[NU Sports] WILDCAT WRAP: Penn State 34, Northwestern 29

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

WILDCAT WRAP – PENN STATE 34, NU 29

Penn State couldn’t hold on to the ball, but it was
Northwestern who couldn’t hang on to a lead. A very
un-JoePa like day from the Nittany Lions that included
fumbles galore, stupid penalties and relatively sloppy
play all around was salvaged by an all-too familiar
performance by the Wildcat secondary, who gave 10-yard
cushions and got burned deep all day for big plays and
a winning score in the final minute of a 34-29 PSU win
in Evanston.

After a blowout in the opener, things appear to be
back to normal in Dyche Stadium this year with cardiac
finishes. NIU missed their 2-point attempt late, but
PSU was able to score on their last-minute drive and
the Cats let one slip away. Like a lot of the close
finishes lately, Saturday’s game should have never
been that close. But the NU offense settled for field
goals and not touchdowns early and what could have
been a 35-point first half was merely a 23-14
advantage for NU going into the half, despite a host
of PSU turnovers that NU only turned into 13 points.

For awhile, it looked like Joe Paterno may lose to
Northwestern for the third year in a row, as the Cats
came out with an impressive opening drive – mixing up
plays, converting third downs and marching down the
field 80 yards for a 7-0 lead, chewing up the first
six minutes of the game in the process. Unfortunately
for NU fans, this was as good as it would get and the
last time all day that Basanez spread the ball around
(the rest of the game he was locked in on Shawn
Herbert) and the offense was clicking completely.

Two PSU turnovers (and it could have been three had
the refs not generously spotted a Michael Robinson
fumble on fourth down) resulted in two short NU field
goals and it was 13-0 early in the second quarter
before Penn State converted a couple of deep passes to
cut the lead to 13-7.

The Wildcats fumbled away the ensuing kickoff, but PSU
gave it right back on one of the many tipped
interceptions on the day (nice to see some pressure
from the D-line!). NU responded by driving a little
more than 70 yards for what would be their last
touchdown of the day, a Sutton dive up the middle for
a 20-7 lead, though the drive was aided greatly by a
deep pass (imagine that! STRETCH THE D!) when Baz
scrambled on a 3rd down and found Jonathan Fields for
a terrific catch.

The Nits tried to give NU the game yet again by
throwing another interception on their next play, but
the Cats could only kick a short field goal to go up
23-7. The Lions drove but fumbled inside the NU red
zone, but the Cats couldn’t convert on the turnover
again and we saw the only punt of the first half. PSU
was able to add another long pass TD before half to
put the score at 23-14. All NU fans could think is
that the lead should have been much more 
 all PSU
fans could think is how in the heck they were still
within single digits after such an awful first half
with four turnovers and only half the time of
possession that Northwestern had in the half.

Penn State took the ball first in the second half, but
fumbled away (and recovered) a chance to move the ball
and after a half of scores and turnovers, things
slowed a bit in the third and PSU had its first punt
of the day. Marquis Cole made one of the bigger
blunders in Dyche Stadium since Anthony Thomas’ fatal
fumble in the 54-51 game by fair catching the punt
inside the NU 3 yard line (what the ?!?!?!). PSU was
able to turn the field position into a field goal on
their next series to cut the lead to 23-17.

You could start to feel the momentum slipping, and I
think Randy Walker did too, because after another
series of punts, NU called a fake on 4th and 5 from
their own 35 with 5:10 left in the third. The fake
worked and kept the drive alive to swing ole mo’ back
to the purple side for a moment, but the offense
fizzled and Joel Howells missed his only field goal of
the day, a 48-yarder that sailed wide right. And the
Cats had let another chance slip away 
 along with
burning a timeout that would be a pattern for the
second half.

