Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Wisconsin 41, NU 9

Well, like all of you who weren't at the game on Saturday, I only had the radio to guide me through the Cats' loss to Wisconsin. Regardless of whether it NUIT's fault or ESPN's fault that the game wasn't available on campus, one thing is clear. ESPN360 is the most useless sports product in existence. I think ESPN Mobile may have given it a run for it's money, but that service is now history.

As for the game itself. My impression is that this was a game like many others so far this season (and more to come). A decent start for the offense, followed by a pile of nothing. Are we predictable? Are we untalented? Are we physically unfit and wear down after 30 minutes? I think the answers are Maybe, No, and No. So what are we doing to have such little success.

The defense got off to a bad start, and pulled itself together a little bit later on in the game. But allowing a veteran QB to complete 16/21 is going to always kill us. That's just begging for the opposition to move down the field at will.

And on offense, the key stat is 2 of 11 on 3rd down conversions. We're not going to score if we can't put together drives. That's a combination of play-calling on the sideline (on every down) and decision-making on the field.

More after the jump.
Josh's StatWatch
NU Passing yards/attempt: 3.9 yds/att (better than 6.5 = good)

Record after Game 5:
Josh's prediction: 0 wins (4-2 predicting individual outcomes)
NU Record: 2-4

And
In My Opinion:
Cats' O: I'm aching to see Bacher get some time if Brewer can't score on Purdue. Only if Sutton is healthy. If he's not, we may need Brewer's legs more than ever.
Cats' D: Man, cut and paste what I said last week. Give these guys some time to catch air on the sidelines.
Cats' Special Teams: Hey, Howells made a FG! Oh, he missed a PAT. And all hail Sherick McMannis on KO returns.

Let's go Cats!

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