The Observer, October 20, 2006
Volume XXXIX, Issue 8
Spartans waste opportunities in homecoming loss against CMU
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It is bad enough when a team is flat-out beaten by its opponent, but it is even more frustrating when it beats itself.
That is what happened last week, particularly in the second half, in Case's 20-10 loss to Carnegie Mellon in the annual homecoming football game. The Spartans had multiple opportunities to score in the fourth quarter but could only score one touchdown. Two fumbles, two interceptions, and several dropped passes helped derail a Case comeback bid.
"The drops were very frustrating. We don't expect that out of our experienced guys," said coach Greg Debeljak. Indeed, the receiving corps, led by seniors Joe Brenner, Josh Dudek, and Matt Skolnicki, has been very reliable all season but struggled to hang on to the ball against CMU. Brenner, though, did score Case's lone touchdown and hauled in nine catches for 133 yards.
The Tartans did not have to worry much about catching the ball as their running game appeared as good as advertised. Travis Sivek and Robert Gimson combined for 196 of CMU's 205 rushing yards, and many of those came on CMU's opening drive. The drive consisted of 19 plays and spanned 89 yards over nine minutes of play. Sivek ran for a one-yard touchdown on fourth down to complete it.
After that opening drive, it appeared as though the Case defense was in for a very long day. However, the Spartans did a better job of controlling the run the rest of the way.
"After their first drive, we did a good job stopping their rush," Debeljak said. "Unfortunately, we stopped ourselves on offense when we had opportunities. We didn't get physically handled, we just stopped ourselves."
The first of those opportunities in the second half came in the middle of the third quarter. After a CMU touchdown, Bobby Bott returned the ensuing kickoff 42 yards to the Case 48-yard line. Quarterback Angelo Mirando then connected with Brenner on three separate passes for first downs to bring the ball down to the CMU 7 yard line. However, the drive stalled from there as Mirando could not complete another pass.
Case had another scoring chance early in the fourth quarter after John Tiemeier blocked a CMU punt. Case recovered at the CMU 26, but two plays later, the Tartans' Kevin Mulkern intercepted a Dan Whalen pass and returned it 60 yards to the Case 32 yard line. On the very next play, though, Tiemeier made another great play by intercepting a pass of his own. Whalen then drove Case into CMU territory before throwing another interception.
Despite the interceptions, Whalen sparked an offense that was relatively lethargic throughout much of the game.
"Dan with his arm strength can get the ball there just a little bit quicker," Debeljak said. "He definitely brings something to the table that teams have to watch out for."
Whalen used that arm strength on a pass to Brenner for a 42-yard touchdown on Case's next possession with 5:51 remaining. At that point, though, the game clock became the Spartans' biggest enemy. The Spartan defense did its part by forcing CMU to punt quickly after the Brenner touchdown, but four straight incomplete passes on the ensuing possession ended any hope for Case.
The Spartans will look to get back on the winning track when they fly to St. Louis today for a 1 p.m. kickoff tomorrow against Washington University of St. Louis. After playing the tough defenses of Ursinus and Carnegie Mellon the last two weeks, the Case offense is in for another challenge tomorrow.
"They are very fast on defense," Debeljak said. "Their front seven are real athletic. We'll need to take advantage of our size and not give them room to maneuver. We'll need to be more balanced. They have an excellent pass rush, so we'll need to make quick passes."
The Spartans will be looking to break a 15-game losing streak against the Bears. After the trip, Case will return home to host the University of Chicago on Oct. 28 in the team's final UAA game this season.
