Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald uses the phrase “putting out the fire” to refer to his defense playing tough and halting the opponent’s momentum.
On Heroes Day at Ryan Field, the Wildcat defense not only failed to put out the fire; it let the fire burn almost all the way to a loss.
The defensive line, a strength of NU’s defense, looked bullied by the Eastern Michigan offensive line. The linebackers, who made plays behind the line of scrimmage in the first half, couldn’t hit the gaps in the second half. And the secondary was exploited once the Eagles’ offense began throwing vertically instead of horizontally.
But it wasn’t the defense that started the fire. Fitzgerald noted several momentum-changing plays that the Cats would have liked to have back on offense and special teams.
“Our inability to not have penalties, to turn the ball over multiple times, put our defense in a tough situation,” Fitzgerald said. “We need to respond to that better, to put the fire out.”
In the second quarter, freshman running back Arby Fields fumbled the ball on the NU 18-yard line, giving the Eagles the ball 12 yards from the goal line. The Cats clawed their way through the Eagles line, getting a sack and forcing a three-and-out and reducing the damage to a field goal.
In the fourth quarter, a bad bounce on a punt gave EMU the ball at NU’s 35-yard line. In four plays, the Eagles drove 35 yards for a touchdown. Later in the quarter, senior quarterback Mike Kafka threw an interception as the Cats were nearing the red zone. Rather than clamping down, the NU defense allowed EMU running back Dwayne Priest to run for 35 yards on the following play. That prompted a nine-play, 79-yard drive that tied the game at 24.
“There was poor execution on our part, and not capitalizing on momentum plays,” Fitzgerald said. “That’s the game of football, it’s a game of momentum. You’ve got to sustain it and use it to your advantage. When you lose it, you have to fight, scratch and claw to get it back.”
Although the Cats try to simulate the atmosphere of a momentum change during practice, senior safety Brendan Smith said the team did not put forth enough intensity in the second half to get the job done.
The defense held up well in the first half following touchdowns by the offense. While Smith said the odds are against the defense in a short field following miscues, he also said it is not an excuse to let up.
“We want to be out there, so if those mistakes happen, that’s part of the game,” Smith said. “We’re here to play defense and we want to be on the field, so it shouldn’t matter whether it’s after a turnover or after a score. We want to be on the field to make plays.”
