Suddenly, Northwestern looks like a scoring juggernaut.

Following a strong offensive performance in a stunning upset of Iowa in Iowa City, the Wildcats upended Michigan State in East Lansing, 54-40, with another points explosion on Saturday.

The 54 points are the highest total Northwestern has reached since 2000 and exceeded their total in the first three games combined. A team that managed to score just seven points against Illinois State is suddenly a scoring machine, producing 92 points over the last two games.

Here are our six points:

A slow start... After a sleepy drive for each team resulted in punts, Michigan State’s redshirt freshman quarterback Brian Lewerke burst on the scene during his first career start to give the Spartans a 7-0 lead. He scrambled for 24 yards and then immediately fired a 15-yard touchdown strike to Josiah Price. On the ensuing Cats drive Clayton Thorson was picked off by Justin Layne, who returned the ball 43 yards for a TD. Less than six minutes into the game, Northwestern trailed 14-0. As if that wasn’t enough, it appeared Michigan State would again get the ball back in favorable territory after Solomon Vault coughed up the football. Fortunately for the Cats, the pass to Vault was ruled incomplete and it appeared the bleeding was stopped. At that point, it certainly looked like it would be a long day for the Cats. Lewerke looked like the real deal and the Michigan State defense, led by returning star Riley Bullough, was flying around early.

…But the ‘Cats respond in a big way. The rest of the first half was (almost) all Cats. Justin Jackson ripped off a 29-yard touchdown run, Thorson fired a 9-yard touchdown pass to star receiver Austin Carr, and Jack Mitchell even chipped in a 33-yard field goal. On the defensive side of the ball, Joe Gaziano hammered Lewerke in the end zone for a safety, setting up the Mitchell 3-pointer. All in all, Northwestern could have folded, down 14-0 in East Lansing, but instead they buckled down and repeatedly answered the call. It says a lot about the character of this team that they did not get dejected early on.

How about the defense? Ifeadi Ogdenibo followed up his career day two weeks ago with another solid day, chasing around both O’Connor and Lewerke. He had a sack in the fourth quarter and a strip sack in the third that Gaziano recovered, bringing Odenigbo’s total to six sacks in the past two games. Gaziano had a big play in his own right, sacking Lewerke in the endzone for a safety. Anthony Walker Jr., who looks more and more like “The Franchise,” added a sack and several hits. On the other hand, the defensive backs were burnt on a couple of big touchdown plays by RJ Shelton. On one, Godwin Igwebuike tipped the ball right into Shelton’s hands for a 59-yard touchdown. On the second, Shelton ran right past Northwestern cornerback Alonzo Mayo for an 86-yard touchdown haul. Both of those touchdown passes were credited to Tyler O’Connor, the previous starting quarterback who came on to relieve Lewerke in the second half.

Keep the Carr running: Carr is putting himself in elite territory. Besides being the ultimate safety blanket on third down, Carr continued to haul in passes at an impressive rate, finishing with 11 catches for 130 yards and two touchdowns. Arguably his most impressive catch was one a fourth-and-6 in the fourth quarter. He ran a corner route with extreme precision and Thorson lofted it perfectly to give Northwestern the 54-37 lead. Carr is Northwestern’s best receiving option since maybe Jeremy Ebert, and Mick McCall continues to do an impressive job of finding ways to get him the ball.

Justin Jackson the ball carrier: Jackson certainly earned his nickname today, with 34 carries for 188 yards and two touchdowns. Credit needs to be paid to the offensive line, which opened up holes throughout the day, especially in the fourth quarter when the Michigan State defense appeared to be worn down. Jackson was patient waiting for plays to develop, letting the offensive line set up their blocks and picking the exact moment to explode through the hole. Then he was able to consistently make tackler miss. Furthermore, even though he carried the rock all those times, he was arguably more impressive late in the game than he was early.

Big plays dominated: The story of the game, and the third quarter especially, was explosive plays. It was in the third quarter that O’Connor hit both of his long TD passes. For the Cats, the biggest one was following Michigan State’s 86-yard touchdown to Shelton, when momentum shifted to MSU and the stadium was rocking. Solomon Vault was having none of that, as he fielded the ensuing kickoff on a bounce, darted up the sideline and then zigzagged across the field, covering 95 yards for a touchdown. It was the fourth return touchdown of Vault’s career and his first of the season. Earlier in the quarter, Flynn Nagel’s 57-yard touchdown pass also deserves mention. He found himself all alone on a fly pattern after a blown coverage to give the Wildcats a 26-17 lead on their first drive of the second half.