Northwestern vs. EMU, Volume Three: THA RECKONING

So, tomorrow is NU's second game of the year, and, it's against Eastern Michigan. You'd think the talent level of our opponent would increase after playing an FCS school like Towson, but these fellas are only marginally better. Of the 120 teams in the FBS, ESPN's got EMU looking like the 119th, after getting rocked by an equally futile Army team, and at the beginning of the year, the New York Times had them 113th, which was probably a little optimistic of them.

Suffice it to say, that vanilla stuff we found so delicious last week will probably make up most of our arsenal this week again. I'd like to see our playcalling be a little bit more out there - we weren't even blitzing last week - but still, relatively close to the vest. It might be a bummer that NU has such weak opponents to open the year, but on the positive side, the few weeks provide opportunities for us to get game reps in non-pressure situations that allow our inexperienced offensive starters to get some PT together, and we're making the best out of it. 

The injury report lists Jeravin Matthews and Sherrick McManis as "doubtful". I'm thinking these guys are probably not injured that badly, but, to be honest, why bother playing them and risking injury against an opponent like EMU? Justan Vaughn seems pretty talented, so it will be good to see him get a start, so the McManis injury doesn't really hurt us there. Matthews is somehow one of the more known entities out of our running backs crew, and what's more, I think he'll be useful more as a RB/WR hybrid, and his ability to play multiple positions and catch defenses off guard seems like the type of thing that will be more useful the less time he gets now. So that's that.

Last week I said the goal for the week was just to get in and get out, no injuries to starters. I'd say it's pretty much the same this week. I'd like to see our second-string playing in the second quarter, even if the game still is up for grabs. If it is, Kafka and company can come back in at halftime to put it out of reach, as I'm confident they're talented enough to do. But if it's a touchdown or less game, I'd like to see the second unit play, for better or for worse, just to see how they handle it. I'd like to see Dan Persa lead us on a scoring drive when the opposing defense is still in it to win it, and I'd like to see a big stop by like, I dunno, Purple Drank favorite defender Stone Pinckney to keep NU in the lead, a sort of baptism-by-fire sort of deal. That would be nice, and I'm convinced Fitz will bring in bench guys to play early regardless of the score.

Now, on to the gameplan. 

Offense: Again: we know Mike Kafka can run. However, he's sort of our starting quarterback, and I don't want to see him getting injured this early in the season. So if I were him, I'd set a reasonably attainable goal for tomorrow: don't get tackled. We have a sturdy o-line, so he shouldn't have to worry about sacks. If he runs the ball on a scramble, he should slide down, as he's been unwilling to do in the past because of his wheels, or end up out-of-bounds or in the end zone. And if he runs an option, pitch it, something he seemed a little bit scared of doing against Towson. Kafka did a great job of passing last week, but he still didn't stick around in the pocket long enough to suit my likings - I'd like to see him just chill out back there for once, just to show that he can.

Persa as noted, I hope gets some serious tick, more than just the two throws he had last week.

At running back, we've got some unsolved issues still after the first week. I'd like to see more of what we saw last week, which is pretty much just everybody getting their fair share of carries. I'd like to see if Jacob Schmidt could emerge as a third-down back sort of carrier, and if Scott Concannon is worth anything. And I'd definitely like to see Jeravin Matthews stay on the sidelines, because he doesn't need to risk it. The running game should get a little bit more inventive this week - last week, we shied away from runs outside the tackles and options for pretty much the entire game once it got out of hand - and that was no fun. I'd still like to see the running game get the bulk of the playcalls, but, I'd like these playcalls to be more like the ones we'd see in a Big Ten game. Not just dashes up the gut, although we do have to keep those in the offense.

I liked the spread of the ball to various WR's last week, and expect the same. Nobody did anything spectacular except Brewer, and, with what will hopefully be another relatively small passing sample size, it would be unlikely to expect anyone besides Brewer to rack up a big game. I know this week will probably rightly be a vanilla attack, but, I'm dying to see Brewer pull a Peterman-esque end-around pass. I know it can work for another touchdown this year if people aren't expecting it, so, maybe it can wait a few weeks, but I'm anxious. 

Defense: As noted, this Schmitt fella is a bit of a gunslinger, even with the non-hurl-it-80-times-a-game offense EMU has this year. I want our secondary to get their grown man on and play like they should've last week. I foresee three picks, and that's being conservative.

Corey Wootton was barely a factor last week, and this week, he and Vince Browne go up against an o-line that gave up 6 sacks for a loss of over 50 yards last week. LTP has said this all week, but these two also have to get their grown men on, and I want to see Corey legitimately play this week whereas last week he just got a few series and called it a day. This year, opposing o-lines will be hurling as much of their manpower as they can at him, and if he can't overcome that this week against EMU, he won't be able to overcome it in the Big Ten season. Not to mention that Browne should be absolutely teeing off against minimal opposition on the other side. 

