(08-28-2014 09:58 PM)7 Wrote:  McIntosh is faster and a better runner. Hare has a great arm but everything he does is awkward and he has a really long throwing motion. Hare also has had 2 years to beat out McIntosh now and has yet to do it. McIntosh will be the guy.

I loved how fast the offense was going. Went back to the pace they played with Harnish's senior year. The only negative about Lynch was he did everything so they couldn't go as fast because he needed time to suck wind haha.

What we learned tonight: Mac will start next week.....Akeem is a dream....Joel can boogie....Hare needs real work on his throwing motion....and our kicking game can not be relied on in a close game

NIU-Presbyterian Postgame Quotes
Quotes for NIU Head Coach Rod Carey and select NIU players
GO HUSKIES
GO HUSKIES

GO HUSKIES
Aug. 28, 2014

Recap | Final Stats | Notes



NIU FOOTBALL


NIU VS. Presbyterian - August 28, 2014


Huskie Stadium - DeKalb, Illinois



NIU Head Coach Rod Carey



Opening Statement...
"I'll put it as simple as I can. We came out and did what we were supposed to do, and I was really happy about that. I wanted to see us play fast on both sides of the ball, and we did, and I thought we came out and executed for the most part. This is just me talking before I see film, I think we executed pretty well for the most part. We'll see more as we see the film, but I thought it was good. I give Presbyterian a lot of credit. I've been in a situation like that in my coaching career where you're making a transition like that, it's hard. They probably don't have all the things they want yet while they're making that transition, but they're a well-coached team. Coach (Harold) Nichols does a great job with them, and they're sound. They came out and I thought they played really hard, so with that being said, we'll put this one to bed tomorrow and then we'll get on to the next game on Saturday. We're really happy with the win. We're going to enjoy this one, and we're always happy to be 1-0."

On the CornFest jerseys...
"Obviously we're really happy about the jerseys, even though these guys smell right now. We're excited about them, and to partner with our community like that, I think it was a hit. I think everybody liked them before the rain came out. I was really happy with our crowd and how they came out to support us and then with the start of CornFest tomorrow, I think that's a huge deal. With the proceeds going to the Canaday family and the Boy Scouts, get out there and bid for them. It's a big deal, and I know these guys liked them."

On how the speed of the game made an impact...
"Yeah, it could have been. I'd like to think we were pretty physical as well out there, so those two things made a nice combination."






On what he liked most about the offense...
"We came out, no matter what quarterback was in there, and we executed pretty well. Now (Anthony) Maddie was in a little different spot there at the end because we were with the young guys, so we had a couple alignment issues and a couple assignment issues, which I'm not pleased with, but you kind of expect that at times with the young guys, but I was pleased with no matter who was in there."

On the running game...
"I was pretty pleased with it. I think we ran the ball pretty well. I'm not a numbers guy, but I see these guys rushed for 424, and anytime you do that, that's a good thing. Like I said, I'll see more on the film - if we're covering guys up, moving our feet, and doing the things we need to do, but I have a feeling we were."


On the quarterback battle...
"I don't know. I'm going to have to go back and look at it. My gut right now is that they all three played really well, but these two (McIntosh and Hare) played really well in the first half, and then Maddie went in there and did some really good things as well. Right now it's tough to argue against what we just did, but you may watch film and see something else."

Presbyterian Head Coach Harold Nichols

On NIU...

"We went up against a real good football team. Northern Illinois is definitely as good as advertised. They're big, physical football team, very typical of this region. They're as good a football team as we've played since I've been at Presbyterian. We were physically outmatched. I wish we'd played better.

"I don't think the weather helped us there in the second quarter. It was one of those games we had to go toe-to-toe with them. But again, no excuses. They were a really good football team. Very physical. I imagine they'll go a long way this season and compete for a MAC Championship.

"As for us, we're going to go back to work this week. We have to play better. We can't turn the ball over like that. We had too many tonight. You're not going to bear a team like that turning th ball over. We've got other teams on our schedule that are just as physical and tough. I think this week, we're going to analyze this game and take it for what it's worth. One game doesn't make a season."

