Nov. 12, 2015
Overcoming The 12th Man
Like the previous weekend’s NU v. BugEater game, this weekend’s tilt
featured two evenly-matched foes, both of whom fielded an effective,
occasionally great defense, especially a defensive front 7 unit that
could dominate an opponent’s rushing attack, complimenting an adequate,
sometimes formidable offense, led by an enigmatic, sporadically
efficient quarterback who could flush his erstwhile brainfart-filled
field play gaffes then blend his brilliant athleticism and playmaking
skills into an overwhelming scoring force to be reckoned-with,
especially in the contest’s decisive, crunch-time minutes.
However, unlike the UNL game, what occurred early and often throughout
the NU v. State Penn grapple last Saturday never should have happened;
and unfortunately it took on a life of its own, becoming a disruptive,
forceful factor that mitigated much of the thrilling collegiate
football theater that unfolded before an enthusiastically vocal home
crowd at Dyche’s Ditch. I’m talking about the utterly atrocious,
game-changing officiating.
Mind you, I’m an old school football fan who steadfastly holds to the
time-honored code that ka-vitching about officiating and blaming the
outcome, or at least the debilitating effect that flag-happy referees
can render upon a competitive, hard-fought contest, is a loser’s
proposition. Usually, overall poor officiating is an impediment
to both combatants and their personnel’s ability to execute their
positional techniques without the undo distraction of adhering to
“selective enforcement” on “normal” borderline fair play
activity. However, throughout last Saturday’s contest, this
referee crew didn’t simply pay unfair attention to infractions enforced
against Wildcat personnel, both marginal and imaginary; they escalated
things to an entirely stratospheric, one-sided level when they
methodically turned a blind eye to numerous glaring transgressions from
State Penn players – indiscretions which, if they had been addressed
(and called) with a modicum of sensible pragmatism, would have allowed
NU to capture control and momentum of the contest with much less angst
and heartburn. Instead, the host ‘Cats were obliged to
contend-with and overcome the egregiously frequent and blatant
favoritism proffered by those folks dressed in zebra-print shirts
towards the Wildcats’ opponent from Happy Valley.
Over my many years of travel to various gridiron venues of the B1G
conference and beyond, I have discovered that, in deference to the
alcohol-addled, obnoxiously abusive fan bases of the HogEyes and Wisky
Drunkards, the loyal followers of the Nebraska BugEaters and State Penn
Inmates are among the nation’s most forthrightly congenial, fair-minded
& knowledgeable with whom I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and
conversing – and I’ve attended college football games at over 30
stadiums from coast to coast. The universal perspective among
both fan bases is that their respective football team is a reflection
of their personal and community value system and consequently is held a
higher standard of athletic honesty, fair play and class that is rarely
equaled but never surpassed among all other pigskin programs populating
the NCAA’s Division 1A ranks. And to their credit, my
incriminating critique of the dubious, seemingly-biased infractions
called on the Purple players by this specific set of referees was
openly agreed-to and communicated as such by many members of State Penn
Nation in post-game one-on-one conversations held in the West parking
lot and written-about in various PSU internet blogs (e.g.: Blue White
Illustrated @ BWI-dot-com).
So with all this drivel regarding abysmal officiating, you, the reader,
understandably should demand visual evidence of my claims of unabashed
referee malfeasance. To answer such calls, one simply has to
peruse the game broadcast replay that is internet available via the
BTN2Go-dot-com website. I invite you to open any internet browser
of your choosing and follow me down memory lane at the following video
playback points:
● 8:52 mark of Q1
Inmate PR, DeAndre Thompkins, gives a clear fair
catch signal (right hand raised above his shoulder); then, after
catching the booted bean at the PSU 17 surrounded by NU’s coverage who
pulled-up to give the PR ample opportunity to make the grab, he bolts
downfield 8 additional yards until the ‘Cats’ 2nd wave cover personnel
escorts him out of bounds at the PSU 25. No Call.
Wisky-Tango-Foxtrot!?!
