[NU Sports] WILDCAT WRAP: MSU 41, NU 38

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

Former Northwestern coach Randy Walker used to have a
favorite slogan: finish. Walker’s Wildcat teams
rallied around that mantra again and again, coming
from behind to win games over countless Big Ten foes
that thought they had the Cats beaten. How sad that
when the Wildcats sprinted to a unseen humongous lead
on Saturday against Michigan State that the NU players
and coaches couldn’t follow their departed mentor’s
words and finish the job.

I guess what goes around comes around and after
witnessing all those last-second rallies by the Cats
during the years – including a rather miraculous 27-26
win over Sparty in 2001 – it was time for the Evanston
faithful to experience the other side of the coin. It
was a reversal of fortune for MSU as well, who let a
huge lead against Notre Dame slip away earlier this
year at home but became the first division I-A team to
rally from a 35-point deficit against NU on Saturday,
scoring 38 unanswered second-half points to turn a
38-3 hole into a 41-38 triumph. So maybe there was
some karma coming around to bite the Cats in the rear,
but did it have to happen on homecoming?

Blowing a 38-3 third-quarter lead in front of the
alumni? Inexcusable. Heartbreaking. Devastating. And
as the stunned homecoming crowd watched the events
unfold on Saturday, they all seemed to have the same
question: why go to a prevent defense in the middle of
the third quarter?

After defending the D all season and calling for the
offensive playbook to be opened, the trend of
opposites continued Saturday as the Wildcat offense
exploded and looked very much like the machine of last
year while this loss falls squarely on the defensive
players and coaches.

And the kicker is you never even saw this coming at
halftime 
 or five minutes into the third quarter for
that matter. The tale of two halves was a dream for NU
fans in the first but a nightmare in the second. Give
Michigan State credit for defying their rep and not
quitting 
 but this was also a tale of collapse on a
record scale by the Cats. MSU made some plays, but it
was more about the plays the Cats didn’t make.

The vultures were circling in the first half though.
Well, maybe they were seagulls, but it was still
looking like an open when a couple dozen birds began
circling around head coach John L. Smith and the MSU
sideline in the second quarter. Sparty could do
nothing right, failing to move the ball, surrendering
huge chunks of yardage on D and down 24-3. The fans
spelled out “FIRE JOHN L” and it looked very much like
the MSU team folks had come to expect recently,
phoning it in – the big question was whether Smith
would even make the trip back on the team bus or be
fired at halftime.

The story on the opposite sideline was anything but
what fans had come to expect this season. What a
difference a quarterback makes to this offense!
Sophomore C.J. Bacher was back from injury and played
a near flawless first half – hitting the slant,
throwing a deep ball or two, standing in the pocket to
take a big hit but deliver the ball. It all opened the
running lanes up by keeping defenses honest and made
the NU offense into something that resembled what
Brett Basanez directed the last few years in Evanston.
 The receivers, especially Shaun Herbert and Ross
Lane, really seemed to appreciate being involved in
the offense again and made some nice plays. The
Wildcats scored on their first four possessions,
driving 71, 74 and 88 yards for touchdowns and adding
a field goal. About the only thing that went wrong was
failing to get the touchdown in the red zone at the
end of the half and then missing the field goal to let
MSU off the hook trailing only 24-3 in a half where –
aside from MSU’s initial series and field goal – they
were completely and utterly dominated by Northwestern.

The second half began to look like more of the same. A
3-and-out by NU and a punt return to change the game
for MSU blew apart in one “typical Sparty” play when
wet grass tackled the punt returner yards from the end
zone and it was all for naught anyway because Sparty
roughed the punter. A couple plays later (including a
nifty tipped pass for big yardage by Eric Peterman),
NU seized their chance and was in the end zone and it
was 31-3. The one downside of the punt play was that
defensive leader Nick Roach was taken off the field
with a broken leg. It didn’t seem like it could hurt
us at the time, but would play a role later as Roach’s
leadership and hustle were sorely missed.

Marquis Cole intercepted MSU on the next series and
set up another TD pass for Herbert and it was 38-3
Wildcats with 9:54 remaining. Midway through the
third, it was still 38-3 when everything came apart.
Senior MSU quarterback Drew Stanton took advantage of
soft coverage to nickel-and-dime down the field for a
score to make it 38-10 with 7:03 left in the third.
Another zip drive down the field after an NU 3-and-out
made it 38-17 with 2:47 to go in the third and this is
when the first inkling of the impending disaster came.
Yes, the offense got a bit conservative – but it was
still working, as evidenced by Tyrell Sutton’s burst
up the middle for 64 yards the next series to put the
Cats in the red zone. But two NU receivers collided on
Bacher’s pass to the end zone (and Bacher was also
knicked) and a chance for a 45-17 lead slipped away.

The defense showed signs of the collapse with a
questionable late hit on Stanton that put the QB out a
couple series, but fired up the Spartans. Brendon
Smith baited Stanton’s replacement into a pick to calm
fears for awhile, but the offense struggled all day on
3rd and short and after failing to pick up a first
down after the pickoff, a high snap on the Wildcat
punt led to a block and return that made the score
38-24 with 11:22 remaining in the fourth and the Green
and White were starting to believe. 

