[NU Sports] WILDCAT WRAP: Purdue 20, Northwestern 17

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

It was the type of game where you say that it's a shame one team has to win.

Purdue certainly didn't deserve to win Saturday night in Evanston -- mounting only one legitimate drive all day and making Joe Tiller roll over in his fishing hole in Montana by throwing nary a bubble screen!

And Northwestern certainly didn't deserve to win with special teams miscues left and right, stupid penalties all night and an unusually inaccurate night from Persa.

It's odd to have a game featuring the Wildcats and Boilers during the last 15 years and have to wait until AFTER the game for the fireworks.

But let's start with the positive - because there was a lot to like on this unusually hot and muggy evening in Evanston. Unfortunately for fans in purple, it was all off the field.

* The stadium looked GREAT! Big thumbs DOWN to Northwestern for not handing out ANYTHING purple (shakers, towels, ANYTHING!) for the TV lights, but the fans came in big numbers and wore purple - and the place was just electric. Great atmosphere - too bad it didn't really get to erupt.

* The enthusiasm of our coach has caught on with the fans! EVERYONE STOOD ON THIRD DOWN! ALL GAME! I was in purple heaven! I didn't even have to urge people to get up out of their seats - they did it automatically! On the whole west stands! AWESOME!!! It warms my heart when a crowd is louder on third down than they are for some cheap t-shirts, and the one in Ryan Field on Saturday night was LOUD and STANDING on third down all night!

* The students and NUMB have really united into one fearsome factor down in their end zone. The student body was there early, all in purple and would growl along with NUMB when the Boilers had the ball. It's just cool to see a whole section in purple raise their arms in unison into a claw and scream their hearts out all day. And yeah, the new 3rd quarter thing is a thinly veiled rip-off of Camp Randall's Jump Around, but it got the crowd up, clapping and LOOOOOOUUUUDDD! Again, awesome!

* Finally, I saw more of our president and athletic director at one home game this year than in the past 15 years combined. It was clear that they are big supporters of the football program and Northwestern in general - being on the field to honor academic and athletic achievements, giving high fives, dressed in school attire, mingling with the crowd. It was great.

And, of course, you just can't beat autumn in Evanston. When the flight from Phoenix circled around downtown, you could see the skyscrapers flashing in the sun, the shimmering lake and it felt magical - then you walk to the stadium with a myriad of colors, the crunch of leaves, the smells of tailgate. It was all perfect.

Except the game.

Northwestern had chance after chance after chance to put this one away, but they allowed Purdue to hang around and it burned them. Let's start with the offense ...

- We really tried to run the ball. It was working OK in the first half, but when it was clear it wasn't working early in the third, we should have abandoned it for something else sooner to get Persa in rhythm.

- All night we seemed to be a shoestring away from breaking a big play or a yard off from a big pass. Persa was off, the blocking was off, the rhythm was off. The only one on his game was Ebert, who will forever get TWO THUMBS UP! We need to find #11 early and often in every game.

- Too many dumb penalties to kill drives. Too many stalls where opportunities were missed. Too many shoulda coulda wouldas. Gotta get better blocking for the running game. Gotta get better protection for Persa. Gotta get better consistency on drives - we look great to open the second half and then pfft.

As for the defense ...

- We needed a spy on their QB earlier, but credit Purdue for using that against us for two big plays. Their offense was pretty bland all night except when they needed the right call - and they got it.

- Aside from two big runs (one by the QB and one on misdirection), we had a great night on D until their final scoring drive. By then, we looked tired. But this game was not the defense's fault at all.

And on special teams ...

- Ugh. Frickin' ugh. Bobbled kickoffs. Fumbled punts. Blocked field goals. Missed field goals. Ugly "rugby punts" (which deserves to be as vulgar a two-word phrase in football as "prevent defense"). It should not have come down to a field goal, but when it did, you had to cringe and cover your eyes.

I think we all had a feeling that the team wasn't quite as good as the 5-0 record and would drop one they should win - hopefully this is IT and we do not repeat it at Indiana or against Ill-noise, because those are two games we should win as well like the Purdue game.

It's just a shame it had to happen on a night when everything else was so perfect. The crowd was waiting to explode and had we gone up two scores (as we had many, MANY chances to do after half), it could have snowballed into an avalance of purple passion and a rout. We need that killer instinct to put games away yet.

Hopefully we can make up for it by winning a game where we're an underdog (MSU perhaps? Or at PSU?) to reclaim momentum before those tough November games with our true rivals from Iowa and Cheddarland.

Around the league ...

* OHIO STATE now has the national title game in their hands if they can win out ... and unless a miracle happens, they won't have to face an SEC team to win it in the desert.

* PENN STATE's youth finally caught up with them - too bad we don't have the running game to do a similar plan in Happy Valley, but they are ripe for upset with a freshman QB and all their injuries.

* If WISCONSIN's Brett Bielema wasn't already the most hated coach in the league for those kickoff rule shenanigans and that smirk against JoePa his first year, running it up by going for two on Minnesota makes the Badgers into the Big Ten's bad boy/

* OK, I admit that MICHIGAN STATE impressed the heck out of me - I still think they're a tad overrated, but with no Buckeyes on the schedule and with some focus in rallying around their coach to help prevent the usual Sparty Slide in October, they might be headed for a big bowl this year. The games at NU, Iowa and PSU will tell if it's just a good bowl or a special one (and how sucky would that be if they run the table but get left out of Pasadena for the Boise State rule???).

Well, we got a start on the bye week yesterday - now let's use it to sharpen up for Sparty. It will be tough, but still winnable if we cut out the mistakes, get a good game from Persa and never have anyone return a punt or kick ever again ... or try a field goal. :)

GO CATS!!!
-SjT

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STEPHEN J. TRUOG
sjtruog at yahoo.com
GO CATS!!! GEAUX SAINTS!!!
Super Bowl XLIV Champions!
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