EVANSTON-Northwestern’s student section was full to start the game on Saturday night at Ryan Field. At halftime, with the Wildcats trailing Minnesota 24-7, about 80% of them went home.
They missed one heck of a show and the freshmen class learned one of their first lessons in Evanston: don't count out the Cardiac Cats. The students who stayed got to rush the field after the Wildcats somehow rallied for a 37-34 overtime win and celebrate with the team in the end zone after Charlie Mangieri's walk-off 25-yard touchdown reception.
The Wildcats looked to be dead and buried, trailing 31-10 at the start of the fourth quarter. But then, sleepy Northwestern ripped off three unanswered touchdowns, the last one an 11-yard pass from Ben Bryant to AJ Henning with just two seconds to go, to tie the game at 31 and force overtime.
"For the first time since I've been here, you looked in their eyes and looked at their body language and they weren't flinching," interim head coach David Braun said. "They expected victory tonight."
After Minnesota scored a field goal on its first possession, Bryant hit a wide-open Mangieri for a 25-yard touchdown pass on the Wildcats first play to give them a rub-your-eyes victory.
It was the most points the Wildcats scored in a Big Ten game in more than three years, since putting up 43 in the 2020 season opener against Maryland. Bryant threw for 396 yards and four touchdowns, the most yards for a Wildcat quarterback since Ryan Hilinski threw for 435 in a loss to Duke last September and the most touchdowns since Trevor Siemian against Illinois in 2018.
Northwestern’s offense, which scored a total of 21 points in eight quarters against Power Five teams, equaled that number in the final 12-plus minutes against the Gophers.
First, Cam Porter scored on a one-yard run to make it 31-17 with 12:01 left in the final period.
After a Minnesota punt, Bryant hit Bryce Kirtz on three straight plays, for 21, 31 and 17 yards, the last one for a touchdown to cut the lead to one score, 31-24, with 9:46 still to go. Kirtz had a career night, finishing with 10 catches for 215 yards and two touchdowns.
After successive punts from Minnesota, Northwestern and Minnesota again, Northwestern got the ball on its own 20 with 2:07 left. Bryant completed 10-of-12 passes on the final drive, including two first-down strikes to Thomas Gordon. Then, he found Henning for the game-tying score to set up the overtime heroics for Mangieri.
The wild, rollercoaster game began with both teams were playing it safe early. Really safe.
Braun opted to punt on a fourth-and-1 at his own 47 on the Wildcats’ first possession, a decision that brought a few boos from the sparse crowd. Then, Minnesota coach PJ Fleck said hold my beer on the next drive, when he decided to punt the ball away on a fourth-and-4 at the NU 39.
Eventually, though, Northwestern, a team with a slim margin of error to begin with, made the first big mistake of the game, and the Gophers capitalized.
After picking up a couple penalties on their second drive, Northwestern faced a third-and-20 from their own 21. Ben Bryant completed a screen pass to AJ Henning, who fumbled when he was hit by Kyler Baugh. Baugh returned it to the NU 9 and on the next snap, Minnesota’s Athan Kaliakmanis hit Lemeke Robinson for a touchdown pass and a 7-0 edge.
Northwestern wound up getting flagged eight times for 87 yards in penalties, a very uncharacteristic stat for one of the least penalized team in the Big Ten.
The Gophers pushed their lead to 14-0 in the second quarter on a one-yard run by Darius Taylor. Kaliakmanis made it 21-0 a little over six minutes later when he hit Daniel Jackson an 18-yard touchdown pass and his eight straight completion to open the game. Kaliakmanis, who had been struggling for the Gophers, went 14-for-19 for 191 yards and two TDs.
At that point, the stadium was just about as lively as the university library. But that’s when lightning struck. Bryant hit a wide-open Kirtz down the sideline for an 80-yard touchdown that cut the lead to two scores and finally gave those students something to cheer about.
That excitement was short-lived, however as Taylor broke one 41 yards up the middle on the first snap of the ensuing possession, and the Gophers tacked on a Dragan Kesich 50-yard field goal just before the half to make it 24-7.
Northwestern showed some life in the third quarter, mounting an 11-play, 63-yard drive for a field goal to cut the Gophers’ lead to 24-10 with 7:29 left in the third quarter. One of those 11 plays was a bizarre Jack Lausch-to-Bryant-back-to-Lausch double-pass that resulted in a fumble forward by Lausch that was recovered by Charlie Mangieri for a gain of seven yards and a first down.
But Minnesota answered again when, on fourth-and-1, Taylor broke through Bryce Gallagher’s tackle and went 43 yards for a touchdown to make it 31-10. Taylor ran for 198 yards and two touchdowns on 31 carries.
That turned out to be the Gophers’ last touchdown of the game and their last points until overtime, as the Wildcats outscored them 27-3 to close the game.
Even as the roller coaster pulled back into station, Braun made it clear he is far from satisfied.
"This is not a flash in the pan," he said. "This is the result of a great week of practice. They were challenged by their captains, their coaching staff and by one another."
