Northwestern University Athletics
The Skip Report: Tale of Two Halves
10/19/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
Skip Myslenski puts to bed Northwestern's at the hands of No. 19 Nebraska on Saturday, which left NU with new goals to work toward during its upcoming bye week.
MORE: Complete Game Recap and Highlights
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Pat Fitzgerald likes to say that statistics are for losers. But, in some cases, they can tell a story better than even the deepest analyses. One of those cases was their Saturday meeting with Nebraska, which they lost by 21 after going to the locker room at halftime with both momentum and a three-point lead. Just consider:
• In the first half the 'Cats won the time-of-possession battle, 17:15 to 12:45. In the second half the Huskers won it, 20:04 to 9:56.
• In the first half the 'Cats netted 262 yards of total offense on 47 plays and the Huskers, 227 on 33. In the second half the `Cats netted just 28 yards of total offense on 26 plays and the Huskers, 244 on 41.
• In the first half the 'Cats netted 114 rushing yards on 24 carries and the Huskers, 79 on 16. In the second half the `Cats netted just three rushing yards on 10 carries and the Huskers, 155 on 28.
• In the first half, Wildcats freshman Justin Jackson netted 99 rushing yards on 15 carries and Husker star Ameer Abdullah, 39 on nine. In the second half Jackson netted just 29 rushing yards on seven carries and Abdullah, 107 on 14.
"Obviously, a tale of two halves," Fitzgerald later said, and then he explained.
"I thought the way we finished the half (with a field goal with three seconds remaining in it) ... gave us real solid momentum into halftime, and then we had a little bit of attrition offensively. We had guys go down. We couldn't get out of our own way. That's credit to Nebraska. They obviously had great adjustments at halftime and just really quite frankly shut us down offensively in the second half, which put our defense in a tough situation. They were out there way too long against a very explosive offense."
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The last three meetings between this pair had been taut affairs, and the opening half of this one mirrored that theme. The `Cats struck first, smartly marching 89 yards on their first possession to go up seven on a two-yard scamper by Jackson. The Huskers responded early in the second quarter, tying the game at seven on a one-yard buck by Abdullah, but five minutes later back came the `Cats with an attack that was as balanced as it was effective.
It opened with Trevor Siemian hitting Miles Shuler for eight yards and then Jackson ran for 11. He went for 11 again following an incompletion, and now Siemian found Stephen Buckley for 19 and Jackson ran for 12 and fellow-freshman Solomon Vault ran for six. Here Vault was thrown for a two-yard loss, but then Siemian hit Shuler again, this time for 13, and finally Jackson finished off this drive to put the `Cats up seven with his second touchdown of the afternoon.
Nebraska would come right back, going 73 yards in 38 seconds for a tying score, and the `Cats would close out the half with a field goal after throwing their way down the field in its last minute. But never again would they put together a march like this one, an 89-yard march comprised of 43 rushing yards and 40 passing yards and five penalty yards.
"They were going to put everybody in the box and stop the run. At that point, now we needed to throw the ball and we were unsuccessful with that from a consistency standpoint to sustain drives," Fitzgerald would later say at one point, explaining the Huskers' halftime adjustment.
"They loaded the box. We had to throw to win. We obviously didn't do that," he reiterated at another point, and then he expanded. "I think that's on us as coaches, giving our guys a plan to be successful. It looked like we had some one-on-one losses up front sometimes. (Siemian was sacked three times in the second half after suffering just one in the first.) Then it looked like we dropped the ball sometimes.
"We have to sustain drives. Our defense has played well, but they also play well when our offense sustains drives and is able to keep the opposing defense off the field. They have some guys offensively that are All Big Ten level players. You allow those guys too many opportunities, they're going to end up making some plays."
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The 'Cats received the opening kickoff of the second half and went three-and-out. Their defense held here. But after another three-and-out it buckled and the Huskers drove 55 yards for a touchdown that put them up four.
The 'Cats did manage one first down on their next possession, but that was all. Now their defense was on the field again and this time it was gouged by Abdullah, whose 50-yard burst set up another Husker touchdown early in the fourth quarter. Once more the 'Cats went three-and-out and once more Nebraska battered that stressed defense, rolling 53 yards on nine plays to go up 35-17 midway through the fourth. (They would later tack on a meaningless field goal.)
That defense was again without senior safety Ibraheim Campbell and senior middle linebacker Collin Ellis, who missed the game with injuries. Siemian, who himself is not fully healthy, had his well-being further endangered by the constantly blitzing Huskers defense. ("Percentage-wise, I don't think he's anywhere close to 100 percent. Is it affecting him? Yeah," Fitzgerald later said.)
Shuler, who outside of Jackson was the 'Cats most-effective offensive performer this day, would be taken off the field on a stretcher after absorbing a big hit late in the third quarter. (He gave a thumbs up while exiting and Fitzgerald later said, "The information I got is that the tests came back clear, which is positive.")
Superback Dan Vitale, who was effective early, was not targeted after the first quarter (there was no announcement about a possible injury limiting him) and a rotating cast of 'Cats receivers would not do enough to make up for their team's suddenly dormant running game (second-leading receiver Kyle Prater was not among the eight targeted in the second half).
All of this combined to leave them limping into their second bye-week of the season, which promises to be far different from the first. During it, which came after they opened the season 0-2, Fitzgerald put them through punishing practices that resulted in a three-game winning streak. But here, on this Saturday night with another looming, he would finally say, "We have to get healthy. That's probably the number one priority.
"We've got to find a way to get this team healthy for a stretch run. Some of our guys need some time off. We've got to get rested up. We've gone through a pretty tough gauntlet."
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