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[The_Waterboy]

This from USA Today Sports, not exactly a bastion of pragmatism or expertise regarding out-of-the-box thinking for college football game evaluations...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/spor...otballs-week-5-winners-and-losers/720397001/#

Scroll down to section LOSERS then to paragraph "Situational awareness." To all the football coaching apologists on this board, when a milquetoast sports info outlet like USA Today Sports calls-out NU QB Clayton Thorson on his final 1 minute field play, that speaks volumes.

 

[NJCat]

This from USA Today Sports, not exactly a bastion of pragmatism or expertise regarding out-of-the-box thinking for college football game evaluations...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/spor...otballs-week-5-winners-and-losers/720397001/#

Scroll down to section LOSERS then to paragraph "Situational awareness." To all the football coaching apologists on this board, when a milquetoast sports info outlet like USA Today Sports calls-out NU QB Clayton Thorson on his final 1 minute field play, that speaks volumes.

Meh. Yes, it was a bad play. But the poor kid was getting his butt kicked all day long. He had to be a little shell-shocked by that point.

Homecoming is going to be U-G-L-Y.......

 

[Sheffielder]

I believe that last play will haunt Thorson the same way that wild pass against Indiana haunted Kafka...but Kafka turned out ok in the end...

 

[mickbula]

I think CThor will have the game of his life/career vs. PSU and will make all the negative posters on WR eat their comments. We will win vs PSU! Let's go Cats!!

 

[pawildcat]

Meh. Yes, it was a bad play. But the poor kid was getting his butt kicked all day long. He had to be a little shell-shocked by that point.

Homecoming is going to be U-G-L-Y.......

Yeah, it's usually not a great idea to schedule the defending league champion for homecoming, I suppose they would have schedule Ohio State if NU was playing them this season.

 

[pawildcat]

This from USA Today Sports, not exactly a bastion of pragmatism or expertise regarding out-of-the-box thinking for college football game evaluations...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/spor...otballs-week-5-winners-and-losers/720397001/#

Scroll down to section LOSERS then to paragraph "Situational awareness." To all the football coaching apologists on this board, when a milquetoast sports info outlet like USA Today Sports calls-out NU QB Clayton Thorson on his final 1 minute field play, that speaks volumes.

Looking at another section of that story, do you think LSU might finally drop out of the top 25 after losing to Troy?

 

[willycat]

Looking at another section of that story, do you think LSU might finally drop out of the top 25 after losing to Troy?

TSISB, will probably move up to #1 after there blowout win over powerhouse Miami, Ohio.

 

[NJCat]

Looking at another section of that story, do you think LSU might finally drop out of the top 25 after losing to Troy?

As bad as yesterday was for an NU fan, it was worse for both LSU and Tennessee......

 

[NJCat]

This from USA Today Sports, not exactly a bastion of pragmatism or expertise regarding out-of-the-box thinking for college football game evaluations...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/spor...otballs-week-5-winners-and-losers/720397001/#

Scroll down to section LOSERS then to paragraph "Situational awareness." To all the football coaching apologists on this board, when a milquetoast sports info outlet like USA Today Sports calls-out NU QB Clayton Thorson on his final 1 minute field play, that speaks volumes.

In another USA story, NU makes the misery index:

Northwestern: In a weird way, this is arguably one of the best jobs in college football. You can recruit high-quality, smart kids. You live in Chicago. You have just seen the school start construction on a $270 million athletics complex. And you're under absolutely no pressure to compete for Big Ten titles. That’s a good chunk of why Pat Fitzgerald has stayed at his alma mater for 12 seasons, enduring some ups and downs but mostly winning at a high enough level to keep people happy. But Northwestern, a team that become the chic pick to win the Big Ten West this summer, doesn’t look like itself right now. Though there was some spark in a fourth-quarter comeback attempt at Wisconsin, falling behind 31-10 in the first place continued the trends from earlier this season when Northwestern got hammered by Duke and nearly lost to Nevada. Maybe the Wildcats will pull it together in the second half of the season, but it now looks like a lot of people whiffed on evaluating this team and quarterback Clayton Thorson, who continues to look more like a physical NFL prototype more than a functional high-level passer.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/spor...oses-lsus-flawed-hiring-ed-orgeron/721059001/

 

[Windy City Cat Fan]

As bad as yesterday was for an NU fan, it was worse for both LSU and Tennessee......

