The trash can sitting in the right corner of the end zone isn’t seeing much action. One after the other, footballs rain down in loose spirals, fall to the turf from 30-yard arcs and spike off the ground, where Northwestern football assistants scurry to shag them. None are dropping, just missing the can left and right.

The indoor practice field has emptied out. He’s just waiting while his teammates and coaches jaw with reporters about Saturday’s game. He’ll have to talk, too — he always does. But in the meantime, running back Damien Anderson horses around with the quarterbacks.

Starting signal caller Zak Kustok is taking the snap now, and the balls echo off the walls as they bounce around the end zone. Anderson laughs, takes a ball himself, and heaves one for the corner.

In a way, this image has summed up Anderson’s senior season — out of the spotlight and trying to force the issue.

After skirting by defenses last season, Anderson’s role in NU’s backfield has taken a dramatic turn in 2001. Sure, he gets the ball, but often he becomes a decoy for the Wildcats’ passing game or a sixth blocker for Kustok.

But blocking or running, he’s getting about the same distance downfield.

It’s getting late and those reporters are looking over at him. He drop-steps, lobs another ball for that trash can, and comes close.

He just seems to miss every time.

‘MONSTER STATS’

It’s after last week’s game against Minnesota, and Anderson and wideout Sam Simmons are peering down at the final stats sheet, waiting for reporters to wrap up their questions for Kustok. Simmons’ 191 all-purpose yards after coming back from an injury made him the media’s darling this week. But Anderson has been dragged out, too.

Somebody always wants to hear what he has to say.

The numbers don’t add up.

That afternoon, Anderson had rushed for 86 yards against the Big Ten’s worst defensive line. Last season, he got the ball a dozen more times and burned the Gophers for 230 yards and two touchdowns.

But that was last year, and nothing about this year’s results has surprised him.

“I’m never accumulating how many yards I’m getting or how many the team’s getting,” he said. “You want those 100-yard games, but you’re always happy with the win. Just do better — that’s always my goal. I just want perfection.

Do I think I could be playing better and do I want to rush the ball better? Yes. I mean, let’s be honest. I’m a running back and I want monster stats — who wouldn’t?”

He might not be counting the hash marks as he runs by them, but Anderson knows his stats and what they reflect. After five games, he has totaled 543 yards — a respectable sum, but 215 shy of where he was last year. At this clip, Anderson knows he’ll be fortunate to match the 1,128 yards he racked up in 1999 — when the Cats finished 3-8.

“I don’t want to lose the game,” Anderson said. “I wouldn’t rather have 1,300 yards right now and be 1-4. Let’s be real. I’d rather take what I’m getting. I know I can run the ball — but you have to look at the circumstances and go from there.”

And Anderson isn’t only person who knows his capabilities. Even in a quiet season, Anderson’s blocking and play-faking are as important as his yardage totals.

“I don’t think the scouts look at stats — I think they look at how you play on tape,” NU offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson said. “You can be good with the ball, but how good can you be without it?”

But there are no numbers to quantify a fake, and no trophies for the best blocking tailback in the league. And Wilson knows that stats speak loudly.

“I know Damien wants to play,” he said. “Every running back wants to run it every play. Does he want stats? Yeah. I don’t think he’s selfish. He wants to win. He’s smart. He sees the big picture.”

Anderson, a preseason Heisman favorite, has watched his chances fade — largely because of head coach Randy Walker’s emphasis on passing this year.

“I don’t think D.A. came back for the Heisman Trophy as much as he came back for a successful season and a good team,” Walker said. “And I think every coach in America is trying to build a team and not an individual.

Walker says it’s premature to declare that Anderson’s having a bad season. Walker points out that his runner still ranks fourth among the conference leaders and averages more than 100 yards a game with six games left. But Walker also knows Anderson isn’t having the year that he, or anyone else, expected.

‘a DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD’

No one understands the reasons for this season’s increased emphasis on NU’s passing attack better than Anderson — he’s had to explain it after every game.

“When they’re stacking the line, they’re obviously leaving some things wide open,” Anderson said. “Zak’s going to have some good opportunities to pass the ball — that’s what you have to take. Last year you could say that they were opening up the run for a lot us, and we definitely took advantage of that.

“So right now they’re opening up the pass, and Zak has to take advantage of that. But you still have to run the ball to be effective.”

