After further review: Northwestern 43 Maryland 3

WildcatReport's Tim Chapman, a former high school football head coach, breaks down the Wildcats’ season-opening win over Maryland.

Peyton Ramsey’s going to be a good quarterback for Northwestern. He led the Wildcats to touchdown scoring drives on their first two possessions of the game. The initial one came after Maryland drove 56 yards in 12 plays and scored first with a field goal. In response, Ramsey completed 3-of-5 passes, including a third-down completion to senior WR Ramaud Chiaokhiao-Bowman, someone he grew fond of looking for in that situation all night. He also made a nice 12-yard run to set up first-and-goal at the 2. On their second scoring drive, Ramsey helped the offense cash in a defensive interception for points. He was sensational on this possession, completing two passes for 23 and 19 yards, before running to the left side for an impressive 12-yard touchdown run, where he dove and extended the ball over the front corner pylon to give the Cats a 14-3 lead. In all, the Wildcats scored on six of their first eight drives Saturday, and Ramsey’s direction was a big reason for their collective efficacy.

He was 8-of-9 passing on third down, with five of his completions resulting in a first down. His lone incompletion came late in the third quarter, with Northwestern already leading 37-3. His back-shoulder throw to Wayne Dennis was well-placed but bounced off the fingertips of the redshirt first-year receiver. He did a good job surveying the field and spreading the ball, connecting with eight different receivers for a total of 212 yards and 13 first downs.

The D-Line is still solid, despite the losses. Though they lost three starters, including their program’s all-time sack leader, a three-year starting DE and a four-year contributing DT, the Wildcats still rotated four players comfortably at both DE and DT. They held Maryland to just 64 yards rushing and sacked QB Taulia Tagovailoa once, while hurrying him three times and collecting 3.5 TFL. Tommy Adebawore got the first sack of the year for the D-Line, and DEs Eku Leota and Earnest Brown each had a QB hurry. Both Leota and freshman DT Jordan Butler also registered a TFL. It should be noted that they were down starting DT Trevor Kent, who was on the inactive list Saturday. His replacement, Jason Gold Jr., left in the first quarter with an apparent ankle injury. Still, playing without two of their top three DTs and performing as well as they did Saturday shows the depth at this position, thanks in large part to the coaching and conditioning by long-time defensive line coach Marty Long.

The Cats took care of their scoring opportunities. NU was 5-for-5 in red-zone scoring opportunities, notching tuddies on three of them. This is remarkable, considering the Wildcats’ red-zone efficiency for both scoring AND touchdowns inside the 20 had decreased in each of the last three seasons. Experience on that offensive group is a major reason for such success, and though some may make the claim that Maryland’s defense was a weak data point in a small sample size, you still have to execute, and the Cats did that with some pretty promising percentages. There were, of course, two other touchdowns that came from beyond 20 yards out, both by way of the run. And even though you’ll take scores by any measure, a question still lurks about the offense going into Week 2 at Iowa.

Who’s going to be the home run threat? Of the five Wildcat touchdowns, four came on the ground, and their one passing touchdown was from just seven yards out on a short arrow route to Isaiah Bowser.

No pass completion went for more than 23 yards and at no point did it appear as though the Wildcats got behind the coverage. Granted, the game plan was to establish the run and keep running as long as it was working, which it did. But we didn’t even really see the “big-play” guys on the field. Kyric McGowan was as close to a deep threat as the Cats had out there, but he never really went vertical. JJ Jefferson was inactive and Genson Hooper-Price only saw time at the end, when the game was out of hand, and handoffs were the norm.

Perhaps they decided that, if they had a comfortable two-score lead -- which they did after their first two possessions -- they’d simply run conservatively and not show anything to future opponents. That's certainly not out of the realm of possibility in the Pat Fitzgerald regime, but still that question looms: Does NU have that “deep guy” to go to? And if so, who is it?

Was NU's pass defense that good, or was Maryland's pass offense that bad? The Sky Team limited the Terps and their hyped group of receivers to just 143 yards on 62% completions, but nearly all of them came on three-step routes in front of the secondary. They picked off three passes -- after making just seven in all of 2019 -- and didn’t allow a touchdown. Those three steals were the most for a Northwestern team in 25 games. They gave up nine first downs via the pass, and only 7.9 yards per completion (4.93 per attempt).

The Maryland passing attack was the Wildcats' biggest concern defensively, and the secondary stood tall and shut down any semblance of a strike. Essentially, the Terrapin offense fell right into defensive coordinator Mike Hankwitz’s web, and his crew frustrated Tagovailoa more and more as the game went on.

But until we see this performed consistently against teams with much more confidence and poise than the Terps showed Saturday, it remains to be seen if this was custom or coincidence.

This offense is going to be diverse and will keep Northwestern in nearly every game. The Wildcats ran 83 offensive plays: 53 on the ground for 325 yards and four touchdowns, and 30 through the air for 212 yards and a score.

