Northern Notebook: Young MSU-N offense feels growing pains

There’s no denying that the Montana State University-Northern Lights are in a slump offensively. And for the second week in a row, the Lights’ offense was kept out of the endzone and out of the uprights.

The Lights followed a shutout loss at Rocky Mountain College on Sept. 12 with an offensive shutout at the hands of the UM-Western Bulldogs Saturday at Blue Pony Stadium.

Needless to say it, wasn’t the homecoming game the Lights were looking for.

Northern gained just five first downs and 109 yards of offense against the Bulldogs Saturday, and there’s no denying, those numbers aren’t very good. Now, some of that needs to go to the Western defense. The Bulldogs are simply the best defensive team in the Frontier Conference, and it’s not close right now. Some of it also needs to go to execution. There were times Saturday, when the Lights just didn’t execute offensively.

But, there’s also a major factor that gets overlooked, and especially in the passing game, that factor is inexperience.

Northern sophomore quarterback Jess Krahn, who would actually be a red-shirt freshman right now if not for an unfortunate injury to senior Travis Dean at the end of last season, passed for just 47 yards Saturday, and that’s rough. But he, and the rest of the Lights’ offense are very young and very inexperienced in the passing game.

In fact, on the Northern roster right now, only junior standouts Jake Messerly and Zach McKinley, as well as sophomore tight end Kagen Khamaneh caught passes for the Lights a season ago. In fact, take away Messerly’s 58 grabs and McKinley’s 25 out of the backfield, and Khamaneh was Northern’s leading returning receiver, with exactly three catches last season.

Against Western, the Lights played six receivers who hadn’t caught a single collegiate pass before this season began, with Qwaundre Yancy, J.R. Finai, Seth Rommele and Jake Day all having never grabbed a ball for the Lights before they played at Dickinson State last month.

So there’s no doubt, Northern’s inexperience is showing up right now. And when you add a veteran and stout defense like Western’s to the mix, you have a recipe for a long, long day in the passing game.

But the bright side to long days like Saturday is, the Lights will get better. With every game, Northern’s passing attack gets more reps and more experience. Practicing Monday through Friday is fine, and the Lights’ passing attack does go up against a very good MSU-N defense every day, but there’s no substitute for game experience, and this super-young group is getting plenty of that.

And they got plenty of it against a very good Western defense, because Northern did try to throw more Saturday, knowing that everyone, including the Bulldogs, was going to key on MSU-N’s very good running game.

“With the passing game, we’re just very inexperienced,” Northern head coach Aaron Christensen said earlier in the week. “We have a young quarterback, new guys on the offensive line, and pass protection is a little harder to pick up, and a lot of very young wide receivers with not a lot of game experience at this level. So it’s a combination of all of that. But it’s something we work very hard on and we’ll keep working on it.”

Dawgs Defend

Western is no doubt a great defense, and the Bulldogs flexed their muscle in Blue Pony Stadium. Allowing no offensive points and just five first downs is impressive, but what’s even more impressive is Western’s depth.

The Bulldogs have star linebackers in A.J. Wilson and Joe Coker, a star defensive tackle in Tyrell Penner and a star end in Reno Ward. But those names were hardly called Saturday against the Lights. That’s not to say they didn’t have an impact, but Western’s two-deep is chalked full of at outstanding defensive players, and that depth showed up on Saturday.

And after shutting out the Lights on their home field, the Bulldogs’ defensive numbers look even better heading into a huge homecoming game with Carroll College on Saturday. Western is now allowing a mere nine points per game and just 110 yards rushing per outing. And in three wins this season, the Bulldogs have yet to give up over 300 yards of offense.

That’s impressive to say the least.

“We knew their (Bulldogs) defense was good and they are,” Christensen said. “There’s no question they have one of the top defenses in our league.”

Busy Leg

Northern punter Dillon Barnes got plenty of action Saturday as Western’s defense kept forcing the Lights to punt the ball away. And Barnes did very well considering the howling west wind inside Blue Pony Stadium.

Barnes, a 6-0, 160-pound junior transfer from Citrus College in California, punted 10 times against Western for a total of 326 yards. He averaged 32.6 yards per punt and had a long of 52. Barnes didn’t have any touchbacks, and the Bulldogs only returned five of his boots for 34 yards. So, while MSU-N’s offense was turned away by the stout Western defense, Barnes was certainly a weapon for the Lights, and will continue to be.

Nearing 3,000

It was tough sledding for Northern junior running back Zach McKinley Saturday. But he’s still closing in on yet another milestone.

McKinley was held to a season-low 42 yards on 13 carries against a stingy Western defense Saturday. But, it still added to his school-record total, which is now at 2,917 yards. The next big milestone for McKinley should come this Saturday in Ashland, Oregon, as he needs 83 yards against Southern Oregon to top 3,000 rushing yards in h