Nov. 06--Clayton Thorson drops back to pass, the field opens in front of him, he gets that daring look in his eyes ...
And there he goes, weaving, high-stepping, stiff-arming, sprinting for runs of 68 and 49 yards against Nebraska to set up scores.
"There was a lot of room," Northwestern's redshirt freshman quarterback recalled this week about the Oct. 24 victory over the Cornhuskers. "So I was like, 'I'm not going out of bounds. There's no reason to.'
"One of the times I probably shouldn't have gone out of bounds and probably would have had a touchdown. But I am looking to get yards and keep my body safe."
Ah, that's the rub.
As Northwestern searches for a more balanced offense against sack-happy Penn State on Saturday, the mere threat of the 6-foot-4, 220-pound Thorson taking off to run out of the pocket could pay dividends -- provided he proceeds with reasonable caution.
"Teams have seen that now," Thorson said. "It's just another thing for them to worry about. We've got a lot of weapons and different ways we can use some guys."
Offensive coordinator Mick McCall appreciates the versatility of his dual-threat quarterback. Thorson's decision-making is improving with experience, and McCall wants him to be available the rest of the season.
"He used his legs in the last game in the right times, and that's the biggest thing we are getting him to do," McCall said. "Now he'll open up some things in the passing game, open some things in the running game.
"There were times when he needed to go down and slide. And he ran out of bounds a couple times to protect himself. It's about winning the situation. When it's third down, you've got to go get a first down or a touchdown. But he needs to be smart and save himself too."
NU coach Pat Fitzgerald knows his offense will have its hands full against Penn State, which leads the nation with 36 sacks for 284 yards and has at least five tackles for a loss in 16 straight games.
Defensive end Carl Nassib is the national leader in sacks (1.6) and tackles for a loss (2.1) per game, and the Nittany Lions are coming off a 39-0 shutout of Illinois.
"We'd like to have as much balance as we possibly can, and that's going to be a great challenge against this defense," Fitzgerald said. "We've got to find ways to be successful on third down. Run-game-wise, we've got to block better at the point of attack, and (Justin) Jackson has got to make some guys miss, win one-on-ones."
Thorson ran nine times for a season-high 126 yards against Nebraska and had 177 yards on 13-of-28 passing. But Jackson was limited to 40 rushing yards -- his third straight game below 50 -- and two catches for 55 yards.
"Schematically, we've got to get better angles and get ourselves some free space," Fitzgerald said. "There were a lot of times that Nebraska had nobody deeper than 6 yards against us in the first half. So having some balance, getting people off us a little bit on early downs and early in the game, will be important."
Thorson has the confidence of his teammates to make prudent decisions under pressure. Wide receiver Austin Carr said Thorson has "that Tom Brady-esque, ice-in-his-veins thing that spreads out" to his offensive teammates.
"We've got to get the ball out of my hands," Thorson said. "Their front four are very good. It comes down to making my reads, making decisions like we always do. We just have to be real good at it this week."
fmitchell@tribpub.com
