CSNbbs

Defense shines in loss to Iowa
http://www.daily-chronicle.com/articles/...orts03.txt

Sep 02, 2007
By Bobby Narang - Staff Writer

Quote:CHICAGO - A moral victory isn't a consolation for most mid-major teams.

And for Northern Illinois, a team with a resume filled with victories over BCS opponents, the pain from losing 16-3 to Iowa Saturday afternoon won't be easy to swallow.

The Huskies fell short in claiming their second-ever victory over a Big Ten team. Overall, the loss did answer some questions hovering over the team during the preseason.

The defense showed signs of carrying a young Huskie offense through some tough waters. Starting in his second career game - both against NIU - Iowa sophomore quarterback Jake Christensen struggled for most of the afternoon. The left-hander completed two of his first nine passes, as Iowa ended the first quarter with 30 total yards.

Bothered by an athletic and aggressive Huskie defense, Christensen didn't find his rhythm until Iowa established its running game late in the contest. He lacked touch on some of his early passes and missed receivers by several yards. The Iowa receivers and tight ends hurt the young quarterback by dropping nine passes.

“The drops by the receivers did not help, but he did miss some reads,” said Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz. “He will really improve over the coming month. He managed the team and the game well.”

The Huskie defense, in a change from past seasons, did their job. They held Iowa's running game under control for the first half. Led by Albert Young's 74 yards, the Hawkeyes accumulated 94 first-half rushing yards. A 23-yard run by Damian Sims did most of the damage.

The Huskies forced the Hawkeyes into several long third down situations. The Hawkeyes converted one of seven third-down tries in the first half. Eventually, Iowa resolved its running game problems, but never got on track on third downs (2-of-14).

“We had good coverage and got heat on the quarterback,” said defensive end Larry English.

The Hawkeyes won the game, but didn't play like a top-caliber Big Ten team. Filled with an underclassmen-dominated roster, the Huskies gave the Hawkeyes a tougher-than-expected opener.

Iowa's offense was on life support until wide receiver James Cleveland hauled in a 40-yard catch early in the second quarter. Before the reception, the Huskies limited Iowa to 78 yards of total offense.

In the second half, the Hawkeyes steamrolled over a tired Huskie defense. Offensively, the Huskies weren't able to take any time off the clock, leading to the defense spending most of the second half on the field.

“They were out there too long, we didn't put them in better situations,” said wide receiver Britt Davis. “It's very frustrating, we had plays and we didn't execute as an offense.”

Young rushed for a team-high 144 yards and Sims compiled 110 yards. It was the first time in two years that Iowa had two runners with over 100 yards in the same game.

English said not stopping the run led to the loss.

“The defense had its up and downs today,” English said. “Iowa just found a play that was working for them and we kept trying to make adjustments. Our biggest goal today was to stop the run. We were in the place to make plays and we just didn't make them.”

People will rip this article and our defense, but they are wrong. The defense was just outstanding in the 1st and 3rd quarters and against the pass was great all day. They also only gave up 16 points. The one problem was the defense got tired in the 2nd and 4th quarters, and thus gave up a lot of big runs to Iowa's large OL and 2 star RB's. Why were they tired? Because they were on the field all game thanks to the offense. If we hold a team to 16 points, 2 for 14 on third down, and 12 for 29 passing, we should win. End of story.

yep. there were plenty of good signs and several not so good signs re: remainder of this season.

I'm more optimitistic now than before the Iowa game. I feared a blowout suspecting and posting we would likely generate too little O to rest the D enuff.

D made me a believer.

O is a greater concern to me than I had anticipated.

He who controls the line of scrimmage is most likely to win and that was definately true yesterday - despite a valiant effort by D.

Yeah, the other thing to keep in mind was one of Iowa's TD's was a 20 yard drive after 2 missed tackles on a punt coverage.

NIUHuskies86 Wrote:Yeah, the other thing to keep in mind was one of Iowa's TD's was a 20 yard drive after 2 missed tackles on a punt coverage.

That was Nicholson's fault too.