The cry of a young Purdue fan in the press box summed up the game between Northwestern and Purdue better than any analysis could: “Another fuuumble?”
It seemed as if the Boilermakers were playing football with a boiling-hot potato instead of the traditional pigskin. They turned the ball over six times in the game, with all but one coming on fumbles.
Rule number one of football: Take care of the football. Turnovers lead to short fields for the opposing offense. Even though Purdue’s defense did an admirable job of holding the NU offense to field goals, those are free points.
The Boilermakers’ sudden butterfingers came after it looked like the Wildcats would be the team committing football’s cardinal sin. Freshman running back Arby Fields lost the ball on NU’s first play of the game, which set up a five-play, 34-yard drive that resulted in a Purdue touchdown.
Either way, this game was as ugly as the heaps of trash left on the field after the game. Both teams had issues. So both teams need to head into practice this week and shore up their basics, because this type of effort won’t cut it against mid- to top-tier Big Ten teams.
“We’ve been right in it, right until the end,” Purdue coach Danny Hope said. “It has been the same story every week. We make some errors and they cost us the game.”
Hope may as well have been speaking about the Cats’ recent struggles. Costly turnovers lost them their games against Syracuse and Minnesota. This week, Purdue bailed out NU with more hand-outs than Barack Obama’s stimulus package.
Despite Purdue’s fumbles, it looked like the hole the Cats dug themselves into would be too deep. Tackling remained an issue, as Ralph Bolden broke tackles on all levels of the defense, and Aaron Valentin shrugged off Sherrick McManis and stiff-armed Brad Phillips en route to a 67-yard touchdown reception.
Rule number two of football: Bring the opponent down on the first hit. Drop your hips, drive your legs and use your upper body to deliver a blow. A few extra yards after broken tackles add up and keep drives alive.
“Man, we’ve just got to tackle,” Pat Fitzgerald said. “I mean it’s just ridiculous. If you play on defense, your number one job is to find the ball and destroy it.”
To pull a reverse Dennis Green, this year’s team is not who we thought they were. Fitz preaches fundamentals consistently, and yet for some reason his teachings are not translating onto the field. While the technical aspects of fundamentals can be practiced, the mental aspect is something the players must learn on their own. This “want to” seems to appear in the NU defense once it finds itself in a deep hole. The Cats should want to avoid being in a hole in the first place.
Another rule of thumb in football: Field goals are nice, but touchdowns win football games. It doesn’t take a math major to know one touchdown trumps two field goals. NU managed to win the game despite having to settle for field goals off turnovers and kicking a field goal after being stopped three straight times at the goal line. Fitz specifically mentioned that he will be looking for the reasons why those field goals were not touchdowns when he looks at tape this week.
NU turned the ball over early, still had tackling troubles, and settled for field goals instead of touchdowns. And yet, the Cats won the game. Finishing had been an issue in the past two losses, but the defense held firm on fourth-and-goal to preserve the win.
So it boils down to this: Fitz’s squad squeaked out a victory on the road in a must-win game. Kudos for that. But the fundamentals that Captain Cat prides himself on need tremendous improvement if NU plans on making a strong bowl bid. Making strides against Miami (Ohio) next weekend would not just be a good first step; it is an essential one.
Going into the final stretch of Big Ten play at 4-2 is much better than 3-3. But before getting ahead of themselves, the Cats need to fix up the little things. It’s just fundamental.
