The Skip Report: Gaining Experience, And Quickly

9/15/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football

Sept. 15, 2014

As previously reported on NUsports.com, the Wildcats went hard during their bye week to correct their mistakes from a pair of narrow season-opening losses. Skip Myslenski reports on the results of those efforts and other news and notes from a Monday press conference in Evanston.

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GROWING UP IS HARD TO DO: A few important points to recall about this year's edition of the Wildcats:

Among those now playing the running back position for the 'Cats, aside from senior Treyvon Green, are true sophomore Warren Long, who last season had just 14 carries, and true freshmen Justin Jackson and Solomon Vault, who last season were in high school.

Christian Jones, the team's second-leading receiver a fall ago, is injured and out for the year and Tony Jones, who was the leading receiver a fall ago, missed its loss to Northern Illinois and is not on the depth chart for its Saturday meeting with Western Illinois. Among those now playing that position for the 'Cats are Miles Shuler, in his first season with them after transferring from Rutgers and sitting out a year; Pierre Youngblood-Ary and Mike McHugh, who did not have a catch between them entering this season; and Stephen Buckley, who last season played running back and suffered a devastating knee injury.

That brief recap brings us to the work put in last week (a bye week) by the `Cats, who were then pushed through four straight punishing practices. They came replete with constant up-downs and with zero tolerance for any kind of mistake, and among their myriad aims was the desire to toughen up a group that Pat Fitzgerald had labeled "Not very tough."

Is toughness mental or physical, he was asked on Monday.

"Anytime you talk about it, it's a combination of both," he said, beginning an answer whose end would put that brief recap in perspective. "It's how you're going to persevere when times get tough. Everyone feels good and feels tough and feels ready to go fight when it's 72 degrees and there are no issues. It's when things get tough. We tried to put them in that mental state from the start of the week because, especially offensively, we haven't scored in the first quarter. So we haven't scored fast enough. So we really tried to get the guys to play with a sense of urgency offensively from the get go. That's been more the theme.

"I think from a defensive standpoint, to this point, I feel great about where we're at from a standpoint of developing that. I think that group, for the most part, is relatively healthy, and we have a lot of guys who've played a lot of ball that are playing on that side of the ball. The other side, we're trying to accelerate the growth and maturity of some of our guys who haven't played. So we tried to look at each day last week (with) a game mentality, a sense of urgency to improve their growth. Four days. Four games. OK. Now you've played six games, you've played half the season.

"That's what the point of last week was and that's the way we'll continue to operate. It's not the guys' fault. We've just got to accelerate their growth."

THE RESULT: The `Cats offense has sputtered more than it has purred in their losses, averaging just 19.5 points per-game and 2.5 yards-per-rush and 374 yards of total offense per-game. That -- traditionally; inevitably; too easily -- shines the spotlight on Trevor Siemian, and so Fitzgerald was asked Monday if he would consider going back to the two quarterback system he employed last season.

"Not right now. No," he said simply.

But can the spread succeed without a running quarterback?

"Sure. Sure we can. We have in the past. We didn't run Mike Kafka a whole lot most of his career. We didn't run C.J. Bacher a whole lot in his career. Especially C.J., when he decided to run, it was because he was mad or something. It wasn't designed runs. Michael, early in his career, did. But then he had hamstring issues and we basically didn't run him for a year and a half. So there's no doubt. But we, number one, need receivers to run concepts properly and when they're open, catch the football. We've got to be able to protect the quarterback, get it out of his hands quicker. Then we can't have self-inflicted wounds (penalties, drops)."

QUICKLY NOTED:
• As mentioned, Tony Jones is not on the depth chart for the upcoming Western Illiniois game. Also not on it is defensive tackle C.J. Robbins, who was suspended for a game by the Big Ten after being penalized for throwing a punch late in the `Cats loss to Northern. "Unfortunately I'm not allowed to talk about some things in the eyes of the league I would love to candidly discuss," Fitzgerald said when asked if he thought Robbins had indeed thrown a punch. "I'm not in the mood to write a check. So I will let the Big Ten talk."

• With Robbins sidelined, the depth chart lists just three defensive tackles: senior Chance Carter, and sophomores Greg Kuhar and Connor Mahoney. "Those guys will have their hands full," Fitzgerald said of them.

• A last change on the depth charge shows the starting right tackle as either Eric Olson or Adam DePietro. Through the first two weeks it had been either Olson or Jack Konopka, but here Konopka is listed as backing up left tackle Paul Jorgensen.

• When asked about Buckley's shift from running back to receiver, Fitzgerald said, "We've got to move Buck around to try and fill in some gaps, fill in some holes. Right now, that's where the hole is. He knows our offense inside and out. He's still not 100 percent yet. He's close. Everyday he's getting stronger and stronger. We're kind of taking that pounding at running back off of him and getting him involved in the offense."

• In their two losses, the 'Cats recovered no fumbles and managed just two interceptions. "There's no doubt we need to get more takeaways," Fitzgerald said of those stats. "That's something we've really prided ourselves on. We haven't been very successful around here when we don't create turnovers. It's kind of a recipe for disaster."

• The 'Cats bench for the Western game will be on the east sideline. That will put them in front of the student section, which was moved to that side of the stadium before this season.

AND FINALLY, FITZGERALD: "We've lost two games by one score (each). I know there are people jumping off the boat. It's not on fire. So chill out. But at the same time, we have to win games. We've got to win games."

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