Every offense begins with and depends on its line. Run or pass, the offensive line must crack the hole for the running back and protect the quarterback from defensive ends.
As well as it had handled opposing defenses for the past three weeks, the Northwestern offensive line dug its own grave in Saturday’s 41-28 loss to Purdue. Of the Wildcats’ 12 penalties, five were thrown at the offensive line for a total of 45 yards.
“Our game is such a fine line between success and failure — between being successful at (pass protection) and not,” coach Randy Walker said. “All of a sudden, you get a couple of (holding penalties) or you get some things called, and it takes your edge a little bit. And that’s all it takes.”
In its first two drives, the NU offensive cruised to two touchdowns. There were no flags and a 14-7 lead after the first quarter.
But from then on, Purdue hit the gaps in the line and, subsequently, NU tailback Damien Anderson and quarterback Zak Kustok. The NU line appeared confused by Purdue’s defense, which moved faster and constantly chased Kustok.
The result was Anderson, who came into Saturday averaging 175 yards per game as the nation’s third-leading rusher, being limited to 55 yards on 17 carries.
Purdue’s defense stuffed Anderson four times behind the line of scrimmage for a total of 14 yards. On a third-and-1 at Purdue’s 38 in the second quarter, Anderson was shoved back three yards by Purdue defensive end Matt Mitrione.
“I’m most surprised that we, as an offensive line and as an offense, didn’t adjust as well as we had because every team we had played this year tried to do something to stop our run,” NU center Austin King said. “Before today, five out of six times, we had an answer for it and we adjusted and made plays on it. Today, it didn’t happen.”
Prior to Saturday, the NU offensive line had given up just 12 sacks in six games. But Kustok was sacked four times for a total of 29 yards and backup Matt Danielson was sacked three times in relief.
On one drive in the second quarter, Kustok was sacked for a 10-yard loss, the offensive line was penalized for two false starts in a row, and Kustok got sacked again for a six-yard loss.
And the quarterback was the first to sense the speed of the Purdue line and the lack of execution by his linemen.
“I felt the pressure coming, felt like I had to step out of the pocket,” Kustok said. “I tried not to look at the rush, but at times, I did feel people coming up field and I had to step out and that took away some of my vision.”
For the first time this season, NU struggled with its no-huddle spread offense. Purdue had exceedingly less trouble reading the Cats’ running routes and the option.
“The speed of the no-huddle is what you’ve got to get used to,” Purdue defensive coordinator Brock Spack said. “It’s hard to simulate in practice, but their no-huddle didn’t really affect us.”
The NU offensive line also negated two long pass conversions. When Kustok completed a middle route to Kunle Patrick for 40 yards, left tackle Leon Brockmeier was flagged for a personal foul on the same play. The penalty pushed the ball back 20 yards from the original line of scrimmage, backing up NU from the Purdue 12-yard line to NU’s 28.
Instead of NU cutting into its 34-14 deficit, the Cats were again forced to punt, and the game slipped a little further out of reach.
“It seemed like every time we turned around, we had a sack or a penalty. We were behind the frickin’ sticks all day, ” Walker said. “We had a lot of holds called and a lot of things called inside — boy, it’s just tough.
“I found myself almost thinking today, you know, this isn’t a very good offense behind the chains. Everybody’s saying how great this offense is. It is a good offense when you stay on schedule and keep your tempo going and stay on the attack. We just got out of our rhythm, and all of a sudden, we were on our heels, instead of being on the attack.”