People I'm watching:

Corey Wootton. Corey was my person to watch last week, and he barely set foot on the field, so, I haven't taken my gaze off of him yet.

Arby Fields: is he really our best running back? He'll have the opportunity to prove he is this week, and I think he will.

Pick in a mascot fight to the death: this is a classic battle of fearsome land predator vs. fearsome air predator. As is generally the case in this type of battle, it's a mismatch: the cat is unable to attack the eagle unless the eagle comes to him first, therefore, the eagle is perennially on offense. Game, EMU. (Wildcat mascot death fight record: 0-2.)

Prediction:

Eastern Michigan, 7, Northwestern 45. Fitz will be less relenting than he was last week against Towson, but the opponent will be slightly better, so I foresee roughly the same score. The only difference is that I expect our defense to be a little bit more on top of themsleves after the coaching staff got surprisingly mad at them for allowing two touchdowns against Towson. I expect the Eagles to flukily push one across on a deep pass that manages to go unintercepted, but generally, this will be a romp for NU.

We're 1-0, and we're trying to go... 1-0 again. Is it okay that I find coach-speak fun to buy into sometimes?

Go Cats, yo. 

1-0: the Recap

So I watched the game, took a long, long walk, just to make sure I wasn't sitting in my room from sunrise to sunset on pretty much the nicest day in Manhattan history, and now I feel ready to set down my thoughts on that game. 

First off, I said that there was pretty much no way this Towson game could turn out well - even if we did well, there'd be the thought in our head that "oh, it was only Towson." Well, I was wrong. That game went about as well as it possibly could've with only a few exceptions: the worst part of the game was a rather nasty looking injury to Jeravin Matthews, and our defense fell asleep on two drives. But otherwise, I thought we managed to look great even with the context that we were playing against a rather scrubby team. Our first team was clearly overwhelming, then, our second and third teams proved that they were both better than Towson's starters.

Even with a gameplan conservative enough to make Karl Rove tingly, the Wildcats ran rampant. There were large stretches of the game where it was clear that we'd be running the ball right up the middle on every play, and we were still regularly converting first downs. We ran the ball 23 times on first down, and passed it six times. We ran the ball 21 times on second down, and only passed it six times. And yet, even with that run-heavy attack, we still moved the ball down the field pretty easily. 

The fact that the first four possessions of the game resulted in four punts and four TD's makes me feel pretty confident about this team. After that opening stretch, our whole team seemed to loosen up and take the whole process a little bit easier, resulting in the output slowing a little bit, but, there's no way you could really be angry at that happening. The score could've easily been more lopsided than 47-14, but neither Fitz nor I would have actually liked to have seen that happen, because that first quarter was all the affirmation we needed that we were way, way better than the other team. There's no better way of saying "I'm not trying to score" than making Mark Woodsum run on five consecutive downs. 

Oh, and experience is clearly overrated: five guys caught, ran or threw for their first touchdowns today.

 So let's break this down by unit.

Throwing it: In my prediction, I called for Mike Kafka to just chill out and throw the ball. And sure enough, he did, and sure enough, he looked absolutely fantastic. I don't recall any poor throws, and he went 15-20 on a variety of short passes. He still could use a little bit more confidence in his ability to throw out of the pocket, but still, he looked great. In future, I'd like to see him throw a bit more, but this was a great tune-up, and allowed us to fully figure out our RB situation. He also looked good on the ground.

Dan Persa decided to go with the thunder-and-lightning approach to being quarterback, throwing two passes, one for a 72-yard TD and the other for a telegraphed pick into what looked like a crowd of three defenders and one receiver. I like his game though - he's going to be a good quarterback when it's his turn to start, although that could be my obsession with running QB's talking for me. He should get a few more reps against EMU, and then he should ride pine for the rest of the season.

Joe Mauro, it turns out, is a real human being, which is good to see, as his existence was previously questionable. 

Running: I called for a bunch of RB's to run the ball straight up the gut in my prediction, and because Fitz must've read that and tried to make me look as smart as possible, he complied. Stephen Simmons, Arby Fields, Jeravin Matthews, Jacob Schmidt, Scott Concannon, and Mark Woodsum all got time taking handoffs and going in between the tackles with them. By far the most impressive was Fields, who, a week before new student week, is already having a pretty beast freshman year. If I had to rank the crew, I'd go Fields, Simmons, Matthews, Concannon, and Schmidt. That being said, they all looked really good. It was cool to see Schmidt and Concannon, guys who, like Joe Mauro, hadn't completely convinced me of their existence as actual people, get into the end zone, and I wouldn't feel uncomfortable with them taking snaps in Big Ten games after seeing each of them break out decent gains against the Towson d. Simmons didn't have any signature plays, but he's definitely our most consistent back at this point, and should continue starting unless Fields really cranks up the heat.

