Nebraska doesn't have those receiver weapons either. Northwestern doesn't.
If the quarterback can put the ball on target, less elite receivers can be very effective.
Sayen is older and I assume improved, from when we last played them.
Nebraska doesn't have WR weapons? They actually have a lot of good weapons at WR and RB. That was known going into the game. Kwazi Gilmer has 418 yds and 6TD's through mid-season. He was far and away the best WR at UCLA last season. Nyziah Hunter had 617yds and 5 TDs and Jacory Barney had 484yds and 5 TD's respectively for Neb last year. They also have a stable of RB's.
@yothn Its hard to tell if Julian Sayin is actually good, or if Jeremiah Smith is making him look good. In his two tough road games this year, Smith accounted for nearly 70% of the receiving yards, and over half the touchdowns. Having watched chunks of both those games, some of the catches that Smith made, for certain, made up for less than perfect throws from Sayin.
Doesn't really matter, they're both playing Saturday, so if Sayin throws for 400 yards and 5 touchdowns... and Smith has 300 yards and 4 touchdowns... it'll still be a monster game for Sayin as well.
If you feel they match Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate from last year.
I didn't notice as much maybe because we dealt with them second half. That bomb was an impressive grab. I guess they were open a lot more than Colandrea was able to connect. He airmailed a lot of throws, but him and Rule were the two guys I heard scary things about pregame. And that's what I saw. And I don't think it was Chiles receivers tearing us a new one, but Chiles himself.
Anyway. You didn't seem worried about Ohio State's guys this year. I'm not assuming that.
We had enough to handle from solid QBs of Northwestern and Nebraska. Now Sayen.
@openwheel I really think its Sayin and Smith... don't really worry much about Sayin to his other receivers. But Sayin to Smith, is scary. And its so rare these days to have a singular receiver that is basically impossible to take out of a game. It'll be fascinating to see how Haines approaches this game. Haines is so good. His adjustments in the Nebraska game aren't getting enough talk... I think he's the biggest reason IU won that game with how he changed how they were rushing Colandrea. So he'll either have something good for them, or he'll make good adjustments... but Smith is at a level so good, that it might not matter.
Yes, he was. Great job getting it toughened up. Haines and his guys gave us a chance.I think he's the biggest reason IU won that game with how he changed how they were rushing Colandrea.
Hadn't seen that rush strategy from us before. One-on-one, straight up, we have some guys! Few teams have the talent for Haines to be able to do that.
His ability as a DC though is why it was so frustrating that his defense was dominated for the first half by Nebraska. And by Chiles in the second half of that game.
Shanahan struggled to move the ball this week. But a couple plays made the difference.
Hope both guys have their A+ plans ready for Ohio State!
The best way to defend Smith is to make Sayin throw from his back. We have to pressure him throughout the game.
@kelly_32 It was the only way to beat Manning/Brady in their prime. Obviously Sayin isn't them... I'm not convinced of how good he actually is without Smith. But together, they do make that level of excellence (relative to college competition). If he has time to consistently set his feet, and find Smith with normal throwing motions, it won't go well... no matter how we try to defend Smith. Gotta get to him early, give him happy feet, force him to have to throw more quickly than he wants to...
Seems like Hoover should be compared to Rourke, if we want to do 'elite Indiana QB' comparisons.
Rourke was elite too. Team was stronger for Mendoza, but not a ton. After Ohio State kept us at one end of the field for an eternity (not nearly all on Rourke, nor the loss at Notre Dame) Cig said he thought 'I need more dogs' and he got them.
What were Rourke's numbers through this point of that season. Pretty strong!
The team is still figuring things out. Nebraska was hell bent on making Hoover beat them by being darn sure we weren't going to run or screen our way to a win. As soon as Hoover started making plays in the 4th, the run game suddenly opened back up. I think OSU is going to take that same game plan, and we will need to be ready to have Hoover make throws early. Short or no gain runs are just as worthless as incompletions, but the clock doesn't run.
With our defense, we should want to extend the game as long as we can. IU is so deep on the DL. Nebraska's OL wore down while IU stayed fresh and that showed late in game. Teams won't be able to run out the clock or sit back all day to throw late when the game is on the line.
