Last week, Charlie Sadler was talking about how he and his coaching staff were coping with Northern Illinois` slow start.
”I speak for every coach in America,” he began. ”Every loss is hard on you. So much effort is put into it. With each loss, a little part of you dies.”
When Sadler walked off the Rubber Bowl field Saturday in Akron, he had never experienced a tougher defeat in his first year as a head coach. His Huskies (1-7) dropped their sixth straight, 17-7 to Akron, and they did it the way they`ve done it all season-with a combination of mistakes and injuries.
A Brian Cotton fumble recovery was nullified by an NIU offsides penalty, and Akron scored on the next play. On the ensuing kickoff, NIU`s Eddie Davis fumbled, the Zips recovered and scored four plays later.
”With our offensive output, we can`t give anyone two touchdowns,” said Sadler. ”We had some nice runs; no game-breakers. We were a step away.”
And perhaps a player away from making Saturday`s game interesting. That player could have been wide receiver Larry Wynn, who was out with an ankle injury suffered in practice last week.
”I thought we could throw more, and then all of a sudden our best receiver is gone for the game,” said Sadler, who also watched linebacker Elroy Glover leave Akron on crutches as did safety Jeff Geary. Starting cornerback Rich Favor also was hurt.
”We`re a decimated football team.”
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And one that has a quarterback battle brewing. Sadler pulled starter Stacey McKinney in the second quarter, and backup Rob Rugai engineered the Huskies` lone scoring drive, capped by a 5-yard TD pass to William Patrick. Rugai finished with a team-high 52 yards on 12 carries and completed 8 of 15 passes for 62 yards.
”We decided to make the change to get some offense generated,” said Sadler, whose club returns home Saturday to play winless Southwestern Louisiana. ”We did get seven points, but seven points is not enough.”