Scouting Northwestern - Illinois (Video)
If you were at or watching the Michigan game yesterday, you probably missed this. I just watched the first half and I'm impressed with Northwestern's defense. Illinois obviously saw what Army did to them with the option decided to attack with that but NU has shut it down. Their secondary looks vulnerable to the deep ball but that's clearly not a strength of our passing game. It will be interesting to see what kind of a game Borges calls.
Even before re-injuring himself, Persa doesn't look like he's full speed. He's able to manage the game, hand off, and his arm is fine but he doesn't have the mobility he had before his achilles exploded. He looks gimpy and rusty.
EDIT: Persa looks much better in the 2nd half before the injury.
Ouch:
October 2nd, 2011 at 12:05 PM ^
I love the difference between the male and female commentators' reactions during the dirty personal foul.
"There's the shove and then...oh! Got the knee up, oh wellz"
"OHH AUGH HUFF AWW"
October 2nd, 2011 at 12:10 PM ^
because im tired, thats funny!
October 2nd, 2011 at 12:10 PM ^
I think Persa is a good QB, even with his achilles injury, but with his late game re-injury, it may be enough to render him relately uneffective this Saturday. Time will tell. If he is fairly immobile, then that should bode well for us with the complex blitz schemes. I just hope that our CB's can blanket the WR's and allow our front 4(5) enough time to get solid pressure.
Speaking of our CB's, does anyone else start to feel that perhaps Countess is a better option at CB than Woolfolk? I've been very impressed with his coverage skills lately. He's really growing into quite the player.
Along those same lines, could Wile be a better option at punter than Hagerup? Hagerup wasn't that impressive Saturday and didn't have the booming kicks Wile has had thus far. Wind and first game back jitters may have played a part.
Overall, I like our chances this Saturday if we can keep the turnovers in check. I think we're a better coached and better athletic team than Illinois, so I'm confident and cautiously optimistic.
October 2nd, 2011 at 12:24 PM ^
Too early to tell with Hagerup/Wile. Wile took a while (haha) to get going with his kicking game, both on punts and kickoffs. We can't rule Hagerup out after one game, especially since he showed flashes of Zoltan last year.
October 2nd, 2011 at 12:36 PM ^
Wile's kick offs yesterday were still not that great. I don't think many of them even made it inside the 10 yard line.
October 2nd, 2011 at 12:45 PM ^
I like Countess, but not over Woolfolk. He is one of our leaders on the D and prob not a great idea to replace him with a true freshman. Besides, the way the subs are going now seems to be working so why fix it or push countess?
October 2nd, 2011 at 1:30 PM ^
Not saying we need to force any turnovers, but we can't have more than 1 ourselves. NW will need a few breaks to beat us, because we just have better talent and are executing well. Without giving them breaks, we should compete and handle our first road game.
We saw with ND/Floyd that while one player can try, he can't beat us. One player can't win games (unless you are Cam Newton or Denard). Persa will need help from someone, and the NW defense will have to have the game of their lives.
October 2nd, 2011 at 2:43 PM ^
Michigan is ranked 34th in kickoff return yardage defense. I would have thought 134th would have been closer.
http://web1.ncaa.org/mfb/natlRank.jsp?year=2011&rpt=IA_teamkoreturndef&site=org&div=IA&dest=O