We give you the 3-2-1 on Northwestern's lackluster 31-10 loss to Michigan State and hand out some awards.

Northwestern needs to find a pass offense. Hunter Johnson completed 15 of his 26 passes, but only one completion went for more than 10 yards. True to coach Pat Fitzgerald’s defense of Johnson, he still looks like a first-year quarterback learning the system. In three games, he’s thrown one touchdown to four interceptions, while hitting on just 48% of his throws. The offensive line has only given up six sacks, so it’s not as though he’s been running for his life. In fact, his running - while mostly positive - can be seen as a slight detriment due to the fact that he trusts his feet more than his arm. Even Aidan Smith, who was brought in to try and give the offense a little bit of a spark at the end of the third quarter, only completed 36% of his 11 passes and threw two INTs. The talent, while currently latent, is there, but proper execution must start very soon. In the next three games, the Wildcat passing “attack” faces the NCAA’s first-, 32nd- and 12th-best pass efficiency defenses in the nation in Wisconsin, Nebraska and Ohio State, respectively. Their work is cut out for them.

Opposite Greg Newsome, there’s some work to do at cornerback. Redshirt first-year Alonzo Hampton got the start for injured captain Trae Williams at cornerback and was often matched up against Cody White. The Spartans tested him early and forced him into a defensive pass interference on the third play of the game, and it still went for a 29-yard completion. The biggest exploitation, though, came late in the second quarter, when, after two consecutive Northwestern timeouts, White made a double move to cross up Hampton and put him out of position, allowing quarterback Brian Lewerke to hit him near the front left pylon for an 11-yard touchdown and a 14-3 lead just 24 seconds before halftime. Cameron Ruiz came in to share time in the second half but did not yield much better results. Expect Hampton and Ruiz to continue getting reps and improve, but, as Fitzgerald said after the game, “they better get ready, have a short memory and get back on the horse” because Wisconsin has seen this and will test them again.

Drake Anderson continues to show promising flashes. Through three games, Anderson - not Isaiah Bowser - is the team’s leading rusher. And we don’t just mean total rushing yards because Bowser has played five fewer quarters, but in yards per game, yards per carry and touchdowns too. Anderson also has more runs of more than 10 yards. Anderson said he’s seeing the field better and that the game seems to be a little slower for him this year, making for better opportunities for him. Still, like any good player, he knows that there are things he can do to improve. Anderson states that once he can start to consistently win the “one-on-one” battles that Fitzgerald often references, his value will increase even more. But it’s good to see the Wildcats don’t appear to have a glaring problem in the running game like they did at this point last season. In fact, it’s really a point of optimism heading forward.

What was the mindset at the goal line in the first quarter? What a strange series of events occurred with the Wildcats at the MSU 1-yard line. Isaiah Bowser zipped through the Spartans’ front for seven yards and an apparent touchdown on first down, but after review it was determined his knee touched the ground before the ball crossed the plane. The Wildcats then gave it to Bowser on two consecutive inside runs behind their “heavy” package to no avail. Michigan State’s loaded defensive front was “root-hogging” (attacking low to try and take leverage from the NU offensive linemen) and selling out to stop the inside run. So the coaching staff called a speed option to the left to try and get numbers on the outside. But it was clear that Johnson had not comfortably run this in practice because he didn't take a straight line attack down the line to the end man. Johnson gave ground and allowed time for the edge players to penetrate and stymie the pitch man, and stop the Wildcats on downs. It's easy to question in hindsight, but even before the snap most people would have suggested another option - no pun intended.

Why was Johnson taken out of the game? Down 21 points late in the third quarter,, Smith, the third quarterback NU has used this season, trotted out with the offense. The question buzzing through the press box was, “W is Hunter out?” Did he get dinged? Was it his struggles with execution? Were the coaches trying to preserve his confidence going forward? Or were they simply trying to create an offensive spark? Fitzgerald sort of gave an answer in the post-game presser: they were down three scores and hadn't had any success with the passing game, so they hoped Smith would be a spark that might ignite a small pat of the offense. In addition to looking for an offensive change-up, they were also trying to get valuable reps for another quarterback who will need to be ready for future snaps.

