| Team Totals | Northwestern | SIU |
| First Downs | 20 | 17 |
| Net Yards Rushing | 148 | 85 |
| Rush Att (YPC) | 34 (4.4) | 32 (2.7) |
| Net Yds Pass ATT-COMP-TD-INT | 185 22-31-0-0 | 172 19-32 |
| Total Offense | 333 | 263 |
| 3rd Down Conv. | 9-16 | 4-14 |
| Red Zone Scores-Chances | 6-6 | 1-3 |
| TOP | 32:08 | 27:52 |
| Sacks By-Number Yds | 6-46 | 0-0 |
| FG | 4-4 | 0-0 |
The GREAT
Defense
The Mike Hankwitz influence was loud and proud today. Yes, we struggled early finishing tackles against Larry Warner even though we were in position, but our "D" in the second half played with a purpose like I haven't seen in years. The score speaks for itself, but our pass defense was tremendous and our six sacks and 12 TFLs only begin to display the amount of havoc we created in SIU's backfield. When you consider SIU earned 25% of its total offense on its final drive in garbage time, and even then they totaled only 263 yards you have to be pleased. SIU mustered only 11 yards in the critical 3rd quarter.
For the couple of us at the game, you could see the unit playing loose and letting it rip. They were dancing during timeouts and the reserves on the sideline were completely fired-up throughout the game. Corey Wooton, Quentin Davie and Malcolm Arrington were explosive. Wooton and Davie combined for 6 TFLs and 3.5 sacks and were very visible.
Placekicking
Amado Villarreal was money all day going 4-4 (35, 33, 18, 20) including 3 first half FGs when it was still a game. Considering the deluge throughout the game, you've got to hand out props to Villarreal's unsung heroes - his snapper and placeholder.
Special Teams Standouts
Jacob Schmidt made an electrifying punt block in the 3rd quarter that capped-off the most energetic quarter of football of the season. The Cats played possessed. This is amazing considering they play in front of more people at spring practice.
Scott Concannon laid a nasty hit on special teams as a gunner that brought everyone to their feet.
The Field Crew
I can only imagine what the game would've been like at the old Dyche cement turf. The field held up incredibly well in nasty condidtions. Great job in giving us a literal home field advantage!
THE GOOD
CJ Bacher
Unless you were there watching the water roll through your hands, you could not appreciate how impressive CJ was on a day where I wondered if we would throw at all. He missed four passes in the first quarter that at least two of which he makes on any other day. Regardless, he led the Cats and came through consistently on 3rd down something he has not done this year. The Cats glaring downside in this game was their inability to convert TDs in the red zone, but give CJ his props, he did what he had to do to lead us to a commanding victory.
Tyrell Sutton
Earlier this week I showed a photo of Tyrell Sutton in his memorable 2005 Wisconsin game as I begged for a statement game. Sutton delivered with a 3 TD performance, his first 3 TD game since that game. After some tough sledding early on, Sutton made a highlight video run on his 44 yard TD run in the 2nd. Tyrell posted 101 rushing yards on 17 carries and 16 receiving yards. I still think we need to get him 5-10 more carries per game, however he was done early in the 4th quarter.
Rasheed Ward, Ross Lane
Both Ward and Lane were consistent with no dropped passes and came up on 3rd down several times when it mattered. Eric Peterman dropped yet another one early on in this game, but he made up for it later with a circus catch on a CJ Bacher desperation pass. Peterman has yet to have a game that he would consider "great".
Brendan Smith
He made a costly mistake early by going for the pick and not the PBU on SIU's TD set-up 38 yard pass, but was breaking up passes and causing havoc in the backfield on blitzes. He was flying all over the field and enabling many others to rack-up TFLs.
THE DISAPPOINTING
Personnel Timing
I only have one beef here. Why would you put Mike Kafka in for a series when you're down 7-6, on the verge of losing momentum and CJ is 10-14 at the time? Kafka nearly threw 2 picks on the series, we went 3-and-out quickly and were fortunate we didn't give SIU a new life. My only thought was at that exact moment, the rain was possibly as hard as it did all day and therefore he opted for the running QB, but Kafka's 2 passes on the series quickly proved that theory incorrect.
