it was apparent that nothing good was coming (which was immediately), it could have been 4th and 5 and the run would be a possibility. But there were literally five untouched Blue defenders running full speed at him — and he went backwards trying to make a play. You can’t really blame him, because his coach and his OL and his TEs all let him down. But he could have been better.
So, it was a bad call, executed poorly, by a team without much blocking talent. A triple-whammy.
I’ve watched the play 30 times because I hate myself.
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This is the deep cut answer. Who was the last good high school QB we recruited? Thorson? Fitz got saved by a string of solid transfer QBs but man he had like an 8-year drought recruiting the position.
Wright just does not have a feel for the game. No instincts. On the 2nd play after we blocked the punt Wright got a little pressure when tried to pass and had Marshall Lange about the three yd line with position on the safety over the middle. Not a long or hard throw and Wright threw the ball to the left in between two Blue Devils should have been picked. I was like where the hell did he throw that ball. He actually should have had 3 or 4 picked last night.
We have an opponent next week that we should take care of pretty easily. I want to see Lausch get meaningful reps and if he does well keep him in there. Start Wright on the road against Washington, then you have a week off before Indiana and if Lausch is the guy then ride him all the way. We have to see if he can be the guy next year otherwise we gotta hit the portal again. May do that anyway but with Wright what you see is what your gonna get a not very good QB.
We have an opponent next week that we should take care of pretty easily. I want to see Lausch get meaningful reps and if he does well keep him in there. Start Wright on the road against Washington, then you have a week off before Indiana and if Lausch is the guy then ride him all the way. We have to see if he can be the guy next year otherwise we gotta hit the portal again. May do that anyway but with Wright what you see is what your gonna get a not very good QB.
Key point!
NU has had success only with strong QB play (1995, but not 1996, the clear exception). In the NIL era, it will be exceedingly difficult to retain strong QBs. They will run to the money. We all know Boo is a very rare exception, a kid who stays at NU and passes on the millions available elsewhere.
NIL has placed a cap on NU’s potential future success. If we recruit a great QB, we better excell in his early years before he transfers. We are not going to keep him and his likes are not coming to NU through the portal.
This is the same thing on repeat for NU football. Excellent D that gives our O a chance to win most games. If we have a good QB we win 7+ and bowl games. If we don’t we win like 3 games or less.
The thing is, when you look at the transfer portal, you see we lost some pretty good players, including our best one who was pissed Anderson was being let go.
But we brought in some men who, on paper, sure sound good. Look at the incoming OL transfers.
WildcatReport: Northwestern Wildcats Football & Basketball Recruiting - 2023-24 Northwestern Transfer Tracker
WildcatReport is tracking the players who are coming into or leaving the Wildcat program through the transfer portal.
I still can't let it go. And this is to a team that has caused us so much heartbreak in years past.
Duke missed field goals, dropped 1st downs, dropped touchdowns, dropped passes that would have gone for big yardage and dropped many interceptions. They coughed up the ball twice deep in their territory. Once, to our credit, we took advantage of it. The other time, DING off the crossbar even though we got the ball AT THE SEVEN.
Porter - 8 carries in regulation. (Eight!)
Plus we seem chaotic on the sideline, remember how we did not get a play in after an incomplete pass on 1st down and needed to call a timeout? And then two plays later we choose to run the ball on 3rd and 8.
I'll get over it, but I'm still mad.
Duke missed field goals, dropped 1st downs, dropped touchdowns, dropped passes that would have gone for big yardage and dropped many interceptions. They coughed up the ball twice deep in their territory. Once, to our credit, we took advantage of it. The other time, DING off the crossbar even though we got the ball AT THE SEVEN.
Porter - 8 carries in regulation. (Eight!)
Plus we seem chaotic on the sideline, remember how we did not get a play in after an incomplete pass on 1st down and needed to call a timeout? And then two plays later we choose to run the ball on 3rd and 8.
I'll get over it, but I'm still mad.
Great post highlighting all disturbing aspects of that key play. Beating a dead horse, but more than 12 hours later I cannot recall an NU playcall on offense as asinine and plain moronic as this one. We've had our share of head scratchers with Bajakian, McCall et al., including the slow QB or slow RB sweep, but I cannot recall a pivotal offensive play call as, well, offensive WTF-was-our-OC-thinking as the one last night. Anyone recall one as bad at a critical juncture of a game as that?
That idiotic call was a prime example of keep doing what is working (run Porter up the middle in the heavy package) until they can stop it.
Puke's D has pretty good sideline to sideline speed, but can be manhandled.
Know that Lujan is relatively young, but that's a pretty elementary thing (Braun should have overruled him).
Someone needs to update Lujan on all the failures on critical short yardage plays due to bad/missed blocking.
Puke's D has pretty good sideline to sideline speed, but can be manhandled.
Know that Lujan is relatively young, but that's a pretty elementary thing (Braun should have overruled him).
Someone needs to update Lujan on all the failures on critical short yardage plays due to bad/missed blocking.
Actually, I would be surprised if this wasn’t just a blown assignment by Lang. This simply looks like outside zone. Everyone on the offensive line runs outside zone right except for lang who blocks down like it’s a gap play.
You can see Wrather running OZ to #97 and Lang ends up blocking down on him. That’s not by design.
If Lang blocks out like everyone else is doing then it’s body on body between Wrather, Lang, Gordon and Covey on 4 Duke defenders and then you have Porter leading Wright outside to pick up and backside pursuit from the linebackers. And then it’s a race to the pylon for Wright.
Lang was bitching the entire game about not getting the ball. Makes me wonder where his head was on that play.
