It's gonna be REALLY hot...wait, no...that's the following week.everyone knows about big bad wolfe is there any other threat? one mac back not gonna beat tOSU
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Heisman hopeful leads Huskies
NIU has been tabbed MAC favorite
Associated Press
<!-- begin body-content --> DEKALB - Coach Joe Novak is taking his time in considering who starts at quarterback for Northern Illinois.
Could be Phil Horvath, could be Dan Nicholson.
The guy expected to run the ball most of the time, well, that's a no-brainer.
Garrett Wolfe, the leading returning rusher in NCAA Div. I, is the Huskies tailback, one of their captains and probably the main reason why NIU was picked to win the Mid-American Conference championship.
Wolfe, pint-sized for major college football at 5-foot-7, 177 pounds, recently was named to the 35-person watch list for the Walter Camp Player of the Year Award. Wolfe, a senior who averaged 175.6 rushing yards a season ago and has amassed 3,286 yards in 20 career games, also is a fringe Heisman Trophy candidate. Reggie Bush won both awards a season ago.
"The Heisman talk is well-deserved," Novak said. "He's got to have 12 great games."
Wolfe usually lets others, or his actions on the field, explain his value. He doesn't talk himself up much. Except as a blocker.
"I've never given up a sack in my career," said Wolfe. "I haven't let anyone get to the quarterback. That's actually something I've come to enjoy. ... A lot of guys think, because of my size and stature, that they're going to come and run me over. When we run and meet, it's kind of a different thing."
Wolfe's "bring it on" attitude also encapsulates the Huskies as a whole. They fear little in the scheduling department. NIU upset Alabamba on the Crimson Tide's home turf a couple of seasons back, played Michigan tough in the Big House a season ago, opens this season at Ohio State and plays at Iowa in late October. Tennessee is on the horizon for 2007.
"If we catch any of 'em sleeping, you never know," Novak said.
The NIU roster includes freshman free safety Justin Stewart (O'Fallon) and freshman defensive end Ed Jackson (Cahokia).
The Huskies could be the best Division I team in the state right now. Ron Zook is rebuilding at Illinois, and NIU a season ago lost a one-point game against Northwestern after missing a late two-point conversion at Evanston.
NIU still is searching, however, for its first outright MAC title under Novak. The Huskies went 7-5 and reached the conference title game a season ago, falling to Akron by a point.
The Huskies are the media's choice this time to win the championship game. "I'd rather be the underdog," Novak said. "I remember going to media day in 1997 and sitting at a table by myself. It's nice to get attention, but it's also a bullseye."
The Huskies need to shore up their defense; their pass rush and pass defense sometimes were problematic in 2005. And they need to settle on a quarterback.
Horvath, a senior, is a good game-manager who put up 18 touchdowns and eight interceptions a season ago before breaking his left arm -- his non-throwing limb -- this past November. Nicholson, then a redshirt freshman, led the Huskies to three wins down the stretch. He has a stronger arm, but much less experience.
Heisman hopeful leads Huskies
NIU has been tabbed MAC favorite
Associated Press
<!-- begin body-content --> DEKALB - Coach Joe Novak is taking his time in considering who starts at quarterback for Northern Illinois.
Could be Phil Horvath, could be Dan Nicholson.
The guy expected to run the ball most of the time, well, that's a no-brainer.
Garrett Wolfe, the leading returning rusher in NCAA Div. I, is the Huskies tailback, one of their captains and probably the main reason why NIU was picked to win the Mid-American Conference championship.
Wolfe, pint-sized for major college football at 5-foot-7, 177 pounds, recently was named to the 35-person watch list for the Walter Camp Player of the Year Award. Wolfe, a senior who averaged 175.6 rushing yards a season ago and has amassed 3,286 yards in 20 career games, also is a fringe Heisman Trophy candidate. Reggie Bush won both awards a season ago.
"The Heisman talk is well-deserved," Novak said. "He's got to have 12 great games."
Wolfe usually lets others, or his actions on the field, explain his value. He doesn't talk himself up much. Except as a blocker.
