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Message: [QUOTE="SWC75, post: 736696, member: 289"] - Because they are even better than Penn State. This team was 10-3 last year. They have all their skill positions players back on offense and 9 starters back on defense. Penn State was good but only a shadow of what they used to be. The Wildcats may be their school's best ever teams and one of the best in the country. - The time to beat them was last year when we had them in the Dome, unprepared for our new "hurry-up look and we had Nassib, Lemon and Sales. We out-gained them 596-337 but let them off the hook with turnovers and special teams disasters. Now they are better, we are worse and they have us in their place. - If Venric Mark is healthy, he can win the game by himself as we found last year. If he isn't, there's Treyvon Green, who averaged 8 yards a carry in rushing for 129 yards and 2 TDs vs. California. - If Kain Colter isn't healthy, there's Trevor Siemean, who directed that drive that beat us last year. Colter is a runner/passer, Siemian a pure passer. We have to prepare for two different offenses, depending on who the quarterback is. Sometimes, when you've got two quarters, you really do have two quarterbacks. - Our defense played pretty well in the opener but showed a vulnerability to the big play. Northwestern can deliver big plays- probably better than Penn State can. - We are going to have to out-score these guys. This won't be a 17-23 game. Last year we got off 95 plays, 66 of them passes to get those 596 yards and score 41 points. Last week California got off 99 plays- 63 of them passes to gain 548 yards and score 30 points. We will need that type of output. But to get it, we need to get plays in and get them off as efficiently as we did last and Cal did last week. Against Penn State we got off 74 plays, 37 passes, gained 260 yards and scored 17 points. No dice. - But it's not enough just to do things fast. We've got to do them well. Coach Shafer wants to gain at least 4 yards on a first down play. We did that 5 times in 22 first down plays vs. Penn State. We never seemed to have the advantage on 2nd or 3rd down, which would have enabled us to open up the offense. - How much confidence do you have in drew Allen? Was it just 1st game jitters or things malfunctioning around him? Or was it him? - How much confidence do you have in Ross Krautman? Northwestern has plenty of confidence Jeff Budzien, the Big Ten's top kicker who 19 of 20 field goal attempts last year. If it comes down to them trying to win the game, you have to like the Wildcat's chances. - "The biggest improvement if from the first game to the second." Well it's their second game, too. And they won. [/QUOTE]

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