In College Park, Jack Lausch looked the part of a Big Ten QB.
Welcome back to the film room everyone.
Sorry for the hiatus last week, but we are back and excited to talk about some quarterback play. After taking a step forward against Indiana, Jack Lausch and Co. headed to College Park to take on the Terps. In what turned out to be a stress-free game, the ‘Cats dominated Maryland for all 60 minutes, cruising to a 37-10 win. Led by its sophomore signal caller, the Wildcats’ offense took another step in the right direction on Friday night. So without further ado, let’s dive into No. 12’s performance.
The numbers
It was a good day on paper for Lausch. The redshirt sophomore finished the game 10-of-18 for 203 yards and added 30 yards and a score on the ground. Most importantly, he averaged 11.3 yards per attempt, the highest by a Wildcat since Brendan Sullivan against Maryland last year. For his efforts, Lausch earned a 74.0 PFF grade, including a 73.7 PFF passing grade and a 63.5 PFF rushing grade.
Digging deeper, No. 12 had two PFF Big Time Throws (a pass with excellent ball location and timing, generally thrown further down the field and/or into a tighter window) and committed zero turnover-worthy plays. While he took longer to get rid of the ball than his three seconds flat against IU, Lausch’s 3.16 time to throw is significantly better than it was a couple of weeks ago in Seattle — a sign he is processing quicker.
The Chicago native should give a lot of credit to his offensive line for last week’s success, facing pressure on just 30% of his dropbacks. The most exciting part of this game was watching Lausch push the ball down the field, completing 60% of his passes 20-plus yards past the line of scrimmage.
As you all know by now, the numbers will never tell the full story. To get the complete picture, let’s dive into the tape.
The Good
It was a solid night for Lausch slinging the ball, setting up the ‘Cats for success throughout the game. Here is what stood out to me.
Airing it out
Since Lausch has taken over the starting job, one of my biggest knocks against him is underthrowing the ball on multiple occasions; however, he proved me wrong against the Terps.
What a ball.
Facing third-and-long, Northwestern comes out in trips to the play side and singles Bryce Kirtz to the boundary; meanwhile, Maryland is playing straight man coverage against the board. Kirtz is the pre-snap read here, meaning Lausch sees the coverage and realizes he has No. 17 one-on-one on the outside. After the snap, Lausch takes a five-step drop and hitches before uncorking a beautiful over the shoulder throw, dropping it in the hands of his receiver. You couldn’t place the ball any better unless he walked over and handed it off to Kirtz.
Even though this is an incomplete pass, we have to talk about this play.
First of all, this is a great play call by Zach Lujan. Maryland is once again in man coverage, and Northwestern uses a bunch set and run a chevron concept. A chevron concept is usually a corner or fade from the inside receiver and a snag from the outside receiver; however, in a trips set, the most inside receiver runs a flat and the number two receiver runs the fade or sail. In this case, the Wildcats are trying to set a natural pick, hoping to force the Maryland defenders to fight through each other. It worked perfectly as A.J. Henning beats his defender off the line of scrimmage and is open.
For Lausch, Henning is the primary read for the play, The read goes fade, snag, flat, backside dig and if nothing is there, run. The redshirt sophomore recognizes the man coverage and decides where to go with the ball. While he does drift a little outside the pocket, this ball is a thing of beauty. He hits Henning in stride, but No. 8 has the throw go right through his hands. Although NU missed an opportunity for a 30+ yard gain, this throw is probably the one that stood out to me the most in the entire game.
Nothing I love more than a shot play after a change of possession.
Right after the defense forced a turnover on downs. Northwestern dials up one of the most interesting play designs I’ve ever seen. With Maryland in cover four, NU runs a smoke screen on the outside and slid Bryce Kirtz into the slot to run a post. Because of the play design, Maryland’s safety has to sit on the third receiver running vertical, allowing Kirtz to find the hole in between the corner and the safety.
Back under center, Lausch sees Kirtz streaking down the field, takes a three step drop, hitches and heaves a 50-yard strike to the sixth-year WR. I’m running out of adjectives to describe these throws because they are just so impressive, but this is something that I did not expect to see in Lausch’s game. If he continues to take the top off of defenses, it will force opponents to play more two-high safeties look, opening up the run game for Zach Lujan’s offense.
The bad
To be honest, there is not much to critique about Lausch’s performance; however, there is one issue that has continued to plague him since being inserted in the starting lineup.
Internal clock
Lausch is still learning how to feel pressure and know when to get rid of the ball, but his pocket presence still has plenty of room to grow.
Got to stand in and stand tall.
Maryland only brings three, and the offensive line does a great job at sealing the pocket around Lausch. There is no reason for him to bail here; instead, just sit in the pocket and let your receivers get open. By breaking the pocket, the QB spy is released and begins to pursue No. 12, forcing Lausch to pull up and throw the ball into tight coverage.
Final Thoughts
I don’t know if it’s something about a Northwestern QB having a great game against Maryland, but Lausch took another leap forward on Friday night. The offense showed an explosiveness that I am not used to seeing from the Wildcats, and it should open up the run game as well.
I’m not ready to anoint him the future of Northwestern football, but if he continues to improve, David Braun and Zach Lujan will have NU’s first multi-year starter since 2018. Wildcats’ fans, it is ok to feel excited because the signs of a Big Ten starter are there.