NIU Player Quotes



Quarterback Matt McIntosh

On his touchdown pass to Da'Ron Brown...
"It felt great. Coach [Bob] Cole had a great call, the offensive line gave me a great pocket and Da'Ron Brown is a great wide receiver, so all I had to do was throw it up and let him go get it."

On what he was pleased with most...
"I was most pleased with our execution. And give the defense credit; they did a really good job giving us good field position. But there's always room for improvement, and we'll watch film and see what we need improve to for next week."

Running back Joel Bouagnon

On scoring four touchdowns...
"It feels really good. I just take it one play at a time, run the ball hard and see what happens. I know if I work hard that it'll pay off."

Quarterback Drew Hare

On his comfort level entering the game...
"I was pretty comfortable coming in with a nice lead. The offensive line was doing a great job moving people, so I had no reason not to be comfortable."

On his success running the ball...
"We have a lot of playmakers around me, so maybe they were keying more on them. The line did a great job opening up big holes as well."


Linebacker Michael Santacaterina

On NIU's defensive performance...
"We came out with a lot of energy on defense and special teams. We were ready to go and wanted to come out, get a fast start and keep the pedal down [to the floor] and we did a good job of doing that."

Thanks NIU32.

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(08-28-2014 10:28 PM)bigdhuskie Wrote:  

(08-28-2014 09:58 PM)7 Wrote:  McIntosh is faster and a better runner. Hare has a great arm but everything he does is awkward and he has a really long throwing motion. Hare also has had 2 years to beat out McIntosh now and has yet to do it. McIntosh will be the guy.

I loved how fast the offense was going. Went back to the pace they played with Harnish's senior year. The only negative about Lynch was he did everything so they couldn't go as fast because he needed time to suck wind haha.

What we learned tonight: Mac will start next week.....Akeem is a dream....Joel can boogie....Hare needs real work on his throwing motion....and our kicking game can not be relied on in a close game

Yeah...that makes me a little more uncomfortable for next week. Doesn't seem like Wedel's improved much since last year.

My thoughts:

QBs
McIntosh looked very comfortable and his TD pass was a monster throw. I think he deserves to start against NU and gives the Huskies the best chance. Hare started off slow, but he made some good plays too. Runs better than I thought and didn't pass as well as I expected. That's not to say I thought he did bad passing. Maddie can run and is athletic, but the boy couldn't throw tonight. The one pass he did complete was incredible and he did that everytime he could probably start. I would have him third on the depth chart but create a special package for him to run out of like Lynch had in 2011.

RBs
Akeem is back, baby! Still runs fast and hits hard. Bouagnon made a lot of progress since last season and is going to be special. I'm happy for him and his 4 TD game. Draco Smith and Keith Harris Jr looked alright. Huff could have been better but I won't hold it against him since he was playing in garbage time.

WRs
I can't say enough good things about Da'Ron. His TD catch was great and I think he is going to have a big year. Tommylee was Tommylee, which is good. Canada (Brescacin) had his TD, but I could have seen more from him. Same can be said about the other guys (Turner, Beebe, Saffold)

TEs
NO TIGHTENDS CAUGHT A PASS! HOW DID WE WIN?

O-Line
Looked good to me. A few sacks, but I don't think that's anything to worry about.


Defense

D-line
They had good pressure and got 3 sacks. Which is good since the Hoses only attempted 18 passes. True Freshman Rajshawn Mosley got a sack and I said to myself "who?". Let's hope we can be pleasantly surprised by the D-line this year.

LBs
Rock Lemon had some nice tackles. Folliard made a few good plays including his fumble recovery. They cleaned up the runs pretty well and didn't really allow any big plays.

DBs
They played well and Smalls had an INT. I don't think I saw enough to judge them, but they did great tonight.

Didn't read the carey quotes, not yet, but I have to concur that the eye test says it's mac...for being the pocket passer hare doesn't have an arm to write home about...and in this offense we know that's not priority.... Out offensive line just manhandled them, you could see it in the patience of the running backs..personally I was hoping they would blow the top off the defense for a couple deep TD passes but why bother when the running game was so purely effective...hurts a bit cause honestly it felt like a half of football, like the 4th preseason game of the bears...we just didn't get a true fight to evaluate our guys...but general feeling walking away from it is that we have raised the bar of talent all around this team...and I like that feeling...time will tell next weekend


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Kickoffs/Field Goals scare me. We need to boot the ball into the end zone against Northwestern. If they start at the 35 or better it will be a cause for concern. I thought Wedel would be better by now.
Mac is the man. I have a little bit of hope we can get a pass rush with 4 people against NU.

