Northwestern's defense didn't play poorly in the team's 31-20 victory against Nevada Saturday, but it didn't play particularly well either. With a slew of injured players in the secondary and some other newcomers playing a lot, there was a bend-but-don't-breakness about the unit that eventually helped the Wildcats pull out the win.
One area where the D didn't do a whole lot was getting to Wolf Pack quarterback Ty Gangi; Mike Hankwitz's defense didn't record a single sack in the game. Defensive line coach Marty Long's advice this week is probably this simple message from Takkarist McKinley.