The game was pretty annoying early on, but things were fine after the sluggish start. 31 unanswered points is always fun.
- Will Howard was good but not great today. His completion % wasn't quite where it usually is, but his deep ball looked a lot better. The pass to JJ on the overturned touchdown was really nice and the long one to Gee Scott was beautiful.
- The ground game struggled early on but Quinshon was running very hard. The holes opened up more in the second half.
- Fryar got beat pretty bad once but I didn't notice anything too ominous with the offensive line after the early run-blocking struggles. I admittedly wasn't focusing on that though.
- I'm not sure how much they rotated early on, but it looked like Padilla was in on the one touchdown drive.
- Very happy to see Carnell Tate put on a show in his hometown. The one touchdown grab was a thing of beauty. The catch to set them up at the goal line was one of the best of the season.
- JJ was JJ today. Glad he wasn't banged up too bad after the big play. I feel bad for the DBs trying to cover him over the next two years.
- We'll start with the bad on defense. Giving up a 92-yard touchdown drive against Northwestern isn't acceptable. They gave up too many third down conversions and missed a few sacks. Igbinosun missed one right off the bat and Sawyer had a few opportunities as well. It almost seems like they forget what to do at times when they get to the QB. They need to finish better.
- It wasn't the Oregon Denzel Burke but it wasn't a game he's going to want to rewatch. There are just too many times when he has good coverage and still gives up a play. His body language is also problematic at times.
- Good to see CJ Hicks get a sack. There was a play early on where the QB ran it for about six yards or so, CJ seemed completely out of position on that play (Downs also got turned around a bit).
- Caleb Downs is elite. Duh.
- Sawyer made a great play on the opening drive forced fumble.
- Sonny seemed to play well from what I could see. Great job breaking up the one little throwback or whatever it was they were trying.
- Despite a few missed sacks, I was happy with the amount of pressure.
- Northwestern constantly letting the play clock run down to <5 seconds was annoying, but I understand why they used that strategy.
- The back-to-back bad snaps by NW were killers for any hope they may have had.
- All in all, they gave up 7 points and bounced back nicely after giving up the long touchdown drive.
- I personally have no issue with Day using those timeouts at the end of the half. I think he was just hoping to get a cheap score off a turnover or something (and NW had already fumbled).
- The broadcast wasn't great. The camera for the Tate touchdown was terrible. Jake Butt is really good. I was mostly just annoyed by the cameras a few times.
