I slept better than Nick and certainly Darrell Hazel.
1. The offensive line is "pretty darn good." I'm generally sparse in my praise. I've acknowledged that this is one of the best OL's IU has fielded. But then, IU doesn't have a history of good OL play. But as the season wears on, this unit is pretty darn good. They get good push and maintain their blocks. IU needs to keep the mental areas clean and not have procedure calls. But this line surely ranks high in terms of conference lines and as Howards numbers climb, has a chance for special status. Their play against OSU, MSU, and Mich will say a lot.
Ricky Jones is "pretty darn good". He's explosive. Runs effective routes and can get in and out of breaks effectively. More than anything, he's got strong, soft hands. A year ago Simmie Cobbs was a drop waiting to happen. He's playing effectively opposite Jones and giving IU a viable threat. Michael Cooper is "pretty darn good." Used mostly as an end line blocker most of his career. He runs well, gets open and makes the catch. He doesn't juke and jive in one spot like he's going to break it long. He turns up field and gets positive yardage. Corsaro did a great job of staying in bounds on the boot pass late.
The officials screwed IU up at least once by farting around and not spotting the ball. The play clock started and IU had to burn a time out when they couldn't get the call in. I bet that made some people nutty on here.
In fact, I'm sure it did.
Special Line on Mitchell Paige. When he was announced a starter, I harkened back to the Corso days when he started a 5-6 walk-on opposite Duane Gunn and kept John Boyd on the bench. Teams put 3 guys on Gunn. Well, Mitchell Paige is a real player. Sneaky and effective and "pretty darn good."
IU's defensive front calls look simplified. Not too intricate. It's size and strength allow it to not get knocked off the line. Much better run defense. IU went 3 deep in the DL yesterday.
IU unveiled at least one new offensive set. Multi Tight ends and maybe unbalanced. A true power set.
Howard is just a load. Wow. More check downs and progression reading by Nate as he hit 9 different receivers. Coach John's seems to be emerging as a personality in his OC duties.
A lot of chatter about field goals and clock management. I get it. It's old school. But it's also based in the time when the game was played differently than today. Clock management was pretty good in the second half. Afterward the coach explained they were trying to score. That in today's college game, you have to keep scoring. (Editorial observation) When you've got a great defense, you can play kicking, field position and run game. Well, IU doesn't have a great defense yet. Coach noted how the Giants played the last minutes vs the Cowboys. They played it traditionally. Percentage play to be sure. And lost.
I struggle to balance my checkbook at times. Coach Wilson is a math major. He also knows his team. I venture to guess he knows more about his team than more than a couple of his critics. But I don't know anything. I too am just a guy typing away on Sunday morning.
Can't wait for saturday.
1. The offensive line is "pretty darn good." I'm generally sparse in my praise. I've acknowledged that this is one of the best OL's IU has fielded. But then, IU doesn't have a history of good OL play. But as the season wears on, this unit is pretty darn good. They get good push and maintain their blocks. IU needs to keep the mental areas clean and not have procedure calls. But this line surely ranks high in terms of conference lines and as Howards numbers climb, has a chance for special status. Their play against OSU, MSU, and Mich will say a lot.
Ricky Jones is "pretty darn good". He's explosive. Runs effective routes and can get in and out of breaks effectively. More than anything, he's got strong, soft hands. A year ago Simmie Cobbs was a drop waiting to happen. He's playing effectively opposite Jones and giving IU a viable threat. Michael Cooper is "pretty darn good." Used mostly as an end line blocker most of his career. He runs well, gets open and makes the catch. He doesn't juke and jive in one spot like he's going to break it long. He turns up field and gets positive yardage. Corsaro did a great job of staying in bounds on the boot pass late.
The officials screwed IU up at least once by farting around and not spotting the ball. The play clock started and IU had to burn a time out when they couldn't get the call in. I bet that made some people nutty on here.
In fact, I'm sure it did.
Special Line on Mitchell Paige. When he was announced a starter, I harkened back to the Corso days when he started a 5-6 walk-on opposite Duane Gunn and kept John Boyd on the bench. Teams put 3 guys on Gunn. Well, Mitchell Paige is a real player. Sneaky and effective and "pretty darn good."
IU's defensive front calls look simplified. Not too intricate. It's size and strength allow it to not get knocked off the line. Much better run defense. IU went 3 deep in the DL yesterday.
IU unveiled at least one new offensive set. Multi Tight ends and maybe unbalanced. A true power set.
Howard is just a load. Wow. More check downs and progression reading by Nate as he hit 9 different receivers. Coach John's seems to be emerging as a personality in his OC duties.
A lot of chatter about field goals and clock management. I get it. It's old school. But it's also based in the time when the game was played differently than today. Clock management was pretty good in the second half. Afterward the coach explained they were trying to score. That in today's college game, you have to keep scoring. (Editorial observation) When you've got a great defense, you can play kicking, field position and run game. Well, IU doesn't have a great defense yet. Coach noted how the Giants played the last minutes vs the Cowboys. They played it traditionally. Percentage play to be sure. And lost.
I struggle to balance my checkbook at times. Coach Wilson is a math major. He also knows his team. I venture to guess he knows more about his team than more than a couple of his critics. But I don't know anything. I too am just a guy typing away on Sunday morning.
Can't wait for saturday.
