SB Nation - Miami (Ohio) RedHawks

The Shotgun/Throwdown: Thursday (12/10/09) Edition

WVUIE97 — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 14:46:59 -0000

Welcome, By-Godders, to the Shotgun/Throwdown, WVU's best place for sports links, information and a few distractions from the daily grind. Today we're being brought to you by Skol, in honor of today's Miss Throwdown.

The men rolled last night and Huggs wasn't happy. Raise your hand if you're surprised. They've got one more game, Saturday, before finals break and then the schedule takes off. This is gonna be a fun ride this year, so enjoy it. Keep the tips, suggestions and requests coming. It all starts here...

What's On Tap:

Miami (OH) RedHawks vs. Cincinnati Bearcats - ESPN
Tonight on the Deuce at 8:30. Cinci is giving 14.5.

Syracuse Orange vs. Florida Gators -ESPN
Tonight on ESPN at 9. Syracuse is giving 2.5.

Around the League (and Beyond):

Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly seeking demands from Notre Dame? - Cincinnati Enquirer

Louisville football can soar again, Charlie Strong declares - Courier-Journal

Wall leads No. 4 Kentucky over No. 14 UConn 64-61 - SI.com

Villanova 97, Saint Joseph's 89 - SI.com

Rutgers men overcome loss of Greg Echenique, slow start to beat Monmouth, 66-52 - Star Ledger

Orange Scouting Report: Syracuse vs. Florida - syracuse.com

Dixon's slow return from injury still boosts undermanned Panthers - PPG

Video of Interest:

Soccer Gallery of the Week Part II:

via coedmagazine.files.wordpress.com

Miss Throwdown:

Today's Miss Throwdown is another gorgeous supermodel from Brazil. She's done work for Vicky's and the SI Swimsuit Edition. Here's Ana Beatriz Barros.

via www.thelifeofluxury.com

Skol image via thesmartgirls.files.wordpress.com

The Ten Worst Syracuse Football Games Of The Aughts

Sean Keeley — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 16:00:17 -0000

View full size photo »

I know. Trying to find the worst Syracuse football games of the past decade is like trying to figure out which Dick Vitale catchphrase is the worst. But, dear readers, I took the hit so that you wouldn't have to. Well, I mean, you still have to read all about them and re-live the horror, so, I guess I did you no favors really. You're welcome.

Dishonorable Mention (see what I did there?)

2000: Miami 26 - Syracuse 0
"On its eight first-half possessions, Syracuse did not gain a first down on seven as quarterback R.J. Anderson failed to generate anything offensively. The Orangemen gained 42 yards on 29 plays in the half and had two first downs."

2002: Miami 49 - Syracuse 7
Hey, at least we scored, unlike the previous two meetings.

2003: Virginia Tech 51 - Syracuse 7
Still angry over Syracuse's upset win over them the previous season, the Hokies left nothing to doubt, out-gaining the Orangemen 439-172 and holding Walter Reyes to 40 yards rushing.

2004: Purdue 51 - Syracuse 0
Kyle Orton blew up the Orange on opening weekend for 287 yards and four touchdown for their first shutout in four years. Coach P had banked on freshman Joe Fields becoming Syracuse's savior before this game. Dethroned Perry Patterson regained his starting job by the time it was over.

2004: Temple 34 - Syracuse 24
In front of Donovan McNabb and in spite of three Damien Rhodes touchdowns, the Orange lost to the Temple Owls for the 2nd time in 3 years.

2005: Rutgers 31 - Syracuse 9
Syracuse fumbled the football nine times (niiiiine tiiiiiimes) and freshman Mike Teel tore up SU in the Dome.

2005: Louisville 41 - Syracuse 17
This one was the ninth-straight loss for the Orange and capped the first 10-loss season in SU history.

2006: West Virginia 41 - Syracuse 17
West Virginia QB Pat White rushed for a career-high 247 yards and four touchdowns in the romp.

2007: West Virginia 55 - Syracuse 14
West Virginia ended up scoring the most points ever allowed by Syracuse at home.

No. 10 - Louisville 10, Syracuse 9 (2009)

You could argue that this was the first game in five years against a BCS opponent that Syracuse was truly expected to win. At least by its fanbase. The two worst teams in the Big East battling for their first conference win and the right not to dwell in the basement. The first half was about as terrible and boring as a football game could possibly be. The game featured putrid offenses, bad coaching and horrendous special teams play. And through it all, Syracuse held Louisville to 151 yards, their lowest offensive output in years. But thanks to a missed extra point and the insane decision to punt to Trent Guy, the Cardinals pulled out the ugly 10-9 win. The Play of the Game was actually a negated Trent Guy punt return, which means they couldn't even find a play from the actual game worth calling attention to.

No. 9 - Miami (OH) 17, Syracuse 14 (2007)

Syracuse was coming off their then-monumental upset of Louisville. After beating a 37.5 point favorite on the road, beating a 1-3 MAC team that had lost seven-straight home games should have been a piece of cake. Instead, Syracuse needed a 2nd-half comeback just to stay in the game and still fell short in the end. It was SU's first loss to a MAC school since 1976. It also completely zapped all of the momentum gained by beating Louisville and proved that the win was just a fluke.

No. 8 - Rutgers 24, Syracuse 7 (2003)

Of all the Rutgers loss in the 2000's, this was the tamest of them all. But here me out on why it's here. Up until this point, Syracuse had lost to Rutgers a grand total of one time since 1986. In the three times SU did lose the game, it was always a close battle. This loss marked the first time Rutgers whooped up on the Cuse, and the timing could not have been worse. The game itself was a mess. The swirling winds screwed up SU's kicking and passing game, turning the Orangemen's gameplay into a comedy of errors. The impact of the loss was far-stretching. The Orange were basically eliminated from bowl eligibility with the loss while Rutgers won five game for the first time since '98. The passing of the Tri-State Area torch quickly followed.

No. 7 - Iowa 20, Syracuse 13 2OT (2006)

Syracuse would head to Ames and get throttled 35-0 in 2007 but it was the events of 2006 that will live on in highlight reels for years to come, just not in any way the Orange would appreciate. Just watch:

No. 6 - Washington 42, Syracuse 12 (2007)

Any Syracuse fan who had lived through the first two seasons of the Greg Robinson Era could tell you that 2007 was going to be different. There was something in the air. No one could put their finger on it but it really seemed like this was the year the team was gonna break through. After going 1-10 in '05 and 4-8 in '06, the logical conclusion was that a bowl game was in Syracuse's immediate future. And it all began with lowly Washington at home. Here's what I said at the time:

First game of the season. It will set the tone for the entire year. Both schools are in a very similar place (fallen programs, in the rebuilding process, untested QBs, coaches with warm seats about to get hot). This is our chance to set the tone, beat a BCS school and make Orange fans believe that we actually do have a shot this year at getting back to .500.

Well, 42 points later Washington proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that this Syracuse team was not who we thought they were. The entire fanbase let out a collective sigh and prepared itself for the inevitable 2-10 season ahead.

