After further review: Purdue 24 Northwestern 22

It may have been the most gut-wrenching loss of the season, but there were reasons to be encouraged about Northwestern's last-second, 24-22 loss to Purdue on Saturday.

We bring you the 3-2-1 and hand out some awards.

We actually saw some explosion from the offense this week. It’s true. The Wildcats had four plays of 20 yards or more, two by WR Berkeley Holman alone. Compared to a usually explosive Purdue offense, which only had one, that’s a pretty big accomplishment, especially when considering how languid the Wildcats have been on offense this season.

It started right out of the gate, as the Wildcats' first offensive play, an Aidan Smith-to-Riley Lees pass, went for 13 yards and a first down. On the next call, Northwestern Kyric McGowan hit a 79-yard run on a zone play, when he popped through the middle, passed the linebackers and outraced the secondary for a touchdown.

It didn’t stop there, either. The Cats scored touchdowns on their first two
drives, after not scoring on their previous 44. They more than doubled their points-per-game average of 9.8, scoring 22, and put up 435 total yards of offense, more than their last two games combined.

In all, Smith connected on seven passes that registered more than 10 yards and two touchdowns. Those stats may not satisfy many fans around the country, but it's a seven-course meal to Wildcat fans starving for offense.

The defense looked more aggressive in the turnover game. The Wildcats made use of the rip/strip opportunities that coach Pat Fitzgerald vociferously emphasized this week. In the team’s first defensive series, they thrashed the ball away from RB King Doerue, and though the play was whistled dead just before they clawed it from his grip, it was an indicator of good things to come.

This continued throughout the first half. LBs and DBs were seen taking swipes at the ball carriers. Eku Leota caused a fumble on a strip-sack in the first quarter (which was, unfortunately, not recovered by the Wildcats) ,and Cameron Ruiz made a great break in front of WR David Bell to get the team’s first interception since September. Another INT from LB Blake Gallagher later in the third quarter - off a tipped-pass, nonetheless) - gave the Wildcats their first multiple-pick game of the year.

Throw in DE Joe Gaziano’s forced safety late in the second quarter and you could see that this defense came out with an intent to wreak havoc and swing momentum in this game.

Lees is stepping up as a leader. We’ve mentioned how visually enthusiastic he’s been lately, but coaches say Lees is now leading meetings and directing teammates in their understanding of their responsibilities - not just for his position group, but for the offense as a whole.

Lees is the team’s leading receiver, kick returner and punt returner. He had a career-high in receptions (eight) against the Boilers on Saturday - the most distinguished being the two-feet-down touchdown catch in the end zone early in the fourth that regained the lead for the Cats. And we’d be remiss not to mention his workman-like effort to fight and reach the chains on the third-down reception at the nine-minute mark in the fourth quarter.

Should McGowan be a full-time RB from here on out? The junior turned in a remarkable performance, even if it was against a mediocre Purdue run defense. His 146 rushing yards and 8.6-yard average looked pretty good for a converted receiver.

For a guy who’s seen more as a slasher than a runner, he did a good job getting north and south and getting yardage “now,” rather than making too many lateral cuts to try and “out-shake” the defense. Like BTN announcers Brandon Gaudin and James Lauranitis said, “He looks comfortable as a running back,” despite playing on the outside as a pass-catcher for the past two-and-a-half seasons.

Six of McGowan's runs from scrimmage went for first downs, and four went for more than 10 yards. There was, of course, the 79-yard score in the first, but he also had a nice 22-yard jaunt in the third, where defenders looked as though they were on rollerblades trying to corral him.

So does this mean that McGowan may have found a new position in the backfield, or will he be switched back to WR next season when Isaiah Bowser (hopefully) returns to health? Drake Anderson and Jesse Brown will be stronger and slated incoming freshman Cameron Porter joins the mix, so there may not be as much of a need in the backfield. On the other hand, Fitzgerald does value the best-player-plays motive, so it will be interesting to watch.

How will this team finish the season? The Wildcats have a good tune-up next week against lowly UMass. (The Minutemen are struggling mightily but we are as stunned as anyone that NU opened as 40-point favorites.)