Penn State opened the fourth by looking like NU and
settling for a field goal after a good-looking drive
to cut the lead to 23-20. NU again showed some guts by
converting a 4th and 1 near midfield on the next
drive, but they also burned their final timeouts and
only came away with a 48-yard Howells field goal to
make the margin the loathsome six-point deficit that
gives coaches and fans ulcers in a back-and-forth
game.

With 10:15 remaining, Penn State appeared to fumble
the kickoff and Northwestern recovered. But after
replay and some confusion by the officials with a 
quick whistle, there just wasn’t enough to overturn
the call on the field and PSU was able to breathe a
sigh of relief that a bounce or break finally went
their way on the day. Every game, PSU is good for at
least one reverse play it seems, and they burned the
Cats with a 43-yard reverse on this drive and marched
downfield to take a 27-26 lead, their first of the day
despite a plethora of miscues and roughly half of NU’s
time of possession.

After a day with relatively few flags (the officials
seemed to let the kids play and as long as they do
that both ways – as they did – then fans love to see
it), a holding flag on the next kickoff put the Cats
at their own 5 yard line and down for the first time
in a game they had dominated. After what could have
been a PSU safety for holding in the end zone on NU,
the Lions bailed the Cats out with a  late hit on Baz
during a 3rd down scramble. Yeah, it was a close call
and could have been a no-call, but it was still a
stupid play by PSU that maybe deserved the flag for
sheer stupidity. Baz was 5 yards from the marker and
heading out of bounds – all PSU needed to do was push
him out, but lowering the head for any kind of hit
begs for a flag.

The Cats started to take advantage of the flag and
drove downfield 
 but settled for a field goal again
to go up 29-27. But with two minutes left and the NU
secondary in shambles, few thought this one was over.

Northwestern’s defense did get it to 4th and 15
(including another PSU fumble that the Lions recovered
and a great screen read and tackle by Tim McGarrigle)
and the crowd tried to cheer in vain 
 only to watch
PSU pass it right up the middle to the tight end for
17 yards (he had three purple jerseys around him, but
not one was next to him). The final dagger was yet
another deep bomb Robinson launched a nanosecond
before taking another hit (again, we got good
pressure), only to have the receiver be wide open and
then break a poor shoulder tackle to make it to the
end zone.

Northwestern had 51 seconds left, but no timeouts and
when Philmore slipped and Baz threw an interception
near midfield, the game was over. The Cats scored 7
times, Penn State scored 6 
 but Northwestern settled
for 3 far too many times while the Lions got
touchdowns. We had every chance to win, gift wrapped
in Nittany Blue, but could not capitalize.

It’s a frustrating loss heading into the bye week for
Northwestern. The Cats did bounce back from the ASU
disaster in the desert well to start the game, but
just couldn’t close the deal and the result is a 2-2
record with a brutal road ahead, starting with what
should be a 5-0 Wisconsin team visiting Evanston in
two weeks and including road trips to top 20 teams MSU
and Purdue before the games against the Big Three in
OSU, Iowa and what is sure to be an embarrassed and
angry Michigan team the rest of the season. It’s going
to take a miraculous turnaround in the secondary and a
killer instinct in the offense to get bowl hopes going
again in Evanston.

As for Penn State, they gotta feel like they stole one
here in Evanston and have equaled last year’s win
total with the 4-0 start. I’m not sure they are for
real, though, as we moved the ball on their D and
their O was turnover prone, to put it kindly. I guess
we’ll see with visits from Minnesota and Ohio State to
Happy Valley in the next two weeks.

Close doesn’t count anymore in Evanston and although
it was another cardiac finish in Ryan Field, this one
did not send the purple people home happy and left a
sting that could last the rest of the season. We need
this bye week to regroup.

