SEATTLE-Northwestern got buried by Washington, 24-5, on Saturday at Husky Stadium in a final score that doesn’t capture how thoroughly one-sided the game was.

Yet the focus of much of the post-game press conference was on a fourth-down call early in the fourth quarter, when head coach David Braun made a decision to kick a field goal that had people scratching their heads in the stands and in the press box.

Despite getting dominated by Washington to that point, Northwestern somehow had the ball at the Washington 1-yard line with a chance to make it a one-score game early in the third quarter.

The Wildcats’ offense had generated just 63 yards in the first half. Yet here they were, trailing 17-2 and facing a fourth-and-goal on the doorstep of the goal line with a golden opportunity to take a big chunk out of that lead.

But instead of going for a touchdown, Braun surprised everyone by trotting Jack Olsen out there to kick an 18-yard field to make the score 17-5. It was a stunning move that defied the aggressiveness he had shown in similar situations throughout his year and a half as the Wildcats’ head coach.

Braun’s answer in the post-game was a convoluted attempt at head-coach logic that didn’t make a lot of sense.

“You know, at some point, if we remained down 15, we were going to have to go for two as early as it was in the game,” he said. “Still significant time in the third quarter, thought that getting it down to 12 would allow us to, instead of chasing a tie, go get two touchdowns and go win the football game.”

Getting the lead to 12 doesn’t do much for you in that spot because it would still be a two-score game. And scoring two more touchdowns seemed like a pipe dream for an offense that would gain just nine more yards the rest of the game.

The fact that the Wildcats had the ball deep in Washington territory was a miracle in itself for an offense whose seven first-half possessions had resulted in six punts and an interception.

Xander Mueller had recovered Will Rogers III’s fumbled snap at the Washington 33 to give the Wildcats the ball on a short field. Then the offense managed to piece together enough of a drive to get them on the doorstep of a crucial touchdown.

AJ Henning ran for nine yards, Jack Lausch for five. Joseph Himon II cut back and scampered 15 yards to the four. From there, a Lausch shovel pass to Thomas Gordon got it down to the 2, but consecutive runs into the teeth of the Husky defense had netted just one yard.

Still, the expectation was that that the Wildcats would go for the touchdown. With the offense sputtering like an engine missing a cylinder, they had to know that they may never get down there again. No matter what Braun says, this was their chance to make it a game.

Instead, they may have raised a white flag by settling for three.

Even if they didn’t score the TD in that spot, Washington would have the ball at the 1-yard line, with 99 yards to go for a score. The last time they had it inside their own 5, quarterback Will Rogers III was called for intentional grounding in the end zone, resulting in a safety and the Wildcats’ only two points in the game to that point.

There’s no question that Northwestern’s short-yardage offense was abysmal. They ran three plays from inside the Husky 4-yard line and failed to cross the goal line on that fateful drive. Then, on their next drive, down 24-5, they got another chance after Himon found a crease and returned a kickoff 96 yards to the Washington 2.

There, the Wildcats ran five plays – Washington drew a penalty on one play – and again couldn’t hit paydirt and failed to come away with any points.

Hammering home the trust that could, and should, have been placed in the defense by going for it the first time, Washington ran three plays for seven yards after that and punted.

Braun said he felt forced to go for the touchdown in that spot because the Cats were now down by 19 points – Washington had scored a TD to go up 24-5 – and time was dwindling.

“I mean, we were struggling to pick up that one yard,” said Braun. “The second decision was based on being in the fourth quarter and time was of the essence.”

Braun said that his team struggled so much in short yardage in part because it was missing Cam Porter, who sat out this game with an undisclosed injury but whom Braun expects to be back for the Wildcats’ next game against Indiana.

But he knows that it was more than that, too.

“Just not moving the line of scrimmage in those short yard situations,” he said. “I mean, it's not X's and O's, it's being able to move and puncture the line of scrimmage.”

His offensive line, which featured two backups by that point in the game, couldn’t get enough push up front.

The decision to kick a field goal in the third quarter didn’t decide the outcome. Washington outgained Northwestern 391-112 and limited the Wildcats to 2.1 yards per play. Lausch passed for just 53 yards and had two interceptions. They had no business being in this game.

But Braun's decision to take the field goal begs more questions than answers. The case could be made that Northwestern let its only chance for a win slip away right there.

“You know, things that we're considering and talking through in terms of game management, regardless of the outcome of those two goal-line situations, I don't think we played well, played our brand of football,” Braun said.

That, we agree with.