● 7:57 mark of Q1
On a 3rd–n-13 down, Inmate QB, Cristian Hackenberg,
one of the B1G’s most widely promoted offensive playmaking
personalities, gets snared in a bear-hug by ‘Cat TFL-specialist DE Dean
Lowry 8-yards behind his pocket protection. Hack struggles to
separate from Lowry’s vice-like grip but realizes he can’t; so he
raises the bean in a motion mimicking the set-up of a throw-away pass
to avoid the sack. Lowry sees the QB’s raised hand then
instinctively reacts with a Jake Herbert-inspired freestyle wrestling
takedown: lifting Hack off his feet at the waist, twirling both himself
and the QB around forcing Hack to bring the bean back into his body to
avoid a potential fumble, then driving himself and a ragdoll QB to the
turf. The ref viewing this takedown 2-yards in front of him blows
his whistle the very instant Lowry completed his twirl and just prior
to his plant of the media darling QB to the Dyche’s Ditch fescue. Late
whistle be damned. Jesus Effing Christ himself couldn’t have
halted his momentum midway through the seamless motion of this
takedown; but evidently the zebra closest to the action thought
otherwise, citing Mr. Lowry with a roughing penalty. Talk about
imposing a pre-determined protectionist protocol to restrict routine
physical field play against a highly-touted B1G asset… I call
B.S.!?!
● 7:28 mark of Q1
Two downs following the B.S. roughing penalty laid
on Dean Lowry, Hack hands the pill to his Frosh RB, Saquon Barkley, who
takes a direct route to the play’s originally designed point of attack,
the right B/C-gap at the LOS. ‘Cat DT Tyler Lancaster, from his
initial left A-gap set, executes an eye-blink quick inside stunt/move,
crossing the face of the State Penn OC into the opposite (right)
A/B-gap, straight into Barkley’s rush lane. The OC sees that he’s
totally whiffed on Lancaster, his blocking target, so he grabs the Soph
DL with his right arm completely across the front of Tyler’s shoulder
pads (i.e.: shoulder to shoulder) and takes the DT down to the turf 2
yards upfield from the LOS in plain sight. The back judge has an
unobstructed view of this brazen tackle/holding by the OC, yet
inexplicably keeps his yellow hanky tucked neatly in his pocket.
I understand very well that holding can be called on virtually every
offensive play over the course of a game, but this particular example,
as well as another half-dozen similarly obvious samples, was clearly
out in the open, but still ignored with a “play on” shrug from the
backfield ref. RU kidding me!?!
Want More?
10:43 mark of Q2 (PSU’s L-OG #53 tackle/hold on NU’s R-DT #67)
12:50 mark of Q3 (PSU’s L-Slot-WR #88 tackle/hold on NU’s R-LB #55)
07:41 mark of Q3 (PSU’s FS #2 horse-collar on NU’s RB #21)
● 6:57 mark of Q1
On a 3rd–n-7 down, Inmate QB, Hackenberg, hauls back
and heaves the bean in a high arc to his WR, Saeed Blacknall, running a
Go route down the east sidelines into NU’s double-deep left boundary
zone. Wildcat just-returned-from-injury DB, Matthew Harris, had
cover responsibility for this deep zone and was sprinting
stride-for-stride with the PSU wide-out to his inside.
Unfortunately, Hack’s heave was slightly underthrown of its mark and
dropping straight to the open mitts of Harris who prepared himself to
convert an athletic INT from his inside position. Blacknall
recognized this potential pick scenario and shifted his field play from
WR to full DB mode. Pressing his right hand into Harris’ back to
acquire leaping leverage, the WR jumped and lifted himself over Harris,
his weight pinning the Purple DB firmly to the ground while shoving his
left arm across and into the earhole of Harris’ helmet – textbook
offensive interference. Not only did the WR use Harris as a
launching pad, he obscured the DB’s vision with that well-directed
head-swipe. Needless to say, the pill hits the blinded Harris in
and through his hands to the turf. Another “No Call” by a ref
standing 4 yards away from this WR-DB tandem with a clear view of the
action. Gimme a break!?!
