Eric & Tyler, as Eric written in his articles CMF has recruited better than his predecessor, and unlike his predecessor has the full AD & university backing with a wiliness to play by todays rules while keeping the spirit of the university. Although unlike his predecessor CMF has not yet figured out how to win games he should. I can remember the exact number but Coach Kelly had won around 40 in a row against teams outside the top 25. At the time he left that was the best streak in the country. CMF has had his teams overall perform better against better teams. A few tidbits form the game
- in qtr 2 Riley Leonard was thrown to the ground and tries to throw the ball away to avoid a loss. By extending his arm he exposed his shoulder and appeared shaken after he hit the ground. He also seemed to hit his left rib area. He never ran the ball once after that play. I think he was hurt and it affected his throws.
- ND offense ran 62 plays; 38 pass plays and 24 run plays. Why such a split? Is it because Riley was held back from running the ball. This is per PFF Was his throwing motion affected. That would show more on a deep pass and what know what happened on the one he tried.
- Mitchell Evans played 22 plays; 4 run block, 1 pass block and 17 pass plays. This is a very easy read for the NIU defense to play pass when Evans was in.
- For all the hoopla from CMF that KK Smith was looking good and ready to play, he only was in for 3 plays. Here are some breakdowns of plays, pass plays, targets, receptions. I am very surprised in how little Jayden Thomas played. He is our best wide receiver blocker and could of helped the running game. So much for WR rotation. Also to my eye Riley was not clicking with Kris Mitchell yet. We heard Jaden Greathouse could play multiple positions; why didn't he?
- Beaux Collins; 59, 38, 5,5
- Kris Mitchell ; 50,33,8,3
- Jaden Greathouse; 43, 30,9,5
- Jayden Thomas; 14,6,2,1
- Jayden Harrison; 11,7,0,0
- Eli Riordan played only 10 plays and Jadarian price only 13
- Couldn't ND have run multiple backs and more multiple TE sets. I felt like Denbrock was Diaco in the 2010 Navy game 2010
- Defensively Golden has stated that his D is designed to avoid big plays. ND gave up three. IMO KVA picked off Morrison on the NIU touchdown pass. I also think it was his man that was open on the other long pass play where Drayk Bowen noticed that and began to chase but it was too late. Two NIU players game around the edge. Normal reads that I am familiar with is the outside guy, KVA, gets the first one and the inside guy, Bowen gets the second one.
- Th D played slow like they were not getting the read and overran several run fills. Sneed did this often.
