Northeastern entered Saturday’s matchup with fifth-ranked Villanova averaging more than 50 points a game. After getting stifled on offense and held to under 300 yards, the football team lost 28-7 to the Wildcats, and the Huskies fell from No. 4 in The Sports Network poll to the 10th spot.
“The disappointing thing for us is we didn’t get it done on offense,” coach Don Brown said. “We’ve been pretty damn good the last four weeks on offense. Defensively, we need to be better in the fourth quarter. And penalties killed us. When you’re going against a good offense you can’t be your own worst enemy by taking penalties and I think we were on Saturday.”
Despite losing to the now third-ranked Wildcats, the football team is taking solace in the fact that the score was not indicative of the contest.
On Northeastern’s third drive of the game, Husky runner Anthony Riley seemed to be barreling down for a trip to the end zone with less than a minute to go in the opening frame. A Villanova defender flew in and rammed the ball out of Riley’s hands, however, just a yard from the goal line.
After ‘Nova fell on the loose ball at the four-yard line, quarterback Joe Casamento and the Wildcats orchestrated a nine-play, 96-yard drive that ate over three and a half minutes off the game clock and gave Villanova a 7-0 advantage.
Then, after the Huskies knotted the score with a 13-yard Peter Harris touchdown jolt, it appeared as though the teams would trot into the half with the score tied.
However, with just six-seconds left in the first half, ‘Nova struck again. Wildcat Terry Butler tipped the bomb off a couple of Northeastern defenders on a Hail Mary from 39 yards out, before it finally settled in the arms of Curtis Waltman for a highlight reel touchdown grab.
“I don’t know what else could’ve gone wrong for us,” Brown said. “In reality, I don’t think anything could have gone worse for us in the first half.
NU started a number of fresh faces on defense. Mike Hall, EJ Jackson and Brandon Cook all started due to first-string injuries.
“We were really happy with EJ’s play,” Brown said. “We thought that was a real bright spot for us. He had a sack, an interception and five tackles. He’s definitely earned more playing time.”
Anthony Nolen also played well for the Huskies at safety. The senior recorded a career-high 11 tackles in addition to blocking a field goal and even made a key catch off of a fake punt to set up Northeastern’s first score.
“He’s been playing really well,” Brown said. “We’re excited about the contributions he’s been making and we’ve tried to put him in that strong safety position to get him around the ball a little more than that’s been a good thing.”
Saturday the Huskies head to Harvard Stadium for a rematch of last year’s thrilling 17-14 contest. Kickoff is at 1 p.m.
“We’ve just got to bounce back. We’ve got really high character kids and we had one of the best practices of the year tonight,” Brown said after Tuesday’s practice. “I think we were down Sunday, but we’re champions and champions bounce back and make a statement. Obviously this will be a big game for us that we need to win.”
Last year marked the first time the Huskies have ever beaten the Crimson.
The game will be broadcast on Fox Sports New England.
