NU defenders trying to cut down on risk taking

To freelance or not to freelance on defense? Play disciplined or undisciplined?

After a football team loses a game, particularly one larded with defensive lapses, it's almost a tradition for the members of that defense to return the following week with the following message:

“It's all about discipline,” Northwestern defensive end Kevin Watt said Monday. “Playing through your man. Playing your responsibility. Sometimes we weren't playing as one, where somebody would be out of their gap or wouldn't be filling the hole right.

“So we're definitely working on going back to the fundamentals and playing through your gap and doing your job and not too much more.”

These are all solid sentiments as Northwestern prepares for its crucial homecoming game Saturday against No. 7 Michigan State (11 a.m., ESPN).

The Spartans (7-0, 3-0) are blessed with a high-powered, yet balanced attack that is much higher in the nation's total offense (447.6 ypg) and scoring offense (34.4 ppg) rankings than any of NU's opponents to date.

The Spartans run for more than 200 yards a game, which makes quarterback Kirk Cousins' play-action fakes that much tougher to ignore.

For NU to win today, it ought to take extraordinary discipline something it didn't always have two weeks ago when Purdue handed the Wildcats (5-1, 1-1) their first loss.

The Boilermakers capitalized on a pair of 50-yard-plus running plays where they made NU pay for missed assignments.

But go back and examine Purdue's game-winning touchdown run with 3:54 left.

The Boilers faced fourth-and-inches from Northwestern's 7-yard line. Quarterback Rob Henry took the snap and held out the ball for running back Dan Dierking.

Depending on what Northwestern's defense did, Henry was either to let Dierking take the ball up the middle or keep it and make the play on his own.

Considering Henry had done most of Purdue's damage, it seemed clear who represented the bigger threat.

Here's where the concept of defensive discipline turns murky instead of absolute.

NU defensive tackle Jack DiNardo plowed his way into the backfield and the replay makes him look bad because Dierking, who took the handoff, ran right past DiNardo without a second look.

As it turned out, DiNardo played his responsibility perfectly.

He had Henry.

He made him give up the ball.

Should he have freelanced and chased after Dierking, knowing if he did and Henry kept the ball then he didn't do his job?

In a perfect world, players would always do as they're assigned. When the ball is live, players and coaches want to see the ballcarrier on the ground by any means necessary.

It's why players don't always do as they're told. And why they don't always have to fear the consequences of freelancing.

“It depends on if you make the play or not,” junior cornerback Jordan Mabin said with a smile. “Our coach always says, ‘You make it, you take it.' You've got to take the chance and you've got to make the play.”

Watt says defensive line coach Marty Long calls it an “Attaboy” when things work out.

“It's like, ‘Yeah, you didn't play your responsibility correctly, but you got after it and you made the play,' ” Watt said. “They'd like you to play through your gap and you make a play, it's great, but we'd like you to play your responsibility.”