NW - PSU: Wha' Happened?!

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MGGopher

MGGopher

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I was in Ann Arbor tailgating and pounding back Steel Reserve (25 oz cans were 2/$3 near campus...boom) and didn't get to see the PSU-NW game. Can somebody fill me in on what the he!! happened? If it weren't for all the story lines surrounding our beatdown of MI, I'm assuming NW's beatdown of PSU would be MUCH bigger news. I mean, I for one was shocked by that score. I've watched quite a bit of NW football this year, and their offense looked downright awful. The defense was solid, but it wasn't like they were shutting people down completely. We'll obviously learn a lot about them this weekend, but I'm just wondering what we're up against in 10 days...
 

I was shocked by their beat down of PSU.

Can we shut down their passing game?

Can they shut down ours?
 

GoldenRodents said:
I was shocked by their beat down of PSU.

Can we shut down their passing game?

Can they shut down ours?
Click to expand...

Said in another thread that I am really interested to watch NW vs. Wis this weekend. Penn State doesn't run the ball at all but obviously we all know Wisconsin does. If Northwestern can handle their rushing attack could make our game with them very interesting.
 

Combination of Penn State being incredibly overrated, everything going right for NW early in the game, and NW's defense being underrated.

We won't be able to coast to a win against NW but I do think we're the better team.
 

jaymil said:
We won't be able to coast to a win against NW but I do think we're the better team.
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I tend to agree. I do find it interesting though that, using the Sagarin ratings, they'd be a 1-pt road favorite against us. The Northwestern game was the only road game I attended last year, and at least by the "eye test", I thought we were much better and that the game was more lopsided than the score would indicate. I guess we'll see if that holds again this year.
 


Penn State has no running game. They relied too much on Hackenberg. He threw a critical pick 6, and they fumbled the ball giving Northwestern a short field.
 

What I'd love to see this Saturday would be Northwestern winning a rough, tight, hard fought game against Wisconsin. Hopefully then we get the dual benefit of laughing at Wisconsin and at the same time playing a beat up NU team while we come in fresh off of a bye.
 

Penn State's inability to block anyone and Hackenberg having (another) rough day helped immensely. But, I still thought Northwestern looked pretty decent offensively. Trevor Siemian made some tough throws and they were more of the up-tempo team we've known them to be in the past.

If the Gophers o-line plays like it did against Michigan, we'll be in good shape against Northwestern. If the line plays like it did against TCU....
 

Anecdotally, my impression of Northwestern (for the last several and maybe many years) is that it doesn't really matter whether they play at home or on the road. They have one of the weakest home crowds in the B1G and not much of a home field advantage, and it seems like they've also played unusually well on the road sometimes.

I think we are the better team, but I don't put as much stock as I usually would into the fact we're playing them at home.
 



If we protect the football and do not put our defense in short field situations, similar to TCU, and play solid defense, I would say we come away with the 'W'.
 


NU played great defensese and got a big game out of freshman LB Walker who replaced an injured Ellis. The pass defense was solid getting great coverage and QB pressure Seimian threw a pick in the red zone or NU would have had another score. PSU looked inept in all phases of the game.
 







I "watched" the 60 minute re-run today. NU will be a very tough opponent. Their D was impressive and Simeon had a good day.
Our pass D will have to be at its best as they seem to have a bunch of decent receivers plus Jones. I hope we can grind it out and dominate the clock.

It will be interesting to see what they can do against Becky at home.
 

Been checking the injury reports for NCAA football this season and it looks like Northwestern has several players in the back 7 on defense dinged up right now, injured in the PSU game; DB Campbell, DB Harris, and LB Ellis

I wonder how healthy they'll be after the Wisky game, or will they sustain any other important injuries.

Interesting side note: I found this little tidbit on the injury report for Purdue:

09/29/14 LB Joe Gilliam Knee out for season
09/29/14 C Robert Kugler Buttocks injured last game, "?" Saturday vs. Illinois

Needless to say, it's a rough deal when you're starting Center is questionable with an ass injury.
 

Ogee Oglethorpe said:
Been checking the injury reports for NCAA football this season and it looks like Northwestern has several players in the back 7 on defense dinged up right now, injured in the PSU game; DB Campbell, DB Harris, and LB Ellis

I wonder how healthy they'll be after the Wisky game, or will they sustain any other important injuries.

Interesting side note: I found this little tidbit on the injury report for Purdue:

09/29/14 LB Joe Gilliam Knee out for season
09/29/14 C Robert Kugler Buttocks injured last game, "?" Saturday vs. Illinois

Needless to say, it's a rough deal when you're starting Center is questionable with an ass injury.
Click to expand...

Are you sure it wasn't just an unspecified injury suffered by "Robert Kugler Buttocks", a distant cousin of Michigan TE Jake Butt?
 


Cayman said:
Give me a caps lock AND I'LL CAPITALIZE.
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I like it.

Life-Cereal.jpg
 

Ogee Oglethorpe said:
Been checking the injury reports for NCAA football this season and it looks like Northwestern has several players in the back 7 on defense dinged up right now, injured in the PSU game; DB Campbell, DB Harris, and LB Ellis

I wonder how healthy they'll be after the Wisky game, or will they sustain any other important injuries.

Interesting side note: I found this little tidbit on the injury report for Purdue:

09/29/14 LB Joe Gilliam Knee out for season
09/29/14 C Robert Kugler Buttocks injured last game, "?" Saturday vs. Illinois

Needless to say, it's a rough deal when you're starting Center is questionable with an ass injury.
Click to expand...

This is what happened to Kuglar.

 

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