No. 5 - Miami (FL) 59, Syracuse 0 (2001)

2001 was a prototypical successful Paul Pasqualoni season. The Orange dropped the first two games of the season to remove any and all expectations. They then proceeded to go on a eight-game winning streak. That brought them to the No. 14 ranking when they faced off against No. 1 and undefeated Miami. Here it was, a perfect opportunity in front of a national audience to prove once and for all that the Orange were for real and not just coasting by. And in typical-Coach-P-team fashion, the Orange proved that they were indeed, not at all for real.

No. 4 - Penn State 55, Syracuse 13 (2008)

It had all the makings of a classic. Syracuse's longtime and most hated rival Penn State returns to the Carrier Dome for the first time in almost 20 years the same weekend that The Express, a movie based on the life of Ernie Davis, premieres in Syracuse!!! Hollywood stars rub shoulders with Syracuse legends in the crowd. The Ernie Davis Statue is unveiled in the Syracuse Quad. The game is nationally televised on ABC.

It's a shame then that what the nation got to see was Syracuse got absolutely, undeniably embarrassed 55-13. Oh I assure you, it wasn't even that close. SU's RB Curtis Brinkley finished with 21 yards on 14 carries. Meanwhile, Penn State's top two wide receivers caught 12 passes for 223 yards and four touchdowns...in the first half.

Adding insult to injury was the depantsing of Syracuse football and Greg Robinson that ESPN put together and broadcast all day long.

No. 3 - Temple 17, Syracuse 16 (2002)

The last time Syracuse lost to Temple before this game? 1983. So when the Orange finally did sink low enough to fall to the Owls, they made sure to do it in gut-wrenching fashion. The Orangemen led 10-3 to start the 4th quarter but Temple scored touchdowns on consecutive drives to take a 17-10 lead with 3:40 remaining. R.J. Anderson led SU down the field with time running out and hit Jared Jones in the endzone with :30 left. All SU needed to do was kick the extra point and the game would likely head to overtime.

Alas...Collin Barber's extra-point kick hit the left upright. And just like that, Syracuse lost to Temple. On a friggin' missed extra point.

No. 2 - Akron 42, Syracuse 28 (2008)

If you watched the video that accompanied the Penn State loss a few back, you noticed a discussion about Akron and how many times Syracuse should lose to them. DOCTOR Daryl Gross says "none" and he's right. Unfortunately for him, Greg Robinson apparently enjoyed losing to MAC teams so much, he did it twice.

Syracuse gave up 42 points...at home...to Akron...AKRON!!!...which dropped the Orange to 0-2. This loss, more than any, came to represent The Greg Robinson Era. That he could allow the Syracuse football program to devolve to the point where we're not only losing at home to Akron but getting pushed around by them was inexcusable. There was no going back now. Greg's fate was sealed, just two games into the season. Nothing he did the rest of the year mattered. Syracuse football had reached the bottom.

No. 1 - Georgia Tech 51, Syracuse 14 (2004)

How do you top the loss that acts as the rock bottom point for a program? How bout with the loss that was the catalyst for sending us there? The 2004 Champ Sports Bowl was already a heady proposition when SU accepted the bid. The Orange seemed over-matched against the Yellow Jackets and a loss was expected. Off the field, longtime AD and Coach P supporter Jake Crouthamel was retiring. Before leaving, Jake gave Coach P the vote of confidence. Nancy Cantor seconded that on Dec. 6 when she announced that Pasqualoni would return for his 15th season with Syracuse. 11 days later Daryl Gross was hired as the new AD. He joined up just in time to watch Syracuse suffer their worst bowl loss since 1953.

Nine days later, Gross fired Pasqualoni, ending his 14-year tenure.

Because it was so late in the season, many of the top candidates had already been taken. In his haste to remake the football program (and all SU sports programs) in his image, Gross was left with little viable options. On a recommendation from Pete Carroll, he settled on Texas DD Greg Robinson. And the rest, they say, is history...

Name of the week: NAME OF THE YEAR EDITION, preliminary round.

Rodger Sherman — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 21:05:51 -0000

DUN-DUN FREAKIN DUN, PEOPLE.

That's right. As you may remember, for the majority of the season, every week I selected the four or five best names from the team Northwestern was playing against and allowed you, the public, to select which you thought was the best name from that team. I'm not talking the best as in the funniest, I'm talking about all-around best. The most magnificient name.

Now, with 12 weeks gone, and nothing for us to talk about, I bring you the 12 champions. The Sippin' on Purple Names of the Week.

And again, I bring these men before you, and I ask you to determine their worth.

Of these 12 (actually 11, we'll get to that), pick your favorite. The top three will advance to a final round of voting with the best name from our opponent in the bowl game, as I optimistically left a slot for a 13th week on my impromptu name plaque (né a sunday night dinner flyer that i took down while putting new ones up), even though at the time, we were 3-1 and 1-1 in conference. Yeah optimism.

Anyway, since that fateful day like two months ago, the plaque sifted to the bottom of my desk, but I just went through the pile, retrieved it, and updated it with the names that have won since. Here is that plaque, as pictured via my iPhone.

Below, you see the poll. After the jump, I have the names listed in chronological order and what I wrote about those names at the time, plus a contextual line or two about how I feel about that name now.

So today, we separate the wheat from the chaff. We separate the Lorenzo Seaberry III's of the world from the Nate Paopao's. If we never went through this stage, those Seaberry's would potentially draw votes away from the Paopao's in the final, and I hope to avoid any Naderization of the potential final result in this poll.

Gentlemen, vote, and vote well.

Towson: Tamba Tongu.

Historic quote: "This is a great name. It's alliterative, and it's got a nice rhythm and a nice flow to it. It just rolls off the tongue (Tongu-e?) very nicely."

What I think now: You have to remember, this was back in the preliminary days of the Name of the Week poll, when there wasn't actually a poll, and the name of the week was embedded in a larger post about Towson football. Tamba's stiffest competition was probably Alex Butt, so, he had an easy ride to victory, but he'll always go down in history as Sippin' on Purple's first. And you always remember your first.

Tamba recorded a special teams tackle against NU, which is more than your average name of the week candidate did, surprisingly, although most got in the game.

Eastern Michigan: Nate Paopao.

Historic quote: "Paopao, who has one of the best football names I've ever heard. Nate is a juco transfer, and thanks to the EMU official pronunciation guide, we can find that his name is pronounced "POW-POW", the only name to get the all-caps treatment. Nate has six siblings, all of whom manage to have better names than him, but I won't drag them into this, because they don't deserve to google themselves only to find that somebody's writing about them on the internet, so, find his roster page to see for yourself.

However, if a member of the Paopao family does read this, let it be known that you have phenomenal taste in naming, and like I said in the last post, this isn't about humorous names as much as it is about classy names that make me want to sip expensive scotch and smoke cigars and discuss how great your family's names are in a well upholstered room with a fireplace. Hope you appreciate. I also hope you download the "Pow!" application for the iPhone, where you punch the air and a cartoon punching sound effect is made, because if you do it twice really fast, it's like your name."

What I think now: I didn't quote it at the time, but I'm reminded of Big L's "Put It On", in which he mentions that "my guns go boom boom/your guns go pow pow", right there in that first verse. One of the stupidest lines by the most clever rapper of all time, but one of his most memorable. (also notable: L keeps a gat in his arm's reach, and charms freaks and bombs geeks from here to Palm Beach.