After the Minutemen, they host the red hot Minnesota Golden Gophers (who’ll likely be a Top 10 team, provided they win next week), before traveling to Champaign to face the now bowl-eligible Illinois Fighting Illini who are looking for their first win in the “Hat” series in five years.

Northwestern has a realistic opportunity to win two of its last three games. It’s also possible they could finish o-fer in the Big Ten for the first time in 21 years. One thing we’d put money on: the Cats will show some fight in the final three. Fitzgerald guarantees it.

Anything that can go wrong for Northwestern has gone wrong this year. Injuries have hit this team about as hard as we can remember in terms of front-line depth. They’ve had a total of 10 starters who’ve missed games with injury, including two quarterbacks and two captains - and that’s just through nine games.

Trent Green, Isaiah Bowser, Greg Newsome, Samdup Miller, Ernest Brown and possibly Bennett Skowronek have been lost for the year, and we’re waiting to hear about the status of McGowan, who went in for X-rays in the fourth quarter.

They’ve games on last-second field goals to Nebraska and Purdue, both after the Wildcats missed a field goal just prior. Even the Stanford game was, for all intents and purposes, a three-point loss, as the final Cardinal touchdown really shouldn’t have happened.

But we firmly believe what legendary Bobby Bowden said, that, “you learn more from adversity than you do from success.” This team is a group of grinders, and Fitzgerald remains confidently insistent of that fact. Like he said last week, “enjoy it now (opponents); we’ll be back next year.”

We sure hope so.

Offensive game ball: RB Kyric McGowan

McGowan was the game’s leading rusher in both yards and carries. He toted the rock 17 times for 146 yards and a touchdown. He also had the longest run by a Northwestern player since 2012, when the All-American Venric Mark took the ball 80 yards. And, like we pointed out earlier, McGowan did it by getting to the seam quickly, with intent - no dancing. McGowan also caught three passes for 19 yards, had four total plays of 10 yards or more and had six that resulted in a first down. In a game where the Wildcats had their best offensive performance of the season, McGowan stood tall and helped restore some faith in this unit.

Defensive game ball: CB Cameron Ruiz

Try to forget about the late pass-interference call against him. Ruiz had a pretty good day, considering. Having to step up for the injured Newsome, who’s been the second-best pass defender in the Big Ten, and cover one of the Big Ten’s best receivers in Bell, the sophomore embraced the challenge. He started fast, making the first tackle of the game and had nine total tackles (eight solos). He even got his first career interception, which was the first NU INT since the Wisconsin game in late September. He led the defense in tackles, INTs and PBUs, and though he made a couple of technical mistakes, he held firm in the face of being tested often.

Special Teams game ball: P Andrew David

The newly appointed grad transfer punter had five clean punts - two which were dropped inside the twenty - and an impressive 17-yard run on a “check-with-me” fake punt,late in the second quarter. And the guy was quick. It’s a potentially stomach-wrenching moment for any punter to run on the ball on fourth-and-6, but he handled the situation well and ran it for 17 yards to easily gain the first down.

Honorable mention goes to first-year kick-off specialist Trey Finison, who put three of four kickoffs into the end zone for touchbacks, something Northwestern kickers really haven’t been able to do, to that percentage, in quite some time. The wind certainly help Finison's distance, but it was still good to see.

Wildcat Warrior: DE Joe Gaziano

Throughout the team’s struggles this year, Gaziano has maintained an elite level of play. With his sack on Saturday - his 6th-and-a-half of the season and fourth in the last five games - Gaziano now needs just one more solo QB takedown to top Casey Dailey as No. 1 all-time in Northwestern history. That’s pretty remarkable, considering the number of defensive linemen the Wildcats have put into the NFL over the last couple of decades.

The Wildcats scoring their first touchdown in 13 quarters. And the best thing was that the TD came on the Wildcats' longest play of the season - by about 50 yards! McGowan took a handoff and raced 79 yards to pay dirt and put the Wildcats up for the first time since the second week of the season, against UNLV. That's the only other time the Wildcats have held a lead all season, as a matter of fact. But nonetheless, the Northwestern offense put the ball in the hands of their best playmaker and he punctuated his opportunity with a bolt past the Boilers. In a season that hasn’t had too many sparks, this play was pretty electric.

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.