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You remember how Air Force came out three years ago and cut Pat on each play of the initial series until they popped his knee? It technically was a "legal" cut but Pat wound up sitting for a year. My two sons, both undersized for where they played often talked about having to cut some behemoth D-lineman. David a guard at maybe 230, had to take on a DT that weighed in at 375. Trust me, he and the center employed every legal variation of the cut block to keep that guy out of the backfield. They only missed once. Anyway, the big stink is based on comments ESPN commentator, Lee Corso, [a former Indiana coach] made after James' injury. Corso was expecting James to be the defensive star and he was well on his way - in the first half he had a sack and forced fumble and even had forced three holding penalties on the Purdue tackle. The Purdue O-line had to do something. Holding James didn't work, so they started having the tight end block down using a technique they like to use - the TE goes out to Cut Block the DE to slow down his rush. It worked. Suddenly, Purdue had a passing game again, and if not for an untimely fumble would have won. You can give a lot of credit to the thrown together D-Line of the Badgers, and their secondary for not letting the Boilers run wild once the front guys were gone. It messed up Corso's script - the one about how the Wisconsin D would beat the Purdue O. But you know that's football, Lee - injuries happen during games and the guys who gut it through the minor scrapes and the #2 guys who wind up stepping up and playing are usually the difference at the end. Check out the NU lineup that stuffed Indiana in the 2nd overtime, but we digress. Everyone knows that when you play the Joe Tiller Boilermakers, their linemen will try to cut block your pass rush. You're supposed to plan your defensive line scheme around those cut blocks. This week, Loren Howard returns. He is the Erasmus James of the Northwestern D-Line, the sack leader, the hammer to put the other guy's QB on the 3 C's [Cofield, Clark and Castillo] anvil. What do you bet that the Wisconsin tight ends aren't studying that cut block technique this week, and what do you bet that Purdue will use it on Loren and the Cats October 30th.
