Northwestern University Athletics
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The Skip Report: Ohio State Upon Further Review
10/31/2016 11:29:00 PM | Football
By Skip Myslenski
NUsports.com Special Contributor
UPON FURTHER REVIEW. . . .
FAMILIAR THEME: They pulled to within four on Jack Mitchell's field goal at 3:31 and now the 'Cats, in their Saturday stare down at Ohio State, needed a stop for a final shot at an upset. But 11 seconds later, facing a third-and-eight, Buckeye quarterback J.T. Barrett found Noah Brown for 16. Here the 'Cat defense stiffened and now, with just under two minutes remaining, Barrett faced a third-and-10. This time he scampered 35 yards and effectively closed the deal for his team.
"We just got beat. We got beat," Pat Fitzgerald would say Monday when asked where the breakdowns were on those crucial plays. "We've already moved on. We got beat."
But later, when asked to assess the progress of his team after it didn't flinch against the sixth-ranked Buckeyes, he echoed a refrain familiar to this season. "We're a work in progress. We're an average football team. That's what we look like on tape," he said here. "Saturday's another example of that. We had ample opportunities in all three phases, and we were really inconsistent fundamentally. I thought we were really inconsistent as a team in our effort, in our strain to not only finish, but to win in some one-on-one battles. I think that cost us in the long run. To Skip's question, you can point to those two (plays). But those two are insignificant if we do some things differently early in the game. That's kind of where we're at right now. Our margin for error, like most team's, is pretty slim, and when we don't play with maximum fundamental effort, maximum effort, and have a relentlessness about us, we give things away.
"There were too many plays we gave away in all three phases on Saturday, and that's our job as a staff. We've got to squeeze everything out of this group that we can. We've got to get a lot better this week if we're going to have a chance to compete (at home Saturday against No. 8 Wisconsin). That's just not last week's performance. That's kind of indicative of this squad. We're running out of sand in the hourglass, so we're just going to grind. Hopefully we'll get better this week."
GOTTEN BETTER: The improvement already made this season by Clayton Thorson and his offense was on display against the Buckeyes, whose defense is rife with NFL prospects. Consider. It is surrendering an average of 15.1 ppg. The 'Cats nicked it for 20. It is allowing an average of 124.5 rushing yards per game. The 'Cats picked up 148. It is giving up 171.1 passing yards per game. The 'Cats rolled up 258. "I think it's just maturity in the position. He's 20 games or so into his college career and to just watch how a player improves through experience, it's invaluable," Fitzgerald said Monday when asked about his young quarterback.
"I think he's got great confidence in the guys up in front of him. I think he's got great confidence in the skill set around him. We're, for the most part, really doing a great job catching the football. To see where our drop rate has gone has been great. It's been a great job by (wide receiver) Coach (Dennis) Springer. But more importantly it's been a great job by the young men, who've worked really hard. So I think there's really good chemistry in that group right now.
"But what I've seen from Clayton is that he's maturing, and he's got great confidence."
SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (Metaphorically Speaking): He was credited with just 11 tackles in the 'Cats first seven games. But Saturday, against a rushing offense that averages a Big Ten best 272.4 ypg, tackle Tyler Lancaster got five, which helps explain why 'Cat coaches picked him as the team's defensive player of the game. "I thought he played really well on Saturday. I thought both he and Jordan (Thompson, another tackle) played well inside," said Fitzgerald. "I thought C.J. (Robbins) played well on the outside. We need to get more production from the other guys, quite frankly. But I thought those three in particular played well, and especially Tyler. That's why he was our player of the game.
"He was a hard spot inside. It was tough sledding for them with their inside run game. Obviously they attacked our flank and we didn't play some plays very well, didn't tackle very well in the open field. But Tyler's just continuing to come on. Like I've said in the past, I don't know if I've ever seen a defensive tackle with a bigger smile on his face. He's in a world of double-teams, he's in the nasty world of trenches in the Big Ten, and he's just embraces his role and gives it everything he's got. I think he's playing at a really high level. He definitely pushes the interior. He occupies a lot of space. He's strong at the point of attack. He's fundamentally very good. He gives us the opportunity to stop the run just by the way that he plays the game."