● 3:20 mark of Q1
On a 3rd–n-10 down, ‘Cat QB Thorson drops-back
behind his pocket protection, waiting for his primary WR target,
Christian Jones, to gain separation from his cover DB; then lofts a
touch pass into the outstretched hands of a leaping Jones for a sweet
pitch-n-catch1st down. Meanwhile, once the ball exits Thorson’s
hand, his pocket protection collapses and the newbie QB gets sandwiched
between State Penn’s Sack Machine, DE Carl Nassib, and his teammate, DT
Anthony Zettel. Unfortunately, in Nassib’s zeal to become State
Penn’s single season sack leader, he forcefully swings his left arm
like a brickbat hard across Thorson’s helmet, while during the DE’s
follow-through, his hand rakes the QB’s eyes through the open bars of
his facemask. If a similar head-hunting blow had been delivered
to another more critically acclaimed starting B1G QB, like the
BuckNuts’ J.T. Barrett, either a blow-to-the-head or a facemask penalty
undoubtedly would have been levied. However, since this head
knock was applied by PSU’s fawned-over sackman Carl Nassib to “just
Clayton Thorson,” the back judge assumed a blind man’s viewpoint to
this conspicuous QB headgear blow violation. Another
“No-Call.” Making this bad scenario worse, Thorson sustained a
lower body injury via the Nassib-Zettel tandem’s fore & aft pincer
hit, forcing the newbie QB to ride pine for the remainder of the
contest. At this juncture, the officiating crew’s prevailing
“see-no-evil” perspective – as they continued to disregard many
infractions that State Penn personnel laid on NU players – was reaching
epidemic proportions.
● 5:37 mark of Q3
Hackenberg gets flushed out from behind his pass
protection umbrella by ‘Cat LB Drew Smith, and the PSU QB breaks
downfield. After rumbling 7 yards, Hack sees NU’s defensive
pursuit and slides, killing the play. ‘Cat DT C.J. Robbins,
pursues Hack, trailing 2-yards behind him, sees the QB’s play ending
slide, then awkwardly flops to the turf on both knees to arrest his
forward momentum towards the prone QB. Robbins ends-up sliding UP
TO – not INTO - Hack from the QB’s right, and the DT’s torso lies next
to the QB. However, C.J.’s helmet ends-up lying in Hack’s lap –
with no discernable, overt blow ever having been delivered
whatsoever. Meanwhile, MLB Anthony Walker has set himself in his
standard pass cover location in the short middle third zone. He
sees Hack break downfield from behind his pocket protection straight
towards the LB. Walker closes on the QB from the front; and when
Hack slides, Walker checks his forward momentum by “sitting down” to
lower his center of gravity and twists his torso in place, spinning to
his right. This “sit down” and twisting motion completely stops
the LB’s forward momentum, but Hack’s forward sliding motion cuts the
feet out from under the stopped Walker. With his feet pushed out
from under him, the LB ends-up flopping harmlessly across the QBs knees
– no blow delivered, he simply falls across the legs of the prone
QB.
The ref nearest the action throws a flag indicating
a personal foul, “roughing the QB” penalty, against DT C.J.
Robbins. Total and complete B.S.
To assess the relative severity of this “blow” to
State Penn QB Hackenberg, take the time to compare it with this head
shot laid on Wildcat QB Clayton Thorson:
5:50 mark of Q1.
After comparing the two plays, I beg you, the
reader, to please explain why the benign “body blow” to the B1G’s media
darling Hackenberg warranted a roughing penalty while the
slobber-knocker helmet-to-helmet shot to Thorson was
ignored. I’m still waiting for an honest, unbiased
explanation on this comparison. IMHO, it’s a “Protect The Popular
QB” scenario. Simply Unreal!?!
Any casual observer witnessing the examples above needn’t possess a
fertile imagination to draw the obvious conclusion that this game’s
officiating crew was attempting to level the playing field between both
combatants, particularly from Q1 through Q3, when it appeared NU had
garnered the upper-hand against their all white-clad, traditional
pigskin powerhouse opposition. If the B1G powers-that-be
possessed half the cahones that the ACC custodians employed when
recognizing and dishing-out appropriate suspensions/reprimands on those
numbskull referees who completely bungled Miami of Fla’s
end-of-the-game, 8-lateral, one knee-down, 2 blocks-in-the-back-ignored
KO return for a “winning” TD against Duke, then something must be done
to ensure that the putrid officiating exhibited throughout this NU v.
