Kills 1960's Offense for the first 2/3rds of the game lost this one. AND the D look BRUTAL!

If only Harnish had started against ISU

I'm thinking this is about as good as this NIU team can play. Despite any hype, too many weak areas and not enough true talent to make big plays against better teams. I gotta think the play calling might be to hide some weaknesses (no real pass attack beyond a 10 yard rollout), and O line blocking that's weaker than we are used to. The D is abit spotty but I think they kept us in it.

Any else feel a sense of relief that we didn't get blown out? And had enuf good things to keep us close thru 4 qtrs.

How many of these close B10 games would we have won if we played them in Huskie stadium? AND DON'T GIVE ME THE SOLDIER FIELD "HOME" GAME! I'm really tired of losing by a TD or less on the road.

(09-18-2010 02:21 PM)NIU84 Wrote:  I'm thinking this is about as good as this NIU team can play. Despite any hype, too many weak areas and not enough true talent to make big plays against better teams. I gotta think the play calling might be to hide some weaknesses (no real pass attack beyond a 10 yard rollout), and O line blocking that's weaker than we are used to. The D is abit spotty but I think they kept us in it.

Any else feel a sense of relief that we didn't get blown out? And had enuf good things to keep us close thru 4 qtrs.

I would have loved to see that outcome of this game had Harnish not fumbled...

(09-18-2010 02:23 PM)HuskieBowWow Wrote:  How many of these close B10 games would we have won if we played them in Huskie stadium? AND DON'T GIVE ME THE SOLDIER FIELD "HOME" GAME! I'm really tired of losing by a TD or less on the road.

You'll get another chance at more of the same next week :)

(09-18-2010 02:23 PM)Huskie359 Wrote:  

(09-18-2010 02:21 PM)NIU84 Wrote:  I'm thinking this is about as good as this NIU team can play. Despite any hype, too many weak areas and not enough true talent to make big plays against better teams. I gotta think the play calling might be to hide some weaknesses (no real pass attack beyond a 10 yard rollout), and O line blocking that's weaker than we are used to. The D is abit spotty but I think they kept us in it.

Any else feel a sense of relief that we didn't get blown out? And had enuf good things to keep us close thru 4 qtrs.

I would have loved to see that outcome of this game had Harnish not fumbled...

Me too. It's asking alot of Harnish to not make any turnovers, he thru some balls that were pick-potentials too. Realistically I think he'll turn it over once a game, but not knocking him, we just ask him to do so much it's bound to happen.

The other thing that immediately jumps to my mind is the pass interference call on third and long for IL, when the ball was clearly uncatchable...that drive resulted in a score...just a big call against NIU in that game.

I'm so tired of the moral victories with NIU. That has to be the 20th game in the last four years we've lost by 7 points or less. Seems like we can never get over that hump to become a good non-BCS team. I'm tired of 6-6 and 7-5 seasons. This is another game we should have won that we didn't.

The Illinois QB can't do anything in the pass game and we still can't take away their run. So many extra yards allowed because of missed tackles by the Huskie defense.

If i'm the opposing teams i would just stack the box all season against us to stop Spann and our other backs because our O-line isn't very good this year and they aren't opening up any holes for the run game so until Harnish can show he can lead our team to victory over more than just bad teams we'll come up just short every time.

From an outsider's perspective, the Huskies looked much better with Harnish under center. Tough loss. Even with all the missed opportunities, NIU was right there.

We all know the feeling. Missed it by THAT much...

(09-18-2010 02:35 PM)Huskie359 Wrote:  The other thing that immediately jumps to my mind is the pass interference call on third and long for IL, when the ball was clearly uncatchable...that drive resulted in a score...just a big call against NIU in that game.

That was a terrible call by the refs. The ball lands way out of bounds and is overthrown by at least 10 yards making it uncatchable, instead it led to Illinois keeping the ball and scoring a TD before half instead of giving us the ball back.

(09-18-2010 02:46 PM)epasnoopy Wrote:  I'm so tired of the moral victories with NIU. That has to be the 20th game in the last four years we've lost by 7 points or less. Seems like we can never get over that hump to become a good non-BCS team. I'm tired of 6-6 and 7-5 seasons. This is another game we should have won that we didn't.

The Illinois QB can't do anything in the pass game and we still can't take away their run. So many extra yards allowed because of missed tackles by the Huskie defense.

If i'm the opposing teams i would just stack the box all season against us to stop Spann and our other backs because our O-line isn't very good this year and they aren't opening up any holes for the run game so until Harnish can show he can lead our team to victory over more than just bad teams we'll come up just short every time.

This.

(09-18-2010 02:55 PM)Wolfe23 Wrote:  

(09-18-2010 02:46 PM)epasnoopy Wrote:  I'm so tired of the moral victories with NIU. That has to be the 20th game in the last four years we've lost by 7 points or less. Seems like we can never get over that hump to become a good non-BCS team. I'm tired of 6-6 and 7-5 seasons. This is another game we should have won that we didn't.

The Illinois QB can't do anything in the pass game and we still can't take away their run. So many extra yards allowed because of missed tackles by the Huskie defense.

If i'm the opposing teams i would just stack the box all season against us to stop Spann and our other backs because our O-line isn't very good this year and they aren't opening up any holes for the run game so until Harnish can show he can lead our team to victory over more than just bad teams we'll come up just short every time.

This.

Exactly my view. Minnesota? Tennessee? Wisconsin? Central Michigan? Louisana Tech? [Enter another close loss here ___Illinois___] All by 1 possession within last 2 years.

Now lets list our big game wins by 1 possession ......... Purdue.

(09-18-2010 02:23 PM)HuskieBowWow Wrote:  How many of these close B10 games would we have won if we played them in Huskie stadium? AND DON'T GIVE ME THE SOLDIER FIELD "HOME" GAME! I'm really tired of losing by a TD or less on the road.

Yep. Imagine all these close losses at home instead of on the road.

As for this season, we'll be fine. We looked a lot better this week than last week, and we won't face a running attack like Illinois' again.

We'll win next week.

As horrible as the pass interference call was, there was no need for hitting the receiver when the ball was clearly going out of bounds...

Be aware of what is going on and don't put the referee in the position to make that awful call...

Also...can someone explain to me why Alex Kube is a starting LB? I counted at least 3 missed tackles that went for big gains...

Props to the Defensive Line, though...other than that first drive when they looked like they had no clue how to stop an option read, they played an impressive game...

Chandler Harnish is the man, can we let the freaking guy throw the ball a little more...the whole establishing the run crap is overrated...how about softening up the defense by throwing the ball a little more...

Tommy Davis played like **** on defense. You could see it just watching replays, i can only imagine what it looks like on film

This is the year we win the MAC! Not as confident against the GOPHERS!