It’s been more than a week since Northwestern’s 31-28 season-opening win over Nebraska in the Aer Lingus Classic in Dublin, Ireland. But because I turned the trip into a vacation and just returned to the U.S. on Saturday, I wanted to submit my final thoughts on the game and the event before we turn our attention to Duke this week.
So here, then, are my impressions, both on the field and off the field, from a heck of a weekend (or more) in Ireland with the Cats.
ON THE FIELD
The Cats are back: Well, I suppose we can’t say they are back quite yet – especially after watching Nebraska scuffle for three quarters before beating North Dakota on Saturday – but the Cats certainly looked like their old selves last Saturday.
That was a vintage Northwestern win. They played strong, fundamental football. They limited their mistakes. They fought back from not one, but two double-digit deficits. And they capped it off by winning a tight, one-score game.
That’s pretty much been the Wildcats’ formula for winning football games since head coach Pat Fitzgerald has been in charge, with obvious exceptions in 2019 and last season. The offense did a little more – 528 yards! – and the defense did a little less than they have in recent years, but they still looked like the “old” Cats.
They were tough. They were gritty. They were nails when the game was on the line. That’s Northwestern football.
Northwestern found its quarterback: Ryan Hilinski looked like a different player on Saturday. He was confident. He made big plays. He was efficient. He took care of the football.
He finished 27-of-38 for 341 yards and two touchdowns, without an interception. More than those numbers though, Hilinski looked the part. He didn’t settle for check-downs and throws underneath. He took shots down the field. He was in command. He stood tall in the pocket and he threw strikes.
This is the first time in Hilinski’s college career that he is in an offense for a second year, and it showed. In the first half, Hilinski carried the offense. In the second half, the running game took over to close it out.
Hilinski beat out a serious challenge from Brandon Sullivan to win the starting job. Right now, he looks like the right leader for the NU offense.
The Cats OL dominated the line of scrimmage: Maybe the biggest surprise of the game was the play of Northwestern’s much maligned offensive line. We knew they would be strong at tackle, with Peter Skoronski, the best tackle in American on one side, and Ethan Wiederkehr, a sixth-year veteran, on the other.
The middle, though, was what cost them last season. But guards Josh Priebe and Conrad Rowley, and center Charlie Schmidt showed that they put in some work this offseason. A lot of work. The tight ends, who often played in pairs, were effective too.
Northwestern gave Hilinski, not the most mobile of QBs, a clean pocket all day. Nebraska never sacked him and registered just one quarterback hurry. The Huskers managed just two tackles for loss against the Cats all day.
In the run game, though, is where they really flexed their muscle, consistently getting a push at the line of scrimmage and opening some gaping holes for Evan Hull (109 rushing yards) and Cameron Porter (94) to run through.
Here’s the piece de resistance for OL coach Kurt Anderson’s crew: after the Cats took a 31-28 lead with 11:34 left, they ran the ball 15 straight times to close out the game. That includes the last three kneel-downs in victory formation. They wore down the Huskers and overpowered them late in the game. That’s how you win football games.
The defense showed improvement: Last year, Nebraska ran for 427 yards against Northwestern. Last Saturday, the Huskers went for 110 on just 3.5 yards per carry.
So NU’s defense answered the biggest question going into the game: could they stop the run? The retooled defensive line outplayed Nebraska’s O-line, with new grad transfers Taishan Holmes and Ryan Johnson playing prominent roles.
The defense still has some work to do: Casey Thompson threw for 355 yards and the Huskers hit them for a couple big plays of 58 and 46 yards – the kind of big plays that got them beat throughout 2021. But the Cats came up with three turnovers and pitched a shutout in the fourth quarter.
All in all, it was a good first step for a defense that was atrocious last season and is looking for a drastic turnaround in defensive coordinator Jim O’Neil’s second season in charge.
The onside kick got overblown: Scott Frost’s decision to call for an onside kick after taking a 28-17 lead in the third quarter is what everyone in the media and the stands was talking about after the game. Especially Nebraska fans, the majority of whom were in favor of leaving Frost in Ireland after the loss to the Wildcats. Frost said he regretted the decision.
For the record, I didn’t think it was that bad of a call. An onside kick has a better chance of working when your opponent is least expecting it, not when you’re down by a score with less than a minute left and everyone in the stadium knows it’s coming.
The problem was, Northwestern seemed to know it was coming, and the front line of their kick-receive team is filled with guys with good hands, like running back Andrew Clair, who recovered the poorly executed kick -- before it traveled 10 yards, by the way.