This team has a lot of room to grow. While the running game and offensive line have been relative bright spots on offense, and the defensive line has played well in getting pressure in the backfield, this team can play a lot better than what they’ve shown through three games. We’ve touched on the passing game by way of their quarterback deficiencies, but the receivers need to start making themselves more available in the three-step spread attack that is the bulk of offensive coordinator Mick McCall's playbook. And when they’re not called on through the air, they could stick their blocks a little longer to allow for more downfield bursts from Bowser and Anderson in the run game.

We’ve seen problems like these before, and we’ve seen the improvement from a similar (or dare we say slightly “lesser”) pool of talent, so we won’t get skeptical or pessimistic. It’s in the DNA of this program, and especially its head coach, to put bad losses behind it and turn things around. The problem is that the climb is going to get steeper right away.

Offensive game ball: RB Drake Anderson

“Shake-N-Drake” had himself another positive performance out of that backfield, picking up 93 yards on 17 carries (5.4 ypc) and a touchdown - his second of the season. Anderson had seven gains of seven or more yards, including four runs of 11 or better. He ran with urgency and conviction instead of overlooking and waiting too long for the perfect crease to develop. Anderson also had just two negative yards, which not only shows his skill, but the efforts of an offensive line which only gave up four negative rush yards on true running plays for the entire game - pretty good against the third-best rushing defense in the nation.

Defensive game ball: DT Alex Miller

Coming into 2019, the biggest question was at defensive tackle, where Miller was stepping into the starting role for the first time in his four-year career, despite playing significant minutes each of his first three seasons. Against Michigan State, Miller put up better numbers than any of the Spartan stalwarts on their vaunted defensive front. The Texan finished with four tackles (two solo), a sack, a TFL and a quarterback hurry. Even when he was not singled out on the stat line, he contributed to a defense that limited the Spartans to just 109 yards rushing, which was better rushing defense numbers than their Green-and-White counterparts put up.

Special Teams game ball: KR Kyric McGowan

There wasn’t a lot to go on here, but the sophomore receiver made two special teams tackles on coverage units. He also returned a kick-off 22 yards, and, for the first time in nearly two years, we saw him make a calculated and aggressive burst in an effort to really show something. It was encouraging to see, at a time when the team seemed a bit lethargic. Honorable mention goes, again, to Raymond Niro who was near the ball on almost every punt and kickoff.

Wildcat Warrior: CB Greg Newsome

An argument could be made for Newsome getting our defensive game ball, especially given that he seemed on an island out there against Spartan leading receiver Darrell Stewart and, eventually, Cody White at times. Newsome notched four pass breakups and held Stewart three catches and 50 yards shy of his per-game receiving averages. Newsome continues to get better each week and is really starting to look like an All-Big Ten corner, shutting down half the field while the other side matures.

In a game of frustrations, the best NU moment was when Joe Gaziano notched a sack against Michigan State quarterback Lewerke. In the second quarter, Gaziano worked his way past the MSU tackle and collapsed on a helpless Lewerke, bringing him to the turf - a feeling to which both players are very much accustomed. This was “Ga-zilla”’s fourth sack of Lewerke in four games and, even better, it was the 23rd-and-a-half sack of his career, which ties him with Ifeadi Odenigbo for second all-time in Wildcat history (trailing only Fitzgerald’s former teammate, Casey Dailey,, with 28). And to have some fun with it, Gaziano celebrated with a new “pulling a sword from his holster” gesture that amused both the crowd and media alike.

Tim Chapman covers Northwestern football for WildcatReport. He is a teacher and former Michigan high school football coach who is currently working on a book titled "ChampioN Underdog" about the 1995 Northwestern Rose Bowl team. Follow him via Twitter: @Champion_Lit. Email him at nufbhistorian@gmail.com.