[NU Sports] Failed to finish

[hakirsch at aol.com]

With OK falling today I am predicting that there will be 1 team from a non BCS conference playing for the title. Whether it will be BSU,TCU,or Utah, I think it will happen.  The controversy will be great for the sport

Harry
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

-----Original Message-----
From: "Beamsley, Jeff" <Jeff.Beamsley at covisint.com>
Sender: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com
Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2010 20:33:07 
To: Tom Maycock<tkmaycock at yahoo.com>; <nwu-sports at romaine.tssi.com>
Subject: RE: [NU Sports] Failed to finish

I agree.
 
Our D held them to just over 100 rush yards.  We forced them to beat us through the air and got a lot of pressure on Cousins.  
 
We ran the ball better than we've done all year.  I think I counted one series where we had five or six positive running plays in a row. Demos gutted out a good performance.  We also played a fairly penalty free game compared to past performances.
 
Not sure why we kept going back to the screen.  MSU blew it up every time we tried to run it.
 
The Schmidt fumble was huge.
 
The fake punt was basically the game.
 
Their O line and big backs got a little momentem after that we were never able to it get back.
 
I also think that Persa was hurting by the fourth quarter.  He appeared a little gimpy. That may be why so many of his throws were sailing on him.
 
It wasn't quite the shootout I thought it might be, but it did turn out to be a game where we had the ball with two minutes left and a chance to win it.  I think most anyone on this list would have taken that offer before the game started.
 
Jeff

________________________________

From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com on behalf of Tom Maycock
Sent: Sat 10/23/2010 7:04 PM
To: nwu-sports at romaine.tssi.com
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] Failed to finish



I said before the start of the game that we'd know by the end whether or not NU
is a good football team. The good news is that we are, I think, a pretty good
team indeed. The big keys to me were whether our O- and D-lines were good enough
to line up with a team like MSU, and they are.

Unfortunately, the MSU D-line is probably a little bit better than our O-line,
and that was a key to the game. But flip any one of several key plays (fake punt
and the Cousins fumble we couldn't cover, the should-have-been 60-yard TD to
Stewart) and we probably win. I'm proud of the effort, and proud of the strong
showing by the NU fans in the stands. I really do think NU has turned a corner
in terms of our general competitiveness, talent level, AND fan support.

Nice to see Adonis Smith really starting to work into the offense. There were a
lot of glitches in the Persa-Smith handoffs, but Smith showed me a lot. I expect
him to be the starting RB in a week or two--and I hope he starts getting a
steady dose of carries. It's time for the "committee" thing to come to an end.

The only real downside (other than losing) is that Persa was just way off on
those last few possessions. I don't know if the bumps and bruises threw him off,
or he couldn't adjust to the (by then very strong) wind at his back, or what,
but he wasn't on target down the stretch. Strange and somewhat surprising.
Still, his efforts throughout the game were near-heroic at times.

Very different feel than the Purdue game. Disappointing to be sure, but this
week the Cats played well--very well, just not quite well enough. You have to
give a lot of credit to MSU. We shut down their running game, but Cousins was
very solid. He made a lot of great throw, and just as importantly, he wisely
threw the ball away a number of times to avoid sacks and keep drives alive. MSU
is a very good football team. Probably not quite national championship caliber,
but very solid.

If anything, this loss makes the Purdue loss hurt even worse. We should be 6-1
with our only loss a narrow defeat to a top-10 team. Worthy of a solid top-25
ranking. Instead, we're 5-2 with tough road ahead. Iowa and Wisconsin will be
huge challenges, Illinois seems to be improving, and playing at PSU is never
easy. This team may be better than last year's, but equaling last year's record
will be tough.

Tom

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