A funny thing happened on the way to Bloomington. For the first time in recent memory, NU remained relevant on a national stage following a regular season loss. Despite being unranked before the game, NU continued to receive points in all of the polls, and the “Bowl Projections” remained relatively unchanged.
This is significantly different treatment than NU has received in recent years. For instance, after NU dropped its 2008 match to Indiana, they were persona non grata, before roaring back to a 9-3 record. Last year, after losing a game to Penn State in a marquise time slot, the Cats were ignored by the pollsters at 5-4, before knocking off Iowa and Wisconsin on the way to an 8-4 record and a New Years Day appearance.
This is a sign that NU is beginning, slowly, albeit, to make some headway in the national mindset. Football pundits looked at the Michigan State game and said, wow, had NU hung on to that game, they would have been a legitimate player in the Big Ten Title race. And while the game ended in a loss, the Cats performance impressed enough people to keep the Cats on the radar for a few more weeks. If the Cats are 7-2 going into Iowa, the media will be glad that they stuck with NU.
No news is good news during the week, as the Cats remain relatively injury free. Given the track record of past NU teams, the ability to stay healthy has been remarkable and is a credit to the team’s strength and conditioning.
The only actual news this week was the verbal commitment of 2012 recruit Malin Jones. Jones, a 6’1” 195 lb. tailback, is a junior at Joliet Catholic. According to recruiting guru Tom Lemming, Jones will be "one of the best players in the Midwest next year." In nine games this season, Jones has rushed for 861 yards and nine touchdowns (11.3 ypc!), while sharing carries with Illinois commit Josh Ferguson. Lemming also says that this is a sign that NU is maturing as a program. Jones apparently left Ryan Field Saturday and knew that his decision was made. Now Fitz just needs to build a wall around him for the next 18 months and protect him from other schools as Malin’s stock will inevitably continue to rise. Welcome to the Cats Malin!
Jones continues the trend of young, fast, skill position players that have seen the opportunity to play a role in Fitz’s system. Skip Myslenski’s recent piece on NUSports.com discusses the roles that Adonis Smith and Venric Mark play on the team. It discusses how Fitz continues to take his time to bring these two, along with fellow true frosh Rashad Lawrence, into the offense. This allows them to adjust to the speed of the game as well as absorb NU’s playbook pieces at a time. Fitz strayed away from playing true freshmen in his first four years, but as he said in a recent press conference about Smith, he is going to use every bullet he has available. This has to be a key tool in recruiting as well, as Fitz can show that he will not hesitate to give a kid four years of real playing time.
Adonis Smith could have ruffled some feathers with his recent reference to “my offense” after the MSU game. But Fitz seems to like the fact that Adonis has taken ownership of the team, as seen in this Trib piece. We also learned that he calls Venric Mark “V”, which is awesome, and that he can still have a sense of humor after a loss. And unlike his 30,000 offensive coordinators, Fitz’s public persona is remarkably unconcerned about the 24 sacks surrendered by NU. I am all for building up your team in the public eye, but I just hope that Fitz is coming down a little harder on the offensive line than he appears to be. NU is among the worst in the country in allowing sacks and is one of only two teams in the bottom 25 in sacks with 5 wins (the other is Alabama, not bad company).
Like many other things (penalties, drops, etc.), the unfortunate timing of the sacks has been the largest issue. The third down sack on Persa on the Cats final scoring drive (Demos kicked a field goal to go up 27-21) could not have come at a worse time as a first down would have continued to salt the clock and potentially set up a touchdown. The O-Line has improved the running game; hopefully they can improve the pass protection as well. This Daily Herald article also points to the fact that Justan Vaughn remains the starter, despite being burned in the first half and benched for the entire second half.
Tina Akouris addresses both of these issues in her article on the run offense and the pass defense. The most bizarre part of Saturday was that it was almost as if the Cats traded their pass defense for an improved running game, as each element saw a drastic deviation from the first half of the season – in opposite directions. The pass defense can be attributed, somewhat, to the fact that Cousins played one of the best games of his career and was the best QB the Cats have faced in 2010. But then, maybe the best game of his career was the result of the poor pass defense – it is a chicken-egg thing.
Overall, the Cats were in a foul mood, but confident after the loss. And this is the sentiment of most Cat fans. No one is happy with Saturday’s result, but it is hard to be discouraged about the rest of the season. I still think that the Cats will finish 8-4 and I am even more confident about the ability to play with Iowa and Wisconsin.
But as the Daily Northwestern aptly stated the Cats need to learn to finish. Most of the Cats talked about the 55 or 58 minutes of the game that the Cats won against MSU, and this is becoming a trend. Vandy scored late and were a two-point conversion from tying the game. CMU added some garbage points, but nevertheless, attempted an onside kick that would have given them a chance to win. Purdue’s offense was basically non-existent until a perfectly executed 14-play fourth quarter drive ripped the Cats apart. The Cats will need to play 60 minutes strong in order to finish the season in a warm climate.
Big Ten Power Rankings
1 Michigan State: Tried and tested, Sparty is one win away from being in really good shape.
2 Wisconsin: Left for dead, Wisconsin has won two huge games and is now waiting for Sparty to stumble to, at least, take a co-Championship.
3 Ohio State: Will still be tested at Iowa, but is really in the best shape to steal the Rose Bowl bid from MSU.
4 Iowa: Has the toughest remaining schedule, but also the most opportunities to prove themselves.
5 Northwestern: Proved that they belong in this spot; will have its chances to move up, but in the end, probably ends up here.
6 Michigan: Seems like months since they have played and years since Denard Robinson was a Heisman candidate. Needs to win against PSU to stay relevant.
7 Purdue: Which one was the aberration, the win at NU or the loss to OSU? Can still play upset against Sparty.
8 Illinois: Quietly getting itself into bowl contention. Everyone is waiting for the shoe to drop, but the Wrigley Field game may mean something for both Illinois schools.
9 Penn State: Got a nice pick-me-up against Minnesota, but still has only scored two touchdowns against teams with a pulse.
10 Indiana: Remember what I said in August about not drinking the Cool Aid? Of course I may regret that statement on Saturday night – the offense is still a time bomb.
11 Minnesota: The death march continues…
Go Cats!
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