A poor kick return decision had the Cats starting
their next possession inside the 10 and after failing
to generate a first, it was another punt – this time
from the end zone. Stanton returned from the injury to
zip down the field against more soft defense to score
on a run with 7:54 to go, making it 38-31. With less
than 7 minutes to go, the Cats again failed to convert
a 3rd and short and Stanton and the Spartans moved
with ease downfield to score with 3:43 remaining.

The collapse was complete when a poor return started
the Cats deep and Bacher’s deep throw – more like a
loft and nothing like the crisp slants he had been
throwing – was picked off. MSU converted their key 3rd
and short, ran down the clock and kicked the chip shot
field goal with seconds left to complete the new
record for NCAA I-A comeback. The green faithful who
remained in the stands in Evanston didn’t even care
that this might allow John L. Smith to keep his job
and celebrated the amazing win with their team (after
the Spartans tried to dance at midfield but were
quickly redirected to their fans by the coaches –
smart move after previous incidents with MSU and
midfield at Notre Dame and vs. Illinois).

Northwestern had won virtually every aspect of the
game except the final score. It was a game they
dominated and should have easily won, but forgot to
finish. Unlike last week, this one is squarely on
defensive coordinator Colby’s shoulders. Yes, the
offense didn’t do much late – but there’s no way you
should lose when you win the turnover battle, win time
of possession and have a 35-point lead with a quarter
and a half remaining. We played soft instead of
playing to win and a senior quarterback like Stanton
(and even their backup when Stanton was hurt for a
bit) just picked the defense apart. For most teams,
being up by 35 means its time to pin the ears back and
blitz a bit without worrying about the run – and MSU
only had 91 net yards rushing. But we played not to
lose and wound up with one of the more heartbreaking
defeats in recent NU memory, especially after the day
began with so much promise.

GAME BALLS
* C.J. Bacher. We have our quarterback! And the good
news is that Bacher will be around for a couple more
years and should really grow into the offensive leader
role the last month of the season. Bacher essentially
did more in one half of football passing than NU had
done in the first six games through the air. Four TD
passes, staying in to take the hit while delivering
his first TD, running when proper 
 he was a lot of
fun to watch. He went a bit cold at the end, but it
shouldn’t have mattered. The running game was working
and we had a huge lead – maybe a few more slants
instead of deep chucks late, but that’s not CJ’s
fault.
* Tyrell Sutton. Even when he has a hurting
collarbone, this kid is special and a joy to watch. We
gave Sutton 21 carries and he responded with 171 yards
and an 8.1 average per play – when the opposing D is
kept honest by a good quarterback, Sutton can really
put up some big numbers.
* Ross Lane. Herbert and Peterman had good games as
well, but Lane was really the catalyst on the early
drives and with Herbert’s hands and Lane’s height, we
had a nice 1-2 punch at wideout and Bacher knew how to
use it.

THINGS TO WORK ON
* FINISH. No excuse for blowing a 35-point lead.
Especially when we’ve seen other teams do it against
our O in the past. You have to finish your foe off.
* Defensive play calling. The offense opened the book
this week and showed what can happen when you take
chances. The D sat on a lead and hoped prevent would
be enough and it was a nightmare. Something’s gotta
change here.
* Special teams. A missed field goal. A blocked punt.
A couple poor kickoff returns to start us off in bad
field position. Bad snaps all around. Win this portion
of the game and we win despite a soft D.

AROUND THE LEAGUE
* Ohio State and Michigan are now clear for a mammoth
November showdown in the Shoe between unbeaten #1 and
#2 barring a major, MAJOR upset. It will be
interesting to see if the game is close and other
breaks happen if they meet again in Arizona in January
for all the marbles.
* Another solid win by Wisconsin, who is quietly 7-1.
The way the cheeseheads travel to support their team,
it’s going to be hard for a BCS bowl to ignore them if
they finish 11-1. Where’s the love from the polls
though?
* Not a great win over North Dakota State for
Minnesota – Sparty showed fight but the Gophers appear
to have packed it in for the season.
* It wasn’t pretty, but Penn State avoided a hangover
loss after that tough defeat to Michigan to move to
5-3. They visit Camp Randall in a couple weeks, which
could be a huge game for the Florida bowls to watch.

Such an awesome start, such a horrible finish.
Hopefully the Cats aren’t as devastated as the fans
because the next three games are brutal, but we can do
a lot to build toward next year by working around
Bacher being our man at quarterback and we certainly
have enough to beat Illinois. Heck, if the defense had
been able to hold on to a 35-point lead, we’d be
asking how many games we could have won this year with
a healthy Bacher (at least two, IMO). But instead
we’re left with homecoming horror and trying to pick
up the pieces from an epic choke by a team known for
amazing comebacks 
 to a team known more for chokes
and packing it in. Maybe we entered a bizarre would
this week. Whatever it is, it just plain old stinks.

GO CATS!!!
-SjT


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

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