• Follow us on Twitter @buckeyeplanet and @bp_recruiting, like us on Facebook! Enjoy a post or article, recommend it to others! BP is only as strong as its community, and we only promote by word of mouth, so share away!
  • Consider registering! Fewer and higher quality ads, no emails you don't want, access to all the forums, download game torrents, private messages, polls, Sportsbook, etc. Even if you just want to lurk, there are a lot of good reasons to register!

NIU RB Garrett Wolfe (official thread)

Jump to latest Follow Reply
Sort by date Sort by votes
osugrad21;635809; said:
Link

Best player? No big deal

MAC?s obscurity dashes Wolfe?s Heisman hopes

By Ben Smith

The Journal Gazette





Enough with your Downtown Athletic Club, your stuffy pretension, your 70-odd years of gnarled stiff-arming glory. I?m givin? out my own Heisman Trophy.
Here, Garrett Wolfe. Have this little silver guy holding up a torch atop a marble base. I know he doesn?t have anything to do with football ? I think I won him for staying awake through freshman English, something like that ? but he?s the closest I could find in my basement on short notice.
You da man, Garrett. So enjoy.
I mean, it?s not like you?ve got a shot at the real Heisman Trophy.
Oh, sure, I?d love to think so, we all would, not only because we?re intrigued by Wolfe?s utterly sick numbers ? even with his 27-yard flameout against Western Michigan on Saturday, he?s still in the neighborhood of 200 yards per game ? but by the notion that the most scintillating player in the country looks more like Lafitte Pincay Jr. than Jim Brown. At 5-foot-7 and 177 waif-like pounds, the dude?s a Smurf. Paint him blue and your kids are watching him on TV on Saturday mornings.
The rest of us, meanwhile, watch him on TV at odd hours ? Thursday night, Friday night, whatever night ? stacking up yards and touchdowns for the greater glory of old Northern Illinois. He strapped 148 yards on Michigan last year, averaging 8.7 yards per carry. He laid 245 and three scores on Northwestern. And this year, he ran for 171 yards and caught passes for 114 more against poor overmatched Ohio State, then laid out Ball State with 353 yards that could have been more had a couple of cross-country excursions not been called back.
Nonetheless: He?s got no chance.
He?s got no chance because the voters like the big-deal kids from the big-deal schools, and Wolfe, while indisputably the former, is short the latter. He plays at Northern, whose resemblance to, say, Notre Dame begins and ends with the fact that they both start with an ?N? and an ?O?. He plays at Northern ? which plays in the Mid-American Conference ? which last had a Heisman winner, like, never.
Sorry, folks. But as much as you and I and a whole lot of other sentimental fools across America think Garrett Wolfe should be cradling Old Stiff Arm come December, in reality he?s just Joe Dudek, the Sentimental Fools? Choice who put up crazy numbers at tiny Plymouth (N.H.) State back in the 1980s. He?s Gordie Lockbaum, who played both ways at tiny Holy Cross and thus stole the sentimental fools? vote again.
Wolfe, a legitimate NFL prospect despite his size, is light years better than either of them, of course. But he?s got no better shot at the Heisman. He is, in fact, less a true contender after Western Michigan than Brady Quinn is ? and, yes, I know exactly how absurd that sounds.
No one has to remind me that the last time anyone was paying attention, Michigan was treating Brady Quinn like a pi?ata. In one of the two biggest games of Notre Dame?s season, his second pass was intercepted and returned for a touchdown. Then he threw a couple more picks. Then he fumbled, and Michigan defensive end LaMarr Woodley picked it up and ran it in for another score.
The final was Michigan 47, Notre Dame 21, Brady Quinn 4 ? as in ?turnovers.? And, oh, yeah, one shovel for all of us wise-guy media types, who immediately put it to work scooping dirt on Quinn?s Heisman hopes.
Of course, then he came back with five touchdown passes and a miracle comeback against Michigan State, which was more about the Spartans? miracle collapse but won?t be spun that way by the Notre Dame lore machine.
Then he completed 29 of 38 passes for 316 yards and two touchdowns against Purdue.
Then he completed 27 of 37 for 232 and three more scores against Stanford.
And suddenly ? miraculously, you might say ? he is the withered codger from ?Monty Python and the Holy Grail?: Not Dead Yet.
Suddenly he?s 56 of 75 for 548 yards and five touchdowns in his last two games, with plenty of lush victims lying just ahead. A few more monster games against less-than-monstrous opposition, then one last heroic spasm against USC ? and voila, Quinn?s in the conversation again. The simple fact that he plays quarterback at Notre Dame ? the biggest-deal position at the biggest-deal school ? guarantees it.
Just as the fact that Garrett Wolfe plays running back at Northern Illinois guarantees otherwise.
Oh, he?ll continue to pile up his yards and his touchdowns, and if he can put a buck fifty or so and three or four scores on Iowa at the end of the month, that?ll help. And maybe if Quinn lays another omelet against USC, and Troy Smith at Ohio State gets abducted by aliens. ?
Ah, but Quinn failing again is a pretty slim peg to hang your hat on, come to think of it. And aliens are notoriously unreliable in these matters.
Sorry, Garrett Wolfe. Not even you, I?m afraid, can stack the yards high enough this time. Not even you can outrun all that big-school bias, no matter how far your legs carry you.
Here, bud. Take my Heisman.
As for that other one, to hell with it.
Click to expand...