Why is losing to a top 15 program on the road by single digits after having the ball in your possession with possibly a chance to tie the game so terrible? Getting blown out by a mediocre Duke team was bad, losing a reasonably close game to a very good Wisconsin team not really anything to be ashamed of.

 

[pawildcat]

Why is losing to a top 15 program on the road by single digits after having the ball in your possession with possibly a chance to tie the game so terrible? Getting blown out by a mediocre Duke team was bad, losing a reasonably close game to a very good Wisconsin team not really anything to be ashamed of.

Losing to a good Wisconsin team is not the end of the world, but getting manhandled for much of the second half is not good. NU has yet to prove it can run-block against anything but a mediocre defensive front.

 

[NUCat320]

In another USA story, NU makes the misery index:

Northwestern: In a weird way, this is arguably one of the best jobs in college football. You can recruit high-quality, smart kids. You live in Chicago. You have just seen the school start construction on a $270 million athletics complex. And you're under absolutely no pressure to compete for Big Ten titles. That’s a good chunk of why Pat Fitzgerald has stayed at his alma mater for 12 seasons, enduring some ups and downs but mostly winning at a high enough level to keep people happy. But Northwestern, a team that become the chic pick to win the Big Ten West this summer, doesn’t look like itself right now. Though there was some spark in a fourth-quarter comeback attempt at Wisconsin, falling behind 31-10 in the first place continued the trends from earlier this season when Northwestern got hammered by Duke and nearly lost to Nevada. Maybe the Wildcats will pull it together in the second half of the season, but it now looks like a lot of people whiffed on evaluating this team and quarterback Clayton Thorson, who continues to look more like a physical NFL prototype more than a functional high-level passer.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/spor...oses-lsus-flawed-hiring-ed-orgeron/721059001/

Firm but fair.

 

[MRCat95]

I believe that last play will haunt Thorson the same way that wild pass against Indiana haunted Kafka...but Kafka turned out ok in the end...

Seriously? I forgot about that Kafka/Indiana play a day after it happened until you just brought it up, and I have a way above average NU football memory. It hardly haunted Kafka as he went on to become the entire NU offense in 2009 and help the team secure 8 wins on his way to All Big Ten accolades.

I'll hardly remember Thorson's safety a week from now. Focusing on that play is fandom at its most moronic.

How about that chop block penalty in the 3rd quarter that negated a critical 3rd down conversion that was far more important than that Thorson safety?

How about our NFL-bound Safety ignoring his responsibility on 3rd down and 3 (biting on the play-action fake) and letting a wide receiver run free behind him?

How about the other half dozen mistakes or missed opportunities that were way more critical than the Thorson safety?

Best case, NU had less than a minute (without time outs) to get the ball to its own 40-45 yard line in hopes of getting one shot at a ~60 yard Hail Mary heave (with perhaps a 1-2% chance of success). That's just to get to OT (or get a 2 point conversion).

 

[MRCat95]

This from USA Today Sports, not exactly a bastion of pragmatism or expertise regarding out-of-the-box thinking for college football game evaluations...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/spor...otballs-week-5-winners-and-losers/720397001/#

Scroll down to section LOSERS then to paragraph "Situational awareness." To all the football coaching apologists on this board, when a milquetoast sports info outlet like USA Today Sports calls-out NU QB Clayton Thorson on his final 1 minute field play, that speaks volumes.

Speaks volumes about what? That a 21 year old kid after being hit about 15-20 times on a lovely Saturday afternoon brain-farted?

 

[D_C_B]

Meh. Yes, it was a bad play. But the poor kid was getting his butt kicked all day long. He had to be a little shell-shocked by that point.

Homecoming is going to be U-G-L-Y.......

Look on the bright side. It'll be a throwback to the bad old days and everybody will flee the stadium for the parking lot tailgates in the middle of Q2 - just like when we were in school!

