http://www.daily-chronicle.com/articles/...orts01.txt

Quote:DeKALB - Northern Illinois University football coach Joe Novak expects Dan Nicholson to start Saturday's game at Wisconsin.

Nicholson, a junior, sat out last week's loss to Western Michigan with a sprained right ankle. Redshirt sophomore Ryan Morris received his first career start, completing 13-of-25 passes for 144 yards.

“I assume Dan's going to start,” Novak said. “He practiced today. He did all the drills. He's not 100 percent, but Danny's our quarterback. I thought Ryan played well and did some positive things. He didn't make many mistakes or throw an interception.”

Morris, a former walk-on, would relish the opportunity to lead the Huskies this Saturday at Wisconsin. He got off a shaky start last week, misfiring on five of his first seven passes before settling down. What bothered Morris the most, other than the loss, was NIU's inability to convert on third downs (1-for-13).

“I think I did some things well, but obviously there is room for improvement,” Morris said. “There was a lot of situations I needed to step up and make plays, especially on third downs. I thought if I made some better reads and throws we could've completed third downs and kept drives going. That might have been the difference in the game.”

Morris graded his performance as a “B-minus or C-plus” and noted all his mistakes in Sunday night's film session.

“You take it with a grain of salt,” he said. “I know I can make those throws. If I get that chance again, I will make those throws. Overall, I think I gave our team a chance to win. I was just sitting in the meeting room Sunday night wishing I had another opportunity to make that play. I guess it all comes down to winning the game. I guess quarterbacks are a pass/fail thing.”

RACING TO 1,000
Sophomore tailback Justin Anderson is closing in on the 1,000-yard plateau. Currently, Northern Illinois and Minnesota are the only FBS schools with a 1,000-yard rusher in each of the last eight years. Oddly, the Huskies and Golden Gophers both own identical 1-6 records, with former NIU standout and running backs coach Thomas Hammock currently coaching Minnesota's running backs.

Anderson leads Northern Illinois with 868 yards rushing and ranks second in pass receptions (30) and receiving yards (202). Barring an injury, Anderson will reach the four-digit mark this month, extending NIU's streak to nine straight years.

The Golden Gophers will need some monster games from either Amir Pinnix or Adam Weber to remain in the exclusive club. Pinnix has rushed 91 times for 528 yards and Weber owns 87 attempts for 357 yards. Anderson said joining NIU's list of consecutive 1,000-yard backs would be a special honor. Right now, Anderson doesn't even know his season totals.

“It would be something great to accomplish,” Anderson said. “I'm a team player and I like winning. I don't even know where I'm at as far as rushing. I'm a team player.”

Anderson is a good friend of former NIU star tailback Garrett Wolfe, who led the nation in rushing last year. Before the season, Anderson told Wolfe he would join him in the 1,000-yard club.

“It would be a blessing to rush for a 1,000 yards,” Anderson said. “I know Garrett. That's my older brother, if you want to call it. I wouldn't know what to say (to him). I would be pretty excited to see my name with those guys, but I'm just trying to put the team in a situation to get a win.”

Anderson received his first start in the third game after starter Montell Clanton was ruled out for the season. His main problem, besides handling a heavy load of carries, has been holding onto the ball. Anderson lost a key third-quarter fumble that Western Michigan quickly turned into the game-winning touchdown.

“During practice (running backs) coach (Chris) Beatty is making the running backs carry the ball all day,” Anderson said. “The whole two hours we have to make sure we got it high and tight and not lose it.”

Anderson is emerging as one of the best tailbacks in the Mid-American Conference. He has rushed for 100-plus yards in five straight games, averaging 157.4 yards during the stretch. The Chicago Steinmetz product is the only running back in the country with four of the top 75 rushing games in the FBS this year.

He ranks ninth in the country in rushing (124.0 ypg), and on pace to break NIU's single-season record for receptions by a running back (43 by Jack Dean in 1963).

Anderson will get to witness one of the premier tailbacks in the country this weekend when the Huskies try to slow down UW's P.J. Hill.

“He's a big back and our defensive backs will have to take a different approach tackling the guy,” Anderson said.

