I really don't want to write about this game, but I basically promised people I wouldn't go another week without giving a recap, so I'll give it a try.
There is little that is more frustrating than rooting for a team that simply can't finish a football game. And that frustration is only magnified when you consider the fact that Northwestern would be 9-0 if only they could finish games. The fact is the team just has not shown the will to win that we've come to expect from Fitz-coached teams. Due to the fact that the 'Cats' biggest problem is evidently a mental one, a position-by-position breakdown may not tell the whole story, but we'll give it a shot.
Dan Persa: By this point in the season, I'm fairly confident everyone knows what to expect from Persa. Despite the fact that his numbers are not living up to the standard he set at the beginning of the season, he still is indescribably valuable to the team. He seemed to be the only player who was really fired up in the second half. Now he just needs to figure out how to use that emotion and will to inspire the rest of the players on the team. But he was really the only NU player who looked like a true leader in this game, especially during the third quarter. And don't get me wrong, his stats weren't bad, not even close. He ran for 109 yards (139, I believe, if you exclude sacks) and 2 touchdowns and passed for a decent 201 yards, 1 TD, and no interceptions. Unfortunately, it just wasn't enough.
Jeremy Ebert: As always, no real complaints with Ebert either. 6 catches for 111 yards and made it look easy. No other receiver had much of a consistent presence throughout this game. It's great having Ebert out there.
Drake Dunsmore: Despite the fact that he hasn't been the consistent presence I expected him to be, he has proven to be the source of many exciting plays, and his catch in this game was the single greatest catch I've seen this year, bar none. And he's far from done with doing the incredible.
Running Back Situation: We finally found our running backs, as we only used Trumpy and Smith against PSU. Strangely, however, we barely used them. Trumpy got a reasonable 14 carries for 43 yards, but Smith got only 3 carries, and busted open a 15-yarder. I'd like to see him more.
Defense: One sentence should some up their day: Penn St. scored touchdowns on 5 consecutive possessions. The secondary looked awful, letting McGloin pick up 4 touchdowns through the air, and the rush defense may have been even worse as they let two different guys get 130+ rush yards. I really don't want to say any more about the defense, except this: I have full confidence they will never play a game that poorly again.
The Coaching: I think it's fitting that on the game we gave Joe Paterno his 400th victory, we simply got outcoached. The coaches simply must do a better job inspiring their players and making halftime adjustments. While Fitz may take some blame for the former issue, I'm looking primarily at position coaches.The fact is, their opponents just learned how to exploit their team's weaknesses and they did not adjust.
All in all, the game was awful, but we cannot dwell on it. Coming up is Iowa, and you know everyone wants that one.
No comments:
Post a Comment