Back with the first installment of this years season.
Last year I spent time breaking down the offense, but this year with the offense being stellar and the defense being the one that people are worried about I am going to give a few notes about the O', and breakdown the D's performance.
Offense:
Wow, is about all I can say. They came out like a ball of fire and could of hung 55 on NIU easily. With 2 missed fgs and two fumbles inside the 5 yd. line that is 20 pts we left on the field.
QB's: A+
Troy Smith gets an A+ for his performance. The work he put in the film room is really paying off. He knows when his receivers are coming open and just hits them in stride. Also he only ran the ball one time yesterday on an option play. I can promise that we will see more of that dimension next week. If he has another good performance next week while leading us to a win, I think you would put him as the frontrunner for the heisman.
Justin Zwick - you just have to feel for the kid. That is all there is too it.
RB's: A- for fumble
Pittman - continued where he left off last year, but he looks even better this year.
B. Wells - is going to be a stud, great in short yardage, but needs to hold on to the football.
M. Wells - I see where all the talk was about him improving. He is great in space and I like how the staff is finding ways to get him the ball.
WR's - A
Ginn - Just being Ginn. He can get behind just about anyone man vs. man. He has really improved as a WR and is going to have a big year.
Gonzo - Just being Gonzo. Has great hands and runs great routes.
Robo - What great hands he has. He is going to have a big year.
Hartline - What a first play for him. Another good one.
Small - Showed his elusiveness and that he is not scared to take a hit. He is going to be a good one.
TE: - B
Nicol - Very good blocking, but drops can kill a drive. I know he was slipping and made the other 2 nice catches, I just don't like to see that. He will be ok tho.
OL - A.
Smith was only under pressure once all day I think and that was b/c they did a little stunt and Boone didnt pick it up. Overall this line is great and Shaeffer has really picked up his game. I think we play 6 all year long, to give guys a little rest.
Overall the offensive unit is going to be tough for anyone to stop. Way too many weapons. If we are stopped it is b/c we stop ourselves.
Defense:
The Defense was faced with 11 total drives for the game. Out of them 11 drives they broke down like this:
1 TD
2 FG
1 INT
1 TOD
5 Punts
1 halftime
We forced 3 3 and outs and 7 of the drives were 5 plays or less.
We forced NIU into 1/14 I believe on 3rd Down.
But they were 3/4 on Fourth.
Also NIU was inside the 20 4 times and game away with only 12 pts. That is pretty impressive.
I counted 5 sacks on the day ( Gholston 2, J Rich, Denlinger, Wilson).
- B Mitch also had the one on the 2 point conversion
- We also forced them to throw the ball away 3 times with pressure.
I counted 6 TFL (J Rich, Barrow, Freeman, Gholston, D. Patterson)
One thing about the game was that we played 20 guys in the first half. They were rotating like crazy, I think to get film on all the guys and see where they are best suited. That is not an ideal situation and will cause your team to give up some big plays, which is what happened.
I think at times we lost our focus being up and after stopping them fairly easy on the first couple drives. I don't envision this happening in bigger games.
- Here is a breakdown of the big plays for NIU.
I counted 14 big plays of 10 or more yds. That is way too many.
11 of them went through Wolfe, 2 to the TE and 1 was the stupid PF penalty on JRich.
First I am sure you guys all remember the 2 big swing passess, well the DE didnt recognize that they were screen passes and attacked the qb's and the safeties and LB's were either getting blocked or taking bad angles. The good thing about this is that they tried about 3 or so more swing passes and everyone was ready for them then.
Then Wolfe had 5 runs for 10 or more. I think 4/5 were to the outside or he bounced them out. The middle was clogged, but the outside run support from the OLB's and the safeties was not there at times. Reasons for this were, LB's out of position. I can think of 3 times were Terry was in there and was walled down inside. There was also missed tackles from safeties and overrunning of plays. The best thing on the long run of Wolfe's was that no one gave up and they caught him from behind.
The two plays to the TE were plays were it seems that our D is always vunerable at times, right up the seam. They were just good calls by the O. cordinator.
the 2 other plays were 4th down conversions. We were right there on the first one, but Horvath fit it in a tight space and the guy held on.
The second of the 2 was the worst play of the game IMO. Freeman and B Mitch were right there and Wolfe juked the shit out of them.
Overall you have to give props to Wolfe as he is a good back, also account for all the in and out and no sort of continuity in terms of who was playing beside you and the fact that some of these guys were in their first game. I think we could cut these plays in half.
DE's: B+
At times they were all over the QB especially Gholston and JRich, but there were too many times when they let Wolfe get outside of them and lost contain getting walled down inside. I think next week we are going to stick with a rotation of Gholston, JRich, Wilson and Barrow will get some snaps here and there, not nearly as many as this week.
