Northwestern University Athletics
The Skip Report: Nebraska - Friday Notes
9/23/2016 4:13:00 PM | Football
By Skip Myslenski
NUsports.com Special Contributor
Clayton Thorson threw just 22 times in the season opener against Western Michigan, but then had 41 attempts against Illinois State and 39 last week against Duke.
"It's a byproduct of what we're seeing," Pat Fitzgerald says, explaining the increase. "We've seen nine to 10 (defensive) guys in the box, depending on the formation. Eight guys when we spread it out. We've got to be able to get people off of us to be able to have consistency running the ball."
Those defenses, so stacked against the run, are essentially staring Thorson dead in the eyes and saying, "OK, Clayton. Beat us."
"I like the challenge. I like the challenge for sure," he says when this is mentioned to him. "Every team is going to do that to us. We have one of the best backs in the country (Justin Jackson) and obviously he's been the focal point of our offense. And so, in order to stay balanced, we have to throw the ball when they put eight or nine guys in the box. That's what Duke did to us and that's what we had to respond with. We did that."
Does he expect to see the same strategy in the future?
"Yeah. I would (do that too). I don't blame them. Justin's good. So they're going to make us throw the ball and we're going to keep trying to make them pay."
Does he take that strategy personal?
"Nah. I don't take it personal. But it's definitely a challenge and I like it. That's why I came here. I came here to have challenges and to play against the best competition. That's what we do."
Does he talk with his receivers about this challenge?
"I think they recognize that they're going to do that, that they're going to dare us to throw the ball. And they like the challenge as well."
Macan Wilson, one of those receivers, entered this season without a catch, and another of them, Andrew Scanlan, entered it with just one. But after only three weeks this fall Wilson has five receptions, and Scanlan has four, and a total of eight 'Cats have caught balls from Thorson.
"A lot of that started in the off-season," Wilson says when asked about the quarterback's largesse. "We did a lot of work building trust, building that relationship between our room, all of the wide receivers, and Clayton and all of the other quarterbacks. Whether it was putting in extra work— Clayton would text us, say, 'Hey, I'm going to throw some balls.' We'd get a few guys up there catching with him. Or whether it was just sitting down and talking to him so we're all on the same page. This year I think we've got a lot more trust between us and him, and I think we're really starting to see it on the field."
"Through the first two games, obviously two terrible losses, I think us coming together this off-season made us stick together," Thorson says when asked where he has seen the fruition of the summertime bonding. "It make us realize two games aren't going to define our season. We know they're not going to define our season. So we stuck together, and ground one out, and we're looking forward to next week."
The 'Cats have had some success throwing vertical this season, and have gotten explosive plays from Austin Carr (58 yards) and Solomon Vault (44), from Jackson (37) and Wilson (35), from Flynn Nagel (33) and super back Garrett Dickerson (26). But last Saturday, when Duke regularly brought max blitzes, they missed some open shots, and so they start their Big Ten season Saturday against Nebraska averaging a conference-worst 17.3 points-per-game.
"We've got to make those plays if we want to become an offense that scores a lot of points," Fitzgerald said earlier this week. "When you leave those opportunities out there, it makes it real hard. We were across the 50 eight times in 13 drives, (but) we were only in the red zone one time. So we're moving the ball. The plan's working. We're just not finishing drives. Obviously that starts with us as coaches. But the guys got to finish. Like I told them today, I'm getting tired of watching us not finish drives. It's like a broken, frickin' record. So man up and finish a drive. Hopefully we'll start to see that."
QUICKLY NOTED: Wilson's first name is the maiden name of his mom, who was one of six girls.
"So they had to figure out someway to keep it going," he explained. Asked the difference for him between this season and the fallow ones that preceded it, he said, "I like to think not much has changed. I'm still putting in just as much work as I did every year. But I'm kinda getting my shots this year, getting more opportunities, and I'm trying to make the most of every single one.".
The 'Cats practices this week were especially-spirited. "I think it comes for a lot of different things," Thorson said when asked the reason for that. "Obviously we won. But we know we can play better. It comes from not being complacent. I think it's great. We want a lot of energy, we want to work hard, we want to push each other." Did the start of conference play having something to do with it as well? "For sure," he said. "It's going to be a physical, physical game, and a physical Big Ten year."
Nebraska visits Ryan Field 3-0 and ranked No. 20 after dropping 43 points on Fresno State, 52 points on Wyoming and 35 points on Oregon . . . Their catalyst is the veteran quarterback Tommy Armstrong Jr., who is the Huskers' career leader in passing yards (7,376); touchdown passes (60); 250-yard passing games (13) and 300-yard total-offense games (11). On the season, he is averaging 278 yards of total offense per-game, third best in the conference.
"Tommy Armstrong is an All Big Ten, All American type of player," Fitzgerald said of him. "He's a true dual threat. He's won a ton of football games. He's made so many plays. I'm ecstatic, I'm ecstatic this is the last time I see him." The key to defending him, said 'Cat corner Trae Williams, is "To be really disciplined with his scrambling ability. When he scrambles, he's really looking to throw. So we've got to make sure we're locked in on our man and make sure we're doing our job."
The Huskers are coached by the well-regarded Mike Riley, who is in his second year at Nebraska. "You can tell it's year two," said Fitzgerald. "They're playing fast. You see them cutting it loose. They know what they're doing from the players' standpoint. Whenever there's a coaching change, a byproduct of that is learning the idiosyncrasies of the coaches. What they like, what they don't like, what's expected, what's tolerated, what's not. That's a process, and that process usually takes a full calendar year."
AND FINALLY, safety Jared McGee, on the defense's improvement against Duke after a pair of tepid performances: "After the first two games, Coach Fitz was really on us about not being satisfied playing average as a defense. We want to excel, and we want to make big plays. We want to make plays that change the course of the game. He put it on us as a defense to come together, and to play with that intensity, and to play with that tenacity, and to make those big plays that could change the course of the game. Score the ball. Get turnovers. That's what we tried to do in last week's game preparation, and what we're doing now (in practice) going into Saturday."
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