Also, did anyone else notice Ryan Graham was dressed? Is he not red shirting?

Ezra (sp?) wow he fit the TLL part 2 advertisement!

Bebe also looked good

Disappointed they didn't give Draco a chance to RS.

Would like to see Maddie be the holder for PTAs and FGs just to get on the field more since he is obviously not the #1 QB

Chad dropped a TD pass.
I like him and TL in the punt return game.

A few odds and ends:

-I got to the Yard just a few minutes before it closed but I think it's going to be great with a few tweaks as noted by others (and with better weather and a better crowd). The Yard is a great idea and welcome addition to the gameday experience.

-Given more live game experience I believe either McIntosh or Hare could do well in this offense as long as the coaches ask them to do what they're good at. Unfortunately there are no more Presby's on the schedule. Given the tough slate of upcoming games I think they need to go with McIntosh as the primary guy and maybe give Hare a series here and there to be ready as the backup. Now watch them start Hare next week.

-On McIntosh's TD pass he let go of it at the 48 and DaRon Brown caught it 7 yards deep in the end zone. That's a pretty nice throw. By the way, every practice I was at DaRon was running by DBs at will. He's going to have a huge year.

-I saw where they mixed Levon Myers and Josh Ruka in with the first team in the first half. That's a great idea and I don't know why more teams don't do that.

-The second half was pretty much entirely garbage time but I did notice Big Ron Brown a few times. He was trucking some guys out there. Actually Terrell Harris had a nice second half too.

-Our offense ran 70 plays IN THE FIRST HALF. Whoa.

-If ever there was a year where we needed an FCS opponent for our first game this was it as we broke in a lot of new guys. Thanks Jiff!

-The biggest questions coming into this season were QB, D-line (especially tackle) and corner. We saw some good things out of all three tonight. The freshman corners are going to take their lumps against tougher competition no question about it, but the D-line can really help them out if they play well.

-We mixed and matched so much on D in the first half I wondered whether some of that was our coaches not wanting to show Northwestern anything.

-Any time you look at the stats and see 11 guys with carries you can probably assume you won that game.

-My only concern coming out of this game was field goal kicking as others have noted. That could bite us down the road.

First off...what sh*tty weather. Ugh...lasted the whole time, but that sucked.

I agree on the QB situation, I don't see how it's anyone other than Mac next Saturday unless there's something HUGE happening in practice that Carey hasn't mentioned and he was hiding it tonight.

Couple other notes that I haven't seen yet:

- I was looking forward to Durante stepping up and looking like Ward...however, he only had 2 tackles. Not a bad thing though, since it was due to the D-line dominating and the LB's cleaning up everything. Boomer, Folliard, and Payton all impressed me...Boomer seems to be the next great NIU story (came here as a long snapper). Santa had a good game as well.

- With the 3 I mentioned above, is this the largest LB crew we've ever had? Fleming looks like a beast as well. Maybe it's just because PC was so small?

- I know they all need to play, but I wanted TLL out of the game as soon as possible, always worried about an injury with him. Although, Saffold looked very good as his back-up, interesting that A. Turner didn't seem to have much sent his way?

- Keith Harris looked like the least impressive back, no shortage of talent there.

- At TE...did Eakes play that much? I mostly saw Maxwell...they ran a few seam routes for the TE, it was there maybe 1-2 times, but not enough space for our QB's to find them.

#1: Hare, despite my skeptic view -- looked Good.
#2: Raining. Hardcore later, see #1.
#3: The Mac (MacIntosh) -- Good QB. He ran Way better than I thought, due to his moves -- passed what I would have thought, which wasn't impressive, but not Bad.
#4: The running game: Who's Stingily? OK. The front line looked Great. They deserve the medal for the game. Great running game -- QBs, everyone. Nice.

Unfortunately, it would have been better playing CMU's team who was a good, winning D1AA team to kick things off -- because you can't base much off the Prezb team. However? NIU looks like they are going to be able to punch it to Toledo very very well this year. Again, speculation. Can't wait to see how things play out.