We have the best set of pass rushers from DE's we have had in the past couple years and they are going to be all over opposing qbs. Gholston was beating that stud LT at times like he was a rb. Very pleased with these guys.
DT's: A-
These guys controlled the game inside. They took on double teams all game and when they got through or the play broke outside you seen them running around trying to make the play. I think Patterson and Pitcock are the best pair of DT's in the country. They are extremely quick off the ball and are very disruptive. They push the pocket everytime and I think there was only one big run play up the middle. Penton was also solid as usual when he was in there. I also think come big ten season Denlinger is going to see more and more time. He is the next future stud at DT and he could end up better than the two we have now. It seems just about everytime I see him, he makes a big play.
LB's: C+
This was tough to judge with all 6 guys playing their fair share of snaps. I thought Freeman looked the best even tho he was taken out of some plays. He seems to read the best and had a couple big hits. In a way I think he was favoring his knee some and just needed a feel for some game action. The only play I was really disspaointed with him was the 4th and goal.
Kerr: He was solid as I thought he would be, and makes some good reads, but at times he is blocked to easily and is a step slow.
Animal Jr.: He played fairly well at the Mike position, but at times he got walled off when a play would be forced back inside. He seems to read well and can make a tackle when there, but it is just a matter of shedding blocks at time. I give him a B- for his performance, with lots of room for improvement, but a good start.
Homan: I think he was still nursing that injury a little bit. I think he has the potential to be a stud, but not yet.
Grant: I saw some great things out of him yesterday, but some not so good things. I think that by Big Ten season he could be starting in place of Kerr.
Terry: Really dissapointed, he seems to have worked hard in the weight room to get bigger and seems to have his head where it needs to be, but at times on the field he just looked overmatched, missing tackles and getting destroyed on blocks. I think this game was about as much pt as he will see in a game all year, unless it is a blowout.
Overall we have lots of talent, it is just going to be finding a group and sticking with them. My group would be the guys that started and bring Grant and Homan in at times, but don't rotate like we did against NIU.
S's: B
B Mitch: I think he played a great game. There were a couple times where he got picked off and blocked, but what safety doesnt. Also the 4th down play was a downer. But he was the only safety that was there in run support and he seemed to be there early and often. He also had some big hits. I think he is a main stay in the starting lineup unlike what some people thought before the season.
N. Patterson: At times looked slow with bad angles, and wasnt really there in run support. Overall I would give him an imcomplete b/c I think his specialty is more pass coverage which wasnt a negative in the game.
JamO: All the athletic ability in the world, but the light hasnt clicked yet. I think he is a gunner that tries that on the field, and at times doesnt read right and gets blocked too easily.
A Russell: I seeing him being the nickel back for most of the year. He has the ability to help in run support and I would like to see them bring him on the blitz a lil more.
CB's: B
Jenkins: was just being solid ole Jenkins, helping out with the run and was very good in Coverage.
Smith: He is very solid opposite Jenkins. I don't see any reason why he doesnt keep this job all year.
Washington: He also looked good at times much like Smith. Maybe if he has more talent than Smith he takes his job, but right now I think Smith stays as the starter and Washington will see time in the dime.
Good Things:
- We have a ton of guys that can play, and they are young so all they want to do is go out there and run like bad asses to the football. Sometimes they get blocked, but they are flying around out there on Defense which is a great thing to see.
-Overall I thought that Freeman and B Mitch were the best two in the back 7 in terms of against the run.
- I also love the pressure from the d-line and the push up the middle. I don't see many teams beating us up the middle of our defense. I envision it being aroudn the outside. But with our speed I would think that will be correctable in terms of some faster reads and shedding of blocks.
- NIU didnt get hardly anything thru the air, a combo of good pass rush and good coverage. I think our secondary is much better in coverage than stopping the run.
Negatives:
- Way too many big plays. I think they will cut them in half, b/c I think alot had to do with lose of focus, trying too hard, rotating a lot of guys and just the fact that Wolfe is one of the best rb's in the game and we were getting a lot of guys their first meaningful snaps of their college career.
- TO's we created one, but we need more. I would like to see the lineman go for the ball a little big more when making a sack, or maybe the db's make a break or two when a ball is in the air.
Overall I was very happy with the way we showed in this game. We had a team come out and hit us in the mouth, and we saw some weaknesses and some stregths. The coaches got a lot of good film to go off of. Next week I envision about 15-17 guys in the rotation and not quite as many rotations. I think the D will be ready, but I think that O is going to need to put up some points, which I think they are very capable of. Should be another great showdown between us and Tejas.
GO BUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is great to have football back.
thx
