[NU Sports] WILDCAT WRAP: New Hampshire 34, NU 17

[John A. DeGroat]

Anone know why Sutton didn't play much in the fourth quarter?

John DeGroat

SjT (Stephen J. Truog) wrote:

>Not a fun flight back to Arizona, but it's still good
>to have football back ...
>
>WILDCAT WRAP – NEW HAMPSHIRE 34, NU 17
>
>All that was missing was the rain. The Pat Fitzgerald
>parade, off to such a good start last week with an
>emotional win over departed Coach Walker’s alma mater
>Miami, received a thorough dousing this week in the
>home opener at Ryan Field. When the overcast skies
>began to clear, it was visiting I-AA powerhouse New
>Hampshire with the 34-17 victory over the I-A Wildcats
>before a sparse and stunned crowd in Evanston.
>
>It would be easy to pin the blame on several
>Northwestern players, most notably new quarterback
>Mike Kafka. But instead of blame, this game was more
>of a reality check for fans after the promising start
>last week. Yes, there is talent on this team to
>compete in the Big Ten, but they are still being led
>by a redshirt freshman quarterback. Wildcat fans were
>spoiled by the brilliance of Brett Basanez the past
>few years and when you turn over the reins to a new
>kid who had not taken a snap before the Miami game,
>you’re going to get some bumps along the road. Kafka
>showed a lot of promise and is looking like he could
>be a keeper if he can get over his mental mistakes of
>this game.
>
>And even if there is a finger pointing at Kafka,
>there’d be plenty of digits left to focus on
>Northwestern’s poor pass defense, inconsistent
>offensive line play and inability to win the turnover
>battle. Throw in a gritty effort from a solid group of
>UNH players and you had all the makings of an upset.
>
>The day, of course, began with a moment to remember
>Coach Walker. The “Walk With Us” tradition of fans,
>band and cheerleaders greeting the team’s arrival is
>something that will hopefully stick around and a video
>tribute included some clips sure to warm any Wildcat
>fan’s heart – the 54-51 win over Michigan, Victory
>Right, OT over OSU and the Iowa comeback last year –
>along with touching words about Walker. Sadly, there
>was not much of a crowd on hand to pay a fitting
>tribute, but there were few dry eyes from the die-hard
>fans in attendance before the game or during the NUMB
>salute of “Amazing Grace” at halftime to honor
>Walker’s memory.
>
>The game, however, did not begin with much emotion
>from the Wildcats of Northwestern. After a nice
>touchback (not the only one of the day!), New
>Hampshire took their no-huddle, spread attack right
>down the field against soft secondary coverage and
>little or no pass rush to take a 7-0 lead minutes into
>the contest. To make matters worse, the ensuing
>blooper kickoff was fumbled by NU and before you could
>say “Man in the Mountain,” the Wildcats from New
>Hampshire were up two scores.
>
>One nice improvement fans can see in the NU Cats this
>year is the special teams hustle – last week, it was a
>blocked punt that broke open a 0-0 game for our first
>score and on Saturday, Northwestern finally came to
>life with a blocked PAT, keeping the score 13-0 and
>giving the purple-clad fans at least some hope that
>there would still be a game and it wasn’t over after
>just five minutes.
>
>Once the Wildcats of NU finally were able to touch the
>ball on offense, they showed why they were expected to
>have a big day running the football, as the offensive
>line opened some big homes and Tyrell Sutton dashed 61
>yards to set up a scoring run by Terrell Jordan. And
>when the defense earned a 3-and-out, the Cats got the
>ball back again and raced downfield for a score by
>Sutton, giving Northwestern a 14-13 lead at the end of
>the quarter. Kafka was perfect passing for the quarter
>with some nice zip on the inside slants and after a
>disastrous beginning, the Cats looked to be in control
>of the game again.
>
>But that was the last lead Northwestern would have
>this day. New Hampshire converted some tough third
>downs (including 3rd and 15) and a 4th and 1 the next
>series to reclaim the lead 20-14 and the Cats became
>the first to blink in this budding track meet by