From the season’s first snap at UNLV on Sept. 7, opposing defenses have been on Anderson’s tail. In that game and in the Cats’ 44-7 rout at Duke the following week, linebackers gang-tackled him throughout the first half. However, he found room to move after the break, pushing his rushing totals to 113 and 189. Coming into NU’s first conference game, another 2,000-plus yard season for Anderson seemed to be in the bag.

But a Michigan State defense that Anderson victimized for 219 yards last season crowded the box, keeping him to a dim 75 for the game. Anderson managed just five more yards than that total in Ohio State’s shellacking of the Cats the next week.

“It’s a double-edged sword to a certain extent because everyone stacking the block against me and I’m not getting those carries or busting those long runs like I want to,” he said. “But we’re winning ballgames. That’s when you have breakout games and you put up a lot of points — when both sides are passing the ball and running the ball.”

Last Saturday looked like Anderson’s best opportunity to skewer an opposing defense. Not only did the Gophers’ defensive line lack significant experience, but also Simmons was back from injury, reuniting with Anderson to form the one-two punch the Cats had been without since playing Duke on Sept. 22.

“They (defenders) get afraid every time (Simmons) gets the ball,” Anderson said. “It makes my job a lot easier.”

And though Simmons had his best performance of the season, Anderson was still unable to find the breakthrough game he had hoped for.

In adjusting from last season, Big Ten teams have learned one sure-fire formula to stopping Anderson, courtesy of the game tape from NU’s devastating loss at the Alamo Bowl.

“We came out last year and sort of surprised a lot of people — Damien surprised a lot of people with his speed and tempo,” second-string running back Kevin Lawrence said. “But they saw how Nebraska played us, so now everybody’s putting seven or eight guys in the box.”

Add to that NU’s selection as the preseason conference favorite — opponents had the Cats circled on the calendar.

“Every team we’ve faced this year, I think we’ve really gotten their best effort,” offensive tackle Mike Souza said. “If you watch the Ohio State game, they came out with a lot of emotion. They played very hard and very physical.

“If you watch the game they played against Wisconsin the next week, they also played hard, but they didn’t look the same. I think we’re definitely a red-letter game for a lot of teams — we’re one team they really want to beat.”

‘student of the game’

Walker has seen this all before.

“All great backs get targeted,” he said. “Everyone I’ve followed from Jimmy Brown to Walter Payton. They try to get an extra guy in the box and that’s nothing new. What we’re going to try to do is make sure we give him the best chance. But by the same token, we have to make sure they stay off of us.”

Walker played running back
in college before serving as a running backs coach. He knows that stuffing the box against a powerful back is as old as the game itself.

The Cats’ offensive schemes require quick responses by opposing defenses. If the defenders step up, Anderson is often left with nowhere to go. Still, like Walker said, it’s nothing new to him.

“I don’t think that we had a passing game in ’99,” Anderson said. “The only thing (defenses) knew we were going to do is rush the ball, so they just stacked the box. Right now we have a passing game, so we’re just taking what’s working.”

And while Walker looks back 10 years to find parallels to the Cats’ rushing predicament, Anderson sees it on Monday Night Football.

“A prime example is Marshall Faulk — they stacked the box against him and I think the Rams threw the ball 16 times Monday night,” Anderson said. “He didn’t get a carry until the end of the first quarter, so I see him going through the same thing I’m going through. I want the ball, but you have to be a student of the game.”

And the year has been a dichotomy for the Cats’ offensive line as well. They lead the Big Ten in total offense, but both their passing and rushing attack fall in the middle of the conference rankings.

However, Anderson’s quiet season hasn’t lost him any respect among teammates.

“I’d like to run the ball as much as we can, but we have to take what the defense gives us,” offensive guard Jeff Roehl said. “I’m not worried about Damien — he’s a great running back, and if we give him a chance, he’ll get as many yards as he needs.”

And how many yards does Anderson need?

Well, he broke defenses for 200 yards in four conference games last season. But he hasn’t gotten there once in 2001. Just how important is it for him to, as Walker says, bust one out the gate?

“A 200-yard game? Shoot, the last couple of weeks, I just wanted a 100-yard game,” Anderson said.

Back on the practice field goofing around, Anderson’s tosses still aren’t quite reaching that trash can in the corner.

He just seems to come up short every time.