Catching: We have a number one wide receiver, and his name is Andrew Brewer. Brew has proven himself as a deep ball threat since spring ball, and the culmination of that was a 72-yard streak past the Towson d. I really love his size and speed (pause) and think he'll be a true threat in Big Ten season.

Our other wide receivers proved to me that they could catch the ball when nobody was near them pretty well, which is good. The only drop I remember belonged to Josh Rooks and he was hit pretty heavily. Demetrius Fields kept confusing me when the announcer said "Fields with the catch", and for those of us looking for more superback action, Drake Dunsmore looks like he'll really be able to contribute from that position.

Also, after a long time, I finally learned how to pronounce "Markshausen." I assumed there was a "shhhh" in the middle, but apparently it's like "Mark's house in" which was news to me.

O-line: Solid. Although I still think Ward shoulda redshirted, but I guess it sends a good message to any four star recruits out there looking to come to NU but going somewhere else so they could play as freshmen.

D: Not a great game for the d. First off, the two touchdowns really shouldn't have happened, and, surprisingly, the Tigers moved the ball relatively well through the air for a team with three freshmen quarterbacks going up against an imposing secondary. However, for now, I'm going to look back the two touchdowns, and celebrate what was an absolute lockdown performance in the first quarter. This performance might have resulted in a loss if we were playing against some good team, but, luckily, it wasn't, so, we can let it go: all told, they did pretty well. The secondary wasn't great, though, and we've read too much about that unit for them not to be, so, hopefully they improve.

I'm really confident in the linebacking corps of Davie, Williams, and Johnson, by the way. Those guys are good.

Where was Corey Wootton? I barely noticed him. I was expecting to see him record somewhere near a dozen sacks after last season and after reading about how bad Towson was, but, instead, he didn't even record a tackle, and I don't really even remember seeing him that much on the field. 

Our second unit gave hope for the future: that Quentin Williams pick was fun to see, and my boy Stone Pinckney recorded two tackles. Long story short, when they were on the field, the younguns looked great.

Kickin it: Stefan Demos looked good as a kicker and punter, but I've decided that to keep the poor kid's leg ligaments from turnin to puree by week 9, I think Steve Flaherty should take over kickoff duties. And I'm not saying that just cuz he's a journalism kid: Demos had seven kickoffs, no touchbacks, Flaherty had one, and one. Ball don't lie. That way, we divvy up Demos' heaping of kicking duties, and still manage not to dirty wonderchild Jeff Budzien's redshirt. 

So, a huge offensive day, but it only makes one W. Admittedly, it was really, really, really, really depressing to watch - I almost cried when Towson snapped it out of the back of the end zone, and the crowd was really pathetic - but it's always good to see a W. We dodged the karma gods of college football with all the Mauro-Woodsum handoffs, and now, we can move on. On to Eastern Michigan.

One Less Day til Football Season, Post 3: Wide Receivers.

Another day another post. I wondered what I would do with myself with a job that gets off at 2 PM even though my friends generally don't get off until 5, and the answer is "start an overwhelmingly thorough sports blog."

Oh, and vote in the pointless poll! What distresses me is that one dude changed their vote from "I like your 1000 word screeds" to "I like Northwestern sports." Dear that guy: I hate you. I hate you I hate you I hate you. 

Days till football season:64. (You may notice the sunday post said there were 66. Well, I went back to the original post, which was based off of NUsports.com's calculations, and it turns out I am terrible at math. In my defense, I'm a journalism student, and can only understand basic principles of math if they are somehow phrased as per game scoring averages.)

8

9

10

Who did it last year? The guys above, Eric Peterman, Ross Lane, and Rasheed Ward. You needed all three: Peterman provided the closest thing we had to a go-to guy, Lane was a big man on the outside, and Ward, at the risk of sounding vaguely racist, provided speed out of the slot (what? he was really fast!), and was our resident man of a million slants.

Our fourth leading reciever was Tyrell Sutton, who really augmented the spread through his play out of the slot - hopefully, ex-WR Jeravin Matthews can continue the tradition of good receiving running backs, but, you never know. 

There were also decent contributions from Andrew Brewer, who got healthy about halfway through the year, the true freshman Jeremy Ebert, who was our fourth reciever last year and is one of two people to have caught a TD pass from Mike Kafka - the fade at Minnesota - and Sidney Stewart, who settled under Eric Peterman's lone career TD throw. 

Because I'm all about paying respect, Jeff Yarbrough, a receiver who didn't catch a single pass last year, but once had 100 receiving yards and a TD against Michigan State, graduated. Not a big deal, but we could use all the experience we could get right about now. 