Syracuse: Van Chew

Historic Quote: "Short and to the point. Neither of Chew's names are actual names. Van is a type of car, and occasionally comes up as an awesome first name (see: Morrison, Wilder), and Chew is something you do to food before digesting it. His full name is Vanzago, which sounds like a type of cheese."

What I think now: I'm still not sure how Van beat out my boy Maximilian Leo, but, you win some, you lose some. Van's definitely got a catchy name, it's not great name material.

Minnesota: Shady Salamon

Historic quote: "This is a ridiculously good name, and it's not even my pick for the week. First off, the guys first name is "Shady". Shady. That's his government name, as far as I can tell. Shady, like, when there's, like, trees over you, or when you're skeezy and people don't trust you. And Salamon sounds like Solomon, which is a first name old timey people had. Therefore, when you combine "Shady" and "Salamon", you get a name that sounds like it belongs to, like, a Mormon drug dealer or a wild west brothel owner. And that's awesome. Shady, a sophomore was a backup RB last year and started two games, totalling 181 yards on 49 carries on the year, but hasn't seen the field yet this year."

What I think now: Shady beat an absolutely STACKED name field that week, which included Logan U'u and Xzavian Brandon. But in retrospect, judging from how enthusiastic I was in this description, he deserved it. And like I posted a few days later, Shady has a pretty impressive life story considering what he's been through, and reading that article immediately made me feel bad about putting his name in my stupid little blog post about good names.

Purdue: Waynelle Gravesande:

Historic quote: "Yeah, Waynelle Gravesande.

First off, it's pronounced "grave-sandy" according to Purdue's media guide. But what I like about this name is that "Waynelle" matches up with "Gravesande" really well, they're both really long, very poetic, and both aren't actual names. If Waynelle weren't a football player, he could totally be a British dude from the 1500's. It's a mad courtly name. It just rolls off the tongue."

What I think now: Waynelle was the first time my candidate in the poll won, and admittedly, he was up against a weak field, as evidenced by the fact that he took 31 of the 36 votes. But it doesn't take away from the mad courtliness I wrote about. He's also the only name that didn't fit in the little box I made for it.

Waynelle returned a punt for nine yards in the NU game, and also drew a fair catch interference penalty costing the Cats 15 yards, the sly bastard. He never fumbled though, making him different from every other Purdue kick returner that day.

Miami (OH): VACANT.

Historic quote: "I've come to the conclusion that there's not a single player on the team which I would be comfortable anointing with the title of Name of the Week. Let's be real: RedHawks' Anthony Shoemaker and Sean Redwine simply don't belong in the same conversation as guys like Nate Paopao, Waynelle Gravesande, and Shady Salamon. And to put them amongst those winners would be a disservice to the trophy. I apologize to any readers who this will disappoint, but it's a decision we need to make. I hope you'll agree with me."

What I think now: Miami of Ohio, you disgust me.

Michigan State: Denzel Drone

Historic quote: "Apparently MSU took Denzel Washington, star of such films as Inside Man, American Gangster, and my personal favorite film of all-time (you think I'm joking, but I'm not) He Got Game, removed his soul, and set him loose as a brainless killing machine. Because this Denzel Drone they have is a defensive end. Be worried, people."

What I think now: FEAR THE DENZEL DRONE. HE'S MERCILESS, REALLY GOOD AT ACTING, AND ATTRACTIVE, IN A REALLY DISTINGUISHED WAY.

He only barely held off TyQuan Hammock in a 22-18 fight for the top spot his week, but I think this is one of those dark horse names that can put up a fight here.

Indiana: Damarlo Belcher.

Historic quote: "It's like you took this guy and this guy (who I played in high school, btdubs), but just made their respectively names better. Damarlo Belcher. Ahhh, yes. Works perfectly. I really see no way I'm not inscribing this name on the chart next week, so, go for it."

What I think now: As I hinted at in the quote, it was a weak name field that week, and Damarlo blew away the competition, winning half the vote. But he's still got an average or above name.

Damarlo did work against NU, catching five passes for 60 yards, one of the more successful NOTW performances.

Penn State: Christian Kuntz

Historic quote: "Look, people, this is a family site. I don't put words that will startle the children in most of my posts, unless I'm quoting someone. So I'm not going to go into the precise details of why someone's last name being Kuntz is tremendously unfortunate for that human being. But I think you all understand why.

Now, think about how humorous it is to have a name like Kuntz. Think about how much more humorous it is that Kuntz's first name denotes the Christianity of said Kuntz. Ahh yes, Christian Kuntz. The most pious Kuntz in all the land. (mark this post down under "posts that will probably come back to haunt me some day later.") Anyway, we're talking about multiple Kuntz, and talking about how much they revere Jesus. This is what your name is. I mean, it's a step up from Rusty, but it's a baby step."

What I think now: Man, this is going to be a hard name to beat. And that's not because it's a great name. In fact, it's far from my favorite of the names here.

But it's a runaway force of humor, and that's going to draw some votes. Everybody I mention Christian Kuntz to laughs. I laughed when I first saw it. The people in the BlackHeartGoldPants podcast laughed. Everybody laughs. I see no way this one doesn't make it into the next round, at the least.

Iowa: Pat Angerer

Historic quote: "An angerer. A person whose job is to anger others. An equivalent name would be Greg Pisseroffer, or Steve Guywhotellsraciallyinsensitivejokestopeopleofthatraceforthesolepurposeofprovokingthemerer. And he's a linebacker. Which is probably the most angering position possible. "

What I think now: I probably overhyped this name, in retrospect, it ain't that great. But it did win the most voted in name of the week poll of all time, just just just just eking past Marvin McNutt 40-39 in the only poll I've had that drew over 100 votes.

Pat, as always, was a beast in the NU game, recording 17 tackles, 13 unassisted, as well as breaking up a pass.

Illinois: Whitney Mercilus

Historic quote: "If my name was Whitney Mercilus, I'd do two things every day: first off, I'd be angry that my name was Whitney, because that's a last name, as evidenced by Eli Whitney, and, well, anybody ever to be named Whitney.

Then, having done that, I'd contemplate showing mercy. But would I? HELL NO. My last name would be pronounced MERCILESS. And therefore, even if all I know about humanity were to dictate that I was in a situation that deserved mercy, you can be sure as all hell that I would not. WHITNEY MERCILUS. A great football name too. Now, if middle name was "The", I would begin to worship him."

What I think now: FELLAS, LISTEN UP. Whitney has my vote this week. His freakin' name is MERCILUS. HOW MUCH DO I HAVE TO STRESS THIS FACT. It's pronounced "merciless." I know this. The Illinois guy said it. Merciless. Jesus.

Whitney recorded two tackles against NU, both of Dan Persa behind the line of scrimmage. Neither were sacks, because they were both on one of those drives where Fitz just sent Dan out to eat up about eight plays by running and not pretending a running back would run it or that he might throw, even though these are both options in a football playbook.

Wisconsin: Prince Moody.

Historic quote: "Therefore, it is my solemn and painful duty to tell you that there will be no name of the week poll. I'm preemptively awarding the regular season's final title to the owner of the far and away best name on the team,Prince Moody.

Surely, there will be some disappointment - especially from the Prince himself, knowing how moody that poor chap is - but I hope we can all agree it's the right thing to do. I hope you respect Prince with the same veneration deserved of all name of the week winners."

