After further review: Northwestern 30 UNLV 14

We take a last look at Northwestern's 30-14 win over UNLV in the home opener and bring you the 3-2-1.

The running game looked much better. Even without Isaiah Bowser, Jesse Brown and Drake Anderson (more on him later) ran hard and with purpose. They weren’t waiting for the blocks, they were getting to the green. And if the green disappeared, they stuck their feet in the ground in succession and headed north. They had just a couple plays where they did NOT gain positive yardage. Collectively, this group averaged 5.5 yards per carry and two TDs, which also included runs by John Moten and QB Hunter Johnson’s calculated movements on the ground. And speaking of Johnson...

Hunter Johnson is a better athlete than people give him credit for. In our preview, we mentioned that he was an all-state track star in high school and this week we saw more of that speed. Johnson showed flashes of good legs and smart feet, as well as a couple of perfectly executed zone-read mesh points -- so much so that he even faked out the camera and broadcast team a few times. Right now, his running game is ahead of his passing game.

This new offensive line has been performing well. Johnson often had a lot of time to throw the ball. The line consistently re-established the line of scrimmage on running plays about two to three yards ahead of the original line, and they were controlling the front. The NU run game netted 283 rush yards on pure running attempts (not counting any sacks). Johnson was sacked only once, and that was his fault more than the O-line as he misread a block by Brown. Brown dug in as he shielded Johnson, forcing a blitzing defender to the outside (as he should), and Johnson miscalculated and side-stepped to the outside with the flow of the rusher and went down for a seven-yard loss. So, in our minds, the road graders up front pitched a goose-egg in terms of sacks.

Why are the Cats committing so many penalties early in the season? They had eight flags for 67 yards in the opener against Stanford, and committed another eight penalties for 78 yards against the Rebels this week. They had just 40 total flags last year in 14 contests, so they are already nearly half-way there in just two games this season! Five of Northwestern's eight infractions were on the offense, with two of them being ineligible man downfield, which we can chalk up to the risk of running RPOs. But there was also an offensive pass interference and two false starts, which included a really messy three-men in motion combined with a half-line false start. You know the coaches are aware and will work to get that shored up. Still, its very uncharacteristically Northwestern compared to the last few seasons.

Why couldn’t they set the edge against UNLV in the first half? In his post-game presser, head coach Pat Fitzgerald alluded to the schematics of how UNLV runs the ball, crediting them with being very creative in how they operate. Still, on the two big Charles Williams touchdown runs of 65 and 37 yards, Northwestern’s edge player was nonexistent in part because of bad angles and poor alley-fill from a level-three defender. Fortunately, they got it cleaned up in the second half and UNLV’s star runner was limited to just 12 yards in the final half of the game, compared to 135 in the first.

Paddy Fisher is a baller. The junior from Katy (Texas) was covering the entire field in this one. He totaled seven tackles in a game where the Rebel offense was trying to avoid his area at all costs. He had a textbook forced fumble (see Best Moment below), made a couple good open-field solo tackles, a run stuff and influenced one or two TFLs that he did not get credit for.

What was equally as impressive as his tackling was his pass defense. He accounted for an interception, three PBUs and a few tackles in coverage after his man made a catch in his area. Go back and watch the film, and aside from his missed open-shot sack opportunity Fisher had on Armani Rogers in the fourth quarter, and maybe one or two missed tackles, Fisher was on the prowl all afternoon and covered more of the field than the high school marching bands did at halftime.

Offensive game ball: RB Drake Anderson

In just the sixth game of his young Wildcat career, Anderson not only had a career rushing day (141 yards and his first career TD), but also gave Wildcat fans, teammates and coaches a third reason to feel confident about the run game moving forward. In addition to the talents of season-starter Bowser and emergent junior Jesse Brown, Anderson, a redshirt freshman, helped make the RB room a lot tighter with a 5.4 ypc average and some wiggle and vision that could help him be a stellar compliment to Bowser in the backfield. Anderson had four rushes for more than 10 yards and an additional four of eight yards or better. Most gratifying, though, was the smile he flashed after each and every run. The kid looked like he was having fun out there, showing the football world what he can do.

Defensive game ball: DE Joe Gaziano

We spoke highly of Fisher, but Fisher would likely speak even higher of redshirt senior teammate Gaziano, who we still consider the most underrated defensive player in the Big Ten. The third-year starter out of Scituate, Mass., became the Wildcats’ third-leading sack artist of all-time with his fourth quarter sack of Rogers, and he got in on another with a strip-sack later in the same frame. He also forced a fumble and recovered another, had 2.5 TFL, and made nine total tackles, second-most on the team. Gaziano has started to turn up the gas just in time for Michigan State, a team he has feasted on throughout his career in Purple-and-White.

Special Teams game ball: Daniel Kubiuk and Raymond Niro

The punt unit for the Wildcats continues to exhibit consistency and precision in their execution. Sixth-year graduate senior Kubiuk averaged just 35 yards on his four punts, but half of his kicks were on a shorter field, where he needed to put the ball inside the 20-yard line -- and he did it twice. The most spectacular was his hanger in the third quarter, which dropped perfectly into the waiting arms of Rod Campbell, who was camped on the one-yard line. And, in “we see” fashion, we recognize and honor walkon Niro, who was seemingly the first or second man downfield on every punt, downing one and making a tackle on another. In two games, Niro has staked his claim to become Northwestern's special teams ace. (Incidentally, both Kubiuk and Niro are alums of Barrington High School in the northwest suburbs of Chicago.)

Wildcat Warrior: RB Jesse Brown

The fourth-year junior from Lilburn, Ga., had nine carries for 79 yards (8.8 ypc) with a long of 35. More impressive than his numbers were two things: 1) How hard he ran the ball -- he was not only dashing through the line, but dishing out contact whenever defenders got in his way; and 2) How he stayed in the game with a hand injury. Brown came back after getting his hand taped up, but then suffered a “lower-body injury” that sidelined him for the entire second half. As Fitzgerald said afterward, it was great to see a young man who has worked so hard and battled through injuries throughout his career get rewarded in these early contests. Northwestern fans are now hoping that Brown's injury isn't serious and that No. 36 returns to action soon.

With 1:42 left in the third quarter, the Rebels had a first-and-10 at their own 37-yard-line; trailing 23-14, they had a chance to try and steal some momentum. They had been hurting the middle of the Northwestern defense with Rogers' running, as the Wildcats spread out wider to take away the edges they hadn't been setting for most of the afternoon.

Well, the Wildcats had had enough. Upon Rodgers’ acceleration through the middle of that line, Fisher squared Rogers up and, as he shook to his left, No. 42 punched that ball out and onto the ground, where his childhood best friend and lifelong football teammate, Travis Whillock, was “Johnny on the Spot,” falling on the ball and regaining possession for the Wildcats.

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.