Posted by Butler
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| Things are "golden" in the Butler house when the Gophers win three in a row. |
Heading into Saturday’s game against Indiana, I was honestly
terrified of a shootout. I was concerned
that our d-line would not close fast enough to put pressure on IU’s
quarterbacks and that blitzing would set us up to get burned. I figured our best chance defensively was to
try to run a variety of zone coverages to slow down their QBs’ reads and force
bad decisions. I hoped for 2-3
interceptions to keep the ball in the hands of the Gopher offense, slow down
the game, and keep the score low.
The only things I feel right about are that our d-line
wasn’t fast enough to get pressure and that the game turned into a shootout … sort
of. For the first half, the Gopher
defense was able to do well enough against a pedestrian effort by Tre Roberson
to keep the IU offense mostly in check.
That effort didn’t cut it in the second half, though, when replacement
QB Nate Sudfeld got hot midway through the third quarter and the Hoosiers
started blitzkrieging the Gophers with touchdown drives that seemed to begin
and end in the time it took me to walk to the refrigerator.
The offense, meanwhile, piled up yards and points, just much
more through the air than I thought likely.
I had hoped to see a few early play action passes to loosen up IU’s run
game followed by a grind it out running game and eight to ten minute touchdown
drives. We had the early play action-and
an unexpected flea flicker- to set the tone.
But instead of turning that into a steady, wearing ground game, the
offense had six touchdown drives, none of which lasted more than 3 minutes, 40
seconds and only two of which ended in rushing touchdowns. That’s not to complain. Offensive coordinator Matt Limegrover was
simply taking advantage of Indiana’s weaknesses and the fact that they
continued to load up the box against the run.
After struggling to find a passing game all year, it’s quite satisfying
to see it develop.
In the end, the shootout I so feared turned into a reality
and almost ended in familiar fashion to anyone that endured the Mason years. But early defense, creative offensive play
calling, and a timely turnover turned what looked like a recipe for disaster
into win number 7.
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| The Constable abides. |
-On balance, Philip “Full” Nelson had a really good
game. You don’t get offensive POTW
honors if you haven’t played well after all.
Between the opening TD drive and Leidner’s first appearance though, it
didn’t look like we were going to see an explosive passing attack from
Phil. He missed badly on a couple
intermediate to deep sideline throws in those early drives and made a bad
decision throwing into double coverage to Wolitarsky off play action that could
have resulted in a turnover. He’s only a
sophomore and I hope we’re seeing just the start of what Phil can become as a
passer .
-No more Butler-fingers please. That’s what we called it when someone fumbled
playing touch football in my backyard anyway.
Donnell Kirkwood’s fumble on his second carry led to a nearly
instantaneous Hoosier touchdown and Mitch “the Lamplighter” Leidner nearly
fumbled the ball away TWICE. Turnovers
can’t happen, especially on the road and especially as gifts to a team with a
quick strike offense but a porous defense.
-We’re seeing Donovahn Jones turn into a legitimate threat
as a Big Ten receiver before our eyes.
Jones had three catches for 59 yards on Saturday including a clutch grab
in the fourth quarter to keep hope alive.
-When was the last time we threw to our backs this
much? Four passes to David Cobb and Mike
Henry went for 64 important yards at key times in their respective drives. Just think what it would have been like to
get passes in space to MB3 and Laurence Maroney back in the day.
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