Purdue 31, NU 10

Another poor offensive effort. Plus, this week we added "defense can't close ground or tackle" to our list of weaknesses. Purdue, along with Illinois in November, was probably one of two chances to get a Big Ten win this year. Right now I think we're looking at an 0-fer.

Apparently Sutton had a shoulder injury on his first carry. If that's true, then when it's added to other bangs and bruises, I can accept his lack of carries. Offense line problems and QBs who make good decisions are the other two issues on our side of the football. Maybe Bacher will make his first start on Saturday and solve that last problem.

The defense's poor tackling and positioning was a little bewildering, though. It's really the first time this year that we haven't been quick to make hits and attack the ball-carrier. Maybe the New Hampshire game was like that; I've blocked that out.

More after the jump.
Josh's StatWatch
NU Passing yards/attempt: 5.5 yds/att (better than 6.5 = good)

Record after Game 5:
Josh's prediction: 0 wins (5-2 predicting individual outcomes)
NU Record: 2-5

And
In My Opinion:
Cats' O: Bacher is the only balanced QB we have right now. Maybe next year the job goes to Kafka, but now it's gotta be Bacher for the rest of the year. Remember Herbert? Throw. Him. The. Ball.
Cats' D: We're really missing Heinz, what with the bad tackling in zone defenses.
Cats' Special Teams: Nice FG by Howells. Pretty good punting too. Sherick McMannis is a quick guy, which is nice.

Let's go Cats!