Northwestern fan-site preview of todays game -
October 1, 2004
BCS Bowl - Part #1
In the 2004 preseason, many among the Wildcat nation predicted a 7, 8, even 9 win campaign to be capped-off by a higher quality post season bowl bid. Needless to say, owning to the current single victory record of the 2004 football 'Cats, those high aspirations have been tempered greatly. And with the latest debacle against the Minnie Mighty Marmots still fresh in mind, many are looking under rocks, rubbing rabbits' feet, burning incense and offering sacrifices to whatever football gods that be to salvage what has been, to this point in time, a very disappointing campaign.
Well, buck-up my Purple-clad friends, the 2004 Wildcats are still eligible to play in a BCS-level bowl game … and they qualify for this honor merely by being a card-carrying member of the Big 10/11 conference.
This Saturday, da OSU BuckNuts make their bi-annual trek to the friendly confines of Dyche's Ditch to play what, in many minds among the Purple Populace, is NU's 2004 BCS Bowl Game.
Oh … the pageantry of a prime-time, national telecast game, the tailgating, the heightened expectations and flesh-pressing among everyone within Wildcat fandom, accented with animated conversations of the 'Cats' BIG opportunity to gain national recognition and crawl out from the deep depression of a heretofore disappointing season by handing the BuckNuts their first defeat of their 2004 campaign.
Oh my aching back …
Well, my friends, this commentary is gonna be brief - very brief. In games past, I've written extended diatribes espousing what the 'Cats could or should do to capture the flag of gridiron victory. Throughout this 2004 season, my weekly attempts at kicking the opinionated-strategy ball through the uprights of predictability have all sailed wide-right. If anything is certain regarding the 'Cats' 2004 football campaign, it's the uncertainty of the present NU coaching staff and their sometimes whacky, sometimes appropriate, sometimes off-the-wall, sometimes DOA, but always debatable gameplans which are rolled-out on game day. With past dubious personnel moves and even more dubious game time strategies (or in many cases, the lack of effective, adjustable strategies) which the current coaching regime has unveiled against our 2004 opponents still roiling in my synapses, I'm deviating from my usual commentary paradigm. Hell, it has become more than obvious that Cap'n Vlasic and his first mate OC Mike Dunbar and second mate DC Greg Colby sail the Purple Pökelboot to the mighty alternative winds of their own making rather than tacking with what might be construed as general football logic or prevailing strategic options that we, the common fan, might employ to garner victory.
So, as preface to NU's BCS Bowl game against the BuckNuts of dOSU, I'm simply gonna provide two or three liners regarding keys to victory and let the PickleMeister reveal his own. Lords knows most of what he's shown thus far in the 2004 season has been crafted and served-up from the bowels of his poop deck anyway…
NU vs. the BuckNuts - Keys to the Game
Love In An Elevator
Go Vertical, My Son … Go Vertical. If OC Mike Dunbar thinks that his business-as-usual controlled possession passing game of 6 and 10 yard square-outs is actually gonna move the ball against a very high quality BuckNut secondary and pass rush, then he should line-up himself behind center to take the snap and the face shots that are gonna be laid on a very throwing-arm weak Brett Basanez. If NU's passing attack doesn't press the issue downfield on a regular basis, the 'Cat offense will be dead as a doornail, and the national viewing public will switch their TV sets to something more entertaining and intriguing, like the new reality show: “Survivor XXIII: Escape from Sheboygan, Wisconsin.”
Azz In Gear
After posting my analysis of the TCU game, several player parents took extreme umbrage to my poor-attempt-at-humor reference of “Stuffed Pigs” given to their baby boys, who comprise NU's OL, after they had been thoroughly stuffed at the LOS by a smaller and what-proved-to-be much quicker and agile Horny Toad DL. In brief, what many predicted should have been a blitzkrieg rushing attack, spearheaded by these 6'4”, 300-plus lbs. behemoths, that should, coulda, woulda made road kill of that smaller Horny Toad DL, was neutralized BIG TIME into something less than average. Not this game fellas. The big, bad BuckNuts are gonna kick your underachieving, less-than stellar, “most experienced, veteran unit on NU's team” behinds into next week if you play your “average” game. Time to play to your potential and get your collective azzes in gear. Anything less and you'll be this week's road kill … and on national television.
No Mo' MIA
Immediately following last Saturday's train wreck against the Minnie Mighty Marmots, our very own Cap'n Vlasic stated that he decided to continue splitting NU's feature RB position between Noah “The Herring” Herron and Terrell Jordan because it was “best for the team.” That astute conclusion was made on the heels of a game where “The Herring” averaged more than 7 yards/carry while Jordan was stoned at 2 yards per. To me personally, it suggestst that our Master & Commander has lost contact with reality and with his team. Well Cap'n, upon your arrival in Evanston, you stated that there is little gray in your world, that things are pretty much “black and white.” Time to employ the weapons in your arsenal that make a consistent positive difference - like featuring “The Herring” in a rushing attack that uses both counter action and point-of-attack veer blocking schemes. Both have worked well against good defensive competition. Lord knows why these previously effective strategies become MIA on you and your first mate, OC Mike Dunbar during the course of a game.
Zap Zwick
One thing can be said with accuracy regarding the BuckNuts: their O is average. This is due in large part because their starting QB, Justin Zwick, just isn't living-up to all the overblown hype heaped upon him from his halcyon high school days. I've seen him play against my H.S. alma mater in the state playoff semi's in his senior year. He was stoned by a focused T-E-A-M comprised of lesser talent strictly because he got heavy lumber swing straight into his mug from the opening whistle, and he got rattled in a big way. And his tendency to lose his concentration to perform in the face of pressure and pain hasn't changed in college. NU DC Greg Colby must use the blitz packages executed against the Kansas Jayhogs and, at times, against the ASU Bum Devils early and often. Get into Zwick's face and you get into his head. He is NOT the second coming of Rex Kern, Cornelius Greene or even Craig Krenzel - not by a long shot.
Got Purple Passion?
No I'm not talking about that “Love Potion No. 9” elixer that many of us employed on naïve, unsuspecting love-interest targets during our collegiate experience. Nor is it the Viagra-Levitra-Cialis “lightening in a bottle” product that gets bombarded incessantly upon the American public by mercenary Madison Avenue marketing trolls. I'm referring to that “Love of the Game” thing, that “Love of Contact” ache in the soul, that “Need to Achieve” motivator that drove us to play this most American of all sports: football. Play the BuckNuts with all your enthusiasm, with all your head and most of all … with all your heart. That is what makes this game so great and engrossing. It gets under your skin and you get hooked. Mine happens to have a very distinct Purple tinge to it.
Prediction
NU 3
BuckNuts 35
This prediction is predicated first and foremost on what I've come to expect from the current coaching staff and their inappropriate and deficient gameplans. NU's team is entering this contest as damaged goods - with their best QB, their best DL and their best RB nicked-up good or on the PUP list altogether. If this game reverts to what Cap'n Vlasic and his 1st & 2nd mates unveiled against the Mighty Marmots, then this is gonna get ugly and quick. If the coaching braintrust can get their collective minds right for this one, I can see the 'Cats keeping it close in H-1. But as soon as Mr. Hyde rears his ugly, play-calling challenged head and the infamous Colby Swiss Cheese defense comes to the fore, this one gets out of reach in H-2 as the game progresses.
By game's end, that ”Escape from Sheboygan, Wisconsin” episode of the Survivor series will become more and more attractive.
Don't shoot me, I'm only a realist.
The Waterboy