PSU football game is not repeated. Without apropos redress of
these “systematically ignored” infractions, the integrity of the
college football is at risk – as well as the health and well-being of
the players on the field.
Over and Out…
How the ‘Cats Handcuffed the State Penn Inmates
35 Minute Lockdown
The Wildcat defense did their best imitation of a Las Vegas Strip magic
show as the rush yardage strangulation effort of the ‘Cat defensive
front 7 coupled with the passing attack lockdown of the ‘Cat secondary
rendered State Penn’s prima donna QB, Christian Hackenberg, virtually
invisible for much of H-1 and into Q3. Defense video review room
banter holds a widespread theory that any opposing D that harasses or
hits “The Hack” with regularity can get into the Junior QB’s head,
making him “an ineffectual playmaker” at the very least or at worst “an
offensive liability” during real-time, high-intensity competitive game
situations. This debilitating tendency became undeniably evident
as the Wildcat D bore-down on “The Hack” with passion and purpose from
the opening whistle.
In Q1 alone, Hack’s overhyped passing acumen was limited to 1
completion on his first 10 attempts – a statistic born from a half
dozen PBUs evenly distributed between the ‘Cat pass rush and secondary
personnel. Over that same timeframe, Wildcat DC Doc Hankwiz’
troops stoned the yardage production capacity of PSU’s combined ground
game and passing attack to a paltry 22 net yards on 17 plays; while
choking the visitor’s O with a steady diet of 3-n-out drives on 4 of
their first 5 possessions (8 of 15 for the entire game) .
As expected, the ‘Cat D couldn’t sustain this comprehensive stoning for
an entire 60 minutes. Hackenberg’s somnolent passing prowess
finally awoke from its early-game slumber at about the same time that
State Penn’s offensive brain trust uncovered NU’s hidden vulnerability
against defending a rushing attack using the Wildcat formation (called
the “Wild-Lion” by the Inmates). Consequently, having
re-established its yardage production efficacy via a dual-threat
collaboration between its vertical aerial attack and the offensive
playbook chapters featuring its Wildcat-based ground game option, the
Inmate O mounted a furious comeback starting with their first scoring
drive launched after NU had increased its lead to 13-nil 6 minutes
before the halftime intermission. Over the next 25 minutes, Hack
& Co.’s resurrection from offensive ineptitude dead to scoring
juggernaut was impressive and motivating. The sum effects of
PSU’s vertical pass successes combined with several substantial yardage
gains via their Wildcat-based running game knocked NU’s defense back on
their collective heels and reeling from the Inmates’ skein of 3 TD
scoring drives. While the visiting team held-fast to a thin 21-20
lead with 12:16 remaining in Q4, the host ‘Cats searched for any
defensive field play countermeasure to resuscitate their offensive
teammates’ missing yardage generation mojo that was squelched
throughout those last 25 clicks by a revitalized State Penn D after
witnessing their own O’s triumphs.
The first defensive countermeasure came at the 7:24 mark of Q4.
Hack, who had been the Inmates’ poster child of passing reliability –
not throwing a single INT over his previous 6 games – made his most
damaging mistake of the current contest when he telegraphed his intent
to toss the pigskin to his target, WR Saeed Blacknall, who was
camped-out and awaiting the arrival of the bean along the east
sideline, after having run a stop route into the right middle boundary
zone. Veteran Wildcat CB, Nick VanHoose, recognized this pass
pattern, saw Hack poised to chuck the ball to Blacknall from behind his
pocket protection umbrella then broke hard to front the receiving
target just as the bean left Hack’s throwing hand. VanHoose’s
timing couldn’t have been better, as he deftly converted the pick via a
leaping grab of Hack’s dart throw two yards upfield from
Blacknall. Although the Purple DB lost his balance when he came
back down to the turf and landed on his backside at NU’s 32 yard line,
Nick’s attention remained riveted on keeping the ball in hand for a
clean, indisputable INT – Hack’s first in his last 201 attempts.
With this timely pick, Miss Momentum returned to the host team’s side
of Dyche’s Ditch and gave the Purple O another shot to close-out this
tooth-n-nail battle with a game-winning late score.