"I've never given up a sack in my career," said Wolfe. "I haven't let anyone get to the quarterback. That's actually something I've come to enjoy. ... A lot of guys think, because of my size and stature, that they're going to come and run me over. When we run and meet, it's kind of a different thing."
Wolfe's "bring it on" attitude also encapsulates the Huskies as a whole. They fear little in the scheduling department. NIU upset Alabamba on the Crimson Tide's home turf a couple of seasons back, played Michigan tough in the Big House a season ago, opens this season at Ohio State and plays at Iowa in late October. Tennessee is on the horizon for 2007.
"If we catch any of 'em sleeping, you never know," Novak said.
The NIU roster includes freshman free safety Justin Stewart (O'Fallon) and freshman defensive end Ed Jackson (Cahokia).
The Huskies could be the best Division I team in the state right now. Ron Zook is rebuilding at Illinois, and NIU a season ago lost a one-point game against Northwestern after missing a late two-point conversion at Evanston.
NIU still is searching, however, for its first outright MAC title under Novak. The Huskies went 7-5 and reached the conference title game a season ago, falling to Akron by a point.
The Huskies are the media's choice this time to win the championship game. "I'd rather be the underdog," Novak said. "I remember going to media day in 1997 and sitting at a table by myself. It's nice to get attention, but it's also a bullseye."
The Huskies need to shore up their defense; their pass rush and pass defense sometimes were problematic in 2005. And they need to settle on a quarterback.
Horvath, a senior, is a good game-manager who put up 18 touchdowns and eight interceptions a season ago before breaking his left arm -- his non-throwing limb -- this past November. Nicholson, then a redshirt freshman, led the Huskies to three wins down the stretch. He has a stronger arm, but much less experience.
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And so we lay to rest all the conjecture that he will be taken out early if the first string shut him down and the game is out of question.
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3yardsandacloud
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I'm not even sure the issue has been fully resolved, as I don't see the post that was supposedly at fault. Someone either deleted it or I was directed to the wrong post number. Anyway, the thread appears to be working properly now, so I'm unlocking it. If there are any problems please send me a PM.
FWIW, I have disabled HTML posting in this forum for the time being. You will need to cut and paste text and use the the vB codes for formatting. You will need to use the img codes for pictures. No more copying html source code and simply dumping that here.
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NIU007
Junior
No, not really. The school doesn't have any official Heisman campaign for Wolfe because they decided he was too much of a long shot coming from a MAC school. Which is true, the only way would be if he had 12 great games. If he's getting shut down by the first teamers against OSU, that will already mean he didn't have a good game (whether it's his fault or not). I do expect Wolfe to play most of the game in any case because our coach won't give up on the game easily (not early in the game anyway). But he won't leave him in there just to get stats.
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NIU007
Junior
Honestly, I think Novak said that more to make a point than anything else. I suspect they're taking a wait-and-see approach. If Wolfe does well at OSU, the media will probably hype him some and he will have a chance. If he doesn't he won't have a chance regardless of what he does in his other games.
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Buckeye86
I do not choose to discuss it
If Wolfe does well against us our young defense will get trashed by the media way more than Wolfe will get Heisman hype I think. We won't have to worry about that though. I think he has a solid day (80-100 yards and a TD maybe) but nothing spectacular.
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G-FORCE
Heisman
Horvath Named Starting QB
DeKALB - Northern Illinois football coach Joe Novak named senior Phil Horvath the starting quarterback after Friday morning's practice.
Horvath beat out sophomore Dan Nicholson for the second straight season.
Last year, Horvath threw for 2,001 yards and 18 touchdowns with eight interceptions on 168-of-238 (70.6 percent) passing before breaking his left arm in the first quarter against Central Michigan.
Horvath will lead the Huskies into the season opener at top-ranked Ohio State on Sept. 2.
Last season, Horvath threw for 200 yards on 17-of-25 passing with one interception in a 33-17 season-opening loss at No. 4 Michigan.
DeKALB - Northern Illinois football coach Joe Novak named senior Phil Horvath the starting quarterback after Friday morning's practice.
Horvath beat out sophomore Dan Nicholson for the second straight season.
