We just lost to...Temple

Disclaimer: this post has been edited 3 times because of my own stupidity.

Per Merriam-Webster Dictionary:

Main Entry: Murphy's Law
Function: noun
Etymology: probably from Edward A. Murphy died 1990 American engineer

: an observation: anything that can go wrong will go wrong

OK where do I start?

WRs Britt Davis & Greg Turner were both out for this game for some reason. So was backup RB David Bryant.

Apparently the absence of Greg Turner was a huge one, considering he is our holder for the field goals. WE MISSED 2 EXTRA POINTS?!!! WTF? Nendick is the NIU record holder for most XPs made consecutively (I'm pretty sure). Guess who the holder was...

JEFF FONTANA


Is he smiling or not smiling? The NIU FB Picture Bio's Mona Lisa

WERE THE MISSED XP's HIS FAULT?

“The first one was a high snap, a real high snap. [Jeff] Fontana did a great job getting it down and Chris just couldn’t get a really good kick on it,” Novak said.

“The second one, I don’t know what happened. It looked good, but I don’t know what happened. It’s a shame two missed extra points were the difference in the game.”

I mean seriously. He cost us the SIU game & almost the Idaho game. He is the bane of my existence.

Anyways, where was I?

QB Dan Nicholson SUCKED going 12 for 25 for 101 yds? Hahaha you have to be kidding me! He also fumbled the ball that was taken back for a TD and hurt his ankle in the 4th quarter. I bet you he just wanted to get out of the game because he was playing SO bad.

Is Ryan Morris the answer @ QB? I seriously doubt it. He wasn't a scholarship recruit and takes FOREVER in the pocket to throw the ball (from what I've seen). In this game he got sacked twice.

There were positives:

RB Justin Anderson again proved his worth rushing 29 times for 168 yds and 2 TDs. He is now a top-10 rusher in the nation.

WR Marcus Perez was back and he caught 5 passes for 63 yds.

On the Defense this could be a good or bad thing depending how you look at it.
SS Alex Kube had 14 tackles (6 solo) and CB Melvin Rice had 12 tackles (8 solo). Our secondary guys shouldn't have that many tackles.

#10 LB Cory Hanson continues his tear with 10 tackles (4 solo) and another secondary guy FS Bradley Pruitt had 9 tackles (6 solo).

True frosh Defensive Tackle DJ Pirkle had 2 sacks for a total loss of 28 yds. Also CB Chase Carter had a pick, which is his 2nd of the year.

Position Analysis - Idaho Game (Pt. II)

DEFENSE



DEs (aka Larry English) - 10/10
#51 DE Larry English ate Idaho for lunch, plain and simple. He had 12 tackles (7 solo), 5 TFLs which were all sacks for a total 34 yds in losses. He also had a forced fumble, recovered it and scored a TD off that same play! He also had a pass breakup and a QB hurry. On the other side, 23-year old RS FR #54 Jake "Corporal" Coffman got 3 tackles (2 solo) and a QB hurry. He might have gotten playing time, because starter #56 Brandon Bice may have gotten injured. Rambo stopped an Idaho 4th down attempt in the 4th quarter.

DTs - 6/10
At NT/NG, 6'4" 278 RS FR #90 (#92) Ed Jackson took up a bunch of space. The other Tackle spot was taken up by both 6'2" 258 #69 Alex Krutsch & 6'1" 295 True FR #98 D.J. Pirkle. Not to mention 6'4" 300 #78 Dan Keller who switched over from the O-Line. Keller looked like crap on this early rushing TD by Idaho. Problem was starting RB for Idaho Jackson ran 20 times for 113 yds and 2 TDs with a 5.6 ypc. Backup RB Bird ran 8 times for 52 yds and a 6.5 ypc. Not very good numbers at all. But a surprisingly good performance, considering the disparaging injuries. A whole new beefy look had a good debut.

LBs - 9/10
Solid as usual. Nice pressure on the QB, great assignments. Nice pick by Tranch. #26 (#10) Cory Hanson with another solid game with 10 tackles (5 solo). Again, there were way too many rushing yds given up.



Secondary - 6/10
Secondary Coaching - 0/10
#8 SS Mark Reiter gets owned on this 3rd quarter score by Idaho. Reiter sucks in coverage as well. Nice INT return for a TD by #36 CB Chase Carter for 95 yds. Pick by #24 FS Bradley Pruitt from the pressure from a Tranch blitz. #37 SS Alex Kube (god I love this guy) had 11 tackles (8 solo) as Reiter's backup!!! #32 backup FS Jeff Fontana SUCKAGE ALERT!!! His horrible coverage strikes again and he gave up the last TD scored by Idaho. He has to be the worst player on this defense.

Now it's time to breakdown the "Huskie Prevent Defense"

The "Huskie Prevent D" is one of the worst ideas ever conjured up in the history of me following NIU Football. We're up 35-7 going in to the 2nd half and then we do a couple things. We run the ball...a lot. We also play WAY WAY WAY off of the receivers. Even the Idaho announcers were saying "This secondary is playing SOOOOO off the WRs."

It's why we lose games at the end. It's why we can't win the "big one". Whose fault is this monstrosity? HC Joe Novak? Doubt it. DC Denny "Doorknob" Doornbos? Very possibly. Secondary coach John "Doogie" Hauser? He's just implementing the system that Doorknob puts in.

Idaho QB Nathan Enderle passed for 332 of his 423 yds in the 2nd half. Our "Huskie Prevent D" lets the opposing QBs to complete 15-25 yd passes at ease.

Special Teams - 7/10
True FR #33 Patrick George dropped 2 returns and lolly-gagged on another return. He also hit a guy before he even touched the ball (HUGE HIT though). And on the last punt in the 1st half he over-pursued the ball carrier and the guy returned it for a TD. Not a good day for the True Freshman. Oh well he has the rest of this season and 3 more years. Matt Simon also blocked a punt and Fontana recovered the ball for a TD. About the only good thing Jeff Fontana has done this season.

Oh yeah, and please take Britt Davis off the hands team! Watch the botched onside kick return for a laugh.

The "Doorknob Awards"

Doorknob is a nickname for Denny Doornbos our defensive coordinator who is infamous for our "NIU Prevent D" which has to be one of the worst defenses ever and has cost us several games in the past including our MAC Championship.

Re-watching some of the highlights (lowlights) courtesy of http://www.godawgz.com of the game I thought that these players weren't up to snuff:

#60 RT Jon Brost - Completely whiffed the guy rushing on Dan's first INT for a pick-6. He also didn't block anybody on this screen pass to JA for a TD.
#70 LT Chris Acevedo - I don't know what kind of block that was in Dan's first INT. He looked like he was playing patty-cake. Doesn't show a lot of effort in his blocking attempts.

#96 TE Bryan Beckner - WTF kind of block is this???

#32 FS Jeff Fontana - Completely blew his assignments and gave up 2 late TDs. Owned for TDs here and here. Can somebody tell me why a guy not even on our 2-deep is playing at that point in the game???