Looks like Ben Smith wrote his article about a week too late. Go ahead, Mr. Smith, give your Heisman to Wolfe. I'll "take my Heisman" and give it to someone who can do a little better than 25 yards on 18 carries against Western Michigan University. The MAC's obscurity dashed Wolfe's Heisman hopes? Nah, he did that himself by getting shut down by WMU.
 
Upvote 0
buckeyeboy;636562; said:
Looks like Ben Smith wrote his article about a week too late. Go ahead, Mr. Smith, give your Heisman to Wolfe. I'll "take my Heisman" and give it to someone who can do a little better than 25 yards on 18 carries against Western Michigan University. The MAC's obscurity dashed Wolfe's Heisman hopes? Nah, he did that himself by getting shut down by WMU.
Click to expand...
Did you watch 1 second of the game?

It was 0% his fault. They put 10 guys in the box nearly the ENTIRE game.

Please don't talk out of your ass.

I'd like to see Troy play with the worst RB in the country (Wolfe is playing with probably the worst QB in the country).

That being said, it has always been and will always be Troy's award if OSU goes undefeated and he keeps playing like this.
 
Upvote 0
G-FORCE;636675; said:
Did you watch 1 second of the game?

It was 0% his fault. They put 10 guys in the box nearly the ENTIRE game.

Please don't talk out of your ass.

I'd like to see Troy play with the worst RB in the country (Wolfe is playing with probably the worst QB in the country).

That being said, it has always been and will always be Troy's award if OSU goes undefeated and he keeps playing like this.
Click to expand...
Not to take anything away from GW, he's an amazing player, but that stat line flatlined his Heisman hopes. I'm interested to see if he can bounce back, or if perhaps he's starting to wear down a little.
 
Upvote 0
G-FORCE;636675; said:
Did you watch 1 second of the game?

It was 0% his fault. They put 10 guys in the box nearly the ENTIRE game.

Please don't talk out of your ass.

I'd like to see Troy play with the worst RB in the country (Wolfe is playing with probably the worst QB in the country).

That being said, it has always been and will always be Troy's award if OSU goes undefeated and he keeps playing like this.
Click to expand...


if i remember correctly wasnt horvath one of the most efficient passers in the nation last year? granted he is struggling this year but the whole NIU team has had problems with consistency this year and i still give credit to wolfe but the rushing performance will not be viewed as nicely with the general public so it was a significant blow.
 
Upvote 0
G-FORCE said:
Did you watch 1 second of the game?

It was 0% his fault. They put 10 guys in the box nearly the ENTIRE game.

Please don't talk out of your ass.

I'd like to see Troy play with the worst RB in the country (Wolfe is playing with probably the worst QB in the country).

That being said, it has always been and will always be Troy's award if OSU goes undefeated and he keeps playing like this.
Click to expand...
Actually the game was on in Columbus. I didn't see 10 men in the box much at all.
 
Upvote 0
DaddyBigBucks;637423; said:
Honest question:


What do you think the problem is this year? Is it mental or is it a lack of preparation? Or have his mechanics changed?
Click to expand...
It's a question that is very difficult to answer. I doubt it's a lack of preperation, but I don't think it's possible to put your finger on what it is.

Part of it is because of our WR corps, IMO. Last year we had Sam Hurd who is now playing on Sunday's for the Cowboy's. He was a guy who lived going over the middle and making catches in traffic. Shatone Powers had a bit more speed then Hurd, but he did the same thing. This year we have Marcus Perez who is really our version of Bernard Berrian. He's going deep and he is going to try and run by you. He doesn't go over the middle much. Now Britt Davis is willing to go over the middle more then Perez (and he has over the past month), but he isn't Sam Hurd. Britt Davis has really good speed, good height, and freakish jumping ability. If there is one problem with him, his hands give him problems sometime. If you remember before we played you guys I told you how he was a converted QB, so it was almost to be expected. Early in the year he struggled with his hands a bit, but he has played nearly flawless football over the last month. Now Horvath doesn't have a strong arm, so he doesn't like to throw it deep. Our really only COMPLETE WR is Britt Davis. Outside of Davis and Perez, there really isn't much at the WR spot. We also lost 2 All-MAC offensive lineman who were seniors last year.

Now don't get me wrong, the guys replacing Hurd, Powers, Lueck, and Van Acker are VERY good MAC football players. They one day might be better, but most of the guys replacing him and Freshman and Sophmores. However they aren't up to the level that the seniors were last year. Horvath needs lots of talent and polished talent around him (like he did last year) to preform well. His players make him better, he doesn't make his players better. He's the definition of a game manager.

I think another part of it is game planning. Horvath has a downright weak arm, so people are just loading up on the run game and short passes and daring them to beat him deep. He can't do it.

