I'm calling the 99 1/2 yard scoring drive at the beginning of the 4th Quarter the "Championship Drive" for Northern Illinois..... It killed our team and broke their spirits.

It made the game 28-17 and Toledo never responded after that....

Hopefully our young guys will learn from that....

(11-21-2013 08:35 AM)Terry Wrote:  I'm calling the 99 1/2 yard scoring drive at the beginning of the 4th Quarter the "Championship Drive" for Northern Illinois..... It killed our team and broke their spirits.

It made the game 28-17 and Toledo never responded after that....

Hopefully our young guys will learn from that....

Didn't they have a 3rd & 5 from their own 5 to start the drive? Then they got 6 yards for the 1st down. At that point you could tell it was over.

Even if we would have scored with 8 ish minutes to go, we would have kicked off to them. Lynch would have carried the ball on every play for 7 minutes, stayed in bounds, let the clock run, scored or if somehow we made them punt, we'd have less than a minute to got the length of the field. Game was over with 8 minutes to go.

(11-21-2013 08:46 AM)emanoh Wrote:  Even if we would have scored with 8 ish minutes to go, we would have kicked off to them. Lynch would have carried the ball on every play for 7 minutes, stayed in bounds, let the clock run, scored or if somehow we made them put, we'd have less than a minute to got the length of the field. Game was over with 8 minutes to go.

Yep, we only had one time out left. Game was out of reach barring a miracle at that point.

(11-21-2013 08:38 AM)MidnightBlueGold Wrote:  

(11-21-2013 08:35 AM)Terry Wrote:  I'm calling the 99 1/2 yard scoring drive at the beginning of the 4th Quarter the "Championship Drive" for Northern Illinois..... It killed our team and broke their spirits.

It made the game 28-17 and Toledo never responded after that....

Hopefully our young guys will learn from that....

Didn't they have a 3rd & 5 from their own 5 to start the drive? Then they got 6 yards for the 1st down. At that point you could tell it was over.

Correct. On that play Toledo only rushed 3 and put everyone else in coverage 6+ yards off the line. There was nobody between the 3 rushers and the first down marker, so Lynch did what he always does, run.

Toledo ran the same defense earlier in a similar situation (3rd and long) and the exact same thing happened then, a conversion on the ground by Lynch.

Only a fool does the exact same thing and expects a different result. Sigh.

(11-21-2013 09:14 AM)RangerRocket Wrote:  

(11-21-2013 08:46 AM)emanoh Wrote:  Even if we would have scored with 8 ish minutes to go, we would have kicked off to them. Lynch would have carried the ball on every play for 7 minutes, stayed in bounds, let the clock run, scored or if somehow we made them put, we'd have less than a minute to got the length of the field. Game was over with 8 minutes to go.

Yep, we only had one time out left. Game was out of reach barring a miracle at that point.

Wasting those two timeouts in the final 15 seconds of the third quarter was bad.

We all had moments that were "the game". For me it was their constant ability to get to 3rd and 1...that is a good team and Lynch is a great player, Period! Hated the outcome but enjoyed the battle and watching a great game. Go Rockets!

Terry, I agree with you. That 99 yard drive was a championship statement. What concerns me is the coaching and performance in the second half. We could no longer run the ball - the staple of UT's offensive scheme - and we could not stop the Huskies running attack. Florida, Mizzou, no other team ran on the Rockets this year like the Huskies did in the second half. The same thing happened last year. This season the Huskies play at a high level in the second half. My question is why the Rockets were not prepared and did not respond. It is not just "Lynch being a special player"; not putting hands on him is anything but special. Not being able to run the ball in the second half is inexcusable. What do the Huskies do so differently in the second half that allows them to run at will as well as shut down the Rockets offense? I would like Coach Campbell address these two points at length. This is what happened last year. Okay, When it happens again this year with a MACC trip on the line, answers are in order.

No doubt, it was an impressive drive having four third down conversions. Hats off the huskies - better team won last night. It was a great crowd and a great game

(11-21-2013 09:47 AM)Rockets1 Wrote:  No doubt, it was an impressive drive having four third down conversions. Hats off the huskies - better team won last night. It was a great crowd and a great game

Respectfully disagree with the "great game" used to describe last night's affair. The Huskies, I agree, played great. The Rockets had, in my view, the worst outing of the season particularly in the second half. Even when the defense fell off a cliff in the second half of the Bulls game the did respond at some level and the offense continued to play well. Not last night.