Ramsey targeted five different wide receivers at least three times, with his favorites being TE John Raine and WR Ramaud Chiaokhiao-Bowman, whom he targeted six times apiece, with each of them securing five of their attempted passes. Raine was an especially nice feature added to this offense, giving the Wildcats reliability, once again, at tight end (formerly superback).

Northwestern’s O-line deserves credit for enabling the Cats to grind out 320-plus yards for the third time in their last four games, dating back to last season. They enabled the NU backs to average 6.1 yards per carry. Not only that, but Northwestern wasn’t sacked once and runners only took a loss on four play, none of them for more than three yards. The #TrenchCats also paved the way for four rushing scores. Four different Wildcats went for six points, showing Northwestern can take a player out and keep charging with the “next man up.”

What proved to be the Wildcats’ Achilles heel in 2019 made quite the turnaround to start 2020, and it looks as though we haven’t even seen near their best yet.

Offensive game ball: QB Peyton Ramsey

Ramsey gets the nod here because of his cool command of the offense, which is something we really saw only once last year. Even in the wins against UNLV and UMass, NU’s quarterback play left a lot to be desired.

The welcomed grad transfer completed 77% of his throws and nearly all of his seven incompletions were calculated and wisely thrown away, allowing the Cats to play another down. There were also a couple of passes that should have been caught but were dropped.

Ramsey impressed with his legs, too. He ran the ball seven times for 47 yards and a touchdown, with two of his dashes going for more than10 yards. Comparing this to what we’ve seen in recent years, this added dimension makes the Wildcat offensive that much more potent, especially given offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian’s propensity for play-action boot and sprint passes. Even a somewhat mobile Clayton Thorson was still limited and didn’t have the “eyes-downfield” feature that Ramsey showed Saturday night. Ramsey was just about as impressive -- if not more -- as anyone could have hoped in his first game in a Purple helmet.

Defensive game ball: S Brandon Joseph

Some were a little surprised that Joseph got the start after the announcement of Travis Whillock opting out of the season, expecting that either last year’s backup, Bryce Jackson, or redshirt freshman Coco Azema, might get the nod. But Joseph proved that everything Fitzgerald said in this week’s presser about the second-year freshman’s ascent was true. Joseph led the team with seven tackles (six solo), including a TFL, and played a hand in coverage downfield as the Terps perpetually tried to penetrate the pass defense. Watching this kid play was eerily similar to watching a recent No. 16 who roamed the secondary at free safety for the Cats...a kid by the name of Igwebuike.

Special Teams game ball: PK Charlie Kuhbander

It seems an easy pick here, as Kuhbander made all three of his attempted field goals (two from 43 yards out) and picked up the Big Ten's special teams player of the week award. But all three of Kuhbander's field goals were right down the middle. Not only that, but he knocked through all four of his extra points -- something that we haven’t seen with regularity from college kickers so far this season. Though Fitzgerald remarked that he didn’t like having to kick so many field goals, seeing "Kuhbs" make these three with such ease certainly gives Wildcat fans a lot more confidence should he be needed in closer game situations.

Wildcat Warrior: RB Drake Anderson

Going into the game, many signs pointed to Anderson being Northwestern’s No. 3 back. After triple-zeroes appeared on the scoreboard on Saturday, however, he ended up being No. 1 among all rushers with 103 yards on only 10 carries (10.3 ypc), and a rushing touchdown. Anderson had five runs of more than 10 yards, three of which went for more than 20. More impressive, he didn’t get tackled once behind the line of scrimmage and showed much improvement getting to the crease or the corner, sticking a foot in the ground, and getting north with no wasted movement -- something he had struggled with the last two years. He also didn't fumble, the biggest flaw in his game a year ago, and a trait that landed him in Fitzgerald's doghouse. Anderson cast aside the past and took advantage of his opportunity, as a true Wildcat Warrior would.

Contrary to principle, we’re going to go with three great moments here.

The first came when the Cats took the field. A little more than a month ago, we weren’t sure if this was even going to happen in 2020. But thanks to the right people looking at things the right way, the Big Ten made the right decision for those willing to play.

The next came when the Cats ran into halftime with a 30-3 lead, flying high after so many sore halftime walks a year ago. It wasn’t just the Wildcat players and coaches who felt good, but all their supporters, too, who suffered through last year’s anomaly -- one that Fitzgerald vowed “will never happen” again under his watch.

The final great moment came once the game became final. Their 43 points was the most for the Wildcats in a Big Ten game in nearly four years. Once the clock ran out, Fitzgerald did his customary fist pump, flashed what could only be a proud smile behind his protective facial mask (looking like “Shredder” from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), and savored what was his 100th victory as Northwestern’s head football coach. Sure, he quickly deflected praise to his players, as we've come to expect, but these are players that came here because they wanted to play for Coach Fitz. They made the plays that won those 100 games, but Fitzgerald led the way.

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.