What I think now: Well, I had to do what I had to do. It was painful, but there was nobody worthy of polling besides the Prince.

So there you go.

Poll

NAME OF THE YEAR. Pick your favorite from the first 12 weeks of Northwestern's season.

Tamba Tongu

1 votes

Nate Paopao

2 votes

Van Chew

10 votes

Shady Salamon

12 votes

Waynelle Gravesande

7 votes

Denzel Drone

3 votes

Damarlo Belcher

8 votes

Christian Kuntz

20 votes

Pat Angerer

12 votes

Whitney Mercilus

16 votes

Prince Moody

21 votes

112 votes | Poll has closed

Q&A with Miami Redhawks blog DK Kountry

Mike Breese — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 19:12:54 -0000

I always kind of held out hope that there would be a Miami OH blog out there somewhere and suddenly Dan Kukla's fantastic Redhawks site DK Kountry popped up in my RSS reader. They had me hooked right away as their preview for the NIU game contains multiple references to the much-underrated band Smashmouth. The blog title reminds me a little of Donkey Kong Country (Kountry?) Anyways, here are the questions that I asked and his subsequent answers. Highlights quoted in bold. Enjoy:

1. First of all, what are the major differences in offensive and defensive schemes now that Mike Haywood is your coach? How has the transition been so with implementing everything and has team turnover been limited?

I think there is a lot of tension between the type of football Haywood wants to play and the type of football his players are capable of playing. Haywood really wants to run a tough, disciplined team that can run the football and stop the run. He wants a team that will wear down opponents for all 60 minutes with intense, physical play. Unfortunately he didn't get to Oxford until December, which is mid way through the recruiting season. As a result, he is stuck mostly with players recruited to play Shane Montgomery football.

The last four years are often referred to by fans as the country club era for its lack of just about everything Haywood has preached so far. So far Miami hasn't come close to establishing a ground game so the offense looks a lot like it did the last few years. It still a quarterback driven offense that relies heavily on short to mid range passes. It often substitutes bubble screens and swing passes in for a run game. There are still a lot of draw plays when they do run.

One significant difference, however, is that Haywood is much more aggressive in his play calling. He takes a lot more shots down field and he doesn't ever hesitate to go for it on fourth and short, even in Miami territory. There have even been a fair share of trick plays, fake punts and onside kicks. These things never even crossed Montgemery's mind as an option.

2. You've played one of the toughest schedules in the nation so far playing tough teams and only 2 out of 7 at home. How has your team responded to this brutal gauntlet?

Well obviously the 0-7 record says the team hasn't responded very well to the brutal schedule, but I would argue that the schedule has a much less significant role in that then people may think. Sure it didn't help playing Boise and UC but lets keep in mind that Miami lost to Kent State as well. I certainly think all the away games wears on a team; the RedHawks definitely showed more life and energy against UC in their one game in Oxford so far then they have on the road. Mostly though the 0-7 records speaks to the fact that this is a very young and inexperienced team that is still trying to buy into a whole new system under a new coach.

3. Freshman Zac Dysert has showed spurts of talent here and there, but has fallen to the turnover bug. Where do the problems lie on the offensive side of things?

Turnovers have been a killer. Its not just Dysert although the frequency of fumbles has dropped in recent weeks. What really hurts is when the turnover come. Dysert especially has thrown picks in the most crucial of moments.

Another big problem is injuries. Miami's top three wide outs coming into the season are all hurt. Andre Bratton, the only back to show any signs of consistency out of the backfield is hurt as well. Its been hard for this offense to figure itself out with a new set of guys on the field each week. The four skill players mentioned are also talented upperclassmen so their playmaking and leadership is dearly missed.

The third big problem, as mentioned before, is a less that futile ground attack.

4. On defense it's kind of the same thing as they tend to keep Miami in games, especially against Northwestern. What are some playmakers on that side of the ball and do you see them improving?

Jordan Gafford is a big playmaker for the Hawks on defense. It seems like his is in on every tackle. He flies to the ball and is extremely dynamic when blitzing the quarterback. Jerrell Wedge has also really impressed me. He has really developed as a redshirt sophomore and has been one of the few defenders to create turnovers. I definitely see this group getting better. They are so young and inexperienced that this year has just been mostly about finding their identity as a unit and developing both their skill and schemes. Being coached by Carl "Bull" Reese doesn't hurt their chances of improvement either.

5. Prediction time. I don't need an exact score, but where do you see the game going on Saturday. Do you see any wins on the rest of your schedule?

There should be a ton of energy around this team Saturday. They are finally through that brutal stretch of six road games in seven contests and quite appropriately this is also homecoming weekend. That being said, NIU is clearly the more talented and developed team in this match up and a home crowd can only carry a team so far. After watching Miami play OU last weekend, NIU's dual attack at running back is a huge cause for concern in my mind. The combination of that rushing attack with the fact that eight Husky receivers average over 10 yards per catch leads me to believe the NIU offense will be very hard to stop for Miami. Just like the OU game, the RedHawks will probably be caught guessing whether to load up the box or drop extra help deep. I'm thinking it will be close at halftime but NIU pulls away for an easy win after the break.

If Miami wins a game this season it will probably come in one of its last two games against BG or Buffalo. Both of those are home week night games (no fans lost to hockey or OSU). I'm thinking they get it against against Buffalo. James Starks who absolutely burned Miami last year won't be around which is a huge plus for the Hawks. By that point in the season I don't expect the Bulls to have anything left to play for and Miami will desperately be trying to avoid a winless season.

Thanks again for your responses and good luck on Saturday!

Matchup of the Week: Northwestern Offense v. Michigan State Defense

grahamfiller10 — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 21:36:38 -0000

Two installments of MOTW's have preceded two disappointing Michigan performances. Two weeks ago, bad scheming in the secondary allowed Michigan State to drive for two early touchdowns against the porous Wolverine defense. Last week, Tate Forcier was concussed during a horrendous performance in Iowa City.

Who will be cursed by my MOTW this time? I chose to take a look at the Wildcat offensive attack and how they will scheme against an improving MSU defense. Northwestern''s schedule has been cake so far - which is why we predicted a 5-1 start.. But the 4-2 Wildcats cannot continue struggling against cupcakes ('Cuse, Miami OH, Eastern Michigan) and expect to suddenly become an improved team against the Spartans.

NW's Spread Scheme: Expectations, Results

As Chris from SmartFootball wrote on TRE last week:

SmartFootball: Well Northwestern is a true spread team and has traditionally done a nice job with all the typical short spread passes that can be completed at a high clip...

I know a lot of Northwestern fans haven't been too pleased with the team's early struggles, but Kafka's passing efficiency has to be encouraging. He is averaging over a full yard more per attempt this year than C.J. Bacher did last year (7.2 compared to 6.0).

Kafka has followed in the steps of Basanez and Bacher, completing a Big Ten leading 67% of his passes. The effective short passes have also been damaging on third down, as the Wildcats have the second most effective 3rd down % in the Big Ten. On the flip side, the shotgun draws that sprung Tyrell Sutton so many times have been flat. Northwestern is 10th in the Big Ten in rushing at a paltry 122 yards per game.

