I'm not exactly sure when or where the season took a wrong turn for the Northern Illinois Huskies, but I am sure when and where it went wrong for the Huskie fans. It was September 6th in Evanston, IL. That's the day NIU triumphed over B1G foe and theoretical interstate rival Northwestern.

That win put the idea into Huskie fans that this year was going to be like the last couple. Another B1G team conquered, business as usual for our beloved dogs. That this team has reached the level of reloading, not rebuilding.

Most NIU fans came into this season believing this should be a transition year. A new quarterback, an almost entirely new defense, and no super star leader to lean on. But with that win versus the Wildcats I think those magical feelings from the last couple years started welling up again. Even if we lost to Arkansas, we can surely run the MAC table if we beat Toledo, go 11-1 and get ranked.

Those feelings have since come crashing back down. Narrow wins over bad teams like UNLV and Kent State, as well as getting stomped by a decent CMU squad, shows that the Northwestern win was the anomaly. Optimism has turned into pessimism. No, even worse than that, fear and anxiety.

As fans tend to do, we get too high for big wins, and too low for bad losses. If NIU fans just go back to their preseason expectations they had for this year I think some of that disappointment will be eased. At least for this season. The problem now is that there are concerns about the program's direction after this year. The big picture that was so clear before, has now turned fuzzy.

Defensively, things still look positive. There's talent all over the defensive side of the ball. It's young talent, but good talent, that needs some time to grow as a unit. Yes they played poorly against CMU. Erratic play is a sign of youth. With experience will come consistency.

Offensively, things are a mess. We have skilled players on offense, but it's just not working. Why?

The real concern is now moving away from the players on the field and over to head coach Rod Carey. Is he the right man for the job? Can he lead? Can he make a game plan? Can he give his team an identity? Can he make tactical in-game decisions now that he doesn't have Jordan Lynch to fall back on? These are all fair questions that we don't have answers to as of yet. And the most important question right now might be, can he rebuild the offense?

If Carey is going to prove he can save the offense, it's all going to start with putting the right QB under center. The guy he's chosen to do that with up until now is Drew Hare. So far it hasn't worked out. We have as many questions about Hare as we do about Carey. Is he a good QB running the wrong style offense, or is he just a so-so QB who is not the future for NIU?

If Carey is going to put his reputation on the line, I'm not sure Hare is the one he should hang it on. I mentioned it last week and I'll expound on it this week - The combination of Drew Hare and Rod Carey is not a successful formula. These two working together seem to bring out the worst in each others performance. They go together like Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown.

Both guys lack experience at their respective positions. So it's not impossible that they find the answer their both looking for. If we remind ourselves it really is a transition year, we have to take our lumps now. They'll both have growing pains as they learn through game experience. The kind of learning you can't get playing spring ball and at practice. But for their future's sake, If they are going to stick together, they had better find a way to make each other look good.

Carey is only in his second season as a head coach. Last year he had everything handed to him on a platter. Lucky him. This year he has had a hell of a situation to deal with. We focus on the QB issue, but he's had decisions on both sides of the ball to make. The pressure was really put on him, and if he fails at any decisions, the one he absolutely can't fail at is getting the right QB under center.

I don't think Hare is the right QB. At least not how Carey uses him. I think at this point every Huskies fan can see this. Even ESPN3 game announcer Bob Chmiel alluded to it during the telecast - "they need to hit some of the intermediate routes and get yards after the catch". He went on to say - "it's been either one extreme or the other. Runs up the middle or try going down town with the ball". The next play after he said that, Hare completed a 15 yard pass to Da'ron Brown and he extolled the positives of such a play.

On Northern's opening drive, Hare completed passes of 30, nine and 20 yards on the way to NIU's easiest touchdown of the day. Hare completed only four more passes of intermediate length the rest of the day. Two of those came late in the fourth quarter when the game was out of hand.

The game was a blow out and it felt like NIU didn't belong on the field with CMU at times. But CMU doesn't have more talent than NIU. They just know exactly where to be defensively because NIU's offense can't keep defenses off balance like it used to.

CMU looked to be run blitzing often, leaving the secondary on it's own in pass coverage. They can do this because NIU doesn't throw behind the linebackers, and in front of the safeties. The corners and safeties don't have to bite on the first move. An out and up is really just an up to the CMU secondary. The out part is just a waste of time and gives the pass rush an extra second to pressure the QB.

Tony Annese looks like a really good player. He looked like a great player Saturday. Annese has nowhere the speed of Brown, but Brown wore him like underarmor all day because Annese and CMU scouted the Huskie's offense so well.

If Rod Carey is the NIU coach going forward, then we have to give him this year to get things right. But he's going to need to show he can adjust and improve. Right now he doesn't appear to be doing those things. But he has some time to learn to. I realize people don't want a coach learning on the job, but NIU is not Alabama. They can't go out and get a well seasoned, proven coach. Not one that will stick around and see the job through.





I've accepted the fact that this may be a 8-4 or maybe even 7-5 season. And I'm okay with that, as long as I see Carey has a plan for this team and can execute it. Getting the offense right, with the right QB, would be a good place to start.