NIU-Temple

[Dave in Green]

NIU's thorough whipping of UA is more understandable in light of their 31-17 win over Temple today. Who was it who said on this forum that NIU didn't have a passing game? Harnish was 20-25 for 209 yards, 2 TDs and no interceptions. He also rushed for 71 yards, and Spann ran for 100. NIU controlled the ball with almost a 2-1 edge in time of possession. They were 11-16 in 3rd down efficiency and 1-1 in 4th down efficiency. Fairly dominating performance even though only winning by 2 TDs. With this win, NIU is clearly established as the class of the MAC.

[skip-zip]

Of course, I wanted NIU to win so it made us look better. Not that it matters after what happened to us Saturday.

But, did you watch the end of that game? Temple's QB tried to scramble to get a first down on 4th and 10+ yards in the 4th quarter, when he appeared to think it was only 3rd down. He also couldn't convert a 4th and short with a QB sneak in another 4th Q drive.

Temple blew chances to make this a much closer game.

[MDZip]

Since Philadelphia is only about 90 minutes from me, I was looking forward to seeing the Zips play at Temple. Not any more. Think I'll go to the Jon Stewart "Rally to Restore Sanity" instead. That should apply equally well to Zips football.