"It's all about doing your job," Lancaster will later say when asked about smiling in the trenches. "If you don't have a smile on, if you're pouting in there, you're just going to get your butt whooped. I keep a positive attitude. I'm used to getting double-teamed all game. Maybe not a lot of credit. Not many stats show up for me. But I'm there to do my job and I feel I do it well. I guess that's what put the smile on my face."
And what exactly his is job?
"Hold that A gap. Hold whatever gap I have,:" he explained. "I get double-teamed a lot, like I said, and that allows the linebackers to flow over top. And if I take up a double team, if I command two people, that leaves one of the guys out back free, allowing them to make the play. It doesn't show for me. But them making the play is a translation, and I appreciate them for making those plays."
Right here, as Lancaster was finishing that answer, linebacker Nate Hall leaned toward a microphone from the seat next to him and avowed quite simply: "We as linebackers love Tyler for that, by the way."
QUICKLY NOTED: The reason he had so many tackles against the Buckeyes? "They'd chip block me and go off to the linebacker a little early. So I was able to get in my gap," explained Lancaster. . . . The 'Cat D held the Buckeyes to 208 rushing yards, 64.4 below its average. . . . Lancaster weight 280 when he joined the 'Cats, checks in now at 305 and is generally considered the champion of their weight room. "The numbers in the weight room went up, but I feel the play on the field went up even higher," he said when asked about that. "Now I can take on two guys and still feel successful, not get pushed back. I'm sure a lot of it is technique, but as a freshman I would have gotten pushed back even if I had the good technique. The weight room numbers have shown up on the field and it's helped." . . . Here's what offensive guard Tommy Doles said when asked about the 'Cats effort against the Buckeyes: "I think it shows, for one, some maturity. I look at Michigan State, we were down two scores early on. To be able to bounce back from that, it's encouraging. Coming into the game we knew that it would be a four quarter fight. We were ready for that. We weren't surprised when we got into that situation. We're confident, as a team, that we can fight with anybody we go up against. It was great to see evidence of that. But we're obviously disappointed with the outcome."
AND FINALLY: Middle linebacker Anthony Walker, Jr., whose jersey number is one, will wear 11 against the Badgers in honor of former corner Matthew Harris, who wore that number before retiring from football after a series of repeated injuries.
NUsports.com Special Contributor
UPON FURTHER REVIEW. . . .
FAMILIAR THEME: They pulled to within four on Jack Mitchell's field goal at 3:31 and now the 'Cats, in their Saturday stare down at Ohio State, needed a stop for a final shot at an upset. But 11 seconds later, facing a third-and-eight, Buckeye quarterback J.T. Barrett found Noah Brown for 16. Here the 'Cat defense stiffened and now, with just under two minutes remaining, Barrett faced a third-and-10. This time he scampered 35 yards and effectively closed the deal for his team.
"We just got beat. We got beat," Pat Fitzgerald would say Monday when asked where the breakdowns were on those crucial plays. "We've already moved on. We got beat."
But later, when asked to assess the progress of his team after it didn't flinch against the sixth-ranked Buckeyes, he echoed a refrain familiar to this season. "We're a work in progress. We're an average football team. That's what we look like on tape," he said here. "Saturday's another example of that. We had ample opportunities in all three phases, and we were really inconsistent fundamentally. I thought we were really inconsistent as a team in our effort, in our strain to not only finish, but to win in some one-on-one battles. I think that cost us in the long run. To Skip's question, you can point to those two (plays). But those two are insignificant if we do some things differently early in the game. That's kind of where we're at right now. Our margin for error, like most team's, is pretty slim, and when we don't play with maximum fundamental effort, maximum effort, and have a relentlessness about us, we give things away.
"There were too many plays we gave away in all three phases on Saturday, and that's our job as a staff. We've got to squeeze everything out of this group that we can. We've got to get a lot better this week if we're going to have a chance to compete (at home Saturday against No. 8 Wisconsin). That's just not last week's performance. That's kind of indicative of this squad. We're running out of sand in the hourglass, so we're just going to grind. Hopefully we'll get better this week."
