By Evans Erilus
NEWARK, Del. – It took nearly 14 quarters, but the Huskies finally ran out of gas on Saturday… literally.
Northeastern (4-1, 2-1 Atlantic-10) suffered its first loss of the season, falling to league adversary University of Delaware (3-3, 1-2 A-10), 27-10 on homecoming weekend at Tubby Raymond Field.
Jumping out to a 10-0 lead early in the second quarter, the visitors allowed Delaware to score 27 unanswered points the rest of the way, much to the delight of the 21,043 in attendance. NU’s ineptitude on the offensive side of the ball left an exhausted Husky defense on the field for 90 plays against the Blue Hens no-huddle offensive attack.
“We played Northeastern-style football in the first half,” head coach Don Brown said. “The [48] plays on defense [in the half] took their toll. We’re not very big [upfront], we’re speed guys. Their offensive line wore us down a lot.”
Trailing 10-7 at the break after Hens’ QB Andy Hall was stopped by NU defensive tackle James Abosi on the 2-yard line, the Hens exploded for 20 points in the half. A Tyler Grogan punt put Delaware on the Northeastern 46, eventually leading to a 31-yard field goal by Scott Collins, tying the game at 10 early in the third quarter.
A 22-yard Grogan kick put UD at the Northeastern 44. After stopping the Blue Hens on three straight plays, Delaware’s Sean Bleiler ran for 24 yards on a punt fake. Hall concluded the drive with a 1-yard dive, and a Collins kick made the score 17-10.
“The fake punt, that was a big play,” said Brown. “We had stopped them stopped and we’re ready to get the ball back. We were in ‘fake.’ We were defending the fake. So I’m not real happy about that.”
The hosts padded their scoring with Collins’ second field goal, a 37-yard kick with 4:34 left in the quarter. The Hens final score came early in the fourth when running back Keith Burnell plunged in for score on a 1-yard dive play. Collins final extra point ended the scoring with 14:37 remaining in the game.
Northeastern punted after three plays six times on the afternoon, and had nine punts on the day.
Delaware head coach K.C. Keeler also employed two and three tight end sets to neutralize a Husky pass rush that had generated 15 sacks in its first four contests. Hall and Burnell were the largest beneficiaries. Hall had 283 yards of total offense (211 pass, 72 rushing), throwing one touchdown pass and rushing for another. Burnell (31 rushes, 81 yards) only averaged 2.6 yards a carry, but scored a touchdown. The Hens’ offensive line allowed only one sack on the afternoon.
“I was tired of telling this team they had played hard,” said Keeler. “I just told them, ‘We need to get a win.'”
Things started off well for the Huskies, as they scored on a five-play, 65-yard drive that concluded with a William Griffin reception on a swing pass from sophomore quarterback Shawn Brady. Griffin started with a nice shake move at the beginning, and followed his blocks to the endzone. A Miro Kesic extra point made the score 7-0 with 11:34 remaining.
Delaware advanced to the 50 after a Husky punt, and elected to go for it on fourth down. Hall’s pass would fall incomplete, and NU would drive down the field once more. A 17-yard burst by Tim Gale put Northeastern at the 10, but three goal-to-go plays netted them only three yards. NU would settle for a 24-yard Kesic field goal on the first play of the second quarter for their last points on the day.
Delaware scored in the second quarter after Hall connected on a five-yard pass to Antwan Jenkins.
Brady completed 6 of 17 passes for 66 yards, throwing a touchdown and an interception. However, he completed only three of 10 passes for 27 yards after the second quarter, and was subsequently benched in favor of backup quarterback Sean Cassidy.
“The bottom line is throwing and catching,” Brady said. “That has been our biggest [concern] on offense.”
Brown says the inexperience on offense was a factor in some of the offensive struggles.
“We got nothing out of our offense in second half. We had too many drops, and committed too many penalties. We have a very young offense,” he said.
Northeastern entered the game ranked 20th in the nation in rushing average (207 yards), but was held to only 109 yards on Saturday. Delaware countered with 216 yards on the ground against the nation’s top rushing defense.
Sophomore linebacker Liam Ezekiel, who had a career-high 22 tackles, commented on the Georgia Tech transfer’s performance.
“[Hall] got out of the pocket, and ran around a little bit,” he said.
When asked if Hall’s elusiveness affected the defense, Ezekiel replied, “Yeah, a little bit.”
Still, Brown was more upset with the team’s play on special teams, noting that “field position killed us, especially in the third quarter.” NU also had trouble converting first downs, evidenced by their 2 of 14 success rate on third down. UD, in comparison, completed 12 of 22 chances.
Despite his own difficulties, Brown commended Delaware’s performance against the Husky attack.
“I think [Delaware] is really good on defense,” he said. “They have size up front, and their four down lineman are really exceptional.
“They just wanted it more than we did.”
NOTES: The Huskies fell to 0-5 all-time at Delaware Stadium… Delaware’s victory over Northeastern puts them at 9-1 all time versus the Huskies… Associate Athletic Director Jack Grinold worked his 400th straight football game, covering a span of 41 seasons… The game was the 1000th in Delaware’s history.