4th and 1 at the 1
I'm saying this AFTER we earned the Villareal FG to make it as well as before. It is late 2nd quarter, NU is at the SIU 1 yard line and it is 4th down. It is absolutely pouring. Fitz and/or McCall opt for the FG. I actually would have rather gone for it and failed then risk the potential disaster due to the elements. Our defense was clicking and a TD would've put our foot on their throats by halftime.
Attendance
I may not be able to substantiate this, but I am willing to bet today's ACTUAL attendance was the smallest in 25 years. The listed attendance was 19,062. Not a chance. It was definitely the smallest crowd I've ever seen since I began attending games in 1991, including the pathetic NU-Rice game in 1991. I put the realistic number at less than 10,000. Streets were flooded and several highways were closed, but come on. I guarantee every other Big Ten school not named Indiana would have been packed. Let's go Wildcat Nation it is time to spread the word about this exciting team who has a chance to do something next week (go 4-0) that most of us have never seen happen (last 4-0 start was 1962).
CATS NOTES
Tyrell Sutton's 3 rushing TDs tie a single game career high. #19 now has 30 rushing TDs moving him within 2 of Jason Wright, who is #3 on the all-time Northwestern list with 32 career rushing TDs. Damien Anderson is in the top slot with 38 career rushing TDs.
Tyrell now has 3,307 career rushing yards and is 496 yards away from surpassing Darnell Autry who is second on the Northwestern all-time list.
Anyone who caught the Big Ten Network halftime interview with Pat Fitzgerald had to love it. The reporter, who didn't actually ask a question, stated the fact that Northwestern was not able to convert drives into TDs to which a visibly irritated Fitz replied "we're 3-for-3 on field goals, thank you very much" and then bolted to the locker room.
The Cats last 4-0 start was in 1962, the same year they were last ranked #1 in the country.
Big Ten Black Eye
Ugggh. Thanks a lot Buckeyes! Now, we get to be negatively impacted rankings-wise every week thanks to your no show against USC. The USC laugher, Oregon's comeback over Purdue and Michigan's Bad News Blue combined to make this a dreadful week for Big Ten Country.
Rear View Mirror - How Previous Cats Opponents Fared
Duke 41 Navy 31
Wildcat Nation's intuition is right - Duke is for real. Likely not bowl-bound, but well on their way to a 5-win season.
Penn State 55 Syracuse 13
The Nittany Lions reached their season AVERAGE against a 'Cuse team that is likely fearing Northeastern next week. Great year to get the pass on PSU.
Ohio - The Best 0-3 Team In America?
The Bobcats bowed to MAC foe Central Michigan 31-28. The Bobcats come to Evanston next week having lost a nailbiter to Wyoming in the opener, squandering a 2nd half lead to Ohio State and then another near win in their home opener. You know they won't be intimidated by playing us on the road. Let's hope our emotional play continues next week in front of what will hopefully be a 30,000+ crowd.
4 comments:
A couple of thoughts on "the disappointing"
Kafka - I liked the decision for that drive. As you noted, it was raining harder when they made the decision than at any other point in the game up to that drive. He gained 3 on first down with a keeper and his 2nd down "pass" to Conteh only set up a 3rd and 6. They had to pass on 3rd down, unfortunately. It didn't work, but it was a good idea, in my opinion. Nice job by Demos to punt all the way to the SIU 7 following that 3 and out, too. That set up NU's great field position on the next drive, resulting in a TD.
4th and 1 at the 1 - I agree. I was not happy about the decision. I understood Fitz's desire to make it a 2 possession game, but why not run a quick hitter out of the I? The other runs out of the I formation were rather disappointing. I'm not sure why they aren't just going straight up the gut. But yeah, when you combine the fact that it was at the 1 and a failed 4th down conversion would have pinned SIU into a very tough spot, along with the fact that the rain was pouring, making any FG more difficult, I'd gladly take my chances with a 4th down run with Bacher under center.
@nu cubs - thanks for the note. Are the highlights available yet?!!1
While I was shocked at the decision to put Kafka in also, it looked on the TV (in a bar with no sound) like CJ had twisted his ankle getting tackled on the previous drive so they pulled him out for that possession.
A great game for the 'Cats though, now it's time to end this out of conference streak!
They'll be up by 4:30 PM CDT. I tried to record the HD rebroadcast this morning, but the continous downpour made my DirecTV HD signal of the BTN worthless. I made them off the SD feed.
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