Brick... you have blinders on and you refuse to see that it was about draining the clock, not about going for it on fourth down.

I dare anyone to watch the fourth quarter and not see almost everything they did in that 11 minutes drive wasn't designed to run down the clock as fast as possible as well as give a chance for Seniors to play on Senior Day. And apparently I'm not the only one that thinks NU did the classy thing on Saturday.

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/colleges/16600114-419/nu-resists-urge-to-rub-it-in-after-routing-illinois-in-trophy-game.html

And for the record, I'm not sure how a "rivalry game" means absolutely anything about whether or not is it appropriate to show sportsmanship.

I assume they ran the ball on 4th down? If so, that is legit running out the clock. If you can't stop that shit you deserve to be embarrassed.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

Draining the clock? You are up 30+ on an offense that didn't score 30 points in a game all season.
That could be true, but punt the ball or kick the field goal.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Brick, it's no difference. It's all draining the clock. No one cares if you go for it or punt. What you may be mistakenly thinking is that if I punt it, I give the other team a chance to score. To Northwestern, they don't care. If they go for it and don't get it, then Illinois gets the ball (just like a punt)... and if they get the first down, NU gets to drain the clock some more (exactly what they did). The difference is when you are winging it downfield aiming for the end zone. THAT is what you are thinking.

I didn't watch the game, but somebody is really bitching that a team that scored 2 points in the entire 4th quarter was "running up the score"?

That's exactly zero points scored by the offense that was supposedly running it up?

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Agree to disagree. I think going for it on fourth down up 30+ points is attempting to run up the score. You think it's not.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Congratulations buddy. You did the math right this time!

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Spanky... their argument is that a team that is up big has NO reason to be going for it on fourth down. But if you are draining the clock, there is no difference between going for it and punting. Like I said before, if you punt, the other team gets the ball back. If you gain the fourth down, you can drain the clock more. What they are missing is that Northwestern was absolutely doing everything to NOT score on that drive. And this included putting a 5th year senior scout team defensive tackle at fullback on the two yard line and running him up the middle. And the dude fumbled anyway... so he just stayed in and played defense.

LOL... you still don't get it.

Just to clear this up, how many points has NW scored since the 3rd quarter on Saturday?

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No, you're right MUD.

That's like saying a team that kneels down is running up the score because they didn't kick a FG instead.

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Exactly, Spanky. And I'm not sure that taking a knee at the 9 minute mark and the 4 minute mark is really all that smart.

You are aware that words can have different meanings based on usage?

You've been posting on this board since 2008. When was your first post?

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I'm just using your own words against you. See how annoying the stuff is that you say?

How many posts have I made since 2008?

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You find me annoying?

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I think the issue would be throwing the ball on 4th down up 34 with 9 minutes to go.

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My Maserati does 186.

What's the difference between that and a run if it's not a downfield shot?

Perception.

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My Maserati does 186.

Same as running the scout team DT at RB for a possible TD instead of your 4th string RB.

Go to this website. http://www.northwesternhighlights.com/ Type in LOLHat2012 for the password. Go to 10:59 on the tape. Watch Mike Jensen catch a ball just over the first down marker. The pass keeps the drive going so we can control the clock and wind down time. It is not a downfield strike to get into the endzone. There is a big difference... and you can "perceive" that difference if you watched the game. And what did we do when we melted another couple minutes off the clock? We ran Bo Cisek up the middle. I'm having a really hard time figuring out why this is anything but a class move by a coach trying to involve one of his most dedicated scout team 5th year seniors in perhaps his last time on a college football field in his entire life.

I think that when you claim "running up the score", you have to be intending to put points on the board. You can absolutely tell from the playcalling that NU was moving the chains to keep the clock winding down. If they wanted to score on that last drive, then either 1) Northwestern has the worst playcalling in the history of mankind or 2) They were winding down the clock.

If you want your scout team DT to play in the 4th quarter, you should probably punt the ball on 4th down instead of throwing it.

MUD, I think you're doing a pretty hard spin to say that throwing on 4th and 6 in order to keep the ball and run more clock is some kind of a kindness to Illinois.

There is absolutely no concern about being up 5 touchdowns with 9 minutes to go on a team that has 5 collective TDs in the last 5 games and 8 total in Big Ten play. They could have just as easily punted them down to the 10 and stopped them, got the ball back and continue to run clock.

