Well, we are 4-0

[EvanstonCat]

And NIU played dOSU tight, so I guess I'll take it.

Positives:
1. We won
2. Thorson showed some life and started putting it together
3. We won

Negatives:
1. our D was not as strong as I had come to expect. Hope this was a fluke, because I still do not have confidence in our offense
2. we gave up 16 and too many explosion plays to Ball fricking State. Way too close a game for my comfort given the quality of the competition
3. the Ball State D was not elite. TAMU put up 56 on them
4. for much of the game, the O was terrible. The turnovers almost killed us.

If we drop in the rankings, I wouldn't be at all surprised. We won, but not a good game at all in my opinion.

 

[NorthNJCatsfan]

# 2 is a B1G positive. However, your Negative list omitted #5--Injuries. On balance, a disappointing outcome.

 

[CoralSpringsCat]

I view it as another stepping stone in the progression of Thorson. It was an exciting third quarter...hopefully a glimps of what we will continue to see in the future. Could have easily been 4 td's for the Mighty Thorson if not for the drop by Shuler.

 

[TheC]

I view it as another stepping stone in the progression of Thorson. It was an exciting third quarter...hopefully a glimps of what we will continue to see in the future. Could have easily been 4 td's for the Mighty Thorson if not for the drop by Shuler.

5 if you count the miss of a wide open McHugh. I think that 2nd half will give him some confidence. He even executed that game ending drive really well I thought.

 

[NJCat83588]

And NIU played dOSU tight, so I guess I'll take it.

Positives:
1. We won
2. Thorson showed some life and started putting it together
3. We won

Negatives:
1. our D was not as strong as I had come to expect. Hope this was a fluke, because I still do not have confidence in our offense
2. we gave up 16 and too many explosion plays to Ball fricking State. Way too close a game for my comfort given the quality of the competition
3. the Ball State D was not elite. TAMU put up 56 on them
4. for much of the game, the O was terrible. The turnovers almost killed us.

If we drop in the rankings, I wouldn't be at all surprised. We won, but not a good game at all in my opinion.

What a bizarre game. The first have was complete crap on offense. Thankfully the BSU kicker can't kick. The defense played well but injuries took their toll.

The third quarter was the best NU has played offensively all season. Played fast, mixed run and pass, stretched the field. Really pretty.

The Mitchell FG miss almost killed the Cats. But the blocked PAT after the false start was a thing of beauty.

BSU took advantage of the short NU corners by just playing jump ball with their tall receivers. They were "covered" all day but just out jumped NU for catches.

Park had a bad game. Many, many bad snaps which threw off the timing on pass plays.

Not a pretty game. Hopefully they were just flat.

As an aside, the crowd was pretty subdued. Good student turn-out, and most stayed till the 4th quarter. But the rest of the stands were quiet. I really thought at half-time there would be boos, but it was just kind of dead. Probably the worst home field crowd I have seen.

 

[mikewebb68]

And NIU played dOSU tight, so I guess I'll take it.

Positives:
1. We won
2. Thorson showed some life and started putting it together
3. We won

Negatives:
1. our D was not as strong as I had come to expect. Hope this was a fluke, because I still do not have confidence in our offense
2. we gave up 16 and too many explosion plays to Ball fricking State. Way too close a game for my comfort given the quality of the competition
3. the Ball State D was not elite. TAMU put up 56 on them
4. for much of the game, the O was terrible. The turnovers almost killed us.

If we drop in the rankings, I wouldn't be at all surprised. We won, but not a good game at all in my opinion.

No comments on the positives:

On the negatives:

1. You know Ball State was averaging 466 yrds and 33 pts a game coming in, correct? And that was with playing the wrong QB for a good amount of time during those games. We weren't going to give 5pts a game throughout the season, and this is was a classic trap game with Ball State playing the correct QB and a primary receiver who looked to be far better than any receiver on our team/
2. See above. I will also add that, on two of the explosion plays (and a few other plays) Deonte Gibson was not merely held-- his blocker grabbed on to him and held on tight for the entire play.
3. Are you equating A&M's offense to ours at this point? I thought that our offense played well considering we lost yet another lineman early...Also the refs AND the replay booth flat out missing a Christian Jones catch when we were rolling took all of the air out of our momentum. (the SAME official almost screwed up another one by saying the ball hit the ground (lol wut??).
4. I'll give you that the offense was horrific in the first half. But good teams are resilient, and we were a different offense the second half.

