What's this mean for Lujan?
- Thread starter phatcat_rivals223240
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That’s about as close to confirmation as you’re gonna get from Braun in a victorious postgame presser.
Even moreso a bit later on when he said something along the lines of making tough decisions that hurt people you consider part of your family being a tough part of his job. I just think the “offensive reset” terminology was strange.
Give it a rest. We get it, you want everyone in the world to join the Rock. If you don’t have anything insightful to add, just don’t comment.
Offense needs to be better. Braun said it; Rittenberg said it (and he has sources inside the program).
Exactly what Braun and co need to be saying. We have good enough defenses to challenge the better programs in the league; we don't have the offense to be able to keep up.
Braun and co pushing for more is exactly what we need to see.
Exactly what Braun and co need to be saying. We have good enough defenses to challenge the better programs in the league; we don't have the offense to be able to keep up.
Braun and co pushing for more is exactly what we need to see.
Although surely Braun is ultimately responsible, look at how the offseason unfolded with the cooperation of Admissions a) hand picked QB, b) numerous OL transfers with talent, c) #1 WR, and then unrelated to Admissions d) loss of #1 RB replaced by a more productive guy, e) 2nd year in system for a lot of the guys f) accurate kicker(s) and good punter.
It is fair to expect more than 23 PPG. And more than one B1G game with over 22pts. The red zone failures and obvious play calling gaffes have done him in. He just never adjusted from SDSU where he had superior talent around him.
Go over as an unpaid lurker. Like 75% of the posts are by him. He acts like he's stumping for Matt and Lou, when most of the content is actually his. That's why I call it The Reef.
This is not true, but if it makes you feel better, have at it.
You can be the best at the X’s and O’s but if you don’t have the Jims and the Joes it doesn’t matter!
Aside from one other proven WR, we had Jimmys and Joes. Strong huge OL that stayed healthy with at least one NFL draft pick, 2 good RBs (for most of the season), a good receiving TE and one very good WR. Should have been better than like the 110th scoring offense.
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No we did not. We didn’t have a championship-level QB, which is the biggest key of all.
Coaches chant the mantra Players, Formations, Plays. Lujan didn’t have the top players, but it seems formations and plays were the real killer.
What are you saying with admissions re: Stone, the OLs, Wilde?
Admissions definitely did some tweaks re: winter admissions and not having to have a full year’s grades finalized and in before admission - essentially a probationary period where if a second semester drop occurred they could theoretically get booted - and also tweaked the 50% rule (so you could still get an NU degree with 50% of classes at NU versus a min 51% prior) but outside of that there were no real changes that I’m aware of.
Stone was a business major at SMU and graduated in 3 years. The OL were all grad students (always easier than undergrad admission). And Wilde, admittedly, I don’t know as much about but from what I’ve seen in the media and social seems like a pretty serious student.
But Stone did have his moments. That Minnesota game is a Wildcat classic to be sure, he played pretty well at Penn State, and he delivered at the bowl game with three TD passes. All in all, a major upgrade from last year.
Inconsistently decent isn’t good enough.
I absolutely agree that our offense should be a lot better, but I hate when we are compared against all of FBS. We play in a league with a ton of top defenses.
the question is how much is the University willing to invest into portal personnel to lift the performance of the team. I was grateful that we emphasized offensive linemen last year. We now must be willing to go after game changers at key positions. Looking at next year’s schedule, we desperately need talent to win a fair share.
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He had his moment, not moments. One game v MN. Take away ULM and WIU, and he had 8 TDs and 12 INTs in the regular season. There were a couple of tipped INTs but he probably had another 6-8 that should have been intercepted. I get that he often had one target, but time and again he would throw into danger or noodle arm it.
He's probably the 20th best QB in the B1G (some backups are better).
My admissions comment was about how we could accept guys from the portal in winter quarter, not necessarily about any relaxed standards
Just to give a little historical perspective (without comment of what I think)
QBR of NU quarterbacks by year and team record.
