WildcatReport is looking back on each game of Northwestern's magic 1995 Big Ten championship season as part of the team's 25th anniversary celebration.
After a rollercoaster of a non-conference schedule, Northwestern began Big Ten play on Sept. 30, 1995, by hosting Indiana.
The Wildcats had beaten No. 9 Notre Dame to earn their first AP Top 25 ranking since 1971, lost to Miami (Ohio) to fall back into oblivion, and then steadied their ship with an impressive win over Air Force.
Now, against Indiana, Northwestern relied on its playmakers, and they came through with several big plays as the Wildcats throttled the Hoosiers, 31-7.
Darnell Autry, who came into the game as the nation's No. 2 rusher, had a 42-yard touchdown run.
Paul Burton booted a 90-yard punt -- that's right, 90 yards -- to tie a school record set by Steve Toth in 1934.
Brian Musso set up a touchdown with an 86-yard punt return, the longest since the immortal Otto Graham had a 93-yarder in 1941.
Hudhaifa Ismaeli hit Indiana quarterback Chris Dittoe, forcing a fumble that Casey Dailey picked up and ran 43 yards for a touchdown.
Like they had all season, the Wildcats used Autry as their sledgehammer, steadily knocking holes in the Indiana defense. He finished with 162 yards and two touchdowns on 28 carries, his fifth straight 100-yard rushing game dating to the previous season.
As redshirt freshman wide receiver D'Wayne Bates said, "If it ain’t broke, don’t try to fix it. If they can’t stop it, let’s keep running it. And literally, we kept running the ball."
Northwestern seemed to be in control throughout, but Indiana, behind 136 rushing yards from Alex Smith, didn't make it easy. The Wildcats' led just 13-7 in the third quarter when Musso made the play that changed the game.
Musso fielded Alan Sutkowski’s 55-yard punt at his own 8 and found daylight down the right sideline. He ran all the way down to the Indiana 6-yard line before Sutkowski tackled him. The fact that the punter ran him down haunts Musso to this day and is still a source of ribbing by his teammates.
Autry scored a touchdown on the next play, and a 2-point conversion made it 21-7.
Smith left the game with broken ribs in the fourth quarter, and on the very next play Ismaeli's forced fumble and Dailey's scoop-and-score pushed the lead to 28-7.
The Wildcat defense came up with one more takeaway, as Barry Gardner's interception set up Sam Valenzisi 32-yard field goal -- his second of the day -- to complete the scoring.
The victory gave Northwestern a 3-1 record, the program's best since 1963. The Wildcats had taken care of business with two straight home wins to bounce back from what could have been a derailing upset loss to Miami.
But the biggest test of the season would come the following week: a trip to Ann Arbor to take on No. 7 Michigan.
The Foundation: Expect Victory, Episode 3 Part I: Indiana
