COLLEGE PARK, Md.-Northwestern responded to the first back-to-back losses of the David Braun Era by giving their sophomore coach his largest margin of victory in Big Ten play, rolling over Maryland, 37-10.

After a 24-5 loss at Washington, running out of gas in a 41-24 loss to Indiana and heading on the road to Maryland as double-digit underdogs, very few expected such a dramatic result. Count Braun among those caught off guard.

"No," Braun said on if he thought the Wildcats would open up such a gulf against a Big Ten opponent. "But we'll always pride ourselves on finding ways to win in the fourth quarter."

The Wildcats led wire-to-wire but they put the game away with a 20-3 run in the final frame, fueled by turning Maryland over on their final five possessions with a fumble, interception or on downs.

"It's a credit to the way things can snowball in a positive way when you start to create takeaways," Braun added. "You get a defensive touchdown and then your pass rushers really get to pin their ears back and get after it."

Defensive tackle and captain Carmine Bastone strip sacked Billy Edwards Jr. to take a 24-10 lead. Redshirt freshman Damon Walters followed up a special teams fumble recovery with his first career interception.

The Terrapins ran 85 plays to Northwestern's 52, outgained the Wildcats 355-283 and picked up 16 more first downs. Yet they lost the game by four scores.

"If this game was judged by yardage and plays, it wouldn't have been a good day for the Cats," Braun said.

Thankfully, it's still judged on points, and the Wildcats clawed their way back to .500 in signature style.

Here are our takeaways from Northwestern's big win on the road.

Akers steps up as kicker: The Big Ten's availability report put a pit in everyone's stomach as it revealed that kicker Jack Olsen was ruled out.

Punter Luke Akers, son of NFL placekicking legend David Akers, would be stepping up into the role. One problem: Akers had never kicked in a game in his four-year college career.

Turns out, it was no problem. Akers drilled all three of his extra points, as well as field goals from 38, 38 and 43 yards.

"Really, really excited for Luke Akers," Braun said. "I've never seen anything like it...those were the first points he's scored in his college career

He also handled kickoffs and punts, pinning Maryland inside their 15 three times, even landing a punt on the 1.

"I'll be hitting the cold tubs tomorrow for sure...a busy night is a good night," Akers said. "Hitting kickoffs means we're scoring. I talked to Lausch early in the year: when my leg's sore, that's a good thing."

Olsen's injury is week-to-week so it remains to be seen if Akers' run will be one-and-done, or for the long haul. Either way, he was a special part of a special game.

GAME RECAP: Northwestern comes up with four turnovers to rout Maryland, 37-10

Bend-don't-break is back: After being dissected by Indiana, the defense answered the bell at Maryland. The Terps had an extra week of prep be sure of a bye, the Wildcats were short a day by playing on Friday night and you would have thought it was exactly the opposite.

Edwards piloted Maryland on four different drives of 10 or more plays, and yet they mustered just 10 points on the scoreboard. Time and time again, the Wildcats kept the Terps in front of them and forced error after error, leading to a complete meltdown. Northwestern's defense turned the Terps over on downs three different times.

Linebacker Mac Uihlein was sensational with 13 tackles, seven more than nickel Robert Fitzgerald in second place.

Edwards and Co. had their flaws coming into the contest, but they had always scored. Their lowest mark was 24 vs. Michigan State and they'd scored 38+ twice in their five games. Against Northwestern, the Terrapins racked up first downs and yards, but they couldn't crack the scoreboard, even more momentous after the postgame news break that head coach Mike Locksley had taken over playcalling.

There are elite opponents ahead so the complete coronation will have to wait, but the resilience and persistence that Braun has imbued in his players and his staff showed up once more in a dominant performance.

Kirtz has a second straight 100-yard game: At the bye week, the connection between Kirtz and Jack Lausch was flatlining. The redshirt sophomore quarterback found his graduate top target just four times for 20 yards against Eastern Illinois and Washington.

Cut to two weeks later and Kirtz posted the first back-to-back 100+ yard games of his career. After snagging 10 catches against Indiana, he had three for 123 yards against the Terrapins.

"It's really been me and Jack at practice, we've been doing a lot of communicating," Kirtz said on the shift. "The offense has also emphasized getting the ball to me and AJ [Henning], so they've done a good job of that, and then Jack has done a good job of taking care of [the ball] and getting it to us."

Lausch was 10-for-18 for 203 yards, completing three different passes of 40+ yards: one to Henning and two to Kirtz. It was a marked improvement in downfield delivery for a quarterback just a month departed from an 8-for-27 passing performance for just 53 yards at Washington.

There's plenty of work ahead but Lausch and Kirtz are officially on the same page, and it's a dangerous page at that.

Offense still going through growing pains: It's bizarre to critique the offense in a 37-10 win, but it's merited.

After opening a 14-0 lead on the back of two dynamic touchdown drives, the Wildcats recovered a fumbled kick with the chance to go up three scores. They did, but to the tune of four plays for -3 yards and a field goal.

The Wildcats next four drives would all be three-and-out, none taking longer than 1:32 off the clock, leaving their defense on an island. They got into the end zone after Bastone's strip sack for a touchdown, and the fog lifted: they scored on their next three drives to put the game away.

One of the most puzzling aspects was on second-and-11 with 47 seconds left in the first half, when Lausch fired incomplete to Henning, stopping the clock when Maryland had just one timeout remaining. The Terrapins ended up getting the ball back with 32 seconds left on the NU 49. They would eventually miss a 54-yard field goal, but the play call gave the Terps a chance to mount a late first-half drive when NU could have run out the clock.

Braun was clear that this was not the intended result. He said that he had some specific feedback for offensive coordinator Zach Lujan and Lausch after that incompletion.

"Run the football," he said. "We need to do better communicating with Jack that he needs to hand that off.

"He has an RPO option, it's a run play, it's a run frame, and based on the look he got in the box, he made the right decision based on our install of that play.

“But he should never make that decision in that case [with the clock]. We need to make sure regardless of that play that we keep the clock running."

Lausch was rueful, but buoyed by his defense and the eventual win.

"I learn from it, it's my fourth start," he said. "I have to learn. Defense did an unbelievable job getting a stop and forcing a missed field goal. I have to keep the clock running."

Lausch is now 2-2 as a starter with his first Big Ten win and has shown leaps and bounds of improvement from his nightmarish conference debut at Washington. Maryland has one of the worst pass defenses in the nation, but Lausch can only play his schedule, and he has executed at a competitive level in back-to-back weeks.

The staff's decision to give him the starting job over Mike Wright after Week 2, combined with a clear rededication over the bye week has given the Wildcats a bright future at the position.

Taking stock: This game was an absolute fulcrum for Northwestern. Had the Wildcats hit the wrong side and lost, a bowl would have been almost entirely off the table, and a three-game losing streak could have impacted the rest of the season.

But instead, the Wildcats got a big road win and the second-biggest margin of victory in the Braun Era.

After Washington, where Northwestern’s offense mustered just 112 yards and three points, it wasn't clear if the Wildcats could win another game this season. Now, after pushing Indiana and beating Maryland, it's clear the Wildcats can be a competitive team in the conference this season.

Looking ahead, Ohio State figures to be a loss and Michigan a long shot, but the Wildcats team on the field last night should beat Purdue and can play with Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois.

"I'm excited to get back to Evanston, with a win on the road, at 3-3," Braun said. "I think this was an opportunity for our team to see who we can truly be if we put all three phases together."