>responding with only a Joel Howells field goal on the
>next possession after Kafka just missed a nice TD toss
>into the end zone on first down and a so-so play call
>of a QB draw went nowhere on third down. Still, the
>offense had three scores in three possessions, while
>UNH had three in four (one set up by the fumbled
>kickoff) and we were at 20-17, fully expecting another
>wild shootout in Ryan Field as we couldn’t stop New
>Hampshire’s passes and they couldn’t stop our running
>attack, nicely mixed between Sutton’s speed, Jordan’s
>power and a Kafka slant here and there (though Shawn
>Herbert was noticeably not involved in the game yet).
>
>The NU defense finally got some pressure and forced
>another 3-and-out on the next series, which gave the
>purple Cats the ball back with just over 6 minutes
>remaining in the half and a chance to reassert their
>dominance. But New Hampshire was starting to stop the
>NU running attack better and Kafka’s first real bad
>pass fell short of the receiver on third down, giving
>New Hampshire the ball back with just over 3 minutes
>remaining on their own 18 yard line.
>
>I know many basketball coaches are fond of saying that
>games are won or lost in the five minutes before and 5
>minutes after halftime, and that was true of this
>football game. At this point, it was 20-17 and if the
>Cats had held New Hampshire on 2nd and 12 or 3rd and 8
>right away, we probably head to the locker room that
>way and the Cats come out with the ball after halftime
>playing for the lead. But a 23-yard completion on 3rd
>and 8 and a 23-yard pass play later zipped the Cats in
>blue down the field for a big TD before half. The
>small but vocal Granite State contingent was jubilant
>about their chances heading into the locker room up
>27-17.
>
>As poorly as NU’s defense had played at times, we were
>essentially at an even game except for that early
>turnover. The second half would be one where the
>defense – though unspectacular – held its ground while
>the offense blew chance after chance to take
>advantage.
>
>It began with a  3-and-out coming out of the locker
>room and here’s where our offensive line either looked
>like they really lost their swagger or just kept
>thinking they could push the smaller but more
>determined UNH defensive line over and lost focus,
>because the big holes of the first half were gone. The
>D got the ball back, but a long NU drive stalled at
>the 34, with Fitz opting to go for it on 4th and 10
>instead of trying the 51-yard field goal (a bit gutsy,
>but not really a bad call).
>
>The defense held again at midfield, but the punt
>pinned NU back at the 8 yard line as the surprisingly
>scoreless third quarter was drawing to a close. And
>then came the second big turnover for Northwestern
>that was manna from heaven for an upstart I-AA team
>hoping for the upset. Kafka had been carrying the ball
>a bit loose all day, and it bit him in the butt when a
>nice scramble ended in a fumble at NU’s own 17 yard
>line.
>
>New Hampshire capitalized on the mistake, using the
>short field to take a commanding 34-17 lead at the
>start of the fourth quarter. With an experienced
>quarterback, this would be a tough deficit to
>overcome, but we’ve seen it happen before at Ryan
>Field. However, with a freshman and a defense that now
>knew it could pin its ears back, not worry about the
>run and blitz, it was darn near impossible.
>
>The fourth quarter became a comedy of errors for
>Northwestern as the desperation and inexperience
>showed … a 2-yard pass on 4th and 7, inability to
>capitalize on a blocked punt (for the second week in a
>row) and an interception. Most of the quarter was
>played on UNH’s side of the field, but NU got zero
>points out of it. And the Wildcats from New England
>had a hard-earned 34-17 win at Northwestern.
>
>Coach Fitz got this team focused after a trying off
>season for week one, but he now has to see how well he
>learned Walker’s lesson of responding by turning them
>around from this disappointing defeat to face Eastern
>Michigan at home next week. Hopefully he can keep
>Kafka’s confidence up – he started the game well, has