I'll push back a little on 'wanting to extend the game as long as we can'. I feel like our D depends a lot on a fierce pass rush and DL twists and turns given that we play our safeties so deep. We give up a lot of nickel and dime stuff with the expectation that the other QB can't make a living off that because of our disruption. We ask a lot of our D, and if/when they get tired we can get vulnerable, even with our depth.
I certainly have wished on numerable occasions that we would pass to open up the run more frequently. I think Cig puts a great emphasis on breaking the will of the other D, and thus still wants to run even when they expect it. That, hardly ever passing to the TBs, and so rarely throwing deep are my biggest bitches about Cig. I'd really be pissed if we hadn't won 22 straight and a NC!! (hehe)
Seems like Hoover should be compared to Rourke, if we want to do 'elite Indiana QB' comparisons.
Rourke was elite too. Team was stronger for Mendoza, but not a ton. After Ohio State kept us at one end of the field for an eternity (not nearly all on Rourke, nor the loss at Notre Dame) Cig said he thought 'I need more dogs' and he got them.
What were Rourke's numbers through this point of that season. Pretty strong!
I agree that Rourke has kind of been the forgotten guy, and doesn't get nearly enough credit for what he did for that team, even when injured. And he did it with less of an OL and a somewhat weaker WR corp.
@openwheel - I guess I don't know what you're implying. You said Nebraska didn't have weapons and I was stating, they surely did.
The team is still figuring things out. Nebraska was hell bent on making Hoover beat them by being darn sure we weren't going to run or screen our way to a win. As soon as Hoover started making plays in the 4th, the run game suddenly opened back up. I think OSU is going to take that same game plan, and we will need to be ready to have Hoover make throws early. Short or no gain runs are just as worthless as incompletions, but the clock doesn't run.
With our defense, we should want to extend the game as long as we can. IU is so deep on the DL. Nebraska's OL wore down while IU stayed fresh and that showed late in game. Teams won't be able to run out the clock or sit back all day to throw late when the game is on the line.
I'll push back a little on 'wanting to extend the game as long as we can'. I feel like our D depends a lot on a fierce pass rush and DL twists and turns given that we play our safeties so deep. We give up a lot of nickel and dime stuff with the expectation that the other QB can't make a living off that because of our disruption. We ask a lot of our D, and if/when they get tired we can get vulnerable, even with our depth.
I certainly have wished on numerable occasions that we would pass to open up the run more frequently. I think Cig puts a great emphasis on breaking the will of the other D, and thus still wants to run even when they expect it. That, hardly ever passing to the TBs, and so rarely throwing deep are my biggest bitches about Cig. I'd really be pissed if we hadn't won 22 straight and a NC!! (hehe)
I know what you're saying and you implying them getting tired goes against the exact point I was trying to make. My reason for extending the game is because we have a ton of high-level DL and therefore they won't get tired. We can keep running out fresh legs and stay fresher, for longer. Last year we had injuries and depleted our depth, so we wanted the shorter games. This year, we have the depth to go longer so if we are getting stopped, lets string that game out longer. That was the intent of what I was getting at.
I neglected their depth at receiver a little because going in I heard Colandrea Colandrea Colandrea, and Rule, Rule Rule. Not as much about the WR weapons. (But a transfer name there is a bit like saying we have better weapons then last year because we have Shazz Preston.)
But I was only answering your idea:
"Last year OSU had other legit weapons like Carnell Tate (4th overall pick) and Max Klare at TE. This year, the other weapons aren't as great. Not bad, but not the same level as they had last year."
I'm saying Nebraska's guys aren't Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate either. Nor were Northwestern's guys. Yet both QBs tore us a new one, for half the game.
So a good mobile QB in Sayen. An all-time great in Jeremiah Smith. And secondary receivers with talent. Is plenty of trouble judging by what we've struggled with this year in our secondary and LBs.
But yeah, Nebraska had weapons, you're right. Colandrea plus some very good WRs, better than Sayen, Jeremiah,+ unproven WRs? No... But I'll give it a 'maybe' now.
Anyway, thanks for the names, they do look strong. I hope they reward our faith and tear up the rest of their schedule.