Nebraska State University Prairie Dogs

Herron, Defense Propel Prairie Dogs to Title

Game Report Posted: February 01, 2009 18:42  

The Nebraska State defense has stepped up when needed most this season. Herron made sure that in the team's final game, for all the marbles, that wouldn't change.

Herron intercepted Illinois quarterback Holt and forced a fumble that he also recovered to help stymy the Illini offense and help NSU win the school's 10th National Championship in a 17-7 win in New Orleans last night.

Herron, who missed most of last season to injury, laid claim to MVP with five tackles, one for a loss and three pass deflections in addition to his two turnovers recovered.

"It's nice to have this type of game. It doesn't really make up for missing last season, but it's nice to come back for a game like this," said the sophomore middle linebacker.

Herron had plenty of help on the defensive side of the ball. Young blocked two Illinois field goal attempts and Burns blocked a third, leaving the top ranked Illini just one of four from inside the red zone.

Brown had slightly more success kicking for NSU. Brown nailed a 24-yard field goal on NSU's first possession to give the Prairie Dogs the early 3-0 lead. The kick came six plays after Roberts forced an Illinois fumble that Johnson recovered at the 31 yard line.

The defense came up big after back-to-back interceptions on consecutive drives by NSU freshman QB Gary Bean. Young blocked IU's Prater's 38-yard field goal attempt and freshman Burns got to Prater's 27-yard attempt.

"We seen some things on film and thought we could exploit it," NSU head coach Rob Wahkan said of the blocks. Young would later block Prater's final attempt from 28 yards out on the final play before the half.

Despite the trouble connecting on field goals, IU took the lead late in the second quarter on a 16-yard pass from Holt to Henry with 1:10 left in the half to put IU up 7-3. Illinois would force Bean into a fumble on the option that would lead to Prater's third blocked field goal.

"I was hoping Bean would be able to adjust more than he did early on. Being just a freshman, you have to allow for some mistakes. He made up for some of those in the second half, though," Wahkan said.

Hype of the game centered around the top two running backs in the nation but both were AWOL in the first half. Heisman winner Heckel had just 17 yards on 9 carries but added two catches for 20 yards for Illinois in the first half. Davis countered with just 17 yards of his own on five carries.

"They were jamming the line pretty good in the first half. I couldn't find a hole anywhere until late in the game when we had them on their heels," said Davis.

The lack of a running game and turnovers produced a lop-sided edge in total yardage for Illinois. The Illini totaled 195 yards at the break, but just 44 for NSU.

NSU would begin to catch on in the second half as NSU drove 63 yards on 11 plays to regain the lead at 10-7. Neither team could do much following the opening drive. NSU would have to punt on its next two possession while IU would go three and out and suffer two turnovers caused by Herron. Herron intercepted Holt at the 40 and his hit on IU's Henry forced a fumble and recovery on a long third down play that would have netted a first down for the Illini.

NSU would turn Herron's fumble recovery into six points as Davis carried the ball four times for 14 yards, the final one yard leading to his only score of the day. Davis ended his day with 91 yards on 23 attempts.

Illinois final drive would end inside NSU territory but ended on a fourth-down incompletion that allowed NSU to run out the clock and lay claim to its 10th National title.

For Wahkan, 45-9 since taking over four years ago, this was what he was hired to do. Ryan (Ditka, NSU's Associate AD) brought me here for this. Certainly I'm thrilled, but I don't think it has settled in yet. I'm surprised with the amount of youth on our team and having just seven seniors on the roster that this happened this quickly. I can't wait to see how much more we can do," Wahkan said.