Northwestern Football 2010: Answers and Questions

Well, after watching the first half of the ISU game, I do not really have anything else to add to my Sunday post.  So alternatively, I want to take some time to assess what NU has shown fans thus far, and what questions still remain.

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Dan Persa: The player with the most questions at the beginning of the year has made the biggest statement so far this year.  Had Mr. Robinson not burst upon the scene in Ann Arbor, Persa may have been the story of the Big Ten so far.  We knew he could run – and he runs smart.  We now know he can pass – and make “all the throws.”  Vandy was a decent defense, probably in the top half that the Cats will see.  But it remains to be seen whether Persa can withstand a killer pass rush.  The Cats are also going to see better corners against better foes.  Persa seems to have pinpoint accuracy, which will be tested as the season goes on.

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Running Game: Fitz answered one question for Cat fans yesterday by officially naming Arby Fields as the starting running back on the two-deep.  He had previously shared that title with Schmidt and Simmons.  Fields will certainly be the feature back, but he is going to need to be able to break 100 yards if he is going to carry the ball that often.  While he showed more promise against ISU, it still was not great.  Again, Vandy has a pretty good run defense, so the Cats should have time to continue to tweak the run.  Schmidt, Simmons, and Concannon are all nice for a change of pace, but need to be more effective for their playing time to be worthwhile.

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Receiving Corps: It is safe to say that NU has one of the most complete receiving corps that it has ever had.  Ebert, Stewart, and Fields are smart possession-type receivers who are primarily responsible for Persa’s sick completion percentage.  Dunsmore will be a red-zone threat to score every game.  Mark and Lawrence will be impact players even just as freshmen.  Add in Charles Brown and Brendan Barber to the mix and Persa has an arsenal of hands to find.  The constant rotation of these receivers should keep even the best secondaries on their toes.  The biggest question is whether this group is ready to shoulder the heavy burden of carrying this team if the running game continues to falter.

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Offensive Line: Thus far, this has been a mixed bag.  The pass blocking has been pretty good.  But the run blocking against Vandy was very weak, especially by the tackles.  Going forward, they should be able to continue to create nice pockets for Persa to throw out of, especially as his confidence continues to grow.  But the run blocking needs to take it to the next level.  Literally, as simply blocking the defensive linemen will not cut it in the Big Ten.  The key to this unit’s success will be breaking off the initial blocks and taking out the linebackers – as Fitz put it, turning 4 yards into 8 and 6 yards into 12.  This unit has three more weeks to gel before its next true test.

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Defensive Line: With the exception of the missed tackling against Vandy, this has been a very impressive unit thus far.  There has been nice pressure put on the quarterbacks and nice containment on the running backs.  The question is whether this very deep group can (1) continue their dominance – but finish the job, i.e., tackle and (2) continue their effectiveness against stronger offensive lines.  NU’s strength on defense is its depth.  And perhaps one of the most important keys to the season is whether that depth is truly deep, or just a big drop-off.

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Linebackers: The linebacker play was really lacking against Vandy but played as expected against ISU.  Strong, fast blitz packages, quality coverage routes, and run jamming stops were the order of the day against ISU – not so much the week before.  The three biggest questions here are (1) which was the real linebacking corps, and can the ISU performance be replicated against stronger offenses; (2) will injuries take their toll on this otherwise deep unit (although Bryce McNaul is back on the two-deep, Rod Goodlow is out for the year); and (3) will they be able to tackle an elite running back.

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Secondary: It appears that this unit will still be missing David Arnold for Rice as his name continues to be missing from the depth chart.  At least it does not have the injury trouble from last year.  But the 2009 defensive back infirmary gave rise to the experience level in this year’s squad a level of maturity that has been demonstrated in the first two games.  The question remains is whether the DBs will continue to gel and improve like last year’s unit and whether they will be able to contain the Big Ten’s elite receivers.  Kevin Smith’s (Purdue) injury is unfortunate, but the Cats will still need to face the likes of Johnson –Koulianos and Nick Toon before the season is over.

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Special Teams: This has been a real mixed bag of really good and really bad.  Kick coverage has been good; tackling on kick coverage bad.   Punts have been good; placekicking has been horrific.  Returns have been adequate, but fans would love to see Venric Mark.  The question here sits squarely on the shoulders of the special teams’ coach – which, of course, just happens to be the head coach.  Can Fitz spend enough time with this unit at practice, yet still commit the time necessary to lead the whole team to a 8, 9, or ten-win season.  His confidence in his ability to coach the special teamers combined with the players overall talent should produce results.  But it has not yet.  These guys could cost the Wildcats a game if they are not careful, and almost have already.

All in all, the Cats have answered a lot of the preseason questions through two games.  But they have also created a lot of new ones for fans like you and bloggers like me to consider over the next ten weeks.  In many ways it is probably good that college football only consumes us for 3 months out of the year.  How on earth would be get anything done otherwise?

Go Cats.