Last year, Horvath threw for 2,001 yards and 18 touchdowns with eight interceptions on 168-of-238 (70.6 percent) passing before breaking his left arm in the first quarter against Central Michigan.
Horvath will lead the Huskies into the season opener at top-ranked Ohio State on Sept. 2.
Last season, Horvath threw for 200 yards on 17-of-25 passing with one interception in a 33-17 season-opening loss at No. 4 Michigan.
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scooter1369
HTTR Forever.
The answer to the question "Who will be the sorest on Sunday morning?" has been announced.
That is all
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G-FORCE
Heisman
Crashing the partyStewart Mandel,
When undefeated Utah crashed the Fiesta Bowl in 2004, it was, quite literally, a once-in-a-decade phenomenon. Not only did the Utes become the first team from outside the six major conferences to earn an automatic BCS berth since the system's 1998 inception, but they also were the first so-called "mid-major" to play in one of the four major bowls since Louisville in the Fiesta 14 years earlier. The last ones before that came in the late '70s.
It's about to become a whole lot more common.
At the time of the Utes' appearance, a team from the Mountain West, WAC or a similar conference had to finish in the top six of the BCS standings to be guaranteed a berth, a task considered to be near impossible. However, facing the pressure of a congressional investigation and a possible antitrust lawsuit, university presidents from the six BCS conferences reached a compromise with their non-BCS counterparts to add a fifth BCS game and grant easier access to lower-profile programs beginning this season. Now the standard is top 12 rather than top six (limit one), or top 16 if such a team is rated higher than the lowest-ranked major-conference champion.
"The door's open a little more with a [fifth] ball game," said TCU coach Gary Patterson, whose 11-1 team last season would have qualified for a bid under the new standards. "It's still tough, though, because you have to do it with one loss or no losses.
Just the fact that a one-loss non-BCS team is being mentioned as a possibility shows how much wider the door has opened for such teams. Previously, an undefeated season was an absolute necessity, and even that wasn't enough to help the likes of Tulane (1998), Marshall ('99) and Boise State (2004).
If the current standards had been in place since the BCS' inception, however, non-BCS teams would have reached one of the games in six of the past eight seasons (see chart), including the Green Wave and the Thundering Herd. Three of those six teams had one loss. "It's certainly a more friendly formula than it was previously," said Utah coach Kyle Whittingham. "You might not have to run the entire table."
With the BCS' new five-bowl model in place for the next four seasons, one might reasonably expect to see a non-BCS team make it three of the four years -- and perhaps as soon as this season. Coaches of potential contenders agree that such a team will likely need to meet the following criteria:
• Start the season ranked or at least with some national name recognition.
• Beat at least one decent BCS-conference opponent.
• Finish no worse than 11-1 (and the loss would have to come fairly early).
"You've got to beat someone early [from a BCS conference]," said Fresno State coach Pat Hill, "and then you've got to sit back and hope the people in front of you get beat."
That's exactly what happened when Utah made its BCS run in 2004. Coming off a 10-2 season, the Utes began the season ranked 20th in the AP poll and immediately moved up three spots after routing Texas A&M on national television in their first game. As the season progressed, the Utes kept clobbering people (including Arizona and North Carolina), while major-conference teams inevitably lost at least a couple of games, and Utah's rating steadily rose. It reached the top 10 by mid-October.
TCU, a regular 10-win team for much of this decade, was coming off an uncharacteristic 5-6 campaign when it stunned Oklahoma in last year's season opener. The Frogs debuted at No. 22 in the poll -- then immediately fell back out after losing to SMU. TCU was on the radar, however, and by going undefeated the rest of the way it rose to No. 14 in the final BCS standings, which, due to ACC champion Florida State's No. 22 ranking, would have garnered a berth under the new rules.
Who will be this year's Utah or TCU? Quite possibly, Utah or TCU. Here's a look at the five mid-majors best suited for a BCS run in 2006.