It was a sloppy game, we had a ton of injuries to key positions, and the refs officiated like we were on the road. But good teams find a way to win when everything is stacked against them (as it was after that inexplicable late first half gaff).

 

[Catreporter]

No comments on the positives:

On the negatives:

1. You know Ball State was averaging 466 yrds and 33 pts a game coming in, correct? And that was with playing the wrong QB for a good amount of time during those games. We weren't going to give 5pts a game throughout the season, and this is was a classic trap game with Ball State playing the correct QB and a primary receiver who looked to be far better than any receiver on our team/
2. See above. I will also add that, on two of the explosion plays (and a few other plays) Deonte Gibson was not merely held-- his blocker grabbed on to him and held on tight for the entire play.
3. Are you equating A&M's offense to ours at this point? I thought that our offense played well considering we lost yet another lineman early...Also the refs AND the replay booth flat out missing a Christian Jones catch when we were rolling took all of the air out of our momentum. (the SAME official almost screwed up another one by saying the ball hit the ground (lol wut??).
4. I'll give you that the offense was horrific in the first half. But good teams are resilient, and we were a different offense the second half.

It was a sloppy game, we had a ton of injuries to key positions, and the refs officiated like we were on the road. But good teams find a way to win when everything is stacked against them (as it was after that inexplicable late first half gaff).

My biggest positive is that our young quarterback actually went out and made throws that won us a close game in the second half. I hope that gives him and the coaches confidence going forward because we have to establish a downfield passing game to keep teams hoinest against our run game.

 

[IGNORE2]

That was a great 3rd Q. I thought CT looked better all game. Lots of dropped balls in the first half. The fumbles were frustrating and CT should have had at least two picks, maybe three, but he also made some impressive plays and decisions. I feel a little better about CT heading into B1G play. But what happened to the D?

vanHoose got schooled a couple of times, while I thought Harris held his own despite the height difference. It also seemed like our D studs either got hurt or played listless. Lowry had a nice game - but not a Lowry game. Walker was very quiet. I hope Godwin is ok. I'm ready to see a little more of Westerphal. I feel for Quiero - that looked painful.

I didn't see all the holding described above - but I did see a few. A buddy that played told me there is holding on every play - I believe him. I thought the D impressed at times and made me cringe at times. That BSU didn't score TDs throughout the first half after marching deep into the redzone was impressive. Kinda bend, don't break.

But I'm really nervous about the injuries and the WR. Besides the obvious, how many more will show up after the adrenaline and endorphins were off? Liked some of what I saw from Nagel and Roberts. Concerned that both Dickersons might feel a bit banged up today.

But I'm excited about this season for it's potential. Not at all what I had expected. I hope it plays out to replace my Bears for football pleasure through January.

 

[hdhntr1]

vA

That was a great 3rd Q. I thought CT looked better all game. Lots of dropped balls in the first half. The fumbles were frustrating and CT should have had at least two picks, maybe three, but he also made some impressive plays and decisions. I feel a little better about CT heading into B1G play. But what happened to the D?

vanHoose got schooled a couple of times, while I thought Harris held his own despite the height difference. It also seemed like our D studs either got hurt or played listless. Lowry had a nice game - but not a Lowry game. Walker was very quiet. I hope Godwin is ok. I'm ready to see a little more of Westerphal. I feel for Quiero - that looked painful.

I didn't see all the holding described above - but I did see a few. A buddy that played told me there is holding on every play - I believe him. I thought the D impressed at times and made me cringe at times. That BSU didn't score TDs throughout the first half after marching deep into the redzone was impressive. Kinda bend, don't break.