Are the Wildcats doing anything different scheme wise? Not particularly. Kafka has run more in the last two games (18 carries against Purdue,15 against Miami OH), although not with the success people may have expected. Because of his tremendous athleticism, Fitz has been attempting to unleash him via draws, option runs, or outside quarterback sweeps. The NW Spread still attacks from a 3 wide or 4 wide set and Kafka has the potential to make every throw, including:

The quick outs

The five yard sideline outs

The bread and butter crossing patterns, both short and deep

I remember Northwestern running some great wide receiver screens and halfback screens in the preceding years, but I feel like there has been less of that this year. Maybe someone can correct me or fill me in on this.

MSU Defense: Maligned Early, Repairing Image of Late

If we want to talk about improved defenses, let's talk about the Spartan unit under Pat Narduzzi. Narduzzi, weary of his inexperienced secondary, decided to play some soft coverage against Central Michigan and Notre Dame. This backfired tremendously, as Narduzzi failed to realize that both Dan Lefevour and Jimmy Clausen can throw six yard outs and dump downs to running backs or tight ends. Let me give you the play by play on the game winning CMU drive:

D. LeFevour passed to P. Cotton to the left for 9 yard gain
D. LeFevour passed to A. Brown to the left for 5 yard gain
D. LeFevour passed to A. Brown to the left for 8 yard gain

The Spartans cornerbacks began the play 5-7 yards off the LOS and retreated more when the ball was snapped. Needless to say, the underneath routes were open.

After a 1-3 start in which the defense allowed 29, 33, and 38 yards, Narduzzi finally rolled up his cornerbacks and decided to take away bubble screens and quick throws. It worked - Forcier and Williams/McGee were both forced to throw deeper into coverage. Jerel Worthy (a probable Freshman All-American selection at DT) began destroying offensive lineman, using a great swim move and some quick feet to help stuff the run games of both Michigan and Illini. The front four, passionless early, came around in a big way in Champaign-Urbana, sacking the Illini quarterbacks six times last week.

The Spartan 4-3 with soft zone coverage was a bad scheme. The Spartan 4-3 with rolled up corners and imaginative blitzes is a better defense.

What Can We Expect Saturday?

We predicted a 6-6 Northwestern team this year. Their schedule is so charmin' soft, I felt this was an insult from TRE. It looks like we were somewhat on target, but why?

LTP pointed out that NW seems to lack the killer instinct that separated the Wildcats from mediocre teams in 2008. Most of you didn't watch the Miami OH game last week, but that game exhibited a penalty laden NW squad that got pushed around by the worst in the nation RedHawks. Kafka threw high all day in good, non windy conditions, while the run game was hampered by bad blocking.

Here is my advice for Fitzgerald's game planning:

- Run early and if it fails, abandon it. CMU and Michigan couldn't run on the Spartans, thanks to the solid LB core led by Greg Jones. But when teams turn to throwing against the Spartans, things usually open up.

- Tell Kafka to get rid of the damn ball. His fumbles have come at the most inopportune times and he's been sacked second most in the Big Ten.

- Figure out early if Michigan State has rolled up cornerbacks onto the LOS. If they haven't, pound that short out and force them up.

Sparty, backed by a 14 point Vegas line and a rowdy crowd of 70k, is the obvious favorite. But Narduzzi and Dantonio must show a willingness to continue forcing quarterbacks to throw over linebackers and cornerbacks, instead of falling back into the soft zone. Michigan State has faced two ridiculously accurate quarterbacks and Kafka will be no different.

That wasn't even fun: the recap

Rodger Sherman — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 04:33:18 -0000

(by the way, I get to use AP photos for free on here. It's awesome. The guy David Arnold is tackling might be dead.)

It's been about 36 hours since that game, and this is just about the first time I've been in front of a computer. Which is a good thing. Anyway, on to the recap:

First off, yes, we get that "Northwestern played poorly", and that "we should have blown them out", and that "the era of Northwestern being a bad team is over and we should be angry when we play close against bad teams," but, yo, chill out, people. We won. Kill the gloom and doom. Iowa needed two blocked field goals to beat the University of Northern Iowa, and go check how their season has been so far. Playing a close game against a bad team doesn't make you a bad team, so, please, people, just be glad we won.
That being said, that was arguably the least interesting football game I've ever watched all the way through. Serious props to the Northwestern student community for having a halfway decent showing in the stands, despite hangovers and the fact that we were playing Miami (OH) and it was really cold. My friends and I got to the game about 15 minutes early, and we were really worried, because there wasn't anybody sitting more than four rows back, but it filled out nicely. (By the way, one of these days I'm due for a rant about how absurd it is that our games are at 11 AM. It's preposterous.)
On the field: first off, spare me the "It was Miami (OH)" bit. NU played fantastic defense yesterday. Sherrick McManis' pick was unbelievable, a poor throw, for sure, but, still, an amazing catch. We essentially neutralized their run game, and although we couldn't contain their quarterback much, seven sacks - yes, even against Miami - is impressive. But what's important is that the guys playing great weren't the guys you'd expect: David Arnold looks like a bonafide player out there after two weeks, I saw Quentin Williams and Kevin Watt doing good work filling in for Corey Wootton, Brian Peters was on and around the ball and had a preposterous one-handed grab. Roderick Goodlow, in limited snaps, has looked legit. We're talking about players we weren't expecting to talk about coming into the year - or even two weeks ago - and I think the fact that our recruiting swag has increased tremendously in the past few years is going to lead to bigger and bigger roles for our younger guys as two-star seniors and juniors might have to ride pine behind three- and four-star freshmen.
I've never seen Northwestern hit big before, really, outside of Brad Phillips' potential helmet-to-helmet banger last year against Iowa, but we were hitting big yesterday. I was about 30 feet from Demetrius Dugar's decleating of some random Miami punt returner, and it was nutso. I heard it, because I was right there, but I'm not surprised if you could hear that from the south end zone. Demetrius, you're good in my book. The Mike Williams having 200 yards receiving in an embarrassing loss is completely forgotten, that hit was awesome. (Also, that hit on Zeke Markshausen was legit. Surprised he got up, but I wouldn't be surprised if the reason he dropped three passes after that and the extra point on our next touchdown was botched with him holding was because that hit killed around 15% of his brain cells.)
Offensively, people are worried, and I'm not gonna act like I blame you. Kafka looked - say it together - shaky. 15-31 with a pick is pretty bad against a team like Miami. On the positive side, Kafka seems a lot more ready to throw the ball away rather than force it into coverage. In fact, he's almost enthusiastic about it. I wouldn't be surprised if some of his throwaways are reaching the stands, because he hurls them dopes. But on the negative side, the long stuff just isn't there. Yeah, he hit Jacob Schmidt, but that was more on Schmidt's great catch and the fact that the defense couldn't stop a play that my IM team ran today. Also negative, he completed less than 50% of his passes and threw a pick against one of the worst defenses in the country. So, yeah. That's not good.
Also, we have to accept that we don't have a running game. And we have to not use it.
Oh, and thanks to Coach McCall for reading Sippin On Purple, because he put Kafka under center in the goal line formation today, as I suggested.
How bad are Miami's wide receivers? I lost count of the amount of drops they had. I'm actually surprised they had a hands team to field the onside kick at the end, because I'm pretty sure at least 70% of the RedHawks' roster actually are not the owners of hands. Methinks Brian Peters has more receiving skill in one hand than many of them had in two.
Morton Schapiro earned a lot of fans in the first few rows of the student section by turning around and yelling "FUCK" when Mike Kafka threw a pick. My older, more conservative readers might find any sort of football related emotion or profanity offensive, but, I'm really excited to see that my school's president is as passionate as our sports teams as I am. For most of this school's history, presidents presumably didn't give a crap about any sports, and Bienen was a huge NU fan, but it seemed like he was going through the motions in an "if our sports teams improve, maybe our school's academic stature will do to increased applicants" way. But Morty's not BSing. He's already in love with NU sports. I mean, did you read this article in the Trib the other day? THE GUY ACTUALLY KNOWS THE NAMES OF THE OTHER D-I SCHOOLS THAT HAVEN'T MADE THE NCAA TOURNAMENT. We're in good hands. President Schapiro, welcome, thanks for responding to the incessant "Morty" cheers, and it's good to have you. Let's get to that freaking tournament. (And yes, I'm glad to see that NU's important officials public profanity quotient has improved mightily in about four days.)
Alright, people in the student section, let's get something straight. There are rules related to the "Time to move the chains" chant, and you're not following them. Here they are:

