Two touchdown passes from Persa to Ebert and two Demos field goals set the table for an outstanding defensive performance. IU’s late touchdown made the final score much closer than the reality, but the Cats are now “bowl eligible” for the fourth consecutive year and the seventh time in the last eight seasons.
I spent yesterday driving home from Bloomington and I spent today reviewing emails, which provided mixed interpretations of the victory. So I have had plenty of time to digest both my trip and the game. The game was not particularly exciting. What was expected to be a high scoring affair was a defensive struggle. Neither team ever took a stronghold of the momentum, but the Cats in the second half took the lead, and then just turned it over to their defense.
Before getting into the details of the game, the win itself had some significance. It was the sixth consecutive road win, which is the longest NU road streak in 80 years. And while “bowl eligible” is in many ways a code word for just mediocre, it is the consistency of six-win seasons that continues to demonstrate that this is truly a new era of Northwestern football.
If you simply look at Ben Chappell’s passing stats, it is hard to understand why the defense was the star of this game. Chappell was 30-56 for 308 yards and a late touchdown. But most of Chappell’s passing happened between his own 20 and NU’s 40. Once IU got to midfield, the Cats’ defense took over and stymied the Hoosiers. IU only crossed midfield five times and ran plays inside the 35 on only two drives – one which resulted in a critical missed field goal.
The NU run defense was very strong, giving up only 65 yards on 21 carries. Trea Burgess was the leading Hoosier runner with 37 yards, most of which came on a 15 yard run. IU is certainly a one-dimensional team, but so is Minnesota and the Gophers ran well against NU. NU’s front four stood its ground and allowed the linebackers to do their jobs. Bryce McNaul had another monster game with 13 tackles. NU consistently was ready for IU’s misdirection runs and end around attempts – a run attempt by WR Tandon Doss was stopped for a loss of three.
Coach Hank took an interesting approach to the passing game. He did not put on much of a pass rush and the Cats did not sack Chappell even once. And the Cats gave up a lot of passing yards on the sidelines, again mostly between the IU 20 and the Cats 40. But once IU crossed onto NU’s side of the field, the secondary stepped up and made plays, consistently. Chappell had far more success throwing to his right as Jordan Mabin completely shut down Tandon Doss, who only managed four catches for 34 yards. Curiously, NU lined up Quentin Davie at defensive end for at least a dozen plays. Despite no sacks, he recorded three hurries coming off Chappell’s right side, which may explain some of his troubles throwing to his left.
In the end, this was the textbook depiction of “bend but don’t break.” The Cats did not have to be too aggressive at any point, they kept the offensive in front of them, and they did not give up many big plays – only two above 20 yards. This is the best the Cats have played against a spread offense in two years; and while most expected NU to win, hardly anyone expected them to hold IU to 17 points.
On offense, the story of the game was Mike Trumpy and the continued improvements of the running game. Trumpy ran 21 times for 110 yards – more than five yards per carry. Smith and Fields saw a few carries, but Trumpy was the workhorse and may have finally solidified his spot as the feature back that NU has been looking for since Tyrell Sutton graduated. Trumpy’s running was especially important in the fourth quarter when the Cats were salting the game away.
But this team still lives and dies by the play of Dan Persa and the passing game. It is no coincidence that NU is 6-0 when Persa throws a touchdown pass and 0-2 when he does not. Persa continues to thrill NU fans and confound opposing defenses with his accuracy and his ability to evade the pass rush. His run and throw on the first touchdown pass to Ebert was one of the most athletic plays he has made all season. And his third quarter touchdown pass to Ebert was probably the most accurate pass he threw all game. He was not quite as efficient at 18-28 passing, but in his defense, the wind was brutal – I would say worse than the MSU game.
Persa left the game midway through the fourth quarter with a concussion, apparently. It was announced today that he is expected to play against Penn State as long as he practices on Wednesday.
Speaking of the wind, the special teams had no problems with it – as this unit played the best game of the year. Where to begin? Stephan Demos made two field goals including a fantastic kick into the wind to seal the win in the fourth quarter. Brandon Williams averaged 37 yards per kick, and that included an inexplicable 20-yard punt WITH the wind (the only special teams faux pas). He also managed to give Tandon Doss only one chance to return a punt, which the coverage team stopped for only nine yards. Kevin Watt partially blocked a punt, which helped to set up the final Demos FG.
But it was the difference in kick returns that was the “behind the numbers” key to the game. NU kicked off four times, averaging 68.5 yards per kick, with two touchbacks. IU averaged 22.5 yards on the two kicks they returned for an average start on the 23-yard line. This allowed the defense plenty of room to play its game without worrying that one big play would put the Hoosiers in FG range. And when IU kicked off, Venric Mark looked like a guy ready to explode. He is going to break one soon.
The atmosphere in Bloomington was tense for this game. IU really needed this win to have a chance at bowl eligibility. The Indiana student newspaper displayed the headline “Revenge?” in a nod to last years’ 25-point NU comeback. IU is a school that is trying really hard to be a football school, and for that reason, the fans and the team were fired up for this game. Fortunately, the Cats were up for the challenge.
Now, I have read a lot of emails today about the disappointment that the Cats were only able to beat IU by three; pointing primarily to the penalties as a primary reason. And my first reaction was to say, “a win is a win; and now the Cats are bowl eligible.” But now I realize that this is too simplistic. The fact is, that when it comes down to it, this is a team that is lead by defense; and the defense is finally coming into that role. And winning with defense is winning ugly sometimes; and often that means close games against inferior teams.
I know that there are fans out there who are upset about the margin of victory in this game. This is hard for me to understand – winning on the road in the Big Ten is hard enough without having to worry about running up the score. There are still a lot of challenges ahead for this team. But this game, especially the defensive performance, is a huge stepping-stone for the Cats return to New Years Day.
Go Cats!
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If you take away the last TD, which you can't do but really shouldn't have happened, NU walks away with a 20-10 victory over a top Big Ten offense. That's an impressive defensive effort.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely. I have heard a lot of complaints about the offensive performance, but the defense was absolutely fantastic against an offense scoring 31 points per game.
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