Keep McIntosh starting, don't hesitate to bring Hare in -- keep it rollin'. Because Real competition is lined up!

(08-28-2014 11:14 PM)timxlydon Wrote:  My thoughts:

QBs
McIntosh looked very comfortable and his TD pass was a monster throw. I think he deserves to start against NU and gives the Huskies the best chance. Hare started off slow, but he made some good plays too. Runs better than I thought and didn't pass as well as I expected. That's not to say I thought he did bad passing. Maddie can run and is athletic, but the boy couldn't throw tonight. The one pass he did complete was incredible and he did that everytime he could probably start. I would have him third on the depth chart but create a special package for him to run out of like Lynch had in 2011.

RBs
Akeem is back, baby! Still runs fast and hits hard. Bouagnon made a lot of progress since last season and is going to be special. I'm happy for him and his 4 TD game. Draco Smith and Keith Harris Jr looked alright. Huff could have been better but I won't hold it against him since he was playing in garbage time.

WRs
I can't say enough good things about Da'Ron. His TD catch was great and I think he is going to have a big year. Tommylee was Tommylee, which is good. Canada (Brescacin) had his TD, but I could have seen more from him. Same can be said about the other guys (Turner, Beebe, Saffold)

TEs
NO TIGHTENDS CAUGHT A PASS! HOW DID WE WIN?

O-Line
Looked good to me. A few sacks, but I don't think that's anything to worry about.


Defense

D-line
They had good pressure and got 3 sacks. Which is good since the Hoses only attempted 18 passes. True Freshman Rajshawn Mosley got a sack and I said to myself "who?". Let's hope we can be pleasantly surprised by the D-line this year.

LBs
Rock Lemon had some nice tackles. Folliard made a few good plays including his fumble recovery. They cleaned up the runs pretty well and didn't really allow any big plays.

DBs
They played well and Smalls had an INT. I don't think I saw enough to judge them, but they did great tonight.

Santa's plays made to plays participated blew away any other backer. I thought he was the best backer; Lemon was very average; Folliard will be good but his play recognition needs improvement. I like Payton better in the Middle than OLB.

How bad was attendance ???

(08-29-2014 06:30 AM)jjprender Wrote:  How bad was attendance ???

Good student attendance, so-so on the west side. I'd guess somewhere around 12K. I left at the half. Came straight from football, got pissed all over, saw us score 35, went home, hooked up the computer, watched the rest warm & dry.

It was Presbyterian. As far as the QBs are concerned, they got live action where they were hit. Daniels looked good and got some real action too. All the new people got a good scrimmage in. Next week Northwestern. This will be a whole different game. NIU did what it had to do. Put up yards and points and defense shut down the other team.

(08-29-2014 07:03 AM)cawoo22 Wrote:  

(08-29-2014 06:30 AM)jjprender Wrote:  How bad was attendance ???

Good student attendance, so-so on the west side. I'd guess somewhere around 12K. I left at the half. Came straight from football, got pissed all over, saw us score 35, went home, hooked up the computer, watched the rest warm & dry.

Yeah, it would have taken a true diehard to stay for the second half of that one. If I still lived in Sycamore I would have watched the second half at home.

(08-29-2014 07:25 AM)7 Wrote:  

(08-29-2014 07:03 AM)cawoo22 Wrote:  

(08-29-2014 06:30 AM)jjprender Wrote:  How bad was attendance ???

Good student attendance, so-so on the west side. I'd guess somewhere around 12K. I left at the half. Came straight from football, got pissed all over, saw us score 35, went home, hooked up the computer, watched the rest warm & dry.

Yeah, it would have taken a true diehard to stay for the second half of that one. If I still lived in Sycamore I would have watched the second half at home.

I saw a couple of "Die Hards" from this board on TV late in the game. They looked wet but seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Had the game on the phone while I was working a pointless jags preseason game so didn't see much. But whenever I looked up, just saw the OL dominate. Saw more of Mac than Hare, and maybe 1 or 2 plays of Maddie.

Maddie was my guy in the summer, but definitely 100% more comfortable going with Mac next week. Slow day at work, guess I'll rewatch the game.