Unfortunately, the ‘Cat offensive drive following this INT stalled at
the PSU 38 yard line, a LOS location that Fitz and ‘Cat K Jack Mitchell
concluded was too great a distance for a high percentage FG
attempt. So Fitz played the field position card one final time
and ‘Cats P Hunter Niswander came through in the clutch with one of his
finest deep-kill punts of the season that NU’s punt coverage downed at
the State Penn 6, setting the table for a win-or-go-home end-game
scenario. Either the ‘Cat D turns the ball over on downs to its O
through three crucial defensive countermeasure stops or fails and loses
the game trying.
With 3:16 left on the clock and his offense facing colossal pressure to
perform, Inmate HC Franklin fielded his Wildcat-based rushing attack
once more – against which the ‘Cat D had demonstrated only a limited
ability to detain for short yardage gains in PSU’s previous H-2
possessions. Responding to Franklin’s call to employ his Wildcat
ground game to burn those last remaining minutes and preserve a 1-point
victory, Doc stacked the box with 8 of his most experienced, aggressive
defenders to stone State Penn’s prolific Wildcat O for a desperately
needed 3-n-out series. Amazingly, Doc’s countermeasure strategy
worked like a charm – especially on a heart-stopping 3rd–n-1 down at
the PSU 15, in which RS Frosh LB Nate Hall crashed through the Inmate
A-gap and nailed Wildcat RB Saquon Barkley for a one yard loss,
blowing-up State Penn’s bid to secure a game-clinching 1st down and
forcing the Inmates to punt the ball back to NU’s offense, as
strategically designed, and proffer one last go-for-broke drive to the
Purple team.
Can you say, “Clutch?”
The Replacement
The situation looked pretty bleak when newbie QB Clayton Thorson
absorbed that hard head shot from Inmate DE Carl Nassib giving him a
reserve seat on NU’s PUP (Physically Unavailable to Play) list for the
remainder of last Saturday’s contest. Thorson’s replacement, as
recorded on the pre-game depth chart, was listed a one of two lightly
experienced, 4-star recruit 2nd stringers: Junior Matt Alviti or Senior
Zack Oliver. When OC Mick McCall tapped the helmet of Mr. Oliver
to assume the role as the ‘Cats’ primary ball handler, I had a great
deal of trepidation because Oliver was primarily a drop-back QB, while
Alviti had a well-chronicled QB skillset as a dual-threat playmaker,
which was more in tune with the repertoire wielded by the sidelined
Thorson than what Oliver’s appeared to possess. Be that as it
may, Oliver made the most of this unexpected PT opportunity and wasted
little time confirming that his drop-back QB skills were more than
apropos to fill NU’s vacant primary offensive playmaker role and get
the job done as McCall’s replacement QB of choice for the injured
Thorson.
Throughout the remainder of the game, Oliver performed adequately as a
hastily “thrown into the maelstrom” substitute, completing 11 passes
off 24 attempts, while gaining a pedestrian 111 yards and tossing a
confidence-building 14-yard laser beam TD completion to WR Christian
Jones in his second possession as NU’s QB in Q2. He added another
TD via a 2-yard scamper off an expertly executed QB read option play at
the State Penn goal line giving NU a 20-7 lead just before
halftime. In Q4 crunch time, trailing 21-20 with time winding
down and the game’s final outcome on the line, the cool, calm and
collected Oliver methodically marched the Wildcat O downfield on its
last possession, starting from its own 46 yard line then settling into
position at the State Penn 18 for a medium-length FG attempt, a drive
highlighted by a terrifically-thrown 23-yard, drive extending
pitch-n-catch completion to WR Austin Carr. Whereupon, Oliver
handed the scoring reins into the capable hands – and foot – of ‘Cat K
Jack Mitchell, who confidently booted the game-winning 35-yard FG with
9 seconds to go in the contest. To my mild, satisfied surprise,
Mr. Oliver didn’t have the look of a 2nd string QB.
Way To Make It Happen Zack!!!
