Northwestern played another mistake-prone game, but once again left the field the victors. NU committed ten penalties for 79 yards, many of them at the most inopportune times; and turned the ball over three times – twice in the red zone. Stephan Demos missed another extra point but was given the chance to redeem himself – and did – drilling the game-winning field goal with 2:07 to play. In the end, winning on the road in the Big Ten is always difficult, just ask Ohio State. And when the chips fell this weekend, the Cats are 5-0 and ranked #25 in the Coaches Poll.
The most concerning part of the game was the timeliness of the penalties and turnovers. Too many penalties that kept Minnesota drives alive. And 21 of Minnesota’s 28 points came directly off the Wildcats three turnovers. NU was moving the ball very well in the first 20 minutes – it could have been 28-7 easily by halftime.
But there were some bright spots:
We learned a few things about Dan Persa. First, he demonstrates more and more each week. He threw some great balls on Saturday – and even though it seemed like he missed on a few, he still only threw seven incompletions. Persa also used his legs as much as he has since the Vanderbilt game. He continues to show that when defenses are going to drop back into coverage, he will burn them. Most of all he showed the cool under pressure needed to win the big game in the clutch. He took the ball and drove down for the go-ahead score – in doing so taking on the tradition of cardiac QBs going back to Zak Kustok. One downside was Dan’s interception. He scrambled and lofted a bad ball into double coverage. It looked like a mis-read, as the safety came over to pick the ball; but either way, the ball should have never been thrown. He will see a lot more pressure from better defenses than he saw on that play, and he is going to need to show better decision-making. Also, his fumble was inexcusable. If he is going to run the ball, he has to protect it better. Teams will see that and attack the ball until he shows he can protect it. Sliding instead of diving would help too.
The officiating was suspect. I am rarely one to complain about the referees, but there were a few suspect situations that stuck out to me. First was the forward progress whistle when Minnesota was backed up on their own four-yard line. NU stripped the ball and the Gophers recovered in the end zone for what should have been a safety. When the runner is clearly being manhandled, the whistle should be blown, but the runner was clearly still moving forward. Poor. Also, on a Persa scramble in the second (?) quarter, he slid and had his helmet ripped off. Look, if protection of players is a point of emphasis, how can a hit that rips off the quarterback’s helmet not be a safety issue and a flag – especially when he is sliding. Finally, these penalties were probably legit, but how often do you hear about offensive offsides or holding by a defensive lineman? Let alone thrice in one game.
The young guns. Congrats to true freshman Tony Jones, who not only returned from injury, but scored on a 44-yard touchdown reception on his very first play from scrimmage. He finished with four catches for 68 yards. But he was also called for both of the offensive offsides. He is going to need to get used to the pace of the offense and make sure he checks with the line judge before he sets. Venric Mark fumbled in the first half, setting up a score for Minnesota. He was not protecting the ball well and he needs to learn that defenders are stronger and faster than they were in high school. Finally, in a curious move, Adonis Smith appeared and got two carries, which makes him ineligible for a red-shirt. It is safe to say that the Arby Fields experiment is over as the combination of burning Smith’s redshirt and Fields not even seeing the field suggest that he is not only in the doghouse, but locked in it.
Two thumbs up. Quietly, Jeremy Ebert is evolving into one of the best receivers in the Big Ten, and at the same time, one of the best NU has had in a long time. He is seemingly involved in every clutch third down conversion, and of course, he willed his way to a touchdown on Persa’s desperation throw in the fourth quarter. Opponents have started to find ways to shut down Dunsmore, and Ebert is certainly benefiting from this. Persa was able to distribute to seven different receivers, but almost one third of his completions were to his favorite target (and mine) Mr. Ebert.
Offensive Line. Overall, this was the best that the O-Line has played all year. Persa was only sacked once, although Minnesota only has three sacks for the year. The team also had a much-improved 4.1 yards per carry – almost one yard per carry more than the year’s average. There were a few jailbreaks, but not bad enough that Persa was not able to find his way out. This is a group that is going to need to be peaking on October 23 against Greg Jones and MSU, so it is very good to see them continue to improve.
The Defense. Hmmm, a lot to say here; so I will try to make this quick and as pain free as possible. Minnesota’s ability to run the ball was quite frankly shocking, especially considering that Duane Bennett was basically shut down. NU let DeLeon Eskridge look like Marion Barber, as he averaged 5.4 yards per carry. The Gopher offensive line was just punishing NU’s front four all game. And as the Brian Greise so aptly pointed out, this set up the play action, which just killed NU all day. (Seriously, this might have been the only legitimate piece of insight that Greise added to the broadcast, I just wish he did not repeat it every 3-4 plays). The Cats only recorded one sack and one turnover – both in the last seven minutes of the game. The unit that had been powerful and opportunistic through four games was passive and submissive. The only really bright spot on the defensive side of the ball was that there was a lot of really nice open field tackles and tackles behind the line of scrimmage. Those are some of the things that Cat fans want to continue to see.
Overall, NU and Coach Fitz have a lot to be concerned about after this game. There were a lot of bright points, but probably more dark ones. We no know that Dan Persa is capable of bringing the team back from behind. But the rest of the team needs to keep him from needed to be in that position. NU needs to keep its head on straight and take care of business against an injury-plagued, yet rested Purdue team this week. But then it needs to take the bye week to regroup and re-evaluate. This still has the pieces to be a very special team, but there is a lot of work to do to fine tune the pieces.
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