Who's got next? Welp, we need a new wide receiving corps. In a dream world, we'd slap Peterman's name on Ebert's jersey, Ward's on Stewart's (again with the vague racism) and Lane's on Brewer's. Anyway, I think they're a good trio. None of them have ever been a #1 receiver, hopefully we'll get a tandem like we had from the last three with a few others contributing. 

I'd be pretty certain that these will be the three biggest contributors based on how they slotted into the offense last year, but the Cats certainly made it difficult for people to predict by passing to nine different recievers in the spring game, with none getting more than three catches. 

Is that an improvement? Eh, probably not. Not a knock on these guys, it's just hard to replace three experienced seniors.

I like Brewer's combo of Lane-esque speed and size, but we've never seen him play wide receiver due to his brutal performances as a quarterback back before I was an NU student and his many injuries. He had a nice 55 yard TD grab in the spring game, so signs are good. Ebert might be a good receiver for years to come, and has a pretty sweet rapport with Kafka judging from that one pass. Stewart also looked decent in limited action last year, we'll just have to wait and see.

Who else we got? NU has 14 - count em - wide recievers listed on their roster. For the hell of it, I'll write a little bit about all of them, but considering only five have ever caught a pass in a game, and I've already written about three of them, and one of the two other people to have caught a pass I hadn't heard of up until spring practices, imagine how little I have to say about the other nine. Done imagining? Prepare to be underwhelmed.

For your reading pleasure, I've seperated the remaining 11 recievers into "guys who have caught a pass in a game, might potentially catch a pass in a game this year, yet I still know relatively little about" and "people who may or may not be figments of NUsports.com's imagination."  

4. Charles Brown caught two passes last year and three in the spring game, and is likely our next guy down the depth chart from the three written about above. Brown was his class valedictorian, and according to his NUsports.com profile, brings "explosiveness," so blame them for the vague racism.

5. Zeke Markshausen is a walkon and the only other player on the roster to have caught a pass in a game. He figured somewhat prominently in spring drills and the game, look for him to pop up once or twice in the slot. I'm also disappointed that his name is actually "Zeke" by birth, because "Ezekiel Markshausen" might have made for the best Amish football player in school history, which in turn would be a great reason to bring back the black uniforms.

Now, in class order: wide recievers who have never caught a pass in a game, might not this year, but who cares. All random facts are courtesy of their NUsports.com profiles, obviously. I'd say any junior or senior on here has the potential to show up on a statsheet. But, like I said, I have absolutely no idea.

6. Senior Kevin Frymire broke a leg in spring ball last year, causing him to miss the whole season, so hopefully he's back to football shape, and hopefully he doesn't mind pretending to be a senior again, because that's probably medical redshirt material. 

7. Senior Kevin Mitchell was a high school quarterback, which according to google translator, is romanian for "Northwestern wide receiver." He's not related to superback Brendan Mitchell or the previously mentioned Kevin Frymire.

8. Junior Carl Fisher has played special teams at NU, and played the role of Gaston in his high school production of "Beauty and the Beast", a fact I'm sure he loves on his football playing resume. 

9. Junior Lee Coleman had a special teams tackle last year. He was a high school quarterback, and there's a joke about that four lines above this. 

10. Walkon junior Mark Ison was listed as a punter/wide receiver up until spring ball, which always fascinated me, because one is close to the most athletic position on the field and the other is probably the least athletic, and yet Ison apparently did both, making him an instant Purple Drank favorite. However, he's dropped the punting gig, which leads me to believe he was pretty bad at it, considering our current punter wants to be our place kicker, leaving an opening there, and the fact that he'll be approximately 12th on our wide receiving depth chart. Here's hoping Ison catches a pass and/or punts at least once this year.

11. RS Freshman Martin Bayless's dad played safety for the Chargers for 13 years, had NFL-player uncles, and is Charles Woodson's cousin. No pressure, kid. 

12. Want to read something interesting about RS freshman Brendan Barber? Too bad. 

13. Ditto for RS freshman Demetrius Fields, although I can say I hope that he and incoming freshman running back Arby "RB" Fields host a buddy sitcom together. Working titles: "Ryan Fields", "Fields of Dreams", "Demetrius and Arby's Fun-Time Variety Hour, sponsored by Goose Island, whatever that is"

14. Last, but not least, incoming freshman Drew Moulton. Obviously, college football recruiting is very difficult and our staff is very good at it, and getting better at it every year, but, Fitz, did you really need to tack on another wide out to make this post 14/13ths longer? Really? I'm sort of mad.

Too much writing about wide receivers has made me need a nap, and made me renege on the "no 1500 word post" policy, but this is probably the last time that happens, because, damn, there's 14 of them, and I felt like it. 

Remember, kids, i before e, except after c, and go vote in the poll.