SjT GAME BALLS
==============
* Tim McGarrigle – The defensive lapses on the day –
and there were many of them – sure weren’t the fault
of #41. McGarrigle was everywhere on the day and
tipped a few of the intercepted passes, nearly picking
off another himself.
* Joel Howells – He missed one of six attempts, but
even that was close – the rest were from varied
distances and tricky angles. He did his part, even
converting a long onsides kick trying to kick away
from the PSU returner and getting a fortunate bounce.
Howells reminds me of my old Saints favorite Morten
Andersen – he has no problem with distance, just
accuracy 
 and when he does hit a long one, the
ensuing kickoff is a guaranteed touchback because he’s
so hyped.
* Tyrell Sutton – The kid continues to impress with
some scrappy running, including one play where he
seemed to squirt under three PSU defenders for an
extra 5-8  yards after spinning to deflect the initial
hit. He’s a lot of fun to watch.

THINGS TO WORK ON
=================
* Coverage! For the love of all that is purple,
coverage! The front seven did their job on Saturday,
getting a lot of pressure, tipped balls and doing a
somewhat decent job of stopping the run save a few big
plays. But the secondary continued to give 10-yard
cushions, get caught not knowing where the ball is
when it’s in midair and a receiver is 5 yards behind
‘em and generally playing as inept as I’ve seen an NU
secondary play (and that’s saying something). This was
Penn State, after all, not Purdue 
 and they carved up
our secondary on some big plays. It’s scary to think
what MSU and some other teams will do coming up if we
don’t improve in a hurry. And I’m at a loss as to what
to do – we play close and we get burned long, we play
back and we get burned short.
* Going for the jugular – As maligned as the defense
is – and deservedly so in the secondary – this loss is
a total team loss. The offense basically spent the
first half inside PSU territory after several Nittany
turnovers. Of all the turnovers, we only got one TD
off of them and often played it too safe in settling
for three. By the early second quarter, PSU had 10
defenders within 3 yards of the line of scrimmage and
didn’t even have to respect a deep pass. When you
recover a fumble at the 20 yard line and have
momentum, one play should at least be a shot at the
end zone! Three field goals were from a distance of 25
yards or less – that shows how we settled for three
instead of going for the win.
* Smarter clock management – We burned our timeouts on
horrible decisions early in the second half and had
nothing left in the critical final minutes. Having 1
or 2 of those left with :51 left could have made that
final drive a bit more makeable.

AROUND THE LEAGUE
=================
* OHIO STATE reasserted itself as the league favorite
today with a solid thrashing of a Drew Tate-led IOWA
team. There are a few tough road tests left at Minny
and Michigan, but the biggest date on the calendar may
be the home one in three weeks against 

* MICHIGAN STATE, who routed the ILLINI today and
looked like a team ready to contend for a BCS berth –
instead of the usual Sparty team that pulls an upset
and then takes a week or two off. Looks like we had
the wrong Drew in the preseason hype, as Stanton has
the Smith Spread attack down cold and is on fire.
Sparty has a huge home date with in-state non-rival
Michigan next week (it’s only a rivalry if both sides
feel that way and those in Ann Arbor just don’t) and a
bye week after that to prepare for OSU.
* MINNESOTA and WISCONSIN complete the unlikely
quintet at the top (well, aside from OSU) of the
league standings right now. Minny’s OT thrillah
against PURDUE was the Boilers’ biggest road block to
a title and now sets up the Gophers and that powerful
running game as a league darkhorse (though the road
ahead is tough). Purdoo must rebound for those pesky
Irish. And speaking of powerful running games, the
Badger win knocks MICHIGAN to 2 losses in September
(wow!) and sets the stage for what could be an
emotional run to send Barry out on top. With no OSU on
the sked and Iowa and Purdue visiting Camp Randall,
the Badgers are also looking like a strong darkhorse.

Gotta love conference play. The Big Ten blew its
chance at national championship glory in week 2,
barring a huge collapse by the top teams 
 but no
league is as deep in talent and certainly no league
produced as entertaining of an opening weekend, with
an intriguing title scramble that should be fun to
watch.

GO CATS!!!
-SjT

* * * * * * * * *
STEPHEN J. TRUOG
sjtruog at yahoo.com
GO CATS!!!

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