(Those steely eyes stare directly into my shattered soul)

So Saturday, I decided it would be good times if I went to Northwestern’s home opener against Western Michigan and if by chance you follow me on twitter, you might have noticed that I was all over NU at -3.5 (I think this moved to -4.5 before kickoff but I’m not sure, my brain called in sick). Turns out that I was dead wrong, as I almost always am on everything I hold near and dear to me. However, I was NOT wrong about the impact of this match up. Thank gosh that I didn’t put any money where my mouth was but my cousin did and I think his hangover is due to end sometime on Thursday.

It was a beautiful day for smashing Coors Lights and football but that combination got ugly come kick off. To put it plainly, the Northwestern defense was horrible, terrible, not good. WMU doesn’t have a very flashy offense but they were dissecting us with the short passes. QB Zach Terrell went 23/36, 218 yards, and 1 TD and their combined running game ran for 198 yards and a score. The Broncos had some really sharp drives put together and just marched NU up and down the field. The LBs were nowhere to be found once the ball was in the air. Just simple pitch and catch. That kind of football is really hard to watch when you’re on the receiving end of it. No momentum, hope fading every 3rd down because you know that they’ll just run and pick up 6 yards. Tough stuff. If Coach Fitzgerald doesn’t have this defense on the same page, its going to be a LOOOONG season. Hell, that was the longest Saturday of my life and I was black out by 10 AM. QB Clayton Thorson looked lost out there, too. He wasn’t overtly bad but just got in the way of the offense, especially when he fumbled on the 1. I do have to give a shout out out to former Fenwick Friar Robert Spillane on the strip. Absolute beast play by the kid that learned everything he knows from me.

The one glimmer of hope that shone through was Justin Jackson’s performance. JJ ran for 124 yards and 3 TDs and was really the only thing that kept this game from being a blowout. The line didn’t give him the holes he needed but he still kept gashing the Broncos, especially on his 46 yarder that just about brought the dame house down. Heisman watch remains ON

For more NU rantings and ravings, make sure to follow me @ColtMcAdams