Regardless, that’s not what cost Nebraska the game. The Wildcats outplayed the Huskers on both sides of the ball and were the tougher team when it mattered most. Nebraska was still up 11 points with a little more than 24 minutes to play after the onside kick attempt. Northwestern outscored them 14-0 from that point on. It was a big turning point, but saying that it cost the Huskers the game discounts Northwestern’s effort.
OFF THE FIELD
Dublin was a great host city: From the moment I arrived in Dublin, this had a feeling of a bowl game. Signage was everywhere at the airport (Aer Lingus is an airline, after all). Flags of both schools adorned bars throughout the aptly named Temple Bar area that is the center of nightlife in the city. FitzSimons was converted to Coach Fitz’s for the week and had more purple than any bar I’ve ever seen in Evanston.
It was surprising to learn how much Dubliners knew about American football. The cab driver that took us to our hotel was well versed about both teams. Locals were well aware, and excited, about the game, and there were an awful lot of them at the stadium on game day, many dressed in purple or red, seemingly randomly.
The Irish capital is set up perfectly for a game like this. College football should think about making Dublin a bowl city – though a Week 0 season opener is a pretty good gig, too.
Cats fans showed up: Sure there was a lot more red than purple, but come on, what did you expect? It’s going to be that way whether the game is played in Lincoln, Evanston or on Mars. Nebraska fans probably outnumbered Northwestern fans four or five to one.
But the streets were filled with purple, too. You couldn’t walk very far through the Temple Bar area without seeing someone wearing an N – and they were always ready with a “Go Cats!” The NU crowd for the pep rally at Merrion Square to listen to Michael Wilbon, Morty Schapiro, Dr. Derrick Gragg, Larry Irving and Fitzgrerald, was pretty impressive. Well, until Nebraska fans showed up for their rally right afterwards and filled the entire green with fans, dwarfing NU’s contingent.
FitzSimons was the nerve center for Purple Nation, and all four levels were filled with Cats fans on Friday and Saturday. I also saw a ton of former players, from guys like Steve Schnur to more recent grads like Dan Persa, and everyone in between.
There was cautious optimism among fans before the game. It seemed like most people thought Northwestern might be able to hang around with the Huskers. But most people were genuinely surprised that I picked the Wildcats to win.
Aviva Stadium rocked: The venue for the game was spectacular, a modernist stadium with a swooping overhanding canopy unlike any I’ve ever seen in the States. Its 51,700 seats were almost sold out. And it was loud. That roof seemed to hold the noise in, so the crowd's roar was louder than expected.
The building has some quirks. The concourses aren’t as wide and open as U.S. stadiums, and the geography was a little hard to figure out. It features individual stairways leading to the entrance gates, which doesn’t seem to be very efficient. The stadium is located in a residential area – not unlike Wrigley Field – so there is no massive parking lot for tailgating.
Of course, the story that overshadowed everything about the game was the free beer. Aviva’s payment system failed, and the powers that be made the decision to just give away beer (and food) to fans for more than a half hour (and you thought Frost’s onside kick call was curious). As you might expect, it was a madhouse. The lines were ridiculous and people were walking away with four, five and six beers, as many as their arms would hold.
No wonder the crowd was so animated and loud.
The one downer: The only negative I have in the entire event was this: it was the worst media experience of my career. Hands down.
I checked in at the media gate and was given a credential. That was the extent of my interaction with the event staff. The woman that handed me the lanyard and badge couldn’t tell me the location of the press box – or “media tribunal”, as they call it. That was a bad sign right there. I asked four or five ushers, the last of whom was able to point me to the correct section.
There is no press box at Aviva, just a section in the middle of the stands with desks, chairs and electricity hookups -- more like a basketball arena's press area. The fact that it was outside was fine – the weather was balmy throughout the week. There was no seating arrangement but I sat smack-dab on the 50-yard line. So that was good.
But that was about the extent of my media privileges. No one checked my bag, a big security issue. No one was “in charge” in the press area. There was no area with soft drinks or food, as is customary in the states – well, someone said there was one on a lower level, but they couldn’t point me to where it was. I had to ask three or four people before finding out the wifi password. Of course, there weren’t any official stats, either, so I just used ESPN.com. My electrical converter wouldn’t fit in the outlet box, so if it wasn’t for an NU video director who was sitting near me (thank you, Alex Knisely!) I would’ve been out of luck.
You can guess why I didn’t make it to the post-game press conference. Again, I asked several people where it was held. I finally got one person who sort-of knew where it was, but he could only give me vague directions that included going through double-doors and following a wall to…I forgot what he said. I tried asking a couple ushers but struck out with them, too.
Ah, well. The Cats won the game and are now 1-0 all-time in games outside of the United States. That’s all that really mattered.
