WildcatReport's Tim Chapman, a former high school football head coach, breaks down the Wildcats’ win over No. 20 Wisconsin.

1. Isaiah Bowser is the new feature back (reassured sigh of relief). Aside from back-to-back 100-yard games he put up against Rutgers and Wisconsin, it’s his forward lean/aggressive style of running that currently makes him the best man for this spot. The Cats have been looking for a guy who runs like he does: no thinking, no hesitation; he just sticks his foot in the ground and goes. The first-year back runs like a linebacker - he gets to where he needs to be, and fast, and it doesn’t matter who’s in his way. Head coach Pat Fitzgerald wouldn’t say on Saturday that Bowser had earned the feature back job, saying only that he had earned more carries. Regardless, he’s our guy now and we expect to see a lot more of No. 25.

2. The running game has looked better than the passing game for the second straight week. We’re not sure if that’s necessarily a good thing, but with the upward trend of the rushing attack, we’ll take it - for now, at least. In the last two games, Clayton Thorson has completed just 53 percent of his passes for 317 yards, a TD and 3 INTs (though one, maybe two, were not entirely his fault). For comparison, Thorson threw better than this two-game total in each of the two single games prior, against Michigan State and Nebraska. Flynn Nagel has struggled a little, dropping a pass in each of the last two games, and this week the senior slot man caught only three passes for a total of 18 yards. Teams have been game-planning to stop the Wildcat passing game and they seem to have gotten into Thorson’s head just a little. No. 18 plays a lot better when he doesn’t appear to be thinking or dissecting too much. When he can go out and just “play catch” - like he did against the Spartans and Huskers, both of whom have some of the league’s top CBs - the Wildcats seem to be in a much better passing flow.

Hopefully the improved running game will bring some of that defensive attention back to the line of scrimmage , which will help open up space for receivers to find the right spot in the zone for Thorson to effectively attack once again.

3. This team is gaining that competitive depth that Fitzgerald always stresses. The execution is improving and becoming more consistent. Fitzgerald touched on the younger guys growing up after the game. There is a good group of sophomores and freshmen that have worked their way into the two deep in all three phases. This, in turn, is creating competition that, Fitzgerald says, is motivating the first-teamers to stay on their A game or step it up even more. If not, there’s now a greater threat that someone is ready to perform the moment the starter can’t.

On offense, we’ve seen Kyric McGowan and JJ Jefferson emerge as pass-catching threats. Sam Gerak has gotten some quality snaps at LG the last two weeks. We mentioned Isaiah Bowser at RB, but Drake Anderson (to an extent) and Chad Hanaoka have also started repping at RB in the absence of senior Solomon Vault and junior John Moten IV – and those two backs are going to have to press for playing time now.

Defensively, S Travis Whillock has gotten into the fray in third-down/nickel situations, as has CB Cameron Ruiz. SLB Chris Bergin went from walkon to starter after Nate Hall went down and is now one of the best backup LBs in the Big Ten despite not getting ONE Power Five offer.

Even on special teams, we’ve seen PK Drew Luckenbaugh - who many imagined would only get some blowout PAT opportunities at when the season began- not only make a hero of himself against Nebraska, but become a press-conference hot-topic as well.

As much as it sounds like coach-speak, Fitzgerald is right: competitive depth is important and the Cats are starting to reap its benefits.

1. Why keep Bowser in the game to run the ball late in the fourth quarter? I hate to second-guess the coaching staff because they’re much more qualified than I am, but I’m not sure why Bowser got carries late in the fourth quarter, when the game had been all-but-wrapped up. After Jack Coan’s fourth-and-6 pass to Danny Davis fell incomplete (thanks to great coverage by Montre Hartage), the Cats got the ball back with around four minutes to play, up 14 points.

Bowser had 93 yards rushing in the game, so I can see the staff wanting him to get to that century mark. He ran for four yards on first-and-10. Then he ran for another five on second-and-6. On third-and-1, he burst for three to put him over the target at 102. At this point, knowing they’re going to need him for the rest of the season - especially in two against Iowa - why not trot him off the field, let the Ryan Field fans and the Wildzone give him his due applause and bring Drake Anderson into the game to get a touch or two? I don’t believe it’s practical to save Anderson’s redshirt this season, with Moten’s and Vault’s future contributions uncertain. Or, why not give the ball to Hanaoka? Instead, Bowser carried the ball three more times until it was time for victory formation.

It just seems that at that particular time in the game, and in that situation - with prideful Badger defenders on the field who are assuredly frustrated by the outcome - more can go wrong than right. So why take the chance, especially with a Big Ten West Championship opportunity right in front of you? Again, I don’t like questioning a successful staff, but I think many consciences would rest better had he been pulled. Thankfully, Bowser did not suffer any injuries.

2. What’s this team’s actual frame-of-mind going into this weekend against Notre Dame? We know they want to win. Paddy Fisher said that he has been looking forward to this matchup since the schedule came out. We know that many of them don’t really like that school in South Bend. But at the same time, winning the West is much more important, making the three scheduled league games remaining higher priorities. So being healthy and having their “better” game ready for Iowa on Nov. 10 is much more important at this juncture.

How do we know that? It’s in the team’s annual pre-season goals- #1. WIN the West. Yes, every team in NCAA football wants to win all of their games. So how will the coaches handle the game? Will the Wildcats truly be giving the Irish their A-game, or will it be a “let’s let the game play out and see how it goes”?

