No. 19 Northwestern beat No. 10 Wisconsin 17-7 on Saturday to take control of the Big Ten West.
Here are our five takeaways:
Turnovers told the story: Northwestern's defense came up huge with forcing turnovers on Saturday. In total, the Cats forced five turnovers, four of them in the first half, to keep the Wisconsin offense at bay.
The first turnover, a Garrett Groshek fumble that was forced by Eku Leota, seemed like it could have been an early knockout punch from the Wildcats' defense. But a fumble from Isaiah Bowser on the goal line put the pressure back on the Northwestern defense.
The next turnover was a fumble by Wisconsin quarterback Graham Mertz, caused by a blitzing Blake Gallagher. Then Brandon Joseph continued to make massive plays for Northwestern's defense, grabbing interceptions on back-to-back drives to thwart Wisconsin drives and give the ball back to the Wildcats.
Northwestern failed to capitalize on any of the first three turnovers, but Joseph's second pick led to the Wildcats' game-winning touchdown drive.
In the fourth quarter, Greg Newsome II snagged a Mertz pass to all but seal the game.
The first-half turnovers were absolutely critical for keeping Northwestern in the game while the offense sputtered and shot themselves in the foot. Not forcing turnovers was a big problem for Northwestern's defense a year ago. This year it's the driving force behind their 5-0 start.
Early mistakes loomed large: When Leota knocked the ball out of Groshek's arms and high-school-quarterback-turned-wide-receiver Riley Lees connected with Ramaud Chiaokhiao-Bowman for a 36-yard pass to set Northwestern up at the Wisconsin 1-yard line, it seemed like Northwestern might run away with the game. The Wildcats were already up 7-0 and poised to take a two-touchdown lead early in the opening quarter.
But Isaiah Bowser never got a good grip on a handoff and lost the ball at the goal line. Wisconsin recovered in the end zone for a touchback and momentum shifted all the way back to the Badgers. Wisconsin's ensuing drive resulted in a 49-yard touchdown pass from Mertz to Chimere Dike, on a play where Joseph bit too hard on play action and left Cameron Ruiz on an island.
Northwestern's defense completely shut down the Badgers for the rest of the game and the offense managed 10 more points, which was enough to win. But Northwestern absolutely cannot continue relying on their defense to create five turnovers in order to overcome mistakes and failures to capitalize by the offense. It just simply isn't sustainable.
The defense dominated: Five turnovers is impressive no matter the opponent. Five turnovers against an offense averaging 47 points per game is almost unbelievable.
That's a good way to describe how well Northwestern's defense played: they held the Badgers to 40 points below their season average.
The defense didn't get much help from a sputtering NU offense, but they made it seem impossible for Wisconsin to move the ball. All three levels of the defense stepped up and made huge plays.
Up front, Tommy Adebawore five quarterback hurries. Linebackers Gallagher and Paddy Fisher combined for 27 tackles, three TFL, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery. Joseph had two interceptions, Newsome had one INT and two PBU.
It was an extremely impressive performance from a unit that seems to be improving with each week and continues to be the back bone of this Northwestern team.
Leota stayed hot: Leota is becoming a difference maker for this Northwestern defense.
Following up a two-sack, one-forced fumble performance against Purdue was no easy task, but he delivered. Leota had three tackles, including a sack, and lived in Wisconsin's backfield.
Even when Northwestern only rushed three, Leota still forced Mertz to run out of the pocket. Arguably the most impressive play in the game for Leota was when he showed off his speed and ran down Nakia Watson from the back side of the play and tackled him for no gain.
Leota may be the quick-twitch force off the edge that can put pressure on opposing quarterbacks and force mistakes.
The running game disappeared again: It was another ugly game for Northwestern on the ground.
Bowser fumbled inside the one-yard line on Northwestern's second drive and was benched for the remainder of the game. Drake Anderson once again struggled as the lead back, gaining just 13 yards on his team-high eight carries. Cam Porter did not do anything of note in his four carries.
In all, Northwestern ran the ball 23 times for 24 yards, an average of just a smidge over one yard per carry. That's atrocious. The Wildcat offensive line does a pretty good job protecting Ramsey, but their run blocking has been lacking.
Northwestern will not continue to win if they don't have some semblance of a ground game. The Wildcats tonight put the game squarely on quarterback Peyton Ramsey's shoulders, and he delivered. Again. But he can only do so much by himself, and if teams know Northwestern can't run the ball, he will see more and more pressure coming every time he drops back.
Northwestern's success on the ground seems to go as Bowser goes, so Northwestern desperately needs him to get healthy and get past the fumbling issues that have plagued him this season. If it's not Bowser, then someone else needs to pick up the flag.