But I'm really nervous about the injuries and the WR. Besides the obvious, how many more will show up after the adrenaline and endorphins were off? Liked some of what I saw from Nagel and Roberts. Concerned that both Dickersons might feel a bit banged up today.

But I'm excited about this season for it's potential. Not at all what I had expected. I hope it plays out to replace my Bears for football pleasure through January.

Van Hoose looked to be in the right place and in as good a position as he could be. That said, He was one on one with their top receiver on the two scores. Where was the safety? On that outstanding sideline catch, it was just a great high point play with excellent D. Great throw and catch. I would definitely not be surprised to see him on Sunday if he is consistent.

 

[Deeringfish]

vA

Van Hoose looked to be in the right place and in as good a position as he could be. That said, He was one on one with their top receiver on the two scores. Where was the safety? On that outstanding sideline catch, it was just a great high point play with excellent D. Great throw and catch. I would definitely not be surprised to see him on Sunday if he is consistent.

I'm not expert but I thought that VanHoose was in position on all the throws to #8. There were many throws where Van Hoose denied #8 the ball and it really was a battle between a good WR and a good DB. I would not be surprised to see at least one of them play on Sunday.

 

[hdhntr1]

I'm not expert but I thought that VanHoose was in position on all the throws to #8. There were many throws where Van Hoose denied #8 the ball and it really was a battle between a good WR and a good DB. I would not be surprised to see at least one of them play on Sunday.

I would suggest both

 

[hdhntr1]

My biggest positive is that our young quarterback actually went out and made throws that won us a close game in the second half. I hope that gives him and the coaches confidence going forward because we have to establish a downfield passing game to keep teams hoinest against our run game.

THat said, he still needs to clean up the mistakes. A lot of turnovers so far that luckily we have gotten away win. The INT looked like mis communication so that did not bother me like the fumbles.

 

[ricko654321]

vA

Van Hoose looked to be in the right place and in as good a position as he could be. That said, He was one on one with their top receiver on the two scores. Where was the safety? On that outstanding sideline catch, it was just a great high point play with excellent D. Great throw and catch. I would definitely not be surprised to see him on Sunday if he is consistent.

Yea 8 on their side is a heck of a receiver. Some people were saying they thought their QB was better than CT - I disagree with that, but 8 is certainly a better wideout than anyone on our team. We kept beating them deep (everyone has been increasingly stacking the box against us all year daring us to throw deep) and after a couple missteps (Shuler's drop and a miss by CT) we finally started connecting over the top.

And our DBs were in good position on 3 occasions against 8 but got out jumped or missed the ball. A lesson for NVH that when he's giving up a height differential he can't just be good, he's gotta be perfect. And that maybe we put Harris on the side of a taller WR cause he reduces the height advantage? Or else be a bit more cautious with our 3rd down blitzes and not leaving help over the top - though I've always wanted us to blitz more on 3rd downs in the past.

Also I echo the poster that commented on the holding of their OL - this wasn't just run of the mill holding, the one against Gibson on that TD play was egregious and absolutely should have been called.

1-0 though... Hope all the injured guys are okay and able to recover

 

[shakes3858]

I'm not expert but I thought that VanHoose was in position on all the throws to #8. There were many throws where Van Hoose denied #8 the ball and it really was a battle between a good WR and a good DB. I would not be surprised to see at least one of them play on Sunday.

The advantage in football goes to the receiver unless you have a double team. Van Hoose played well on some plays and made multiple stops. Other plays he got beat... but a WR that will be in the NFL next year. With the way the rules are in today's game, there are not a lot of players that will shut nobody in college is going to lock down an NFL WR without extra help over the top.

The only way to play that is to get extra pressure up front. Since Neal can run, you have to focus on contain and possibly put a spy on him making it difficult to get the proper pressure. Mobile QB plus good pass catching deep ball WR is a good combine.

In other words: With the current rules, defense is hard.

 

[NU 71 72 74]

Biggest positive in my mind is the great team chemistry. What we lost post the unfortunate loss to Ohio State we seem to have found in this 2015 team. Team chemistry, thumbs up !!

.02

and, Go Cats !!