EVANSTON-Northwestern opened its 2020 season with a dominant 43-3 over Maryland on Saturday night at Ryan Field.

Here are our five takeaways:

Few relationships are more important to a football team than the one between the offensive coordinator and the quarterback. After one game, Mike Bajakian and Peyton Ramsey seem to be getting along just fine.

The Wildcats exploded on offense against the Terrapins, racking up 537 yards scoring 43 points, their most in a Big Ten game in four years.

Bajakian kept the Maryland defense guessing by continuously mixing formations and play calls to get a wide variety of weapons involved for Northwestern. Seven Wildcats caught at least one pass, led by John Raine and Ramaud Chiaokhiao-Bowman with five apiece.

Ramsey, who threw for 212 yards and a touchdown, did what he does best, accurately getting the ball to his playmakers. He also ran for 47 yards and a touchdown. Even more impressive, Ramsey only threw one incompletion on third down all game.

"I thought (Ramsey) played really clean, I thought he made really good decisions with the ball," said head coach Pat Fitzgerald after the game. "I thought it was really good game calling by Mike Bajakian. I'm really proud of Peyton and obviously, Jake did a great job, too."

It seemed like no matter who Northwestern lined up at running back, they were successful. In all, the Wildcats rang up 325 yards and four touchdowns on 53 carries, an average of 6.1 yards per rush.

Isaiah Bowser (23 carries, 73 yards) and Drake Anderson (10 carries, 103 yards) were the headliners, both chewing up yards and finding the end zone once. Evan Hull ripped off a 30-yard touchdown to close the scoring in the fourth quarter.

True freshman Cam Porter, who recovered a fumble and had a big night on special teams, ripped off a 20-yard run, and Jesse Brown, Kyric McGowan, Riley Lees and even walkon Marcus Cisco got positive yardage.

"We've got to keep them healthy," said Fitzgerald. "That was the bugaboo last year."

Northwestern will need to continue to run the ball well to set up play-action passes for Ramsey.

Northwestern's offensive line quieted most doubts about whether they would be able to hold up without Rashawn Slater and Jared Thomas. Bowser praised them after the game for making the running backs' jobs a lot easier.

"We had over 300 rushing yards, you can't do that alone," he said. "We just followed those big boys."

With safety Travis Whillock opting out before the season and cornerback Greg Newsome II sidelined with an injury on Saturday night, Northwestern's secondary looked like it might struggle against a Maryland offense that is loaded at wide receiver.

But the Wildcats put those fears to bed early.

AJ Hampton, JR Pace and Coco Azema all picked off passes against the Terrapins, getting the Wildcats to almost half of their 2019 total of seven interceptions in one game. Hampton, a sophomore, and Azema, a redshirt freshman, caught Pace's attention.

"For their first time getting meaningful minutes, for them to make those big plays, it's exciting," said Pace.

Hampton picked off his pass on Maryland's second drive to really shift momentum, while Azema made a leaping interception in NU territory to kill another Maryland drive.

Brandon Joseph, a redshirt freshman starting in Whillock's spot, led the team with seven tackles, while Rod Heard II, a redshirt freshman, had six.

The veterans were not to be outdone, though. JR Pace got back to doing what he does best and picked off a pass in the first quarter, and junior corner Cam Ruiz came up with a sack on third down early in the game.

Northwestern showcased their depth in the back end on Saturday, and showed how dominant they can be.

"A lot of young guys played tonight, and I'm really proud of the way the entire secondary stepped up," said Fitzgerald.

After registering just 23 sacks last season, ne of Northwestern's biggest concerns going into the season was their pass rush. Especially after two starting defensive ends: all-time sack leader Joe Gaziano graduated and Samdup Miller opted out of the season.

On top of that, starting defensive tackle Trevor Kent was on the inactive list and Jason Gold was lost to a lower body injury during the game.

But the pass rush still showed up against Maryland. Sophomore Adetomiwa Adebawore collected a sack and consistency collapsed the pocket, rushing Taulia Tagovailoa‘s throws and generally making his life miserable.

Fellow sophomore Eku Leota, playing with a club on his right hand, was in the Maryland backfield all night long and had a five-yard TFL when Maryland got into the red zone on its first possession. Senior Earnest Brown IV registered a quarterback hurry and made Tagovailoa run out of the pocket multiple times.

Their play made it impossible for the Terrapins' playmaking wide receivers to get open downfield.

If Northwestern can continue to consistently put pressure on the quarterback and pair it with strong secondary play, this defense can has a chance to be dominant this season.

Fitzgerald picked the perfect game to get career win 100. The 15-year head coach is already, by far, the winningest coach in program history, and the win raised his career record to 100-79.

But this milestone happened a year too late, as far as Fitzgerald is concerned, as a disappointing three-win campaign in 2019 left him at 99.

"To my players, I'm sorry it took so long to get to 100, and to our fans I say I'm sorry," said Fitzgerald. "Hopefully, the next 100 will go a lot faster."

It seems fitting, however, that Fitzgerald reached his milestone in a game where Northwestern dominated on defense and imposed their will with a physical offense that rushed for more than 300 yards. That’s the coach’s style.

Fitzgerald had a list of all the captains he coached, and he read off what several of his former captains were doing today, whether playing in the NFL or working at a Fortune 500 company.

“It’s all about the players,” he said.