Northwestern gets a first down.
The band plays that song nobody knows the lyrics to where we go "GO CATS" at the end.
Someone (or, in some instances, two people) yells "What time is it?"
Everybody else yells "TIME TO MOVE THE CHAINS", points in the direction of the field that the first down is going, and goes "huh!"

These are the rules. They are not being followed. Sometimes the band doesn't play the song. Sometimes they wait a really long time to play the song, and people jump the gun and do the cheer before the band plays. Sometimes, NU runs the hurry up and people don't do the cheer at all.

Look, folks, it's of utmost importance that we do this correctly. Our sectionmates have a need to know what time it is, and furthermore, they would like to know how that time relates to the movement of the chains. And if we don't tell them, well, we're doing a disservice to both them and the team, but most importantly, ourselves.

Also, when you beat an 0-6 team, don't chant "OH-AND-SIX". First off, not cool. Second off, a more apt chant would be "HEY, EVERYBODY, THINK ABOUT HOW MEANINGLESS OUR TEAM'S ACHIEVEMENT IS BECAUSE OF THE PERENIAL SUCKITUDE OF THE TEAM WE JUST ACHIEVED IT AGAINST." And that's not catchy.
In questionable news: Vince Browne had a big sack in the fourth quarter. He celebrated by doing the Jared Allen cattle-lassoing move. It was captured for eternity by an AP photog, here:

Vince, it was a great play and all, but, uh, really? You're gonna go with the cattle-lasso? Either way, it was awesome, keep doing it.

Also, it's immediately evident that Browne's bicep is the size of my head.

Stefan Demos is already a true Northwestern hero, but the underarm pass that got picked just about sealed his place in world history. I've never seen anything like that before, but Demos' grit and courage to excitedly throw a really soft floater while sprinting out of bounds after a botched extra point, then get back into the play and tackle the guy trying to run it back is the stuff legends are made out of.

Anyway, that's all I got.

Week 6 Thoughts: CBS Loves SEC, Alma Maters, Southern Cheerleaders, Stanziballs

grahamfiller10 — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 03:29:44 -0000

National

CBS's official position on national title contenders:

FLA/ALA/LSU
Texas
1 Loss SEC Champ
USC
Virginia Tech

Discuss amongst yourselves? Or maybe it's not worth it. CBS...LSU? Really? C'monnnnn.

So in love, are we two, just can't wait to say I do, sooo in love...

I don't really give a damn about Tim Tebow or Florida's dominance or Urban Meyer's genius. But one thing I love is when Florida uses Tebow as a battering ram from the shotgun. In a pass happy, spread happy world, sometimes it's nice to see an old fashioned hammer head attack.

My mother, after a camera showed a couple Texas cheerleaders rooting their team on: "That kind of spunk only exists in the DNA of a Southern cheerleader." True, but these ladies are fantastically complex - Makeup out of place? Pissed. Fullback doesn't pick up the A Gap blitzer? Notices...and pissed.

Iowa 30, Michigan 28

RichRod was berating Tate Forcier like an angry drunk father the entire game. "It's YOUR fault that we had to cut the cable, you damn money sucker! You didn't even make the Pop Warner team, ya damn failure...Where's my belt?"

Undefeated Iowa...Let me check our predictions...Law Buckeye 11-1, Bama Hawkeye 10-2, and I picked 9-3...We're experts!

There's something ego-pumping about listening to a game in which Brandon Graham of Michigan is dominating. "Down goes Stanzi in Graham's arms!" Well, I guess I could go for a cuddle. "Graham dominating with his athletic ability and strength!" (Pounding chest, stomping feet). "Graham's a war daddy!" Thanks Musburger, I'm literally putting on Under Armour and screaming in my living room.

Ricky Stanzi doesn't want the ball. He wants to share it with everyone on the field. How many interceptions did he almost throw?

Someone tell Rick he's not playing "Hot Potato"...

Apparently Brandon Minor, the 216 lb. halfback for Michigan who runs with some power, was rated the top fullback in the nation coming out of high school. While RichRod usually utilizes speedsters in the spread, Minor bounces quite well through the zone holes.

Greg Robinson finally rolled his cornerbacks up against Twins WR sets. Discussed here by SmartFootball, this basic concept seemed to elude Mr. Robinson until Saturday's matchup. Although these adjustments helped stop any quick passes or bubble screens, Ricky Stanzi still picked apart the young Wolverine secondary early.

In the span of 30 seconds, Kirk Herbstreit and Brent Musburger compared Tate Forcier to Brett Favre and Fran Tarkenton. All this for a 175 lb. freshmen...And people think Notre Dame gets overhyped.

Ohio State 31, Wisconsin 13

Why is there so little national buzz about Ohio State and their defensive dominance? Because we've seen this story before: Talented defense with mediocre offense that traipses over decent Big Ten teams and loses games against Top 15 teams.

"The Ohio State Buckeye's - Smothering power run games since, uh, forever." John Clay, who had pumped up the Badgers with his 250 lb. frame, ran into Doug Worthington and Thaddeus Gibson and came out with 59 yards on 20 carries.

Oh and this from 11 Warriors regarding Pryor's horrific performance:

For the first time in his Buckeye career he was booed by the home crowd. This came right about the time when, right after throwing the pick to give the Badgers the ball in scoring position, he followed it up with what should have been another pick after he threw into coverage on his very next attempt of the game.

Minnesota 35, Purdue 20

We predicted Purdue would go anywhere from 1-11 to 3-9. Logical analysis preceded these predictions - They were losing their playmakers on offense, the defense was unspectacular, and the Boilers would be underdogs in 90% of their contests. With that said, it's hard to watch the weekly meltdowns in West Lafayette. 402 total yards for Purdue, 3 TO's, a blocked field goal returned for a TD...All leading to another Boilermaker loss.

Northwestern 16, Miami (OH) 6

Doesn't feel great to see my alma mater flail helplessly. Bama Hawkeye gave me some good memories with the '03 Roethlisberger pic, but even an uninspired Wildcat team made easy work of my RedHawks.