INJURIES

The injury list gained a few members this week. Wide receiver Marcus Perez won't play against the Badgers due to a foot injury. Center Eddie Adamski (shoulder) is questionable. Tight end Reed Cunningham is highly doubtful. Right guard Jason Onyebuagu is nursing an injury, but expected to play. Cornerback Melvin Rice will miss the next two games as part of a three-game suspension.

Overall, 24 players have been injured this year, with 13 starters and 20 players from the two-deep roster missing games.

reason for Rice suspension??

BrRiceNIU Wrote:reason for Rice suspension??

I don't think we know. If I am not mistaken, this is the second week in a row that he has been suspended. Which to me seems like it must be something pretty notable.

saw Rice dressed,standing on bench last saturday(thought it was #2)...??

7 Wrote:I thought Ryan played well and did some positive things. He didn't make many mistakes or throw an interception.”

That's more than can be said about DN, so why isn't Morris starting?

Quote:“I assume Dan's going to start,” Novak said.

How does coach not know who is going to start? Doesn’t he have some sort of say in this?

He's assuming it based on Dan's health. If he's ready to go, which signs are indicating he is, then he'll be the starter.

We could make an all-star team of guys not playing in this game. Check it out:

WR Britt Davis, Marcus Perez
TE Reed Cunningham, Dave Koronkiewicz
OL Eddie Adamski
QB Dan Nicholson (possibly)
RB Montell Clanton
DE Jake Coffman, Anthony Antonacci
DT Craig Rusch, Mike Krause, DJ Pirkle, Adam Schroeder, Zack Holycross
LB Tim McCarthy
CB Melvin Rice (suspended)

That's a pretty good non-team!

Quote:INJURIES

The injury list gained a few members this week. Wide receiver Marcus Perez won't play against the Badgers due to a foot injury.

Jeez, Perez is always injured and it sucks because he's the fastest weapon on offense we have right now. He also brings some respectability back to our KR's when he's back there on special teams as well.

HuskieBowWow Wrote:

7 Wrote:I thought Ryan played well and did some positive things. He didn't make many mistakes or throw an interception.”

That's more than can be said about DN, so why isn't Morris starting?

We should not play Ryan Morris just because he didn't throw an INT. I saw a couple passes that could have been easily INT last weekend, including one that was underthrown and Biggers dropped. If you thought our offense was conservative against WMU with Morris at QB (which i did) then just imagine how much more it would be against Wisconsin. I'll take a balanced offense with a couple mistakes over a conservative offense with no mistakes and rarely scores. We need offense to compete with Wisconsin this weekend. This isn't WMU where our defense can keep us in the game.

epasnoopy Wrote:

HuskieBowWow Wrote:

7 Wrote:I thought Ryan played well and did some positive things. He didn't make many mistakes or throw an interception.”

That's more than can be said about DN, so why isn't Morris starting?

We should not play Ryan Morris just because he didn't throw an INT. I saw a couple passes that could have been easily INT last weekend, including one that was underthrown and Biggers dropped. If you thought our offense was conservative against WMU with Morris at QB (which i did) then just imagine how much more it would be against Wisconsin. I'll take a balanced offense with a couple mistakes over a conservative offense with no mistakes and rarely scores. We need offense to compete with Wisconsin this weekend. This isn't WMU where our defense can keep us in the game.

Ah, like vs. SIU?
And CMU?

Turnovers didn't cost us those games or anything.

Acd for the record, I think Dan starting is probably the right move.

epasnoopy Wrote:

Quote:INJURIES

The injury list gained a few members this week. Wide receiver Marcus Perez won't play against the Badgers due to a foot injury.

Jeez, Perez is always injured and it sucks because he's the fastest weapon on offense we have right now. He also brings some respectability back to our KR's when he's back there on special teams as well.

Perez isn't good.

NIUshelbs Wrote:

Quote:“I assume Dan's going to start,” Novak said.

How does coach not know who is going to start? Doesn’t he have some sort of say in this?

hmmm, it depends on Dan's health, and why tell wisky who to prepare for?