Back On Track
The 2015 Wildcats’ most effective offensive attack option is its ground
game featuring the prolific yardage production tandem of the
ever-elusive starting RB, Justin Jackson, backed-up by his talented
“heavy back” alternative RB, Warren Long. Over the course of
their previous three conference games, the Wildcats’ foes: the Dazed
& Blue Horde, the HogEyes, the BugEaters, fielded the three best,
stingiest rushing defenses in the B1G. Consequently, it
wasn’t much of a surprise that NU’s normally productive rushing tandem
was summarily bottled-up and ignominiously cast overboard (bobbing on
the surface of “The Sea of Irrelevancy”) after having gained meager,
and equally embarrassing, net rushing totals of 38, 51and 42
(non-Thorson yards) against these three opponents, respectively.
Suffice it to say, JJ and his back-up RB stablemates, Mr. Long and Solo
Vault, were in dire need to flush their running failures of the last 3
offensive outings, paddle back to the shores of relevancy and get
themselves back on track by reestablishing their game-time presence as
the ‘Cats’ feature offensive weapon of first choice while showcasing
their collective yardage production acumen as a unavoidable force to be
reckoned-with once more. And they succeeded in doing just that –
with the invaluable aid of the Wildcat Big Uglies who spearheaded the
Purple RB tandem’s resurgence to rush into, around and through State
Penn’s defensive front 7.
Final game rushing stats speaks volumes:
● 227 total net rushing yards gained (186 by JJ off 28 attempts; 39 by Mr. Long off 4 attempts) –
● 1 TD scored
● Set the table for a 2nd TD score in Q2; & the game-winning FG at end of Q4
● Explosion rushing plays:
- 48-yards and 25-yards in Q2 by JJ
- 35-yards in Q2 by Mr. Long
- 30-yards and 17-yards in Q3 by JJ
● Crunch-time, game-clinching drive rushing plays:
- 5-yards; 7-yards; 2-yards; 3-yards; 1-yards by JJ
I cannot write enough regarding the enormous contribution that OL coach
Adam Cushing’s troops had in this contest’s revitalization of the
Wildcats’ previously dormant ground game. The ‘Cat OL never truly
blew State Penn’s defensive front 7 yards downfield off the LOS; but
they successfully did shove their “outside” blocking targets hard
towards the defensive edges of the LOS and sealed their “inside”
blocking targets equally hard towards the center of the LOS with
controlled purpose and increased efficiency, opening gaping holes in
the process as the game wore on. In addition, the ‘Cat SBs and
WRs locked-horns with Inmate DBs and shielded them from pursuing the
rushed bean all game long. The high-quality blocking capability
of NU’s OL, SBs and WRs was the number one reason why JJ and Warren
Long broke explosion play rushes into and through huge holes all along
the LOS and into open space within State Penn’s defensive second level
early and often. They most certainly were the primary reason how
and why the LOS was repositioned into comfortable FG range with
“relative ease” in the last minute of play. Despite losing two
stalwart OL starters in OG Geoff Mogus and OC Ian Park to early game
injuries, Cushing’s remaining OL rotation soldiered-on and hardly ever
missed a beat – or missed a block.
‘Nuf said…
“Not So Special”
Without a doubt, the most inept, ineffectual squad that State Penn HC
James Franklin rolled-out onto the green grass of Dyche’s Ditch was his
“not so special” Special Teams – and in particular, his wholly
enigmatic, grossly under-performing kickoff unit. I cannot speak
to its causes, but Franklin’s executive decision to allow his K to boot
low line-drive kickoffs on a continual basis, rather than booting the
standard high-arcing ball was beyond all comprehension or subjective
analytics. Gawd only knows what Mr. Franklin’s thought processes
were regarding this odd field play choice; but this one thing is
certain: the State Penn HC did not intervene to halt or correct its
reoccurrence, so its use WAS a strategic decision – and its ultimate
effect on the field position game was significant and lasting.
I can only hazard an unsubstantiated guess, but I believe Franklin’s
intent was to drive the kicked ball into the corner of a chosen half of
the kickoff receiving area’s total width, which would allow his
coverage personnel to converge and attack the KR toting the pill in a
much-reduced space. Good in theory (I suppose); but terrible in
its raw, unrefined execution (as State Penn employed it), if only
because these oddball KOs consistently gave NU starting field positions
from their 25 or further downfield.
