HawkPhin
Well-Known Member
I was at the game yesterday. Although I was disappointed with the outcome I think there were a lot of positives that came out of it. 1- I thought Jake played about as well as we could have hoped for. QB was the obvious question mark coming into the season. Jake only really missed on a couple of throws (4th down pass OOB pass to Hillyer, 3rd down screen to Bullock come to mind). Other than that I thought he was very accurate with his throws. His 2 picks were on a fluke pass where his arm was hit and the other on a pass that the DB was sitting on. His best throw IMO was the deep pass up the seem to CJF in the 1st quarter where he put it where only his receiver could come up with it. CJF would have had to make an excellent catch but the ball was catchable. 2- I liked the tempo of the offense. Play clock was a nonfactor, when was the last time you can say that about our offense. We really never went to a true hurry up, but the tempo was LIGHT YEARS better than it was last year. 3- For the most part both the offensive and defensive call calling was better. There was definitely some questionable calls offensively (3 and 2 long bomb comes to mind) but compared to last year, it was better. Defensively we blitzed our LB more yesterday than we did probably all of last year combined. 4- We controlled both lines of scrimmage. OL spoke for itself. There were several large holes that our RB were able to get through. Pass protection was a lot better too. Some is part shotgun formation, but Jake was not pressured a lot; excellent job by the OL. The DL was solid. We still lacked a edge pass rush but lets face it, with most teams running shot gun formation it is more difficult to get pressure on the QB. There wasn't a lot of holes for Lynch or there RB to go through. DL held the line of attack to where our LB could come in and clean up the play. Again, LIGHT YEARS better than last year. 5- Meyer could be a real weapon. His kick offs were outstanding. All of his kickoffs were touchbacks; ALL of them! Its seems that he has really worked on that in the offseason and it showed. Now that his strength has matched his accuracy he could be a true difference maker. 6- The breaks just didn't go our way yesterday. Prime example: In the 1st , NIU had a 3rd and 9. They threw a screen BEHIND the LOS that the officials called a defensive holding penalty on LTP. 2 plays later the hit a long TD pass that should of never happened because the officials missed a call. As I said earlier I'm disappointed that we didn't win, however unlike last year, I come away knowing that the program is turning the corner SLOWLY. Hawk fans we are getting there. We need to remember the old saying: "Rome wasn't built in a day". We need to look no further than our Basketball program to see that. It seemed to me that there is a lot more energy on the field and on the sidelines yesterday than there was total last season. Lets make sure as fans we do our part. GO HAWKS!
