[NU Sports] FORTY DAYS OF FOOTBALL: Day 26

[Jonathan Hodges]

*Note: it's spelled Damien (
http://nusports.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/anderson_damien00.html), and
regarding the "undersized" comment, he looks pretty big compared to NU RB's
in the latter half of the decade, including this season.

Jonathan

On Fri, Aug 20, 2010 at 2:25 AM, SjT (Stephen J. Truog)
<sjtruog at yahoo.com>wrote:

> TGIF! Two weeks and counting!
>
> FORTY DAYS OF FOOTBALL
> ######################
>
> > DAYS 1-10: The top coaches of the decade
>
> 10) Glen Mason, Minnesota
> 09) Bret Bielema, Wisconsin
> 08) Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern
> 07) Barry Alvarez, Wisconsin
> 06) Randy Walker, Northwestern
> 05) Lloyd Carr, Michigan
> 04) Kirk Ferentz, Iowa
> 03) Joe Tiller, Purdue
> 02) Joe Paterno, Penn State
> 01) Jim Tressel, Ohio State
>
> > DAYS 11-20: The top games of the decade
>
> 10) 2000: Purdue 32, Michigan 31
> 09) 2001: Michigan State 26, Michigan 24
> 08) 2005: Michigan 27, Penn State 25
> 07) 2003: Minnesota 37, Wisconsin 34
> 06) 2004: Northwestern 33, Ohio State 27 (OT)
> 05) 2008: Penn State 13, Ohio State 6
> 04) 2009: Ohio State 27, Iowa 24 (OT)
> 03) 2002: Ohio State 10, Purdue 6
> 02) 2000: Northwestern 54, Michigan 51
> 01) 2006: Ohio State 42, Michigan 39
>
> > DAYS 21-30: The top players of the decade
>
> 10) Laurence Maroney/Marion Barber, Minnesota
> 09) Antwaan Randle El, Indiana
> 08) Jamar Fletcher, Wisconsin
> 07) Dallas Clark, Iowa
> 06) Troy Smith, Ohio State
>
> > DAYS 31-40: The top teams of the decade
>
> TOP PLAYERS
> ###########
>
> 05) Damian Anderson, Northwestern
>
> As one Chicagoland coach said many moons ago, "all the pieces are in
> place." Wanny turned out to be wrong, but those words could have been
> uttered by Randy Walker prior to the 2000 season as his Wildcats were poised
> to take the nation by storm with a high-powered offense that sports writers
> struggled to both believe and describe as it roared through Madison and East
> Lansing to open the Big Ten season.
>
> The biggest piece of that puzzle was Damian Anderson, an undersized running
> back with an abundance of heart and desire who became the driving force in
> the Wildcats' new spread attack. He may not have fit the traditional back
> role at most schools, but Walker saw his speed, shiftiness and ability to
> find the lanes in a new style of offense as an asset ... and it paid off
> with a Big Ten championship.
>
> Anderson was a gift left to Walker by Gary Barnett and made a strong debut
> his freshman season with 2 touchdowns in the 1998 opener against UNLV. He
> finished his first year with more than 500 yards on the ground and doubled
> that to top 1000 yards in 1999. Anderson was a strong runner in a
> traditional offense, but no one had a clue what he could really do until the
> following season.
>
> The Cats conversion to the spread was ahead of the curve nationally, but
> what really made the NU spread different from others before them was how the
> Cats used it to set up the run more than just increase the receiving
> options. Clemson had used it to benefit their quarterback's ground game, and
> NU did that with Zack Kustok, but it was a true boost to Anderson's career.
>
> In 2000, Anderson was the nation's second leading rusher and scorer and
> earned numerous All American selections while finishing fifth in the Heisman
> Trophy balloting. The one running back ahead of him? TCU's LaDanian
> Tomlinson. He joined a select club by rushing for more than 2000 yards and
> shattered school and league records for average yards per game, carry and
> scoring. He scored in 11 straight games and topped the 200 yard mark in four
> contests. It was a dream season that rejuvenated a team, defined an offense
> and turned heads across the nation.
>
> Anderson's crowing moment of that season came in the game of the year, the
> 54-51 shootout with Michigan. He carried the ball 31 times for 268 yards and
> two touchdowns in front of a national TV audience. He also scored the
> winning touchdown in overtime to cap a 174-yard game at the unbeaten and No.
> 6 Badgers and followed it up the next week with 200+ yards at MSU in a won
> over the No. 15 Spartans. He ended the regular season with a four TD game
> against rival Illinois to clinch a share of the title.
>
> Unlike the first "DA" in modern Northwestern history, this running back
> returned for his senior season and it gave rise to talk of NU as league
> favorites and Anderson as a Heisman favorite. Unfortunately, Anderson
> struggled to repeat the success of 2000. He never topped 200 on the ground
> in any game and missed the final three games with a shoulder injury. Still,
> he managed to cap his career as NU's all time leading rusher with more than
> 5000 all-purpose yards and 4,485 rushing yards (in the top 10 for league
> totals). Anderson went undrafted but had some promising games with the
> Arizona Cardinals before leaving the NFL in 2005, never quite able to rise
> above the role of a solid backup.
>
> However, fans in purple remember "DA2" for revolutionizing the running back
> position in Evanston and for starting off a memorable string of Randy Walker
> backs in Evanston who utilized the spread for its running lanes and carried
> the Cats to victory, from Tyrell Sutton to Noah Herron.
>
> Coming Saturday: Deserving of the jersey
>
> GO CATS!!!
> -SjT
>
> * * * * * * * * *
> STEPHEN J. TRUOG
> sjtruog at yahoo.com
> GO CATS!!! GEAUX SAINTS!!!
> Super Bowl XLIV Champions!
> ==========================
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> nwu-sports site list
> nwu-sports at tssi.com
> http://romaine.tssi.com/mailman/listinfo/nwu-sports
>