 

[Hungry Jack]

This from USA Today Sports, not exactly a bastion of pragmatism or expertise regarding out-of-the-box thinking for college football game evaluations...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/spor...otballs-week-5-winners-and-losers/720397001/#

Scroll down to section LOSERS then to paragraph "Situational awareness." To all the football coaching apologists on this board, when a milquetoast sports info outlet like USA Today Sports calls-out NU QB Clayton Thorson on his final 1 minute field play, that speaks volumes.

Meh. Shooting fish in a barrel there. Too easy to forget that these are kids running around there. They have lapses in judgment.

 

[Sheffielder]

Seriously? I forgot about that Kafka/Indiana play a day after it happened until you just brought it up, and I have a way above average NU football memory. It hardly haunted Kafka as he went on to become the entire NU offense in 2009 and help the team secure 8 wins on his way to All Big Ten accolades.

I'll hardly remember Thorson's safety a week from now. Focusing on that play is fandom at its most moronic.

How about that chop block penalty in the 3rd quarter that negated a critical 3rd down conversion that was far more important than that Thorson safety?

How about our NFL-bound Safety ignoring his responsibility on 3rd down and 3 (biting on the play-action fake) and letting a wide receiver run free behind him?

How about the other half dozen mistakes or missed opportunities that were way more critical than the Thorson safety?

Best case, NU had less than a minute (without time outs) to get the ball to its own 40-45 yard line in hopes of getting one shot at a ~60 yard Hail Mary heave (with perhaps a 1-2% chance of success). That's just to get to OT (or get a 2 point conversion).

To be clear, that was the point...Kafka went on to an excellent NU career, popping that boner at IU was surely embarrassing but hopefully brighter days are ahead.

 

[NUCat320]

To be clear, that was the point...Kafka went on to an excellent NU career, popping that boner at IU was surely embarrassing but hopefully brighter days are ahead.

Cool. That's how I read your post, but I wasn't sure.

In the pantheon of soul-crushing, late-game hilarity, Thorson's safety certainly ranks below Kafka's "which way did I throw it?" fumble at Indiana, and behind the failed throwback hook-and-ladder in the 2013 "wait, now we didn't even cover?" Gameday loss against Ohio State.

Refresher: http://thebiglead.com/2013/10/05/ohio-state-covered-against-northwestern-on-bizarre-final-play/

 

[pawildcat]

Seriously? I forgot about that Kafka/Indiana play a day after it happened until you just brought it up, and I have a way above average NU football memory. It hardly haunted Kafka as he went on to become the entire NU offense in 2009 and help the team secure 8 wins on his way to All Big Ten accolades.

I'll hardly remember Thorson's safety a week from now. Focusing on that play is fandom at its most moronic.

How about that chop block penalty in the 3rd quarter that negated a critical 3rd down conversion that was far more important than that Thorson safety?

How about our NFL-bound Safety ignoring his responsibility on 3rd down and 3 (biting on the play-action fake) and letting a wide receiver run free behind him?

How about the other half dozen mistakes or missed opportunities that were way more critical than the Thorson safety?

Best case, NU had less than a minute (without time outs) to get the ball to its own 40-45 yard line in hopes of getting one shot at a ~60 yard Hail Mary heave (with perhaps a 1-2% chance of success). That's just to get to OT (or get a 2 point conversion).

Agree that there seems to be an unfair amount of emphasis on this play. Since a field goal wouldn't have helped, there was almost zero chance NU could have pulled out the game. If NU had won the game or Wisconsin had been 30 points ahead, it probably wouldn't have been more than a footnote.

Case in point. I was at a Division II game Saturday watching my undergrad alma mater, Shippensburg, hand Lock Haven a pounding. Late in the third quarter, the Ship punt returner decided he'd field a punt at the Ship 10. There was a strong wind blowing, which affected play all game, and with a 31-6 Shippensburg lead there was no reason in the world for the kid to field the punt as turnovers were the only possible way for Lock Haven to get back in the game. He muffed the punt, giving Lock Haven the ball at the 9, but fortunately LH, which couldn't get out of its own way offensively the whole game, ended up going backward due to penalties and TFL. Ship won, 37-6, and nobody will remember the muffed punt for long. Had a close game been lost over it, the story obviously would be completely different.

 

[phatcat]

Looking at another section of that story, do you think LSU might finally drop out of the top 25 after losing to Troy?

No. They lost to a team that beat an SEC team, so Troy cannot be that bad