1. Utah (Mountain West)
2005 record: 7-5 (beat Georgia Tech 38-10 in Emerald Bowl)
Returning starters: 15 (seven offense, eight defense)
Key games: Sept. 2 at UCLA, Sept. 30 vs. Boise State, Oct. 5 vs. TCU
The skinny: The Utes' lineup has almost completely changed from their Fiesta Bowl season (only two starters remain), but the roster is still loaded with talent. QB Brett Ratliff returns after leading Utah to season-ending wins over BYU and Georgia Tech. USC transfer Darryl Poston takes over at tailback, and All-America DB Eric Weddle anchors a solid defense. "Last year we only had eight returning starters," said Whittingham. "This year it's almost completely flip-flopped."
How it could happen: Utah has a chance to put itself on the map right off the bat if it can knock off the less-experienced Bruins. The season will likely swing on their rematch with TCU, which beat the Utes in overtime last season.
2. TCU (Mountain West)
2005 record: 11-1 (beat Iowa State 27-24 in Houston Bowl)
Returning starters: 10 (four offense, six defense)
Key games: Sept. 16 vs. Texas Tech, Sept. 28 vs. BYU, Oct. 5 at Utah
The skinny: The Horned Frogs should look much like they did last season, with a ball-control offense and a defense that led the nation in turnover margin. "Their speed and athleticism across the board is their strong suit," says Utah's Whittingham. Breakout QB Jeff Ballard returns alongside standout RBs Robert Merrill and Aaron Brown. Bookends Chase Ortiz and Tommy Blake help form one of the best defensive lines in the country.
How it could happen: Because of the Frogs' preseason standing (No. 22), they could probably afford to lose a game early, though beating Texas Tech would impress voters, and beating BYU and Utah will be essential to winning their league.
3. Boise State (WAC)
2005 record: 9-4 (lost to Boston College 27-21 in MPC Computers Bowl)
Returning starters: 18 (nine offense, nine defense)
Key games: Sept. 7 vs. Oregon State, Sept. 30 at Utah, Nov. 1 vs. Fresno State
The skinny: Not much is expected to change as former offensive coordinator Chris Peterson takes over for departed head coach Dan Hawkins. The Broncos, who went 36-3 from 2002 to '04, will still mix things up with unconventional formations and specialization on offense, and will play tough-nosed defense. The key will be whether senior QB Jared Zabransky can return to his sophomore-season form after struggling last season (16 interceptions).
How it could happen: The Broncos need to beat Pac-10 middling Oregon State if they hope to earn enough respect to reach the BCS. Getting Fresno State at home certainly helps. "They've got a schedule that gives them a chance to make a run," said Fresno State's Hill.
4. Fresno State (WAC)
2005 record: 8-5 (lost to Tulsa 31-24 in Liberty Bowl)
Returning starters: 16 (eight offense, eight defense)
Key games: Sept. 9 vs. Oregon, Oct. 21 at LSU, Nov. 1 at Boise State
The skinny: The Bulldogs showed how dangerous they can be by putting scares into both Oregon and USC last season, but also went into a funk at the end of the year. The bulk of that team is back, though much will be dependent on how well QB Tom Brandstater replaces four-year starter Paul Pinegar and whether an injury-plagued backfield can return to form.
How it could happen: Much like last year's USC game, Hill's take-on-all-comers approach has Fresno visiting LSU's Death Valley in the heart of the season. Because of the timing, the Bulldogs' BCS hopes likely hinge on beating both the Tigers and Boise State.
5. Northern Illinois (MAC)
2005 record: 7-5 (lost to Akron 31-30 in MAC championship game)
Returning starters: 13 (six offense, seven defense)
Key games: Sept. 2 at Ohio State, Oct. 28 at Iowa, Nov. 7 vs. Toledo
The skinny: The Huskies boast the nation's leading returning rusher, senior tailback Garrett Wolfe, who along with veteran QBs Phil Horvath and Dan Nicholson and standout LT Doug Free will form a highly dangerous offense. Wolfe, who averaged 175.6 yards per game last season, ran for 148 against Michigan, 245 against Northwestern and 270 in the MAC title game.