The moment of zen for me was when after having already turned the ball over twice, the call was made to have a freshman RB throw a pass on 3rd and goal at the 2, when we had been the top red zone team in the conference without having a freshman RB throw a pass on 3rd and goal at the 2.

With that play the swami of offense play calling opened my mind to a mystic vision of where my car was parked and a celestial voice was telling me, "Get up and go to it."

Seriously, I just about left. If it wasn't for a couple great defensive stops that caused me to think we actually had a chance I would have probably left before the half.

(11-21-2013 09:47 AM)NewMex RocketFan Wrote:  Terry, I agree with you. That 99 yard drive was a championship statement. What concerns me is the coaching and performance in the second half. We could no longer run the ball - the staple of UT's offensive scheme - and we could not stop the Huskies running attack. Florida, Mizzou, no other team ran on the Rockets this year like the Huskies did in the second half. The same thing happened last year. This season the Huskies play at a high level in the second half. My question is why the Rockets were not prepared and did not respond. It is not just "Lynch being a special player"; not putting hands on him is anything but special. Not being able to run the ball in the second half is inexcusable. What do the Huskies do so differently in the second half that allows them to run at will as well as shut down the Rockets offense? I would like Coach Campbell address these two points at length. This is what happened last year. Okay, When it happens again this year with a MACC trip on the line, answers are in order.

I think a lot of times halftime "adjustments" are way overrated. that said, they do happen. This NIU staff, going back to Doeren, has consistently outmaneuvered any and all opposition in the second half. It happens every week (and it's not just this year, either).

I think what you guys saw was one staff thinking two moves ahead of the other one. Now, it helps to have the best player in the conference, obviously. But, as a coach myself, I can tell you that there are a lot of coaches that don't do that. They typically have one adjustment, and often they'll start the game in it. I'm not sophisticated enough about football to think like that, but the OC I work for sure is. He knows what the other team should do in response to what we want to do. Then, he has already worked out what he'll do to counter that. He makes them prove that they're doing what they should do, though, first. Sometimes, they don't, such as adjusting a front to unbalanced or something like that.

Like I said, that's not me, but that's what I've seen the last two weeks for NIU vs two really good coaching staffs in Toledo and Ball St.

By the way, I thought Toledo was excellently prepared for the game. They put a physical beating on NIU like we haven't gotten in a MAC game in years.

Lynch is a great runner. The extra blocker available makes a big difference. Just think if a healthy Flu would have an extra blocker. If I was a recruiter, I would find the fastest, toughest Qb who throws good [not great] I could recruit and run NIU's offense. Just a thought.

Agree with many of you.

-Horrible, horrible play call for our freshman RB throwing it on 3rd and goal on the 2. What the hell was that about?
-2 wasted timeouts in a span of not that long
-That 99 yard drive for niu was a killer

(11-21-2013 04:00 PM)inductchuck16 Wrote:  Agree with many of you.

-Horrible, horrible play call for our freshman RB throwing it on 3rd and goal on the 2. What the hell was that about?
-2 wasted timeouts in a span of not that long
-That 99 yard drive for niu was a killer

used 2 timeouts in the last 14 seconds of the 3rd Quarter. Then ended up punting to end the quarter.......

NIU hasn't won a championship yet!

I like BGSU's chances in a MACC matchup.

(11-21-2013 04:00 PM)inductchuck16 Wrote:  Agree with many of you.

-Horrible, horrible play call for our freshman RB throwing it on 3rd and goal on the 2. What the hell was that about?
-2 wasted timeouts in a span of not that long
-That 99 yard drive for niu was a killer

Atleast Eric Page was a QB and one of the smartest football players we had. I'd trust him doing anything as a freshman.

But Hunt?
Can't teach QB vision of a linebacker jumping a route in a week when you throw in a trick play in practice before the biggest game of the season.

Its real simple. Young team..really , really , really, young coaching staff.
This has shown up more than last night.
Still.. I am proud of our seniors and their leadership.

We have Seniors?

(11-21-2013 11:36 PM)emanoh Wrote:  We have Seniors?

Lots. We'll miss Flu, although Hunt looks awfully good, Kerin, Reedy, Elliot and others. Improvement depends on finding a QB and on coaching. Our defense looks to be pretty solid.