This one hurts. A top 20 team on the road and we were the better team all night.

QB-C

Santa was great hitting the deep ball early. Also really liked some of the throws he made on manageable third downs.

Reality is, at this point in his career, Santa just wasn’t ready for this moment. He got rattled. The picks were atrocious. When he couldn’t rely on the deep ball into man coverage his weaknesses emerged.

He’ll be fine. We’ve got a chance to win with him. He can stretch the field and keep D’s honest and we should be able to run the ball very effectively in MAC play.

He’ll grow, he’s our QB. This one just hurts. I’m sure he’s crushed.

Also fine with the Childers package. Like that he threw a few times to keep D’s honest. He reminds me a little bit of that Lunch cat early in his career. Thought it was a little much though tonight.

RB-A

Huff is a dude. Jones is a nice compliment

OL-B

I’m going B because we did have some sacks tonight. Always Jed to tell if it was coverage, QB holding the ball, or the line but we have to go B here.

WR-B

Blake has emerged as just another in a long line of go-to NIU wideouts. The emergence of Tears was something this board has been drooling about, lol. After that though, where’s the depth? The Parchement jet seeep was baffling.

TE-C

Not sure why the hell we are not utilizing Wimann more. He should be a nice safety outlet. Also, you have to have the pop pass up the seam when you are starting to run downhill. Feels safer than the one they run with WR that ended in a pick 6.

DL-B+

Got some pressure. Set the line. Thought Sanders and Lee had great nights. Smith...still a dude.

LB-B+

Showed well flowing to the ball when PENNY had it. Another great effort.

DB-B-

They were just ok tonight. Some decent tackling in space at times, and a little tough at times. Got burned on PA a few too many times. Really needed a big play out of this group and just weren’t able to get it.

ST-D-

Kick coverage was disastrous, obviously. Ference did pint well again.

Coaching-D

End of first half was a disaster...again. U going away from the run on the second to last Series was egregious. I like how we attacked the weaker CB all night, and so when we do take that shot we throw at their better corner?! I thought Kane and the D staff was so good, it kept me from going F. They dialed up some great calls.

You only get a few chances to knock off a ranked team every decade. We were the better team and show ourselves in the foot. It stings, but man there is plenty of reason to be extremely optimistic heading into MAC ply.