2025 Stone 53.5 7-6
2024 Lausch 40.1 4-8
2023 Bryant 56.5 8-5
2022 Hillinski 46.9 3-9
2021 by committee 1-11
2020 Ramsey 67.6 7-2
2019 Smith 30.9 3-9
2018 Thorson 61.9 9-5
2017 Thorson 70.0 10-3
2016 Thorson 62.3 7-6
2015 Thorson 46.7 10-3
2014 Siemian 44.5 5-7
2013 Siemian 60.0 5-7
2012 Colter 70.6 10-3
2011 Persa 76.4 6-7
2010 Persa 69.6 7-6
2009 Kafka 63.8 8-4
2008 Bacher 54.5 9-3
2007 Bacher 53.6 6-6
2006 by committee 4-8
2005 Basanez 71.6 7-5
2004 Basanez 40.9 6-6
Gary, thanks for posting this. Really intriguing, especially how it is almost linear. And the exceptions like Thor's freshman year are known to us all (amazing defense and JJTBC).
You also reminded me of something really important, because I have been harsh with Stone. Dude played pretty much every important snap for 13 games. And there was no safety net, Boe was clearly not ready.
Lots of other guys missed time but had capable backups. Stone was on his own. Good for him
If moving on from Lujan is the move, I really hope that they have the next guy lined up, and don’t have to wind up settling for like their third or fourth choice.
More importantly, I hope the money is available to hire the type of guy that we want. If the pay is good, I think that expands the pool of candidates.
At the same time, got to take QBR with a grain of salt.
The 2013 and 2014 teams were injury riddled (even before the season began), and w/of Sieman, wouldn't have beaten the Domers, Penn State and Wisky (should have also beaten UM! but for coaching malfeasance) in 2014.
If Trevor had a Covid year, that 2015 team would've gone at least 11-1.
Along the same lines, Persa's 2010 season was better
Utah went from having one of the worst offense in the B12 to one of the best with a change at OC.
Btw, has anyone seen this kid play?
Rice QB Chase Jenkins plans to enter the portal.
Totaled 1,556 yards and 14 TDs.
Completed nearly 70% on 172 passing attempts.
Key thing is that has 2 years of eligibility left
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The 2015 team went 10-3 with each of the 3 losses by 30 or more points. I don’t think he was worth 4.5 touchdowns difference in those games.
I’m just as interested in what style offense they pursue as who they hire. I still don’t read Braun’s comments as firing Lukan FOR SURE, as a “reset” could also mean something like a total schematic change, lots of portal changes, etc. But if they do change OCs, which would prove that Braun has far higher standards than Fitzgerald, frankly, I don’t just want to see a different guy calling the same offensive philosophy, I want a true system change.
Lujan is gone. Braun telegraphed it after the Michigan game. What “scheme” do you want? IMO, almost all teams run variation of the spread offense. You don’t see much of the old Run and Shoot, Smashmouth or the Option as a stand alone scheme. The creativity comes with formations, motion and play calling.
We made a nice movement toward a more spread oriented power game under Lujan, but I’d like to see substantially more RPO, at a minimum, and an actual spread attack that tests the entire field horizontally on an every play basis rather than just focusing on downhill pistol runs out of 11 personnel.
There was a reason why Trevor got drafted even with two 5-7 seasons. As you said, both those seasons were injury riddled with Siemian’s season ending injury his senior year being the biggest factor for us missing a bowl game. Also the Colter stance, even though now historically ahead of its time, created a rift in that locker room.
Anyway, What I will say is that what the data shows me, and what I think we all know, is that it is more important to have the right QB. My biggest area of concern next year is not who is OC but whether we will find a high quality QB to lead the offense. The chance that a new OC can have a successful season with the same personnel is small. In the long run, a better OC would create more wins, but next season sets the tone for the New Ryan Field. Putting a million or two into a franchise QB would easily pay for itself in future season tickets and in recruiting. I just wish the administration and athletic department would realize that. Unless they loosen those purse strings, we will be at best mediocre for many seasons. Only a change in mindset can change the fate of our program. As the saying goes, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity.
I am cautiously optimistic this is exactly where we're at.
Let's be real for a minute - Northwestern's personality as an institution and Fitz's proud brand as an "old school" coach put us behind in the times when NIL showed up to the party and changed everything. There has been a total changing of the guard at NU since then.
Now we're coming off a season where INDIANA is sitting pretty at 13-0 with a Heisman winner and VANDERBILT had the runner up after their own 10-win season...and DUKE won the ACC.
...if Northwestern leadership and our wealthy boosters didn't watch this season with the new stadium opening up next season and ask themselves, "could we do that with an extra $5-10M in coaches and players?" then we are truly hopeless.
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