[NU Sports] Our last play

[Ben Adler]

I was on the 10 yard line on the near side of the field, and had a pretty good view of the trick play.

I knew it wasn't a FG attempt before they even snapped it because the Cats were never in a FG formation.  The backup kicker was back there, but no one knelt down to hold - not Zeke, the regular holder, and not Persa.  Anyone could see something was up.  Everything just felt rushed.  Both teams had a timeout available, and neither used one.  And just like that, the only game I've seen that compares with the 2000 NU-Michigan game was over.

That said, no question you go for the win there.  I would've liked to see Kafka get one last shot, but the trick play call doesn't bug me at all.  I refuse to assign blame - this was an amazing game and the Cats played their guts out - but wish they would've called a timeout to calm everyone down and get set, then run it to the far side.

Still, how many times was the game almost over?  5 for 5 (?) on 4th downs - had they missed any of them, that's it.  If they don't cause both of those fumbles in the last two minutes, that's probably it.  If Kafka's OT fumble got called differently, that's it.  If Auburn doesn't rough Demos or grab Kafka's facemask, that's it.  It takes one heckuva team to overcome all that and come back from two 14-point deficits, even if they fell short in the end.

The Cardiac Cats clearly had nine lives yesterday - they just needed a tenth.

-- Ben



________________________________
From: Labbe John <johnl at mac.com>
To: Jim Leonard <jleonard518 at yahoo.com>
Cc: Northwestern Wildcats <nwu-sports at tssi.com>
Sent: Sat, January 2, 2010 12:21:33 PM
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] Our last play

Regarding the last play, everyone should read the article below, which describes the way the play should have worked.  As reported earlier, it was an old play from Walker.  It had worked for us once in 2005, and apparently several other times for Walker.

It was really a trick-trick play.  A fumblerooski.  On TV, we could hardly see what happened.  And the announcers called it a direct snap to Markshausen.  In fact, the ball was snapped to Persa.  As the backup QB, you could expect the defense to be keying on him as he's not usually on our field goal team.  Persa then deposited the ball between Markshausen's feet, and ran left, as if he were running an option play to the left.

Markshausen was then supposed to pause about 2 seconds before picking up the ball and running right.  He picked it up almost immediately, and as we all know, Auburn wasn't fooled.

We can second guess the call all year, but I think it was a great call.  We just didn't pull it off.


http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/college/chi-02-haugh-northwestern-jan02,0,6066456.column


On Jan 2, 2010, at 12:10 AM, Jim Leonard wrote:

> Fellow Wildcat Faithful,
> 
> I'm trying to savor what a great game we saw today, but I am truly disappointed by the last play of the game. If Demos were healthy then maybe this works, but with an untested kicker no one was fooled. To me this seemed like a time where you give Kafka the ball and let Brewer, Markschuasen, and Dunsmore get open.
> 
> I know that Fitz has said that it was a team decision and that he'd do it again. That's somewhat comforting, but I still think it was the wrong call. Regardless, it's in the books and we can all be proud.
> 
> Victory & Honor,
> Jim
> 
> 
> 
> 
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