Post by yotefan on Sept 9, 2012 7:32:10 GMT -6
I watched Northwestern beat Vandy last night and the score was not indicative of how close that game was as NU got a couple of late scores. The struggles USD had with stopping the North-South running attack coupled with a versatile QB we saw at Montana and against Colgate are going to take on a whole new level of difficulty when we face NU.
For starters, NU has two QBs who can bring it. One is more of a Kevin Earl style of QB named Trevor Siemian (Earl could really help give USD similar looks on two weeks of Scout Team) and the other is Kain Colter who has more of a Josh VM presence. Each QB has played critical roles in each of the teams wins against Syracuse and Vandy and each will bring their own set of challenges to the 'Yotes defense.
Next, NU has a big back named Mike Trumpy (6'1", 210 lbs) who runs the "short" shortage plays like we have seen given up at MT and against Colgate. Our bigger problems appear to be with NU's Jeremy Blount look-alike in #5 Venric Mark who had 24 carries for 123 yards. Not only is Mark the same size as Blount and wears the same number, but he also runs with a chip on his shoulder AND has an amazing ability to find yards where seemingly none exist. I watched him turn 3 plays last night that looked to be tackles for loss into positive yards. The Yotes secondary is really going to have to step it up to keep this kid from springing one.
NU ran the ball 46 times in the game (the weather was rainy) and gained 220 yards, lost 29 yards and netted 191 total rushing yards so their offensive line is definitely vulnerable at times (one of the announcers last night indicated one side in particular was weaker than the other, but I can't remember which one).
NU threw the ball 17 times for a total of 133 yards. What is concerning is 9 different players caught passes in the game with Rashad Lawrence, Kyle Prater, and Tony Jones each catching 3 passes. Christian Jones and Demetrius Fields each caught 2 passes. Rashad Lawrence led all NU receivers with 49 yards while Prater had 24 yards so they didn't have any huge passes, but the weather certainly could have played a role in that. Needless to say, they spread it around.
Overall, the NU offense looked very solid. On special teams, they have a good punter in Brandon Williams who had a nice night and a very good field goal kicker in Budzien who was good from 40, 37, and 18 in the rain. Looks to be very similar to K. Robb. Speaking of Robb, it looks like #5 Mark has kick return duties and we do not want to give him a chance to return one. He had one return for 21 yards on the night, but kick that ball through the end-zone and don't give this kid a chance to make a house call.
NU's strength in the game appeared to me to be on defense with Chi Chi Ariguza (10 tackles, 1 sack for loss of 7 yards and 3 TFL at 11 yards) as the main man along with Tyler Scott, Damian Proby, David Nwabuisi and Quinn Evans all looking really good as well. Our offensive line and back field is really going to have to pick up the blitz to buy Josh time in the pocket to pass or it will be a long day for the offense.
I could go on...we're fortunate we have two weeks to prepare and get healthy as there are lots of things to work on, but there are lots of good things happening with this team too. The offense looked really really good at times against Colgate and the defense started to bring a little swagger (glimpses of it anyway). I think we have a better shot in this game than we did at Minnesota. NU, like all teams, has weaknesses that we can exploit and I know our staff and kids will be prepared and have this team ready to go. If they can figure out how to make this a close game you never know what can happen, just ask Arkansas.
For starters, NU has two QBs who can bring it. One is more of a Kevin Earl style of QB named Trevor Siemian (Earl could really help give USD similar looks on two weeks of Scout Team) and the other is Kain Colter who has more of a Josh VM presence. Each QB has played critical roles in each of the teams wins against Syracuse and Vandy and each will bring their own set of challenges to the 'Yotes defense.
Next, NU has a big back named Mike Trumpy (6'1", 210 lbs) who runs the "short" shortage plays like we have seen given up at MT and against Colgate. Our bigger problems appear to be with NU's Jeremy Blount look-alike in #5 Venric Mark who had 24 carries for 123 yards. Not only is Mark the same size as Blount and wears the same number, but he also runs with a chip on his shoulder AND has an amazing ability to find yards where seemingly none exist. I watched him turn 3 plays last night that looked to be tackles for loss into positive yards. The Yotes secondary is really going to have to step it up to keep this kid from springing one.
NU ran the ball 46 times in the game (the weather was rainy) and gained 220 yards, lost 29 yards and netted 191 total rushing yards so their offensive line is definitely vulnerable at times (one of the announcers last night indicated one side in particular was weaker than the other, but I can't remember which one).
NU threw the ball 17 times for a total of 133 yards. What is concerning is 9 different players caught passes in the game with Rashad Lawrence, Kyle Prater, and Tony Jones each catching 3 passes. Christian Jones and Demetrius Fields each caught 2 passes. Rashad Lawrence led all NU receivers with 49 yards while Prater had 24 yards so they didn't have any huge passes, but the weather certainly could have played a role in that. Needless to say, they spread it around.
Overall, the NU offense looked very solid. On special teams, they have a good punter in Brandon Williams who had a nice night and a very good field goal kicker in Budzien who was good from 40, 37, and 18 in the rain. Looks to be very similar to K. Robb. Speaking of Robb, it looks like #5 Mark has kick return duties and we do not want to give him a chance to return one. He had one return for 21 yards on the night, but kick that ball through the end-zone and don't give this kid a chance to make a house call.
NU's strength in the game appeared to me to be on defense with Chi Chi Ariguza (10 tackles, 1 sack for loss of 7 yards and 3 TFL at 11 yards) as the main man along with Tyler Scott, Damian Proby, David Nwabuisi and Quinn Evans all looking really good as well. Our offensive line and back field is really going to have to pick up the blitz to buy Josh time in the pocket to pass or it will be a long day for the offense.
I could go on...we're fortunate we have two weeks to prepare and get healthy as there are lots of things to work on, but there are lots of good things happening with this team too. The offense looked really really good at times against Colgate and the defense started to bring a little swagger (glimpses of it anyway). I think we have a better shot in this game than we did at Minnesota. NU, like all teams, has weaknesses that we can exploit and I know our staff and kids will be prepared and have this team ready to go. If they can figure out how to make this a close game you never know what can happen, just ask Arkansas.