How it could happen: It's quite simple, really: NIU needs to knock off one of the Big Ten heavyweights, Ohio State or Iowa, and win all its conference games. "If we catch any of 'em sleeping," Huskies coach Joe Novak told the Associated Press, "you never know."
Five others to keep an eye on:
BYU (Mountain West), Central Florida (Conference USA), Tulsa (Conference USA), Nevada (WAC), Toledo (MAC).
When undefeated Utah crashed the Fiesta Bowl in 2004, it was, quite literally, a once-in-a-decade phenomenon. Not only did the Utes become the first team from outside the six major conferences to earn an automatic BCS berth since the system's 1998 inception, but they also were the first so-called "mid-major" to play in one of the four major bowls since Louisville in the Fiesta 14 years earlier. The last ones before that came in the late '70s.
It's about to become a whole lot more common.
At the time of the Utes' appearance, a team from the Mountain West, WAC or a similar conference had to finish in the top six of the BCS standings to be guaranteed a berth, a task considered to be near impossible. However, facing the pressure of a congressional investigation and a possible antitrust lawsuit, university presidents from the six BCS conferences reached a compromise with their non-BCS counterparts to add a fifth BCS game and grant easier access to lower-profile programs beginning this season. Now the standard is top 12 rather than top six (limit one), or top 16 if such a team is rated higher than the lowest-ranked major-conference champion.
"The door's open a little more with a [fifth] ball game," said TCU coach Gary Patterson, whose 11-1 team last season would have qualified for a bid under the new standards. "It's still tough, though, because you have to do it with one loss or no losses.
Just the fact that a one-loss non-BCS team is being mentioned as a possibility shows how much wider the door has opened for such teams. Previously, an undefeated season was an absolute necessity, and even that wasn't enough to help the likes of Tulane (1998), Marshall ('99) and Boise State (2004).
If the current standards had been in place since the BCS' inception, however, non-BCS teams would have reached one of the games in six of the past eight seasons (see chart), including the Green Wave and the Thundering Herd. Three of those six teams had one loss. "It's certainly a more friendly formula than it was previously," said Utah coach Kyle Whittingham. "You might not have to run the entire table."
With the BCS' new five-bowl model in place for the next four seasons, one might reasonably expect to see a non-BCS team make it three of the four years -- and perhaps as soon as this season. Coaches of potential contenders agree that such a team will likely need to meet the following criteria:
• Start the season ranked or at least with some national name recognition.
• Beat at least one decent BCS-conference opponent.
• Finish no worse than 11-1 (and the loss would have to come fairly early).
"You've got to beat someone early [from a BCS conference]," said Fresno State coach Pat Hill, "and then you've got to sit back and hope the people in front of you get beat."
That's exactly what happened when Utah made its BCS run in 2004. Coming off a 10-2 season, the Utes began the season ranked 20th in the AP poll and immediately moved up three spots after routing Texas A&M on national television in their first game. As the season progressed, the Utes kept clobbering people (including Arizona and North Carolina), while major-conference teams inevitably lost at least a couple of games, and Utah's rating steadily rose. It reached the top 10 by mid-October.
TCU, a regular 10-win team for much of this decade, was coming off an uncharacteristic 5-6 campaign when it stunned Oklahoma in last year's season opener. The Frogs debuted at No. 22 in the poll -- then immediately fell back out after losing to SMU. TCU was on the radar, however, and by going undefeated the rest of the way it rose to No. 14 in the final BCS standings, which, due to ACC champion Florida State's No. 22 ranking, would have garnered a berth under the new rules.
Who will be this year's Utah or TCU? Quite possibly, Utah or TCU. Here's a look at the five mid-majors best suited for a BCS run in 2006.
1. Utah (Mountain West)
2005 record: 7-5 (beat Georgia Tech 38-10 in Emerald Bowl)
Returning starters: 15 (seven offense, eight defense)
Key games: Sept. 2 at UCLA, Sept. 30 vs. Boise State, Oct. 5 vs. TCU
The skinny: The Utes' lineup has almost completely changed from their Fiesta Bowl season (only two starters remain), but the roster is still loaded with talent. QB Brett Ratliff returns after leading Utah to season-ending wins over BYU and Georgia Tech. USC transfer Darryl Poston takes over at tailback, and All-America DB Eric Weddle anchors a solid defense. "Last year we only had eight returning starters," said Whittingham. "This year it's almost completely flip-flopped."
