All the “moral victories” in the world cannot make up for the pain of defeat.
For the young and developing Washington University football team, it is important to take steps and make progress in every game. Both the offense and the defense took major steps in their game against the University of Illinois-Wesleyan this past weekend at Bloomington, Illinois. Unfortunately, their efforts were not enough as WU suffered another heartbreaking 31-24 loss in overtime.
In a game which the Bears felt they dominated and should have won, Illinois-Wesleyan played inspired football in order to come back and force overtime.
After scoring the go-ahead touchdown on a 21-yard touchdown pass from freshman QB Nathan Szep to freshman WR Brad Duesing with just over a minute to play, the Bears seemed to have the game all wrapped up. The Bears defense could not produce a stop, however and the Titans came right back and scored as time expired to send the game into overtime.
“It was a great football game, we just couldn’t put it away,” said head coach Larry Kindbom. “Despite the loss, it was a still a major step for us to be so competitive against a very good football team.”
On paper, the Bears did appear to dominate throughout the game. They gained over a hundred more yards than the Titans and averaged more than five yards per play. The Bears also held their opponent to less than four yards a carry and picked off the opposing quarterback twice.
As was the case last week, it was the special teams that came back to haunt WU. A missed extra point and a missed field goal both contributed to the Bears inability to put the game away.
“The defense did a great job of shutting down the run, which is something that has progressed faster than I expected, but we must improve our kicking game,” said Kindbom. “We just haven’t found the right chemistry in that area.”
Kindbom reiterated how tough it is to lose a game that he felt the Bears dominated, but there were also plenty of bright spots for the young team.
The play of Szep continues to impress the coaching staff as the players have begun to rally around him. He completed 29 of the 50 passes he threw against the Titans, for just under 300 yards.
“Nathan played really well, he made big plays, he converted fourth downs and took us down the field when we needed him to,” said Kindbom. “He has continued to make good decisions and look solid. Hopefully he’ll continue to raise the level of his game next week.”
On the receiving end of those completions was Duesing, who had a terrific day with nine receptions and 122 yards receiving to go along with his two touchdowns.
“Brad Duesing had a heck of a football game. What was great about his football game wasn’t the number of catches or the number of yards, because I think all our receivers have the capability of doing that. Brad made one really clutch catch on a fourth down play, and the two people he made the catch between were an All-American and a guy we thought was the best player on their team. And then, later in the game, he turned a five yard play into a 14 yard gain, and he also had two decleaters, so he’s been blocking well, too. [Jeff] Beuning, [Eric] Catto, [Blake] Westra, that whole group of wide receivers stepped it up and played really well,” said Kindbom.
As far as bouncing back after a tough loss, Kindbom did not seem too concerned.
“I was excited about the way we came out and played, we continued to take steps and we continued to get better,” said Kindbom.
In a developing year, Kindbom stressed that the team’s mentality is to forget about who they are playing and simply try to play up to their own standards.
In order to improve and start winning these close games, WU must continue to gel and take steps towards becoming a more complete football team.
The next step will be Saturday night as the Bears host the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology at 7:00 p.m. on Francis Field.