Northern Illinois defeats Ball State, Lembo 41-38 in bizarre fashion
by Mike Breese on Nov 15, 2011 11:11 PM CST
in Football
Email
PrintThis was by far the oddest game of the season. The game started out a lot like the Central Michigan with NIU falling behind early, but it wasn't a complete breakdown on all three phases of the game. Two fumbles put the Cardinals up 14-0 early, a deficit NIU would spend most of the game trying to come back from.
Ball State wouldn't go away in the worst way possible. The times NIU wouldn't produce on offense, they took advantage. NIU constantly shot themselves in the foot with stupid penalties (9 for 107 yds) and the Cardinals took advantage of every single opportunity. Field position was a huge deal in this one, and Punter Scott Kovanda had a 68 yd run of his own in the third quarter.
This game can be broken down so many different ways, but it all comes down to how well Ball State head coach Pete Lembo prepared his team for this one. It was LemboBall™ at it's finest. He decisively out-coached Doeren well past their strong first half. The fake punt was huge, and Doeren responded with a nearly recovered onside kick of their own.
Ball State got pressure on Harnish and even sacked him a couple times, which is a rarity. The Cardinals made plays when it mattered. They confused and slowed NIU's offense just enough to take advantage.
The last two drives for the Huskies were stunning and I can't believe NIU pulled out the victory. The Huskies out-gained the Cardinals 710 to 398 and only won by three points. That is remarkable.
The Huskies now have 10 days to prepare for Eastern Michigan on the Friday after Thanksgiving. They dodged a bullet in this one, thanks to the offense refusing to quit and the defense making plays when it counted.
Past NIU teams don't win games like this one has and I can't wait for this team to get another shot in the MAC Championship.
18 comments
|
Add comment
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
wow
It was an exciting game with lots of drama. Finally made it back to dekalb for the game followed by some starbusters, fattys, and Lukolos. Great night! Seems like this team is destined for Detroit.
N-I-Who? You F***ing heard me.
by djeffekt on Nov 16, 2011 1:29 AM CST via iPhone app reply actions
oh and..
just over 12K shows up for this primetime game??? with maybe 8K remaining after half? Kinda makes me sick. I saw a lot of lights on in those dorms to the north. WTF I’ll leave it at that.
N-I-Who? You F***ing heard me.
did you happen to see NIU's last two games? At Toledo and Bowling Green?
I think the NIU attendance last night topped both away games combined.
For whatever reason, the mid-week games don’t draw well.
And the next one will be worse since the campus will be emptied for Thanksgiving holiday.
Life is tough, but it's tougher if you're stupid.
- John Wayne
I know...
As a season ticket holder I am willing to pay extra into a T-shirt fund or whatever kind of giveaways they need to fill the stands. It is more fun for everyone when the stands are full.
by niu_huskie_fan on Nov 16, 2011 8:27 AM CST up reply actions
Nevertheless.....a great win.
Like you said Mike, this is a game past NIU teams do not win. They shot themselves in the foot against a competent team and still beat them.
When it comes down to it, I have ultimate faith in the offense. Man, at times last night, they were just impressive to watch.
Comparing the offense to the performance I saw against Kent State is vastly different. It really seems it took them almost half the season for the new coaches and the offense to really get on the same page. Now, it feels as if every play has the possibility to go a minimum of 10 yards.
Life is tough, but it's tougher if you're stupid.
- John Wayne
Jaz
Played his best game ever. He was carrying and dragging tacklers all night.
Soccer dudes
Talk about bad timing… they marched the NIU Soccer team onto the field for congrats right after Harnish’s fumble was recovered and run back for a TD.
One word: Miracle
we tried to give this one away…..some poor penalties (although I thought the one on Delegal going out of bounds was lame)
Harnish finds a way to win – he had two great throws under pressure, and the guy can take some punishment
Let’s tighten things up for EMU, then pack the bags for Motor City
Attitude
Some of our wins haven’t been pretty (Toledo, Buffalo, and now Ball State), winning the three games by a total of 7 points; but we won.
I expected a blow-out (for us) last night, but we made a lot of mistakes, and to their credit, Ball State came prepared.
Many clutch plays by the O last night, like the contested first down on the last drive. It was that extra effort that kept us in the game. Good job, Huskies, now let’s wrap it up.
