[NU Sports] Different Perspective On What Went Wrong

[Jonathan Hodges]

I have to say that just as in the Michigan game, we lost this game
because we could not run the football.  As we saw in the second
quarter, UCLA could run the football and despite the fact that they
were behind they relied on the part of their offense that was working.
 Sutton ended up with only 84 yards on 18 carries, while Basanez had
to carry the offense (he did an admirable job since the UCLA defense
knew we had become a one dimensional passing attack) through the end
of the game.  The Wildcat defense seemingly collapsed in the second
quarter as they attacked the weak point in our defense by running the
ball up the left side consistently.  The D clamped down in the second
half, though, only giving up one score - which was almost a gimmie
after the Sutton fumble on our own 14 yard line.

While it's easy to blame the special teams (particularly Howells), I
think the blame rests on the lack of a rushing game.  This made our
offense one dimensional, and UCLA effectively neutralized our attack
until the very end of the game when Basanez took over and fought it
out until it was all over.  The defense effectively scored all of the
touchdowns in the first quarter (2 were returns, the other was set up
by the Heinz interception in UCLA territory), and all the offense
could muster was 2 FGs until late in the game.  UCLA stopped the run
early and then watched NU become one-dimensional, which was something
that they could stop.  The defense did an admirable job outside of the
second quarter collapse - they held Olson to only 146 yards passing
(much of it on one big play) and forced huge turnovers and turned them
into points - something they have done much of the year.  In the
second half they held the game within reach the whole way, which was
amazing considering they way they were handled late in the first half.

It was good to see my fellow NU fans at the Sun Bowl stick around
until the end.  The atmosphere was great in the stadium and at all the
events leading up to the game.  It was a competitive and exciting game
and, while a win would have been nice, it was still a good experience.

Happy New Year and Go 'Cats!!!

Jonathan



On 12/31/05, John A. DeGroat <johnadeg at bellatlantic.net> wrote:
> Schooler's anlaysis of Basanez is probably accurate.  He took some
> whacks that would have ko'd a lot of players.  It wouldn't be a surprise
> that he got a concussion.  Who could have guessed two years ago tht he
> would be as good as he was this yer.  It will be intersting to see wehe
> he goes in the NFL draft.
>
> JohnDeGroat
>
>
> BSchooler at aol.com wrote:
>
> >I was at the game; haven't watched the tape yet. I feel the defense, under
> >the circumstances, played well enough for us to have won the game. Of course,
> >the kicking game was a joke, except for surprisingly good kick-off coverage. But
> >the problem, from my perspective, was that Basanez got his bell rung late in
> >the second half and his decision making skills suffered accordingly. In fact,
> >I wouldn't be surprised to learn that he played with a mild concussion. We've
> >seen Basanez's decision making skills suffer earlier in his career after
> >getting hit in the head. Air Force in his Sophomore year is the best example. I
> >think that's what happened yesterday.
> >
> >In the second half, Basanez locked on to his primary receiver. He's lucky
> >more passes weren't intercepted. One pass in the fourth quarter, Baz must have
> >stared down his receiver for five seconds before firing a bullet to a receiver
> >who was blanketed. Nearly all second half passes were fired full strength; no
> >touch was utilized - even on short passes.Poor decision making wasn't limited
> >to the passing game. Time after time, I felt Baz made the wrong decision on the
> >option and the zone read. It seems he already had his mind made up on who was
> >going to get the ball instead of reading the defensive end. In addition, the
> >QB is supposed to stick the ball into the RB's gut and either remove it or
> >leave it there on the zone read - based on the read. Instead, Baz was lunging at
> >the RB when giving him the ball or making a perfunctory wave of the ball a few
> >feet from the RB when he kept it. No deception or utilization of the read was
> >evident in the second half in the running game.
> >
> >And this from the same QB who led masterful performances much of the year.
> >This certainly wasn't the same QB we saw against Wisconsin and Michigan State. I
> >think the reason is that Baz was suffering from a mild concussion in the
> >second half. We've seen Baz adversely affected by a blow to the head earlier in
> >his career and I feel it unfortunately happened again in the Sun Bowl.
> >
> >Bob Schooler
> >_______________________________________________
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> >nwu-sports at tssi.com
> >http://romaine.tssi.com/mailman/listinfo/nwu-sports
> >
> >
> >
>
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--
Jonathan W. Hodges
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