[NU Sports] Blow up

[Tom Maycock]

--- Jim Leonard <jleonard518 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Let this be our Miami of Ohio for the season.
> 

Yeah, that sounds good to me too.

Just got back from the game. My guess is the UNH will be one of the
sharpest-executing teams we play all year. Not the most athletically
talented, certainly, but of course, NU isn't exactly an NFL factory
either.

Their QB is special, as are at least 1 or 2 of their receivers. And
they played like a very experienced, well-prepared team. 

NU was certainly capable of winning, but the turnovers and mistakes,
and some bad breaks, did us in. Balls bounced their way every single
time.

The only real disappointing thing is that we weren't able to dominate
the line of scrimmage either direction. But we didn't *get* dominated
either. This was basically a toss-up game, except for our turnovers,
which put it out of reach.

Kafka showed a lot of nice flashes, but just missed on several key
passes, any of which might have flipped the game around. Most of his
decisions seemed good, but you could also see the rookie in him at
times. 

When you've got two pretty equal teams, and one has a rookie QB and the
other has a very talented and experienced QB, you've got trouble. Throw
in turnovers, and you've got yourself a loss. 

I can't say I'm stunned--I thought this game would be a real challenge,
based on what I'd read about UNH. I also wonder if this was a difficult
emotional experience, playing at home for the first time without RW?

I believe I said earlier it would be up and down this year, and
mistake-ridden games like this were what I had in mind. 

Better days ahead, 
Tom