4-2
Ball State was 4-2 in the MAC you cant expect a blow-out
I also enjoyed how someone decided to start the firework show a little early
GO H-U-S-K-I-E-S
by Steve Bolland Fiszer on Nov 17, 2011 10:13 PM CST up reply actions
Alright
I made a comment on Hustle Belt that basically said to the BSU blogger who did the write up: ‘Quit crying, the officiating sucked both ways." That said, one way or another, NIU came away with a win they didn’t really deserve. All of the mistakes should have cost the Huskies the game.
I’ll remember the next time that I’m bitching about how one different play would have meant victory against Akron in 2005, Toledo in 2006, SIU in 2007, Miami in 2010, and Kansas in 2011… there’s also a lousy roughing call against Ball St that erased a pick six that would have deep-sixed the season.
Particularly if BSU finds a way to beat Toledo, they’ll have a right to whine (COTG knows I’m not going to stop complaining about all of the times we’ve lost in hideous/conspiratorial fashion).
Handbags at dawn, sirrah.
Hustle Belt
Man I love that blog but I have to say, I am not a big fan of the new writers.
Sussman is fantastic and plays a pretty even hand when discussing games and teams, but that’s where it’s ended. Every week, we always have a fan of our opponent breaking down the game and bitching about stuff since there isn’t an NIU “fanboy” writing for Hustle Belt. Not that I want to see one on there, but it gets annoying reading about an NIU win and 3/4 of the writeup is about the losing team.
I understand why Matt brought on the other writers. Writing about the entire conference (football, basketball, and throw in women’s sports and hockey, soccer, etc. from time to time) has to be draining. I just wish the guys who were brought in to fill in the gaps weren’t such fans of one particular team or could hide it a little better.
We all know Matt is a Bowling Green guy, but he writes even-handedly very well. And even when he does let the fanboy out once in a while, he’s so damn funny you get over it. It never delves into bitching and excuse making.
I’m sure I’ll always read Hustle Belt as long as it’s active. I just hope the collective vision of the blog doesn’t get lost. It’s not about Ball State or NIU or any other team in the MAC. It’s about the MAC. Plain and simple.
Life is tough, but it's tougher if you're stupid.
- John Wayne
Yeah, I've noticed that
but hadn’t taken the time to get butthurt over it. You’re right, though.
Handbags at dawn, sirrah.
by ChocolateCity on Nov 16, 2011 12:21 PM CST up reply actions
Whew
Thought the D played well, not great, but solid. The leading BS rusher was the punter. 69 total plays for Ball State, a far cry from the 90 versus Toledo. Three big plays contributed 21 of BS’s 38 points; the fumble return, the fake punt and the long 4th down TD pass. The D came up with several big stops even when they had to deal with poor field position. Lets hope this team continues to prove the skeptics wrong!
Ugly, Ugly, Ugly
We tried everything we could to give it away and still managed to pull out a victory. It was a frustrating thing to watch…seemed like everything was going their way in terms of officiating and fumbles, recovering the onside kick, the fake punt, etc. Still, I’m proud because they managed to get it done in the end and that is something that the team has had trouble with for years.
Lets take care of business against EMU and take a trip to Detroit!
I guess i shouldn’t complain. This game, Toledo, and Buffalo are all games that most Huskie teams usually lose. We just have had a knack for losing close games the last 5-6 seasons. Heck, the Kansas game in Week 2 is a great example of that. But at least we seem to be winning the close games now.
by NIUHuskies#1Fan on Nov 16, 2011 5:14 PM CST reply actions
Well that was the first game I stayed to the end this year
And the only one I didn’t attend was the Cal-Poly game. Damn, it got cold out there. Actual thoughts, extremely lucky to win that game. NIU reminded me of the Lions from the game against the Bears, turnovers and bad penalties. I was actually surprised to hear that they had put up 700 yards of offense, it didn’t seem like it but the turnovers costed NIU a lot of points yesterday. Clean it up for Eastern Michigan, they got away with their let up game, but no more the rest of the way.
by baseballguru589 on Nov 16, 2011 5:23 PM CST reply actions
Something to say? Choose one of these options to log in.
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