15 punts is always nice to see. Also nice to see a wonderful young man, Chris DeCesare, punting eight times for the RedHawks. I was his RA at Miami, now this 5th year senior is 2nd in the nation in punting.

Michigan State 24, Illinois 14

At Dantonio's luncheon this week, all the Spartan coaches made it clear they were gameplanning for both Juice and McGee. It didn't really matter - the Illini picked up 55 first half yards and didn't see the MSU side of the 50 until they were down three touchdowns. Six Spartan sacks showed an active MSU front four and an inexperienced Illini O-line.

We need to have a non cliched discussion of Ron Zook's job situation. Here's what we know -

Zook signed an extension through 2014 whereby he gets paid 1.5 million a year.
Zook is at the head of a 1-4 team that hasn't won a meaningful game. Not only is his prize recruit and star quarterback semi-benched, but the offense gameplanning has shown no creativity or misdirection.
The president of Illinois is, I believe, on an interim basis and would have to convince boosters to buy out Zook. That's a tall task for any president in this economy.

A higher profile program than Illinois would boot Zook with no second thoughts, but this is Champagne-Urbana and I predict Zook survives this year.

Oh, THEY'RE the 0-5 team

Rodger Sherman — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 20:16:02 -0000

Once, Northwestern was the team that lost games for years in a row, but that doesn't mean we'll feel bad about beating somebody else.

Anyway, I normally link to a blog of the team we're playing against, but, no dice for Miami (OH), because you couldn't pay me to blog about Miami (OH). (side note: anybody want to pay me to blog about Miami (OH). I'll do it if the price is right.) Instead, you get a link to the game page and the Sporting News preview, so, enjoy it.

This is what happens when you google image search "Miami Ohio basketball". Just pretend Jack McClinton's left arm has a tattoo that says "OF" and this will make sense.

When we got the ball: Miami has a pretty bad rush defense, and for the first time in a long time, we have Stephen Simmons. I'd like to see us go back to our first few weeks game plan of trying to figure out how to run the ball, because we can afford to try it out against a team we're better than.

I'm not saying "don't let Kafka pass", though. In fact, I'd like to see Kafka pass, but, none of the short easy stuff which he's been completing with great ease even against Big Ten secondaries. We know we got that. I'd like to see him throwing deep, because he hasn't shown he can yet, outside of one pass to Jeremy Ebert against Minnesota last year. Air it out.

You see, yesterday, I was playing pickup ball. I'm 6'2, but most of my game is reliant on a shaky mid-range and the reverse layup, because most pickup ball defenders don't really guard you baseline. I have the height to play in the post, but have literally no moves. But yesterday, I was matched up against a scrawny 5'6 or so kid. I could've just bullied over him and gotten my fair share of uncontested two footers, and I did this a few times, but I realized this was no fun. Instead, I used the opportunity to use some post moves I don't try against defenders who aren't mismatches against me - I busted out the dream shake and spin baseline, I busted out a turnaround fadeaway, and a variety of ugly hook shots. In doing so, I realized that the ugly hook shots, although they're ugly, are actually something I can rely on in the post against people that are actually my size if I don't telegraph it too much, and that I can pretty reliably bank it in from the right block, whereas the dream shake, while it looked good when Hakeem did it, is really likely to see me lose the ball. I realized what worked and what didn't, and my team won both games easily. (I also hit three threes in one game and two in the other, but that's less because I'm a good shooter than it is because I jack up a crapload of shots.)

If Mike does his 5-8 yard in routes that he does every other goddamn week against a team we should romp over like Miami, that's the equivalent of matching up against that 5'6 kid and shooting uncontested one footers because you can and you'll win the game. We have to take this opportunity of getting real game reps against a weak opponent to let Kafka test out his arm and see if he actually can hit Brewer on a go route like he did in the spring game and against Syracuse, or maybe if Sidney Stewart or some other player is a better deep ball receiver than Brew. We have a chance to essentially practice in an actual game. Take advantage of it, Coach McCall.

Defense: Last week we saw our defense unit the way we'd like to see them. They got after the ball-carrier, whacked him, and got him to lose the ball a lot of the time. For about 40 minutes, our defense absolutely dominated Purdue's offense.

Let's pick up where we left off. Our games against Towson and Eastern Michigan were notable for how our defense sleepwalked through them and still won quite handily, so, let's not do that. I know this isn't insightful at all, but, hey, this team doesn't really have much of anything going for them.

People I'm watching: Corbin Bryant, Marshall Thomas, Niko Mafuli, and Adam Hahn: These are the four defensive tackles in our lineup. Before last week, they'd done a pretty bad job all year long, letting the first four teams we'd played essentially run over us, even ones with weak rushing attacks. This week, they face off against a very weak Miami (OH) rushing offense, one that they barely use, opting to pass about 40-50 times a game.

But when they do run, I expect to see these four - Bryant and Thomas took the majority of the snaps until Mafuli and Hahn played a lot and very well last week - do big things. I'm looking for Miami to have a yards-per-carry in the 3.5 or under range, or else we're dealing with the same defensive issues we saw in the first four games.

Pick in a mascot fight to the death: A lot like our matchup against the EMU Eagles, we have a classic bird-of-prey versus small land mammal fight. And no matter how ferocious that small land mammal is, it has none of the tactical advantages that a bird that can fly really fast and has big talons has. Game, Miami. (Wildcats death fight record: 2-4. Notice that so far, the real life Wildcats are 0-2 in games I've said their mascot counterpart would win, and 3-0 in matches I said the mascot would lose. I'm looking for this to hold true again this week.)

Prediction:

Northwestern, 38, Miami, 10. Yeah, I like us against the ridiculously large spread. Miami hardly deserves being being +18 - they've lost by more than 18 in all but one game. Then again, I've been awful at predicting actual scores, and have picked NU in all six of their games this season, so, don't listen to me.

This is the last post til tomorrow's game thread, which I expect to be relatively laid-back, considering nobody will be near a computer, because ANY NORTHWESTERN FAN SHOULD BE AT RYAN FIELD TOMORROW IF THEY ARE WITHIN A REASONABLE DISTANCE OF THE STADIUM. People are talking about this being one of the lowest attended games in NU history, considering we only drew 22,000 vs. Minnesota, so, please, go, if for nothing else, so that it's less depressing looking out from what will probably be a very full student section. I might comment via iPhone if enough people are commenting, so, stop by if you live somewhere outside of a two-hour radius of Evanston, but otherwise, drop by.

Week 6 in the Non-Con: What I Want

Bama Hawkeye — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 19:45:09 -0000

We have favorites and we have loyalties, but if the Big Ten is going to climb out the national perception doldrums, we're going to have to do it together. That means that we have to all be pulling in the same direction. Here's what I want to see from each Big Ten team in their non-conference battles this week. These columns are really short this time of year...

Indiana (@ Virginia Cavaliers)

I want to see Indiana continue to play with the energy that has made them one of the pleasant surprises in the Big Ten this season. Virginia is bad. However, Al Groh teams win games. Somehow. Ask North Carolina. I don't know if Indiana wins this one, but I want to see them put forward their A-Game.

