How the hell did we lose to Northwestern?

There's a saying that goes, "Go for the jugular". The Ferentz's, first off, probably can't spell it, and they just can't seem to fucking crush teams when you have them up against the wall
 
There's a saying that goes, "Go for the jugular". The Ferentz's, first off, probably can't spell it, and they just can't seem to fucking crush teams when you have them up against the wall

Yeah, the hawks had the chance to go up 21-0, they had a good but shorter drive to the red zone iirc, then it bogged down to a FG, which is OK. But the running game never ever got going very well and BF went away from it.

Remember Mosbrucker doinked a roughly 59 yard fg off the upright on the last play of the first half.

Those missed points would have been huge,
 
I’m watching this Illinois game and they’re terrible.

The commentators on their game today were saying jNW is very low in total offense statistics, yards per play, run yards per game as well as pass yards per game. But they do not turn it over a lot, they turn the other team over to get short field situations for the offense.

And their overall defense is really good. their lbkrs are really good and if the front 4 play well and keep big holes from opening it is hard to run on them. A very good secondary.

So really what hurt the hawks in that game was the hawk running game hadnt quite jelled yet, Cronk might not have been the best RTackle, which put too much pressure on the passing game.

And the hawk defense hadnt quite jelled but still giving up 21 points when the hawks turned it over is not that bad but just enuf for jNW to win.
 
They ran a 4-3 stack. blitzed at least two linebackers on every single play and clogged up run lanes. We abandoned the run because of this and put the game in spencers hands. Thats what they wanted. They had determined pre-game spencer was gonna have to beat them. He couldn't. After that initial barrage they got everything they designed for. We turn it over. They get short fields and score a couple times, and win.
 
Fitz circles the Iowa game on his calendar every year, I believe he's even admitted this. Iowa has GOT to figure out a way to place more emphasis on this game. They need to be game planned and treated like it's against Ohio State or Wisconsin.
 
They ran a 4-3 stack. blitzed at least two linebackers on every single play and clogged up run lanes. We abandoned the run because of this and put the game in spencers hands. Thats what they wanted. They had determined pre-game spencer was gonna have to beat them. He couldn't. After that initial barrage they got everything they designed for. We turn it over. They get short fields and score a couple times, and win.
Its frustrating. All we have to do is send a tight end up the damn seam and that would teach them not to blitz. And that would in turn open up the running game.
 
Again, it is a damn shame. Iowa is likely the 2nd or 3rd best team in the entire Big Ten right now. And who knows what would have happened had they played Ohio St. Urban even said Iowa is likely the 2nd best team in the Big Ten right now.
I don’t know who’s better other than OSU, Indiana is a flash in the pan a lá Minnesota
 
NW has earned it whether we like it or not. It's not a great team, and will probably get punked next week, but it is solid. In many respects, Fitzgerald has put together a program that mirrors Iowa - player development, fundamentals, physicality, coaching stability, etc.

That defense is legit. All three LBs probably will be on NFL rosters next season. The offense is just good enough and they rarely beat themselves. Gotta respect what Fitz has accomplished there.
 

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