It's going to be tough because Duke will fight till the end, and maybe a tweak better than Purdue, but it's at Ryan Field so it's ours to lose. Don't underestimate Purdue, they are a good team that will go 6-6 and go to a bowl. We should be 3+ point favs.
If our defense tackle the same way and our pressure on the QB is the same, and we take our foot off the gas, then we will have our hands full. On the other hand if we" play to our potential" (what a great phrase) then we have a chance to win. and if our o-line doesn't get "eaten up by their d-line" (ESPN's comments) then we also have a chance to win. One week to digest the Army game and plan our strategy.
Our complete 2 deep CB were out. Trai Williams eventually played the second half (wasn't suppose to play and didn't play the first half). Our starting safety was out, then McGee got tossed out early for a high blow. Then the LB's started blowing their assignements due to the disarray behind them and Danile Jones ran like Fran Tarkenton. Toss in the ungodly humidity and Iv's once again and we pretty much wanted the clock to wind down and just flush the game.
I gotta think that our tackling will be fine. We only tackled in practice a few times this year so my guess is that we weren't up to live action yet. OTOH, we came into the Prudue game healthier than ever so I'll take the health and compromise the tackling and full contact in practice if we can get away with poor tackling and a Bigten win.
It's college football, it happens. Our Duke game last year was identical to Ohio State's Iowa game. Sometimes you get obliterated in all phases by a worse team.
Jones killed NU when he got out of the pocket. They need to contain him and force him to make throws
I was also disappointed in our tackling. It was surprisingly bad in the first half. Then we had trouble shedding blocks in the third. Their offense seemed to tire out more than our defense in the fourth. Which I liked.
I had no problem with the pass rush. While we only had two sacks, I think all three interceptions were a direct result of qb pressure and I think that Purdue had to change their game plan due solely to our pass rush.
I did not see us taking our foot off the gas in play calling. We were trying pass plays that were not being completed. The receivers are being covered well man-to-man and the windows are very small for our quarterbacks. This was the most concerning thing to me from this game. Duke's secondary could be stronger than Purdue's so I would expect to see a lot of man-to-man with a crowded line of scrimmage. In a perfect world, we will burn them deep a couple of times in the first quarter and force them to adjust on the fly. I worry whether we have that capability.
Agree that they tried to go for it again in the 2nd half but the QB shuffle seemed to hold them down. Thinking the most important thing next Saturday will be seeing more Thorson and less Green. Contain their running QB and have Thorson control the game like he did in the early 1st quarter on Thursday and NU will get another W.
Army didn’t play anyone good last year, except for Duke,and beat em! They also got smoked by Ohio State
You missed a good season.
Yeah, last year NU had the LT playing Guard, the current Center playing LT, and a true First Year in his second ever game at RT. All the same guys but now playing in their correct positions with more experience. Throw out the OL performance of early last season due to the stupidity of a failed experiment.
I don't see that; I see reasonable explanations for why we lost. Not that we would have won if any specific thing had changed.
If NU plays the way they did against Purdue they will lose by 2 TDs. Very sloppy tackling and conservative play calling.
I dont agree, in this particular game, with the explanations, as they are mostly NU focused on what we didnt do or lacked , vs what Duke DID do (kick our asses)
I am not ready to call this one a loss and start focusing on Akron just yet. I believe we match up well with a good Duke team. If we play poorly, we lose. If we play well, we can win. If both teams play well, then we have a heck of a game to watch.
Uh, you do know teams change from year to year, correct? Army lost 4 of 5 O-lineman from last year an are changing theit entite offensive scheme because of it. They are predicted to not be anywhere near as good as they were last year, and played a mistake filled game vs. Duke despite being nearly even in yardage.
