NIU 49, Army 26 Initial Reaction
by Mike Breese on Sep 4, 2011 10:46 AM CDT
in Football
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PrintThe Good
Everything. The start of the game was perfect with the defensive stop and the punt block by Jimmie Ward w/ the Courtney Stephen TD. Yes, our defense came to play thank you very much.
Then my mind started to explode with the high-paced offense. 3 different backs getting used right away, 5 wide formations. None of the weirdness of the play-calling or personnel choosing of the previous regime.
Chandler Harnish on point. 12 of 19 for 195 and 5 TDs to 5 different players (TE Luke Eakes, WR Nathan Palmer, RB Akeem Daniels, RB Jamal Womble and WR Martel Moore). Womble's run on a screen specifically was a thing of beauty.
11 rushes for 80 yds and a TD himself. The offensive line lived up to their hype.
The Bad
I really have to do this? I don't want to hate on the star performer of the game, but Harnish's start to the second half was a bit bizarre on an otherwise stellar night. An INT and taking a sack when he could just throw the ball away. I think he just wanted to get out of the game at that point. Then he did fumble earlier on. Not a big issue.
It was hard finding things to critique in this one. The backup players got a good amount of playing time, but 20 pts given up in the 4th quarter? Eh. Kind of upsetting. Anything else negative that you want to talk about?
Playing an option team like Army IS a bit of an anomaly regarding any judgement on the defense though.
The Ugly
Quite frankly, the presentation of this game on ESPN3.com was horrible.
The most annoying thing to me was when they kept showing pointless graphics or replays when another NIU play was happening. The NIU offense ran so fast that the cameras rarely caught up with it. This happened so much, I wanted to rip my hair out. [expletive]. Not to mention the camera guy would consistently get faked out and follow a guy who clearly didn't have the ball.
The quality wasn't that great even when I had 3 or 4 bars of bandwith or whatever.
There were also mis-pronounced names (Pawlak, Matukewicz, Jacques) that you could easily look up in the game notes and congratulations for players that didn't even make the play. And finally, "BAM-O" is the worst catch phrase ever. When did Emeril start doing commentary?
Good game overall. It was as if last season never ended for the 2011 Huskies.
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I was pleasantly surprised by the defense. I thought we would have had more trouble with their unconventional offense. We need to do a better job of containment on the perimeter on the field, which is when Army had their biggest plays.
Harnish needs to do a better job with the turnovers.
I was disappointed with the backup defense. They gave up a lot of yards and 20 points. They needed to make a stand on Army’s last trip to the redzone and they didn’t.
by NIUHuskies#1Fan on Sep 4, 2011 11:10 AM CDT reply actions
Great Game!
My only complaint would echo the on the 2nd string D… I really hope our starters can stay healthy!!
I have to give player of the game to Harnish.
He’s the point man and he was responsible for 275 yards and 6 TDs.
Life is tough, but it's tougher if you're stupid.
- John Wayne
Let's go.
Ok, the honeymoon is over, time to get back to work. I agree with Mike that giving up 20 point in garbage time was bad.
Our offense looks great’ let’s see how they do against Kansas.
I like Doeren’s style. A well run, no nonsense game.
Let’s hope for a great season. A healthy Harnish is the key.
random things
Jordan Lynch looked like a REAL QB instead of a running QB. I saw Harnish handoff to a phantom running back (closest guy was an Army defender) and then scramble for 10 yards. I saw Cameron Bell (please give this guy the ball a few times a game just for me) pancake 2 guys at once on KO coverage. Akeem Daniels has a friggin afterburner (speaking of friggin… where is our inside source?) I saw the D-Line punching through for tackles for loss. If you come to a game don’t get distracted by the cheerleaders when it’s 3 and 1, cause the next thing you’ll hear is the roar of the crowd and “Another Huskie 1st down!” I think the offense even threw off the Huskie noisemaking machine… jumbo tron, band, and cheerleaders didn’t know when to start and/or stop. cause the offense didn’t hardly pause let alone stop. I think Army called 2 timeouts in the 2nd half just to catch their breath. And, Jaz really can run. Harnish, I want to watch you play the whole season… throw the ball away to avoid the sack.
What I saw
Jimmie Ward is simply a playmaker, his athleticism is off the chart. The offensive line does not enough credit, this unit is the heart and soul of the team. The defensive line did an excellent job screwing up Army’s offensive timing. Harnish makes as many plays with his feet as he does with his arm, we have to keep him healthy. The Huskies have several weapons in the running game, including a much faster than expected Womble, who has an NFL body. A helmet flying off a players head is not uncommon, but I saw something I never seen before. One the opening kick off Santacaterina ran full speed into a Army player, his helmet stayed on but his face mask went flying off. Interesting look. I thought the crowd in spite of poor weather was outstanding. Overall great victory fro Doeren, his staff and team.
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