So you've basically gone for it on 4th a few times, throwing, to get down to let a fat DT try to put you up 41 with 4 minutes to play. You're overvaluing what how much another team cares about your seniors playing. As BC says, he could have easily played more defensive seniors if he'd just punted on 4th and 6.

I'm not even mad about it but I see it for what it appears to be. And if Illinois can't stop it, then they suck and deserve what they get.

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My Maserati does 186.

That is a Grade A post Doc, especially the very last part.

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2018
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10 More Wins

Okay let's take a step back

The accusation here is that Pat Fitzgerald is a bad guy. And the reason he is a bad guy is because he was trying to run up the score. So if you were trying to run up the score you would have his best players in, right? If you would attempted to run a play they give you the best probability of getting in the endzone, correct?

Now, however, perhaps the intention was to simply get another first down to run down the clock. Now if you were doing this you'd be indifferent on field position. So you'd simply run a ball up the middle (not a trick play, mind you, which would probably have a higher percentage of completion). Rather you would run a play with the intention of a first down to keep the clock rolling. Worst case you turn the ball over. The best case is that you maintain possession.

So you get the first down and your scrubs get you to the 2 yard line. Now you don't want to run up the score, so you run the guy least likely to score and have the dual purpose of having your 5th year senior something to tell the family.

Now if Fitz is a bad guy for somehow running up the score, he certainly has a weird way of showing it. But if that accusation helps make to somehow feel better, go with that. But I know Fitz fairly well. I went to school with him and my wife went to highschool with him. I know his dad and his wife, Stacey. And I can't reiterate more that his dedication to coaching with integrity is about as pure as it gets in college football. Normally I don't argue these things on a sports messageboard, but you guys are way off on this one.

People who complain about "running up the score" are the blurst.

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Git on back there.

You seem to take it a bit personally that Fitz ran it up. The simplest way not to score is to punt on 4th down. The clock runs when Illinois has the ball too, kick it to them and watch their seniors run the clock down instead. He can be all those things you say he is and still mess up in the heat of the moment and make a poor decision.

Who is calling Fitzgerald a bad guy? Why do you feel the need to act like Northwestern never does anything wrong? This is just like the Prater(I want to be closer to my sick relative so I transfered, now let me play earlier) thing. Just accept that Fitzgerald isn't a saint and we can move on. I think this is what annoys the Illini fans. It's not good enough that Fitzgerald is considered a good coach at a tough school to win at, but it's that he has to be put on a pedestal for everything.

It doesn't make Fitzgerald a bad guy to run up the score a little. Just don't confuse playing your seniors with not trying to run up the score. He clearly, without question, wanted to give those guys a chance to have a touchdown scoring drive.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

That same dynamic is why almost everyone who isn't a Notre Dame fan hates Notre Dame- the silly idea that Notre Dame stands for something higher than winning football games. Thankfully that's kind of gone by the wayside after they broke their sacred covenant of never firing a coach with the first black guy they hired, which was followed by blowhard Charlie Weis alienating everyone associated with the program and simultaneously failing on the field, and finally, Brian Kelly actually killing students.

There isn't a place for saints in college football. Like you say, it should be good enough for Northwestern that their guy may be about as close as it comes. But when it's all said and done, he's looking to win games and part of that is convincing a highly respected university to lower its standards to do so.

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I don't think he's a bad guy. I think he's just a regular guy that probably remembers Beckman acting like a douchebag in August trying to "fan the flames" of a rivalry with Northwestern and figured, "why cut them any slack".

No, he wasn't lofting 60-yard bombs trying to run up the score. But, I've watched football for quite some time and everybody knows when a game is over. That game was over. If you get a team to a 4th and 6, they are stopped. If they want to just give you "a chance" rather than kick a FG, they run the ball up the middle, or they punt. They don't loft 9 yard passes to the sideline. That's just not something you see.

Maybe I'm wrong but I see it that Fitzgerald had a bad team, with a dick-like coach in front of him, and a chance to continue to stick it to them and he took it. Good for him.

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My Maserati does 186.

I never claimed Fitz is a saint. You claimed he was being unsportsmanlike by running up the score. But you don't get the simple fact that he would be indifferent to punting vs. a turnover vs. a first down. The play calling clearly indicated he was working to drain the clock and NOT run up the score.

You can't argue with the fact that if he was trying to run up the score, he would be trying to get into the endzone. His play calling and personnel clearly indicates he was absolutely not.

I never said Fitz is a saint, but this accusation simply is ridiculous and I feel the need to correct your observation of the box score (because Brick I'm absolutely sure you didn't watch the 4Q)