The last part may be mental. Last year he was THE GUY before he got hurt. However after his injury Dan Nicholson led us to out 1st MAC Championship game in school history. Now Horvath won the job out of camp, but I think he may be looking over his shoulder a bit. However to Novak's credit, he has made it clear Horvath was his starter and stuck with him. Unless the game was a blowout, Nicholson hasn't seen the field. Even in a 31-7 victory over Buffalo, Nicholson never saw the field.

Dan Nicholson needs to be the QB of this team. He fits out WR better, and he has shown he can play and play damn well under harsh circumstances. Anybody who has watched NIU play this year and last would probably agree.
 
Upvote 0
Link

SPOTLIGHT ON...GARRETT WOLFE

When Northern Illinois coach Joe Novak first saw Garrett Wolfe, he didn't know exactly what he had. When you're a 5-7, 175-pound tailback, people don't get carried away with expectations.
"Honestly, I made the comment that he may get the ball 10 or 12 times a game, because of his talent," Novak said. "Well, he's carried over 40 twice, and over 30 many times.
"I never thought he'd be as durable as he is, but he's such a productive player."
Even though he was just held to 25 yards on 18 carries in a 16-14 loss at Western Michigan, the redshirt senior leads I-A in rushing (195-yard average) and scoring (12.3 points per game). Which makes sense, since he gained more than 1,600 yards each of the last two seasons.
Saturday at 3, you can watch him against visiting Temple on Comcast SportsNet. Did we mention that he rushed for 171 yards on 26 attempts in an opening, 35-12 loss at Ohio State, along with five receptions for 114 yards?
"He's probably one of the most instinctive players I've ever been around," Novak said. "He does things I'd like to take credit for... any back has to make decisions, when they get the ball. He makes a high percentage of right decisions. And even when he makes a bad one, he has the speed, the moves or something to make it into a good one."
Temple coach Al Golden, who has seen a lot of good ones, understands what he's up against.
"You may get him a couple of times, but he stays with it," Golden said. "He doesn't panic. Then, he gets a long one on you. That's really been his MO.
"He's good at making you miss, But he can put his pads down and knock you forward."
In last year's MAC title game, Wolfe rushed for 270 yards. But the Huskies lost to Akron. He doesn't like to lose.
"At times I doubted myself," Wolfe, who in May will become the first from his family to graduate from college, said earlier this year. "Maybe I'm too small, maybe I can't get it done...
"If they want to give me the ball 60 times, I'll run it 60 times. Whatever helps the team win."
 
Upvote 0
G-FORCE;636675; said:
Did you watch 1 second of the game?

It was 0% his fault. They put 10 guys in the box nearly the ENTIRE game.

Please don't talk out of your ass.
Click to expand...


Dude, take off your Wolfe blinders. He was shut down, plain and simple. You can't have it both ways--claiming that when Wolfe rushes for 300+ against one of the worst rushing defenses in the country, it's b/c he's such a phenomenal player; yet when he's totally shut down by Western Michigan, it's someone else's fault.

By the way, Sam Hurd, who's playing on Sunday for the Cowboys according to you, has exactly one reception through 5 games. Now who doesn't know what he's talking about?
 
Upvote 0
G-FORCE;636675; said:
I'd like to see Troy play with the worst RB in the country (Wolfe is playing with probably the worst QB in the country).
Click to expand...

We all understand the concept of one good player makes other players better, because defenses are keying on the first good player. But here's the thing: the difference between a good player and a great players is that the great players make their surrounding players better. They don't need a supporting cast. Eddie George would still have been Eddie George in 1995 without Bobby Hoying as the quarterback. But Bobby Hoying wouldn't have been anyone without Eddie George as his running back.

I think that Antonio Pittman is a good running back. But he's made to look much better because of Troy Smith. Troy Smith doesn't just look good because of Antonio Pittman. Troy Smith is that good.

If Garrett Wolfe is as good as his numbers say he is, then Phil Horvath should be playing a lot better. Phil Horvath's quality of play should reflect Garrett Wolfe's - not the other way around.
 
Upvote 0
Zurp;638209; said:
We all understand the concept of one good player makes other players better, because defenses are keying on the first good player. But here's the thing: the difference between a good player and a great players is that the great players make their surrounding players better. They don't need a supporting cast. Eddie George would still have been Eddie George in 1995 without Bobby Hoying as the quarterback. But Bobby Hoying wouldn't have been anyone without Eddie George as his running back.

I think that Antonio Pittman is a good running back. But he's made to look much better because of Troy Smith. Troy Smith doesn't just look good because of Antonio Pittman. Troy Smith is that good.

If Garrett Wolfe is as good as his numbers say he is, then Phil Horvath should be playing a lot better. Phil Horvath's quality of play should reflect Garrett Wolfe's - not the other way around.
Click to expand...
And it should, which makes Phil Horvath even worse.

They are leaving our WR 1 on 1 nearly EVERY play and he can't take advantage of it. Wolfe can't throw it for Horvath.
 
Upvote 0
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top