Apparently the only way Northwestern knows how to play is either to grab an early lead and watch it disappear or to get in a deep hole in the first half and rally for the win. Scratch up another one for the former result.
This time, a 10-3 advantage against the No. 12 team in the country vanished thanks to the scariest moment of Halloween: a leg injury to quarterback Mike Kafka.
Filling in for the quarterback who means more to NU’s offense than Tim Tebow does for Florida’s was sophomore Dan Persa. Uh-oh.
It’s always hard to come off the bench for an injured starter (Kafka last year against Indiana), but Persa showed his inexperience and lack of decision-making ability in full force. Even the man himself admitted as much.
“I need to get better at throwing the ball away and not taking as many sacks,” Persa said.He took four and made getting rid of the ball look dangerous and downright scary. Even if he might have thrown some dumb passes, Persa did not draw up the plays and was not responsible for the porous offensive line. He did his job as best he could, but he was still on the hook for Penn State’s ravishing fourth-quarter comeback.
Failing to muster a first down in the third quarter aside from a penalty helped create fantastic field position for the Nittany Lions, and the play calling didn’t help.
Why, why, why would you throw a six-yard pass on third-and-long against one of the nation’s best defenses? Trusting your receivers for some yards after the catch is insane. Fourth-down and the ball does not travel in the air past the marker? John Madden would be all over the play calling if this was a video game. But it wasn’t.
The Wildcats failed to record a completion that was more than 20 yards, and that was from some nice running by Scott Concannon. The ball was never aired out, even when something dynamic was needed to grab the momentum back from Penn State.And it wasn’t the conditions. Persa said the wind was a non-factor for him.But it was a big problem for Captain Cat.
“You ever catch a ball in a wind like that?” coach Pat Fitzgerald asked the media. I personally haven’t, because I am not a football player, but October was absurdly windy, and I believe the team practices outdoors in said wind.
But that wasn’t the real reason Jeravin Matthews dropped two kickoffs pinning the Cats deep in their territory. Penn State played in the same wind and held on to all their kicks and punts.
“Unforturnately, Jeravin took his eyes off it a couple of times,” Fitzgerald later added.Both of those drives had less than five plays and less than 30 yards. Both ensuing punts led to Penn State touchdowns.
By that point, relying on an inexperienced quarterback to rally his troops from 21 down was farcical. And Persa didn’t prove otherwise by under-throwing Drake Dunsmore to turn the ball over on downs and later fumbling in the red zone to end the game. There were to be no Cardiac Cats.
Once again, a great first-half effort ended in a disappointing loss. With three games left and a bowl game looking more like a mirage, the only positive is the Cats have two games away from the Windy City to make something happen.
Assistant sports editor Brian Regan is a McCormick graduate student. He can be reached at [email protected].