Clayton Thorson is back at full strength again. Don’t believe us? Go back and watch him midway through the second quarter when he made defenders look outright silly with his quick, sliding feet, his athletic jump-cut to get past All-Big Ten LB Ryan Connelly, and his arm-stretched, extended dive into the endzone for an iconic touchdown against a really good group of LBs. Thorson could have easily tried to force a throw on that third-and-goal from the 5-yard line, but he saw an opportunity to run and took it without hesitation.

If that’s not enough, how about the third-and-5 tuck-and-run in the third quarter? Thorson saw no opportunity to throw, but a BIG opportunity to get to wide open green space and into the red zone. In his longest run of the year, Thorson started by rolling to his left, planted on that previously-injured knee, and cut back across the field until finally being run out at the 9-yard line, 27 yards later.

In both cases, we saw a quarterback who did not appear to be thinking about his ACL, nor the risk of his NFL future, but rather helping his team win a game.

The O-Line. For the first time this season, we can make a legitimate argument that this group played very well. When they helped pave the way for rushing stats that were better than Wisconsin, who came in as the nation’s fourth-best in that category, you have to give some props to this group.

In addition to that feat, the OL helped the Wildcat offense outgain the Badgers in total offense and only allowed one sack and two TFLs. It’s pretty remarkable that a group that was so highly scrutinized just a week ago allowed only three negative plays on Saturday. Their counterparts - that massive Badger offensive front that will very likely feature five, or even six, future NFL-ers - allowed five negative plays.

Northwestern’s hogs up front helped their offense go four-for-five in red-zone opportunities, and probably should have had a fifth if Thorson had put the ball out across the goal line with BOTH hands on that second drive in the second quarter, but he’ll be forgiven.

At any rate, we’re proud to see the improvement and such accomplishment against a physical group across from them. The key to the West will be their continued progression.

WR Bennett Skowronek. This was a tough one because there were four players that could have claim to this week’s honor. Bowser had the best overall stats; Thorson had some individual heroics and two touchdowns himself; and even McGowan made a couple big plays, including a great concentration catch in the back of the endzone and a big 21-yard run on a reverse that put the Cats at first-and-goal.

But Skowronek was clearly the most consistently spectacular and fundamentally sharp player on offense. The junior only had four catches for 73 yards (18.3 ypc), but almost every catch was earned. To the untrained spectator that sometimes goes unappreciated, but if you go back and watch at least three of his four catches, Skowronek reached out with his strong mitts and finger-tipped the ball, not giving the defense much of a chance.

Skowronek’s most incredible haul in the second quarter was initially ruled incomplete but overturned after review. It took bit of his fingertip strength to prevent the ball from coming loose as he came down to the turf. This was textbook technique, and kudos to the review booth for giving him the benefit of taking a look, and for the Fox Sports broadcast team to acknowledge the remarkable play.

CB Montre Hartage. Hartage, who reportedly had several NFL scouts at the game to see what he could do against NFL-type receivers, certainly didn’t disappoint. He was step-for-step with UW receivers all game, not allowing anything deep. He had four PBUs and a fumble recovery, and it seemed that he was even more productive than those stats would tell. According to Pro Football Focus, he was in coverage on 35 snaps, targeted 10 times and only allowed four catches (no touchdowns). He only allowed 21 yards after the catch on those four receptions.

The senior is a baller, a leach in coverage and a strong tackler in the open field - a BLT, if you will. All of this allows Hartage to play with swagger, which is something any top CB must have. “Montre Island”, as his teammates have been calling him, certainly makes it tough for opposing receivers to get anything easy, and it’s a certainty that he’ll be matched up against their best all season.

PK Charlie Kuhbander. The injured sophomore didn’t even expect to dress for this game. Fitzgerald said when they learned that Luckenbaugh suffered a lower body injury in warmups, they had to send athletic staff members to the Walter Athletics Center to retrieve Kuhbander’s pads, just 25 minutes before kickoff. Then, 37 minutes later, Kuhbander trotted onto the field to kick an extra point, following Thorson’s one-yard TD plunge. He would eventually kick three more PATs and a 26-yard field goal, finishing the game with seven points. It was pretty impressive for Kuhbander to go from an injured spectator to someone that accounted for nearly a quarter of the Wildcats’ point total against the reigning West division Champs.

ST/LB Erik Mueller. The second-year special teamer can be seen on multiple squads, most notably on the kickoff and kick return teams. No. 35, a walkon from the same Wheaton (Ill.) North program that produced Thorson, made a solo tackle in a late kickoff, stopping the speedy Aaron Cruikshank from making a big return. He did it all in front of his younger brother, Xander, who was on a visit to NU Saturday. Then again, Mueller has done his part all season. He flies down, rips through potential blockers and prevents any sort of big gain. The Wildcats have not allowed a kick return to get past the 50-yard line this season, and Mueller is a big reason why.

The moment that each and every Wildcat fan - after seeing their Wildcats defeat the two-time defending Big Ten West champion Badgers and then watching West contender Iowa lose to Penn State - realized that Northwestern was in sole possession of first place in the Big Ten West. There’s still a lot of work to do and nothing is wrapped up yet. But the Wildcats are in the driver’s seat for Indianapolis.

Tim Chapman 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.