Despite slow start, NIU topples Buffalo 45-14
by Mike Breese on Oct 17, 2010 8:21 PM CDT
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The Northern Illinois Huskies came into this game knowing it was going to be a battle. Nobody said that the journey for a MAC Championship was going to be an easy one. The Buffalo Bulls had an extra bye week to prepare for the Huskies and it showed. Buffalo came in as the #1 defense in the MAC and one of the national leaders in stopping 3rd down conversions.
Kicking Ineptitude: The Trilogy
The Bulls threw all that and the kitchen sink at the Huskies. Shifts, press coverage, blitzes from all over the field. The Huskies needed some time to adjust to UB's defensive gameplan.
Sure, the offense was able to move the ball early on, but they kept shooting themselves in the foot. We get 1st and goal inside the 10 yard line and we don't come away with any points?
The next drive was successful until a personal foul was called on Martel Moore for a scuffle with a defensive back. The result: another Michael Cklamovski missed field goal.
Again the offense stalls and is forced to punt after a 3rd down and 10 sack of Chandler Harnish. However, the offense would get right back on the field after the Buffalo punter drops the ball and gets stuffed on Buffalo's 7 yard line. Harnish would hit Cox on a slant to put the Huskies up 7-0.
The next punt by Buffalo? You guessed it: Blocked by Jimmie Ward. The result of the offensive drive by the Huskies? You guessed it: A missed field goal by Cklamovski.
Playing Hot Potato
The Huskies would like to try and pull away from the Bulls at this point, having dominated the game thus far, but that doesn't happen. What does happen is Buffalo getting pressure on Harnish causing him to throw a pick-6 going the other way. This isn't supposed to be a game at this point. 7-7.
The next offensive possession ends in an interception. At this point, THE SKY IS FALLING.
Whatever. On the next possession, Pat Schiller forces a fumble right away that Tommy Davis recovers. Willie Clark continues his breakout season with a 25-yard touchdown reception.
UB's inept offense takes the field again and Chris Smith comes through with his second interception in two straight games and a near pick-6. Chad Spann puts that one away and all of a sudden it's 21-7.
We've taken control of the game, right? Not so much as Buffalo scores on a deep 81-yard pass on the 2nd play of their drive. Chris Smith was caught looking into the backfield and suddenly it's a game again at 21-14.
The Defense/Buffalo's Offense
For the second straight week, the defense shut out the opposing offense in the 2nd half.
Now, I don't know if our defense is actually that good or if Buffalo's offense is really that bad. I'm going to just go with a little of both. The Bulls looked flat-out lost on offense. Seriously, that was one of the worst offensive performances I had ever seen.
If you take out the 81-yard pass before the first half and the 58 garbage time drive at the end of the game, we only gave up 111 total yards. Jerry Davis was only 6 of 23 for 20 yds if you take out the blown coverage by Chris Smith.
Power Offense
The inept Buffalo offense put their defense out to dry, as the Huskies were able to pile up yards by running directly at the Bulls. Chad Spann had 111 yards on a surprising 31 tough, tough carries.
Chandler Harnish had success on the ground, rushing for 75 yds on 14 carries and a touchdown. Even Jordan Lynch got in the action with a 90 yd run as the game was winding down.
Overall, this was a solid effort by the Huskies even though they still have things to work on. See: Kicking game, defensive lapses. You can blame the wind all you want, but we can't rely on this kicker to make clutch field goals at this point. The offensive line made good adjustments, but the offense has to start out crisper and score touchdowns instead of field goals.
Not bad. This team needs to peak by the Toledo game.
What are your thoughts on the Huskies at this point?
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Real good
Doesn’t always matter how you start, but it does always matter how you finish. over the past few weeks the huskies have made impressive adjustments at the half to take control of the game.
This team looks like they are on a completely different level this year. Their ability to do things at will is something we haven’t seen since Turner/Wolfe era, and its very encouraging. I’ll be surprised if they don’t take the west this season.
My thoughts....
Chandler Harnish is a pretty good quarterback.
Chad Spann is a stud.
Our recievers can really catch just about anything thrown their way.
Our defense is playing real hungry right now.
What I don’t like…..
I see three things that are going to hurt this team. First and foremost is our offensive line (and this is actually 2 of the three things I feel is hurting this team). They don’t run block well at all. Spann has a very tough go of it between the tackles. The best runs all come on QB draws or fake handoffs with the QB keeping the ball. Lots of trickery is what as been successful.
Also, they don’t pass block very well either. If you notice, Harnish never stays in the pocket and there’s a reason. We can’t protect him. A lot of our pass plays are run from a bootleg and the ones that aren’t, he usually has to dodge at least one rusher to allow time for his receiver to get open.
The other thing that will hurt this team is the kicking game. We all know this, but since I was actually at the game, I had a good look at his misses. The first miss was with the wind at his back and measured around 30 yards (probably a little less). He simply missed it. His 2nd miss was not necessarily a gimme, but with his leg and the wind howling from behind him, a 51 yarder shouldn’t bee too difficult. He had plenty of leg. He just pushed it wide right for the second time of the day.
Finally, his 3rd miss was on a FG that was probably under 25 yards, but this one was in to the wind (and I believe on the left hash mark). He just pulled it left. The wind was really blowing in his face, but to be honest, I don’t think it was really blowing that hard down there at field level.
The wind on the day was actually coming straight out of the West which would mean it was a cross wind, but with the stadium situated the way it was, the wind was funnelling in through the South endzone and rushing straight up the field. In the stadium (unless you were at the top of the East stands), you didn’t feel any West wind, it was all from the South.
Nevertheless, the attempt was short enough that the ball should have been up and in the wind long enough to effect it too much. He should have made the FG. And a low growling came over the stadium (not quite booing), when he missed the 3rd.
Life is tough, but it's tougher if you're stupid.
- John Wayne
The addition of the passing game has been our salvation. Buffalo, to their credit, did somewhat contain the run. I expected Spann to have 200 yards for the day, but he ended up earning every inch he got.
Our kicking game, obviously, needs some work. The last couple games we looked good, but this game….we’ll just write off to the wind conditions.
Unfortunately, Kent State could not hold onto their 14 point halftime lead. We seem to be running on all cylinders, and will have to bring our best against Toledo, who has put some kind of voodoo jinx on us years ago.
All in all, Saturday’s win was ugly. At half time I expected a tight game, but obviously we owned the second half. The Buffalo offense was so bad they pretty much handed us the game, but we can’t expect that from the rest of the MAC.
Also, congrats go out to EMU for breaking the 18 game streak. Hopefully they’ll continue that success, until we play them, of course.
Sagarin Rankings
61 Northern Illinois
64 Northwestern
65 Purdue
67 Toledo
70 Temple
109 Western Michigan
126 Central Michigan
132 Minnesota
159 Ball State
178 Eastern Michigan
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Red and Black Attack - Northern Illinois Pride
by Mike Breese on Oct 20, 2010 11:19 PM CDT up reply actions
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