How it could happen: Utah has a chance to put itself on the map right off the bat if it can knock off the less-experienced Bruins. The season will likely swing on their rematch with TCU, which beat the Utes in overtime last season.
2. TCU (Mountain West)
2005 record: 11-1 (beat Iowa State 27-24 in Houston Bowl)
Returning starters: 10 (four offense, six defense)
Key games: Sept. 16 vs. Texas Tech, Sept. 28 vs. BYU, Oct. 5 at Utah
The skinny: The Horned Frogs should look much like they did last season, with a ball-control offense and a defense that led the nation in turnover margin. "Their speed and athleticism across the board is their strong suit," says Utah's Whittingham. Breakout QB Jeff Ballard returns alongside standout RBs Robert Merrill and Aaron Brown. Bookends Chase Ortiz and Tommy Blake help form one of the best defensive lines in the country.
How it could happen: Because of the Frogs' preseason standing (No. 22), they could probably afford to lose a game early, though beating Texas Tech would impress voters, and beating BYU and Utah will be essential to winning their league.
3. Boise State (WAC)
2005 record: 9-4 (lost to Boston College 27-21 in MPC Computers Bowl)
Returning starters: 18 (nine offense, nine defense)
Key games: Sept. 7 vs. Oregon State, Sept. 30 at Utah, Nov. 1 vs. Fresno State
The skinny: Not much is expected to change as former offensive coordinator Chris Peterson takes over for departed head coach Dan Hawkins. The Broncos, who went 36-3 from 2002 to '04, will still mix things up with unconventional formations and specialization on offense, and will play tough-nosed defense. The key will be whether senior QB Jared Zabransky can return to his sophomore-season form after struggling last season (16 interceptions).
How it could happen: The Broncos need to beat Pac-10 middling Oregon State if they hope to earn enough respect to reach the BCS. Getting Fresno State at home certainly helps. "They've got a schedule that gives them a chance to make a run," said Fresno State's Hill.
4. Fresno State (WAC)
2005 record: 8-5 (lost to Tulsa 31-24 in Liberty Bowl)
Returning starters: 16 (eight offense, eight defense)
Key games: Sept. 9 vs. Oregon, Oct. 21 at LSU, Nov. 1 at Boise State
The skinny: The Bulldogs showed how dangerous they can be by putting scares into both Oregon and USC last season, but also went into a funk at the end of the year. The bulk of that team is back, though much will be dependent on how well QB Tom Brandstater replaces four-year starter Paul Pinegar and whether an injury-plagued backfield can return to form.
How it could happen: Much like last year's USC game, Hill's take-on-all-comers approach has Fresno visiting LSU's Death Valley in the heart of the season. Because of the timing, the Bulldogs' BCS hopes likely hinge on beating both the Tigers and Boise State.
5. Northern Illinois (MAC)
2005 record: 7-5 (lost to Akron 31-30 in MAC championship game)
Returning starters: 13 (six offense, seven defense)
Key games: Sept. 2 at Ohio State, Oct. 28 at Iowa, Nov. 7 vs. Toledo
The skinny: The Huskies boast the nation's leading returning rusher, senior tailback Garrett Wolfe, who along with veteran QBs Phil Horvath and Dan Nicholson and standout LT Doug Free will form a highly dangerous offense. Wolfe, who averaged 175.6 yards per game last season, ran for 148 against Michigan, 245 against Northwestern and 270 in the MAC title game.
How it could happen: It's quite simple, really: NIU needs to knock off one of the Big Ten heavyweights, Ohio State or Iowa, and win all its conference games. "If we catch any of 'em sleeping," Huskies coach Joe Novak told the Associated Press, "you never know."
Five others to keep an eye on:
BYU (Mountain West), Central Florida (Conference USA), Tulsa (Conference USA), Nevada (WAC), Toledo (MAC).
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