The most lasting effect that this strategy had on the contest was in
favor of the host Wildcats. On State Penn’s only kickoff of H-1
following their late Q2 TD scoring possession, ‘Cat KR Solomon Vault
corralled the KO’s rolling pigskin in the northwest corner of Dyche’s
Ditch. He lost control of the bean for an instant, then picked it
up off the turf and sprinted upfield. When he reached his KR
blocking line a second or two later, a thin seam opened along the west
boundary. With over half of State Penn’s KO coverage
positioned at least 10 yards to his left and virtually removed from the
hand-fighting action inside this open seam, Solo ignited his
afterburners, shooting into and through the seam, untouched, into open
space behind the wall of NU KR blockers in a locked-horn embrace with
their Inmate KO coverage counterparts. 14 seconds and 96 yards
later, Solo scored a huge response TD to the Inmates’ only TD score of
H-1, reprising the Wildcats’ 13 point lead over the visitors before
both teams adjourned to their respective halftime locker rooms.
How’s that knuckleheaded KO strategy working for you now, Mr. Franklin?
Conclusion
You’ve heard the title of this tune before: “Survive and Advance;” and
that’s exactly what the Wildcats did in securing this epic, hard fought
victory against a very game, but very beatable State Penn Inmate
team.
This contest was similar to last weekend’s grapple with the UNL
BugEaters in the respect that its final outcome hinged upon the
Wildcats’ capacity to execute a sound offensive drive during the
end-game’s waning minutes while contending with the opponent’s frantic
defensive measures to prevent the ‘Cats from capturing the “W” flag as
the final gun sounded. In the BugEater fracas, the ‘Cats held a
tenuous 2-point lead with 4:18 remaining and that crucial possession
dictated that Clayton Thorson & Co. craft a sustained drive while
collecting multiple first downs to keep it alive and burn precious time
off the clock– essentially playing a strategic game of keep-away to
prevent the BugEater offense from getting its hands on the pill one
last time as those last few minutes evaporated. Not only did NU’s
offense execute this keep-away strategy to perfection; the effort was
aided greatly by a dead ball personal foul penalty assessed to a
frustrated Nebby DL who head-butted ‘Cat OG Matt Frazier with 90
seconds left that literally hand-delivered the game-clinching 1st down
to the grateful Wildcat O.
In contrast, the ‘Cats’ most crucial possession of the State Penn game
arose when the Inmates’ bid to convert a game-clinching first down via
that late Q4 3rd-down Wildcat-formation rush by RB Saquon Barkley was
stoned by the ‘Cat front 7 for a monumental 1-yard loss at the PSU 14
yard line (described in key #1 above). After NU received the
ensuing punt, the Oliver-led Wildcat O mounted their carrousel pony
having been given a one more fleeting chance to reach for the brass
ring of victory via their own game-clinching offensive drive (described
in key #2 above). The recipient of this “W” flag was determined
by these 2 back-to-back significantly desperate drives, one of which
was executed by the offense of each combatant and transpiring over the
contest’s final 3:16 – with State Penn’s possession ending in failure
and NU’s possession ending in success. The margin for victory was
silk thread thin. Thankfully, the Wildcats rose to survive this
“winner-take-all” challenge then afterwards, reaped the rewards – the
most mind-boggling of all: being recognized and ranked as #18 team in
the College Football Playoff Poll (the most important of all
college polls), after having advanced three spots from last week’s #21
poll position.
Who’da ever thunk it three months ago in mid-August!
The Waterboy
“Win with Grace, Lose with Dignity”
He’s a Lumberjack
This week’s Lumberjack Trophy is awarded to Every Member of Northwestern’s Offensive Line.
For further details regarding this unit’s qualifications for being
selected and winning this award, refer back to the last paragraph of…
Winning Key #3 above: Back On Track
‘Nuf said…
|
The Waterboy is a former football player
and a Northwestern
alumnus. Aside from these facts, he has no affiliation with
Northwestern University. The commentary he posts here is his
own, and does not necessarily reflect the views of HailToPurple.com.
