60 more days till the Cats travel to West Lafayette to attempt to make history with a school record 9th straight victory. I believe 8 is the current record if I am not mistaken. Anyways, this cat fan is fired up and cannot wait to go get that W. I think this veteran loaded team is going to go into that game very focused and prepared. Thorson will be out there throwing it all over the yard. No reason the cats shouldnt dominate this game in the trenches on both sides of the ball. But we still have to wait 60 more days to prove that. Go Cats!!!!!!
Counting Down
- Thread starter Barn#13
- Start date
Correct, we were 1-1 and ran the table to finish
10-1. We will need to beat Purdue and Duke to get the school record for consecutive Wins.
He will be out there. They may use other QBs as well to throw Purdue off a little. I hear the decision will probably come down to Thorson himself on whether he will play or not.
Thorson will likely want to play but if I am NU's coach, I would wait at least a game to see what I have with the OL and to get them up to game speed. Even if they look good in preseason, it only takes one missed assignment to end the season for a QB.
It's the same line as last year save 1 guy. One missed assignment can happen any of the 12 games. No point in holding Clayton out for week 1 if he is healthy enough to play.
CT will gain almost a full month of recovery if you hold him out till the UM game which is the start of the more important part of the season. I think getting another QB some playing time could be very valuable in the long run for this season and next season. NU needs to have more than one guy who can run the offense. NU hasn't had a very good bench at QB he last few years. TS had to play hurt because he was better at 80% than the next guy up.
Starting with Purdue makes it a more difficult choice IMO. If losing to three non conference teams meant being able to win all the B1G games, I'd take it. I know it doesn't really work that way like it can in the pros where preseason games are throw aways and you can test people and experiment.
This argument is much less valid after Hunter Johnson. If Clayton is ready to go, he should play. Purdue is an important game for the West and Duke is an important game given how many head-to-head recruiting battles between NU and Duke there are. And no, noncon is not the same as preseason. It’s very often the difference between making and missing a bowl game.
That could be said literally every week. And week one being a B1G West matchup changes the calculus a bit. Would be different if we opened with Akron instead of Purdue.
Our backup QB Alviti helped win the bowl game against Kentucky and two years ago, another backup came in and helped the Cats edge Penn State after Thorson got dinged. Yes, it would be nice to see one or more of them get playing time if we get a big enough margin in our first three games, but that certainly is NO reason to sit Thorson if he's ready to go and wants to play. If we are 1-2 or, god forbid, 0-3 going into the Michigan game, will that still be the biggest one of the year?
Holding CT out until Michigan pretty much guarantees a 1-2 start. Purdue and Duke will start experienced QBs, and Duke has a very stout defense led by all ACC candidate LB Joe Giles-Harris. I don't like NU's chances with a QB who may have never thrown a pass in a college game.
I understand the reasons to play Thorson and I also understand the athletic headset of damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead - or whatever - but historically NU has started slow, particularly along the OL. It may not be the way to go, but it sure would be nice not to expose Thorson to any first game OL jitters, etc. So if he's healthy and wants to play, the fallback in my mind is very conservative offensive play at least for the first several series.
We will need to beat Purdue and Duke for a variety of reasons. In spite of the challenges ( schedule, CT health, DB turnover, etc. ), it’s time for the program to get off the roll a coaster and put together back-to-back excellent seasons.
The OL is returning 4 of 5 starters. We have to replace North at center which could be tricky but I hope the coaches find a number 1 guy early so they can get a lot of reps together. It seems Jared Thomas is in the lead, but certainly Urban and Gerak are in the mix too.
If Akron first, sit him. DUKE in in week two, depends on what happened in week one. PU being game one makes this much harder to do.
If we lose to Purdue and Duke getting to six wins might even be difficult with some of the competition that we face that are highly ranked
It is too early for us to know. Fitz won't tip that hat until the very last minute.There is not much film on any of our QB's except CT but we want Purdue wasting as much time as possible guessing who will start.
Right now, on July 1, I'm confident that we will come out of camp with:
A) An OL that is ready to go
B) A QB that is ready to go (whether it's Thorson or not)
C) A gameplan for Purdue that is ready to go
Granted, crazy things happen in August, like Venric Mark transferring or season-ending injuries, but for now, I'm optimistic that our team is going to be ready Aug. 30.
A) An OL that is ready to go
B) A QB that is ready to go (whether it's Thorson or not)
C) A gameplan for Purdue that is ready to go
Granted, crazy things happen in August, like Venric Mark transferring or season-ending injuries, but for now, I'm optimistic that our team is going to be ready Aug. 30.
Yeah I was being a little sarcastic, like why bother? Equally smart-***, maybe CT just retires if we go 0-3
Hopefully he would come in and be the savior earning himself a first round draft pick. I'd take that season in a heartbeat. Man those first three weeks would be brutal.
Yeah, I just bought plane Tix to come to Akron game. It is likely the only home game I can attend, plus RU away.
I'm about ready to disown some family members if they don't quit scheduling events on fall Saturdays. Third year in a row that weddings are an annoying inconvenience. Two this year. Next year my son is getting married in the fall.
I guess a decision to play vs. Purdue won't be made until 2 weeks before the game. So the backups are preparing and competing like one of them will be the starter.
Right, and this is the silver lining of Thorson's injury. When maybe in the past we had a backup QB who many of us thought "wasn't ready," we'll see these guys playing with the first team in good practice conditions, which will make them better whether they're needed or not.
I don't even remember what Kafka was doing before he came into that Indiana game and threw it backward (I'm someone with a better memory than I have -- and I guess the word "Brewfka will be used" -- will be able to educate me on if he ever truly prepared for the No. 1 job or if he was always the No. 2 until the moment he was No. 1.