Flames24Rulz Wrote:

epasnoopy Wrote:

Quote:INJURIES

The injury list gained a few members this week. Wide receiver Marcus Perez won't play against the Badgers due to a foot injury.

Jeez, Perez is always injured and it sucks because he's the fastest weapon on offense we have right now. He also brings some respectability back to our KR's when he's back there on special teams as well.

Perez isn't good.

WINNER.

Hasn't been for 3 years now.

Adonis does a fine job returning kicks as well.

7 Wrote:

epasnoopy Wrote:

HuskieBowWow Wrote:

7 Wrote:I thought Ryan played well and did some positive things. He didn't make many mistakes or throw an interception.”

That's more than can be said about DN, so why isn't Morris starting?

We should not play Ryan Morris just because he didn't throw an INT. I saw a couple passes that could have been easily INT last weekend, including one that was underthrown and Biggers dropped. If you thought our offense was conservative against WMU with Morris at QB (which i did) then just imagine how much more it would be against Wisconsin. I'll take a balanced offense with a couple mistakes over a conservative offense with no mistakes and rarely scores. We need offense to compete with Wisconsin this weekend. This isn't WMU where our defense can keep us in the game.

Ah, like vs. SIU?
And CMU?

Turnovers didn't cost us those games or anything.

Acd for the record, I think Dan starting is probably the right move.

But remember, Ryan Morris threw two picks vs. CMU.

Yeah, in real critical spots too. Granted, one of them may have been the worst throw of all time.

There's really no argument in favor of Dan Nicholson right now, just one against Ryan Morris. I don't think either one is any good.

7 Wrote:Yeah, in real critical spots too. Granted, one of them may have been the worst throw of all time.

There's really no argument in favor of Dan Nicholson right now, just one against Ryan Morris. I don't think either one is any good.

Our game vs. CMU had less to do with turnovers on offense and more to do with not scoring when in the redzone. We certainly put up enough offense. Justin Anderson fumbling at the 1-yard line when we were about to score didn't help either.

epasnoopy Wrote:

7 Wrote:Yeah, in real critical spots too. Granted, one of them may have been the worst throw of all time.

There's really no argument in favor of Dan Nicholson right now, just one against Ryan Morris. I don't think either one is any good.

Our game vs. CMU had less to do with turnovers on offense and more to do with not scoring when in the redzone. We certainly put up enough offense. Justin Anderson fumbling at the 1-yard line when we were about to score didn't help either.

We turned it over 6 times.

Good luck winning games like that. Same thing when your starting QB has more INTs then TD.

7 Wrote:

epasnoopy Wrote:

7 Wrote:Yeah, in real critical spots too. Granted, one of them may have been the worst throw of all time.

There's really no argument in favor of Dan Nicholson right now, just one against Ryan Morris. I don't think either one is any good.

Our game vs. CMU had less to do with turnovers on offense and more to do with not scoring when in the redzone. We certainly put up enough offense. Justin Anderson fumbling at the 1-yard line when we were about to score didn't help either.

We turned it over 6 times.

Good luck winning games like that. Same thing when your starting QB has more INTs then TD.

And only two of those were Nicholson's fault. The other four were because of other players. I know we like to bash Nicholson around here, but we didn't lose the game because of him. The only game you can really blame on him was the SIU game and even that game required a lot of luck (onside kick recovery, multiple tipped passes, etc.) for SIU to win.

calvin12 Wrote:

NIUshelbs Wrote:

Quote:“I assume Dan's going to start,” Novak said.

How does coach not know who is going to start? Doesn’t he have some sort of say in this?

hmmm, it depends on Dan's health, and why tell wisky who to prepare for?

I don't think Wisconsin is going to prepare any differently whether Nicholson is QB or Morris is. NIU still runs the same basic offense and neither is any threat to take off and run.

I would expect if Morris plays QB they'll roll the safeties up to stop the run and leave the corners on an island in man coverage on mediocre receivers, but I'm not sure they wouldn't do that anyway if Nicholson starts. Nicholson might at least make them more hesitant to do it, since he has arm strength Morris doesn't, but I wouldn't expect what Wisconsin tries to do on defense Saturday would shift greatly depending on which QB starts for the Huskies.