The Huskies coaching staff had a lot to look at in the game films from the 24-7 loss to Northwestern last Saturday. And they have a lot to work out this week during practice.

“We were our own worst enemy,” head coach Jerry Pettibone said about his team’s loss. “I need to do a good job of motivating the team to realize that we’ve got a good team, we’ve got good players and that the things that happened to us at Northwestern were execution problems that can be corrected.”

The NIU offense was outgained in the total net yards column 377-305 by the Wildcats (1-2), which would suggest a much closer game than the score indicated.

“It was one of those games where we moved the ball up and down the field but never crossed the goal line,” NIU offensive coordinator Mike Summers said. “We haven’t really been faced with that problem in the past. There was just a play here and there that stopped a drive.”

The Huskies (2-3) had two near-scoring drives stopped, one by a fumble on the Wildcats’ 14-yard line and one by a clipping penalty that brought back a 48-yard gain by Stacey Robinson to the NU 1-yard line.

“If we executed better and avoided the costly penalties, we could have won the game,” Pettibone said. “The underlying thing is that I saw a lot of effort out there. I saw players who were playing hard and trying to do their best. That’s the first thing I look for—effort.

“There are a lot of things you can look for in the game films and see where you need to improve. You take the positive things and learn from them and take the negative things and correct them.”

The Wildcats controlled the ball almost twice as long as NIU (38:02-21:58), including a 9:11 drive in the fourth quarter that resulted in a field goal that sealed the victory and ended the NU losing streak at 14 games.

“When you are in a game where each team is driving the ball up and down the field and using up the clock, you have to make each one of them (drives) count, and we didn’t do that,” Summers said. “That’s why we lost the game. We didn’t have a lack of effort or intensity, we just had three or four plays that stopped drives.”

This Saturday (Oct. 6) NIU will host the Bulldogs of Fresno State in Huskie Stadium as their 83rd Homecoming opponent.

“We need to realize that we’ve got a great opportunity this week against a Top-25 team,” Summers said. “A win this week will get us right back on track. The biggest thing we have to do is put last week behind us and not allow that to dribble over into this week.”

The FSU Bulldogs held their 24th ranking in this week’s Associated Press poll, after a 38-3 thrashing of Cal State-Fullerton Saturday.

“We can work hard this week in practice and put together a good game plan and get ready to play a good football team in Fresno State,” Pettibone said. “There’s a lot of motivation for us to go out and get ready for a great game.”

NIU’s loss at Northwestern was their first in three games on ESPN. It was also the fourth loss in five meetings against the Wildcats. In their last meeting in 1987, NIU earned a 16-all tie on a last-minute field goal by John Ivanic.