GOTTEN BETTER: The improvement already made this season by Clayton Thorson and his offense was on display against the Buckeyes, whose defense is rife with NFL prospects. Consider. It is surrendering an average of 15.1 ppg. The 'Cats nicked it for 20. It is allowing an average of 124.5 rushing yards per game. The 'Cats picked up 148. It is giving up 171.1 passing yards per game. The 'Cats rolled up 258. "I think it's just maturity in the position. He's 20 games or so into his college career and to just watch how a player improves through experience, it's invaluable," Fitzgerald said Monday when asked about his young quarterback.
"I think he's got great confidence in the guys up in front of him. I think he's got great confidence in the skill set around him. We're, for the most part, really doing a great job catching the football. To see where our drop rate has gone has been great. It's been a great job by (wide receiver) Coach (Dennis) Springer. But more importantly it's been a great job by the young men, who've worked really hard. So I think there's really good chemistry in that group right now.
"But what I've seen from Clayton is that he's maturing, and he's got great confidence."
SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (Metaphorically Speaking): He was credited with just 11 tackles in the 'Cats first seven games. But Saturday, against a rushing offense that averages a Big Ten best 272.4 ypg, tackle Tyler Lancaster got five, which helps explain why 'Cat coaches picked him as the team's defensive player of the game. "I thought he played really well on Saturday. I thought both he and Jordan (Thompson, another tackle) played well inside," said Fitzgerald. "I thought C.J. (Robbins) played well on the outside. We need to get more production from the other guys, quite frankly. But I thought those three in particular played well, and especially Tyler. That's why he was our player of the game.
"He was a hard spot inside. It was tough sledding for them with their inside run game. Obviously they attacked our flank and we didn't play some plays very well, didn't tackle very well in the open field. But Tyler's just continuing to come on. Like I've said in the past, I don't know if I've ever seen a defensive tackle with a bigger smile on his face. He's in a world of double-teams, he's in the nasty world of trenches in the Big Ten, and he's just embraces his role and gives it everything he's got. I think he's playing at a really high level. He definitely pushes the interior. He occupies a lot of space. He's strong at the point of attack. He's fundamentally very good. He gives us the opportunity to stop the run just by the way that he plays the game."
"It's all about doing your job," Lancaster will later say when asked about smiling in the trenches. "If you don't have a smile on, if you're pouting in there, you're just going to get your butt whooped. I keep a positive attitude. I'm used to getting double-teamed all game. Maybe not a lot of credit. Not many stats show up for me. But I'm there to do my job and I feel I do it well. I guess that's what put the smile on my face."
And what exactly his is job?
"Hold that A gap. Hold whatever gap I have,:" he explained. "I get double-teamed a lot, like I said, and that allows the linebackers to flow over top. And if I take up a double team, if I command two people, that leaves one of the guys out back free, allowing them to make the play. It doesn't show for me. But them making the play is a translation, and I appreciate them for making those plays."
Right here, as Lancaster was finishing that answer, linebacker Nate Hall leaned toward a microphone from the seat next to him and avowed quite simply: "We as linebackers love Tyler for that, by the way."
QUICKLY NOTED: The reason he had so many tackles against the Buckeyes? "They'd chip block me and go off to the linebacker a little early. So I was able to get in my gap," explained Lancaster. . . . The 'Cat D held the Buckeyes to 208 rushing yards, 64.4 below its average. . . . Lancaster weight 280 when he joined the 'Cats, checks in now at 305 and is generally considered the champion of their weight room. "The numbers in the weight room went up, but I feel the play on the field went up even higher," he said when asked about that. "Now I can take on two guys and still feel successful, not get pushed back. I'm sure a lot of it is technique, but as a freshman I would have gotten pushed back even if I had the good technique. The weight room numbers have shown up on the field and it's helped." . . . Here's what offensive guard Tommy Doles said when asked about the 'Cats effort against the Buckeyes: "I think it shows, for one, some maturity. I look at Michigan State, we were down two scores early on. To be able to bounce back from that, it's encouraging. Coming into the game we knew that it would be a four quarter fight. We were ready for that. We weren't surprised when we got into that situation. We're confident, as a team, that we can fight with anybody we go up against. It was great to see evidence of that. But we're obviously disappointed with the outcome."
AND FINALLY: Middle linebacker Anthony Walker, Jr., whose jersey number is one, will wear 11 against the Badgers in honor of former corner Matthew Harris, who wore that number before retiring from football after a series of repeated injuries.
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