Northwestern (vs. Miami University)

I want to see the Wildcats pound the alma mater of this site's founders. Most importantly, play a complete game, Wildcats. Don't let them back in like you did Eastern Michigan. Don't fail to show up like you did with Purdue. The RedHawks are horrible (0-5, they've given up at least 29 points in each game). Show us just how bad they are.

Where have you gone, Big Ben? Oxford hasn't been the same since you left.

Penn State (vs. Eastern Illinois)

This is the most highly anticipated game of the Penn State season as they face their traditional arch-rival: the Panthers. Wrong Panthers? Well, then don't get anybody hurt. And take it easy on Jake. After all, he is the only Hawkeye quarterback to lose to Penn State this millennium.

What I Want

I want three wins and two blow-outs. This is very possible.

What I Expect

I expect Al Groh to beat Indiana on his way to 6 wins and another year at the helm of UVa. I hope I'm wrong about this.

What We've Got So Far

The Big Ten is 25-9 (.735) out of conference. The league is 5-7 against BCS Conference teams (plus Notre Dame). Purdue's loss to Notre Dame guarantees that the Big Ten can finish with no better than a .500 record against the other BCS schools. The league has two losses to non-BCS teams (Northern Illinois over Purdue and Central Michigan over Michigan State).

Gettin' Familiar with: Miami (OH)

Rodger Sherman — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 16:05:32 -0000

More photos » by Al Behrman - AP

Yeah, they're not so good.

Browse more photos »

Ahhh, time to preview the Miami RedHawks. That photo on the right is pretty much a summary of their season, but, hey, if you'd like to read a few thousand words of analysis of their football team, you're in the right place.

Oh, and if you don't feel like reading a few thousand words, but would still like analysis of their football team: "they're terrible." Carry on.

On the season: The RedHawks are one of four 0-5 teams in the country, and of those four, are arguably the worst. (Ball State is giving them a serious run for their money, though.) Miami started off the season being outscored 90-0 by Kentucky and Boise State, as quarterback Daniel Raudabaugh racked up a combined 34-69 passing with no touchdowns and four picks, which is absolutely tremendous. (Arguably more impressive: his replacement Zac Dysert's line vs. Kentucky: 2-4, one yard, no touchdowns, two picks. Persa-esque.) After that, Miami finally scored in a 48-26 loss to Western Michigan, a tolerable 29-19 loss to Kent State, and a 37-13 beatdown by No. 10 Cincinnati, but at least they kept it close through halftime. Long story short, the Redhawks are losing by an average of 29.2 points per game.

By the way, the RedHawks are the fifth team we're playing with a new head coach, Mike Haywood. Mike was the offensive coordinator at Notre Dame before coming to Miami, so, you already know he's absolutely terrible at his job. He also has a brand new staff of coordinators, Peter Vaas on offense and Carl Reese on defense. This makes Miami the fifth team we're playing with a new head coach, new offensive coordinator, and new defensive coordinator. (Towson technically doesn't have an offensive coordinator, but new head coach Rob Ambrose is doing that, basically.) Also, because Minnesota was replacing an offensive coordinator, every team we've played so far has been replacing at least one coordinator. Jesus. Be more faithful, people.

Us and them: As you probably know, historically, Miami owns us. They're 6-2, all six victories coming in Evanston, and gave NU their only regular season loss in the 1995 season, a heartbreaking 30-28 loss for the Rose- Bowl bound Cats that prevented that season from being even more historical. When the coach of that '95 Miami team, Randy Walker, came to NU, he matched up against Miami twice, in 1999 and 2003, and the Wildcats were blown out at home in both. They were scheduled to play a third time under Walker's guidance, but as practically all of you know, he passed shortly before the 2006 season opener, which Pat Fitzgerald won 21-3 in his first game as head coach. For what it's worth, Mike Kafka threw for 106 yards and a touchdown in that game and led the team rushing with 89 yards in his first game on the collegiate level, and essentially nobody else is still around for NU, on the Miami side of the field, Andre Bratton, Miami's current starting RB, was a kick returner, but nobody else who recorded stats is still there.

Offense: Miami isn't really a big fan of scoring. As noted earlier, they're in a QB controversy, as senior Daniel Raudabaugh has been replaced by redshirt freshman Zac Dysert. Dysert has been better - albeit against arguably weaker opponents - but is still 69-111 with three touchdowns and five picks. Unlike Raudabaugh, Dysert can run, as he is the team's leader in rushing with 135 yards... wait, that can't be true.

/checks statistics page to make sure this is true

/refreshes page to make sure this is still true

/makes solemn oath that if Northwestern loses to a team so bad that their leading rusher is a redshirt freshman quarterback who has only started two games, he will drop out of school and become a wandering vagrant

Anyway, Dysert, the redshirt freshman quarterback who has only started two games is the team's leader in rushing, with 135 yards, after five games. Part of this is because this team likes to throw - 100 of Dysert's 111 attempts have come in his two games as a starter, so maybe they're aggressive game plan is to blame for lack of rushing yar-oh, wait, apparently, Dysert was sacked nine times by Cincinnati for a loss of 62 yards in one of those games. Screw this, this team is just awful.

Normally I tell you about the opposition's running backs, but they're not worth mentioning, because they're being outgained by a quarterback who has only played two games, and has been sacked about 40 trillion times, and the team averages 2.8 yards per rush play. I normally mention the opposition's wide receivers, but this team has a 5-11 touchdown-to-interception ratio through the air. I normally mention the opposition's offensive line, but this o-line is responsible for more sackings than GM. I feel dirty just previewing this offense.

Defense: What to say about a unit that gives up 40.8 points per game? Well, let's start with a positive: the NYT Quad Blog says that Miami had the best linebacking corps in a non-BCS conference last year. Sadly, now their two all-MAC linebackers have graduated, and there are really no bright spots on this defense. The defensive line also lost their two best players, and those two combine to give Miami a run defense that allows 174.2 yards rushing per game. The RedHawks do have three picks on the year, two by cornerback Brendon Stephens, who appears to be decent from stats alone, but, quite frankly, I'm out of good things to say.

Think about how bad the offense I described up above is. Think. Think about it. Go. Do it.

Now think about the fact that that offense has dominated the time of possession on the year. They held the ball for 40 minutes against Cincinnati, and only twice in those five losses has the other team held the ball for more of the game than Miami.

Normally, this would be a good indicator for your offense, or something. But I'm sensing here it means that oppositions are getting up and down the field against the RedHawks in about as much time as it takes for the Miami offense to go three-and-out.

By the way, I feel bad. I'm absolutely murdering this team, and I really hope we win just so I don't have to eat my words. Sorry to all the hard working Miami players who I'm absolutely crapping on.

Transitive property logic that leads me to believe we'll win this game by a lot:

Surprisingly, there are no transitive property loss strings connecting Miami (OH) to NU so far this year, so I was forced to dip into the 2008 bag a little bit. Hang on, it's a doozy.

9/19: Western Michigan, 48, Miami (OH) 26.

10/03: Northern Illinois, 38, Western Michigan, 3.

9/26: Idaho, 34, N Illinois, 31

9/12: Washington, 42, Idaho, 23

10/03: Notre Dame, 37, Washington, 30

9/12: Michigan, 38, Notre Dame, 34

11/15/08: Northwestern, 21, Michigan, 14

Transitive property score differential: 99.

Anyway, that's that, so, we'd better win.