Northwestern Recap: Bland on the Run (/Stopped For A Gain of 1)

percDM: northwestern just breezed into the red zone and kicked another field goal.

timstwrt: this is a real test for my "indifference towards the head coach" campaign

percDM: i don't like where you are going with this, because i've already copied "i've resolved this season to not comment on the head coach" from the blog, so i'd be ready to drop it on you

timstwrt: although, if your team allows 100 offensive plays and 560 yeards by the other team, yet you still manage to have the ball only down 2 with five minutes left....perhaps that's perversely an amazing feat of coaching?
  best coach ever!

percDM: haha

timstwrt: the rope-a-dope almost worked

percDM: the defensive approach was...interesting
  it was an extreme bend but don't break
  and we got dominated in yardage, but we only gave up 22 points

timstwrt: my ability to break down the defensive schemes is hampered by: a) our vantage point from the southwest corner of the end zone and b) the fact that i didn't rewatch the game on television because i'm not a masochist
  i actually thought we adjusted
  and then tackled poorly
we were getting underneath on the bubble screens and then just not hitting guys

percDM: i didn't feel like i saw much in the way of adjustments, although you are right about the bubble screens late in the game
  mainly, i remember huge cushions, all day long
  and northwestern dinked and dunked all day long

timstwrt: i guess the essential question of how this game should be viewed is:
are our players not very good, and the coaches are trying to compensate, or is the coaching so conservative that it is hindering the ability of the players?

percDM: i actually think it is the latter, but it is even more than the conservative scheming/game management
  it seems like the coaches can't coach the fundamentals

timstwrt: no matter the answer, it's on spaziani, which is why the new wave of #firespaz isn't interesting to me. he's not good at running a football program. we know this. he'll be gone as soon as the new AD unpacks his boxes.

percDM: that's all intellectually true

timstwrt: i mean, you can say that about the fundamentals, but how much coaching goes into "hold onto the ball, deuce?"
  the late hits are another thing, i guess

percDM: yeah, a fumble here and a fumble there aren't on the coach
  but, bc has fumbled a ton this year
  the tackling is poor
  there were mental breakdowns like the late hits
  and then there was the 25 rushing yards on 21 attempts
  how does a school that was known as o-line u become a program that can't pick up even an average of 2 yards per run

timstwrt: it's embarrassing
  it was just such a strange game
  on the one hand, we should've lost by 30
  on the other, we had the ball down 2 with a few minutes left
  and, of course, nothing i've read about the game has discussed the touchback that wasn't on that late punt that left us at the 1
  which seems like a pretty pivotal play

percDM: that touchback that wasn't was a huge play
  one of the key plays of the game, for sure
  and i don't know why it wasn't reviewed
  we were in that end zone, and had a pretty good vantage point, and it definitely looked like a touchback

timstwrt: goddamn replacement refs (every level of football has replacement refs, right?)

percDM: but of course, the finch fumble was the biggest play
  especially since it was followed by a huge drive by northwestern

timstwrt: i think it was a big play, and deuce, if you're one of our 40 readers, you need to hold on to the ball.  but northwestern was never really in danger.  if we had gone ahead that early, i'm certain that NU would've found the end zone
 the way we were playing, the only way we sneak out of there with a win is to score on that last drive, where we got screwed on the non-touchback

percDM: yeah, we needed that drive
  and of course, after that 3 and out, northwestern finally got in the end zone
  i believe that by then, our defense was exhausted
  the bend but don't break strategy will do that to you when you don't really hold on to the ball

timstwrt: this looks like 4-8 to me
  army, maryland, nc state
  not sure who else we can beat....that wake forest game will be a real battle of titans

percDM: yeah, i think army and maryland gets us to 3 wins
  and we win 2 of these three games: wake, nc st, and notre dame
  notre dame, just because
  so, 5-7
  i think that since chase can make plays, we can be dangerous on offense
  and if swigert comes back soon, we have a solid receiving corps
  with amidon and coleman
  although, throwing to anyone else seems almost criminal since they have about a 1 in 3 chance of catching the ball
  and the spaz conservative defensive gameplan can frustrate some teams and coaches (i think brian kelly especially)
  but, 5-7 still means a total house cleaning, which the program needs. and i hate to use this term, because it is usually just cliched bullshit, but the program needs to regain some kind of identity

timstwrt: house cleaning and identity creation...sounds like you're doing some management consulting

percDM: that's just because this kind of disarray is what consultants thrive on

timstwrt: i don't know if they need an identity so much as some line coaches

percDM: you think line coaches is the issue?
  just get a little better at the line of scrimmage and this is an 8-4 team?

timstwrt: actually, i know you're being glib, but yes.  not a very good 8-4 team, but an 8-4 team nonetheless.  if the offensive and defensive lines were 20% better on saturday, we win that game
  i think the difference between winning ugly and losing ugly is there.  and probably will be there in enough games to get a bunch of wins.
  there are three games on our schedule that probably aren't winnable.

percDM: vatech, fsu, and clemson

timstwrt: but other than those, we're not going up against leviathans
  the lines have been the biggest problem area during the malaise of the last year and a half
  and if they were a little better, spaz could play spaz ball and be adequate
  so it's probably better that they're not, because it means that he won't be able to hang on very long
  scratch what i said....keep doing what you do, offensive and defensive linemen!

percDM: so, what do we have to look forward to for the rest of the year? the continued improvement of rettig?
  anything else?

timstwrt: i just sat here for thirty seconds genuinely pondering your queston.
  and drew a blank
  i'm looking forward to going to the army game....west point is supposed to be quite an experience
  but we'll probably lose 2-0

percDM:   haha
  it's never been this bleak
 or i guess, this bland

timstwrt: just wait, it'll get blander
  there's your 2012 motto
  not bland enough for you?  we'll hit you with 35 rushes for 32 yards, and 12 punts.  boston college football: we'll bland the fuck out of you.

percDM: this is from last year, early october:
percDM
i can't wait
this season is soul crushing
and its not just the play on the field
its gene and spaz and everything around this football program right now
timstwrt
and that, my friends, is where this post ends, not with a bang but a crushed soul
our purgatory is turning into a hell

timstwrt: like groundhog day, without a hilarious beaver-driving scene.