Justin Fields visited Northwestern over the weekend to watch the Wildcats play Illinois State and experience the game-day atmosphere. He never could have expected that he would also bear witness to perhaps the lowest point in recent Northwestern football history.

The four-star quarterback from Kennesaw (Ga.) Harrison, one of Northwestern’s top targets for 2018, was in the stands at Ryan Field when the FCS Redbirds stunned the Wildcats, 9-7, with a last-second field goal. To call the loss an upset is an understatement, and it dropped the suddenly reeling Wildcats to 0-2.

None of that is lost on Fields, but he still managed to look past the disappointing defeat to see what the Northwestern program offers both on and beyond the gridiron. That will loom large for Fields, who is the No. 9 dual-threat quarterback in the nation but also a 3.96 student in the classroom.