>a nice zip on his slants and was this/close to making
>some nice plays … but he played like, well, a freshman
>at times. Fitz needs to get Kafka and the team to
>shake it off and come back next week to show that this
>week was just a stumbling block in the growing pains
>of a new QB, OC and HC.
>
>A surprising loss in that it was a win we had to have
>and should have had, but it really shouldn’t be all
>that surprising. The freshman QB was going to become a
>factor at sometime, let’s just hope this gets it all
>out of Kafka’s system. And we should expect a season
>of ups and downs this year with all the emotion and
>new people in charge. Not much NU can do about it now
>except look at what went wrong and respond with a
>resounding win next week.
>
>GAME BALLS
>* Special teams. The kickoff fumble was the one bad
>spot in a nice day of touchbacks on kickoffs, a
>blocked PAT and a second week of blocking a punt. 
>Nice to see some hustle in this often-overlooked phase
>of the game.
>* Terrell Jordan. I’m not sure if Sutton was hurt near
>the end of the game or just being outplayed, but TJ
>was the back most of the second half. He had some nice
>tough runs up the middle, bowling over defenders and
>fighting for the extra yard. Good to see him back
>healthy and we could have our own purple “thunder and
>lightning” combo with Jordan and Sutton if we play our
>cards right.
>
>THINGS TO WORK ON
>* Hold on to the darn ball! Take away the two gimmes
>we gave UNH in the red zone via the fumble and you
>have an even game. Turnovers were the biggest
>difference in this one.
>* Got Herbert? We need to get Shawn Herbert involved
>earlier and more often in the passing game. Kafka has
>the slant down, now let’s get some other throws in
>there and work in #3 to help the freshman QB out.
>* Offensive line play and defensive pass
>pressure/coverage. The first was inconsistent after a
>great first quarter, the second was nonexistent. Both
>are unacceptable against an undersized I-AA foe.
>
>AROUND THE LEAGUE
>* Looks like that OSU offense has a swagger and the
>young D is coming along. If the Buckeyes can survive a
>possible road trap at Iowa at the end of the month,
>the rest of the biggies are in the Shoe and the
>Scarlet and Gray could be making yet another trip to
>the Arizona desert in January – this time for a second
>title in five years. Impressive thumping of Texas.
>* Speaking of thumping, PSU showed their own growing
>pains with a  new quarterback in their blowout loss in
>South Bend. Smug ole Charlie may have run it up a bit
>but the Lions really killed themselves and didn’t help
>their young QB out with turnovers. Sounds familiar. 
>* Michigan and Michigan State won somewhat ho-hum
>games, and I sure hope both are sandbagging it or else
>they could become the next victims of the luck of the
>leprechaun and the overrated Irish hype machine.
>* Speaking of overrated … Iowa? OT at Syracuse? Was
>this the annual Kirk Ferentz September Swoon game but
>Iowa pulled out the lucky win this time? Or are they
>in trouble against Iowa State and Ohio State later
>this month?
>* More OT madness as Purdue barely scrapes by Miami of
>Ohio – either the Redhawks improved greatly between
>weeks 1 and 2 or the Boilers could be looking at
>another bowl-less season.
>* Creampuff wins for Wisconsin and Indiana (though a
>close call for the Hoosiers), who have a lot of
>cupcakes this month before Big Ten play begins.
>* Minnesota probably wishes they had their typical
>cupcake game after their drubbing at Cal. They were in
>the game early but speed really seemed to make a big
>difference late.
>* Oh yeah … remember how I said the Illini could be
>bowl bound this year if they beat Rutgers? Scratch
>that. When does basketball begin in Champaign?
>
>Tough day and probably the toughest non-conference
>loss to swallow since that Duke drubbing in the late
>1990s. Gotta respond next week and hopefully Kafka
>keeps his head up because there was a lot to like
>about the kid today.
>
>GO CATS!!!
>-SjT
>
>* * * * * * * * *
>STEPHEN J. TRUOG
>sjtruog at yahoo.com
>GO CATS!!!
>
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