Northwestern University Athletics
Skip Myslenski's Postgame Reality Check
10/31/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 31, 2009
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By SKIP MYSLENSKI, NUsports.com Special Contributor
• You defeat very few opponents with half a team. You never defeat a highly ranked opponent, which the 'Cats were facing Saturday at Ryan Field, with half a team.
• That was, basically, the condition the 'Cats found themselves in once quarterback Mike Kafka exited their meeting with Penn State with 8:15 remaining in the first half. He had, until his departure, been borderline brilliant, running effectively, passing effectively and effectively cutting up the Nittany Lions' acclaimed defense.
• That defense had entered this affair surrendering an average of just 8.9 ppg. The 'Cats, here, had already scored 10 points. That defense, in addition, had been nicked for an average of just 160.5 passing yards per-game. Kafka, here, had already thrown for 128 while completing 14 of his 18 attempts.
• Then, on first-and-10 from his own 34, he took off on what seemed to be a designed play and went down for a one-yard loss after his left leg appeared to buckle under him. He was later seen rubbing his hamstring on the sideline.
• "I didn't see it," 'Cat coach Pat Fitzgerald said when asked about the play.
"I haven't talked to our trainers yet," he said when asked about Kafka's condition.
"If he was healthy, I'd put him back in there," he said when asked if he ever thought of reinserting Kafka into the game.
• Kafka himself was not made available for comment.
• The red-shirt sophomore Dan Persa, who attended Penn State games as a child, replaced Kafka for the afternoon and, at the end, had numbers that were not atrocious. He went 14-of-23 for 115 yards, did not suffer an interception and netted 42 yards on 14 runs. "Pick up the flag. Time to move on. I think Danny did," Fitzgerald said of him.
• Those numbers are not the real story. These are. The 'Cats had seven offensive possessions (counting the one Persa completed for Kafka) while going from seven up to 21 down with 8:47 to go. On those series, they netted only 98 yards on 28 plays.
• Not only that. Fifty-one of those yards came on three plays (a 13-yard run by Persa, an 18-yard completion to Andrew Brewer and a 20-yard completion to Scott Concannon). The offense, then, gained a mere 47 yards on the other 25 plays it ran in this span.
• Then there was this. That offense netted just two yards in the third quarter; picked up just one first down that quarter, which came on a Penn State penalty; and did not cross midfield in the second half until the 'Cats were down 21 and 7:45 remained in the game.
• "I tried to do my best in the situation and play as hard as I could. Obviously I didn't play well enough to get the win and that's all that matters," Persa would later say when asked about getting thrown into the fire.
He later, with similar resolve, would also say: "There's really no excuse. I made some mistakes I shouldn't have and obviously I didn't play enough to win the game. It's on me."
• "Pick up the flag and go," Fitzgerald later said when asked about the effect of Kafka's injury. "For two years around here, we've had some guys go down. Last year (former quarterback) C.J. (Bacher) goes down and Mike goes in and wins the game in Minnesota for us. That's our expectation around here. You control one thing. That's being prepared for the opportunity. You can't prepare for when it's going to happen. I was proud of the way Danny went in there. There's no doubt he was ready to go. Unfortunately we just didn't many plays it looked like."
• Corner Sherrick McManis did not play. He was a game-time decision.
• When sophomore walk-on Ricky Weina, who out of high school received not one scholarship offer, opened in place of McManis, he became the 20th 'Cat to get a defensive start this season. More astounding, he was the ninth defensive back to get a start.
• That defense, still, staked the 'Cats to a 13-10 halftime lead and, in those 30 minutes, limited to Nittany Lions to just 37 net rushing yards and 136 yards of total offense. It, quite simply, put them in the position to win.
• "We had 30 minutes left to play. Go make some plays. . . You've got to make plays. End of discussion," Fitzgerald would later say. "If you want to win games, it's about big plays and execution of playing physical and doing it for 60 minutes. Right now, as a coaching staff, we're not getting our guys to do it consistently enough."
• The defense did it well enough that, despite the 'Cats' offensive woes, this game entered the fourth quarter tied at 13.
• But then, inevitably, the dam sprung leaks and this happened. The Nittany Lions went up seven with 12:27 remaining. Jeravin Matthews fumbled the kickoff and, after starting at its own six, the 'Cat offense gained nine yards on three rushes and punted. The Nittany Lions, on their first play after the punt, hit a 53-yard touchdown pass to go up 14. Matthews again muffed the kickoff and, after starting at its own 14, the 'Cat offense picked up just one first down before punting again. The Nittany Lions, on the first play after this punt, sprung running back Evan Royster for a 69-yard touchdown jaunt.
• In the span of just three minutes and 40 seconds, then, this game went from tied to a 21-point hole for the 'Cats. What followed, as they often say in basketball, was garbage time.
• "You can't do that and expect to win," Fitzgerald later said of Penn State's two big strikes.
• "We just didn't do our job in the fourth quarter. Penn State took advantage of it when we didn't do our job and made plays," safety Brad Phillips later said. "I feel like a broken record. That's what's been happening to us in games where we've been close and teams have taken advantage of us when we haven't done our job appropriately."
He also offered this apt conclusion to this Halloween Day: "I don't think there was any fatigue. Our attitude might have dropped a little after that first big play. But I think it just came down to our not doing our job in the fourth quarter and finishing the game like we should have. . . We were right there and played with them for three quarters and, like I said, I sound like a broken record, but any game where we're close and we end up losing it, it's a heartbreaker. But you've got to be able to learn from it and move on."
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