Football games are often a tale of two halves. But not like this one.
Northwestern put on a Dark Ages-like performance and was getting embarrassed in all phases to trail 27-0 near the end of the first half. Then quarterback Andrew Marty jogged out onto the field with the first-team offense to replace the ineffective and turnover-prone Hunter Johnson. Suddenly, everything changed.
The Marty-led Wildcats mounted a furious comeback, outscoring Duke 23-3 from that point on, but they ultimately fell short in a 30-23 loss that dropped them to 1-2 on the season.
With Marty behind center, the offense, which had turned the ball over on four of the previous five possessions, scored three touchdowns in a seven-minute span straddling the second and third quarters. Even the defense, which had gotten shredded for more than 400 yards in the first half alone, was resurrected, creating two takeaways that enabled the Wildcats to cut Duke’s once seemingly insurmountable lead to 30-20 in the third quarter.
But then disaster struck when Marty got tackled at the end of a 25-yard run. He lost the fumble in Duke territory, but also suffered what the program said was “an upper body injury” and didn't return. There was no update about his injury status after the game.
Ryan Hilinski – Northwestern’s third NU quarterback of the day – was forced into action. He led a drive that resulted in a 25-yard Charlie Kuhbander field goal to make it a one-score game with 2:48 left.
But the Devils were able to get a first down and run out the clock to post their second straight win of the season and third consecutive victory over Northwestern.
But the story here was the comeback Marty led.
“I’m proud of the way he responded,” said head coach Pat Fitzgerald.
Linebacker Chris Bergin said that he wasn’t surprised by Marty’s heroics. “Marty’s a hell of a football player and a hell of a leader,” he said.
Johnson had a nightmarish first half, turning the ball over four times, on three interceptions and a fumble, while completing just 6 of 16 passes. Marty came in and completed a 13-yard long out to Malik Washington on his first play that put a charge of confidence into his moribund offense.
He finished 11 of 16 for 151 yards passing in the game, with two touchdowns. He added 44 yards and one more score rushing to account for all of the Wildcats' TDs.
But Duke, in turns out, did enough damage in the disastrous first half for the Wildcats to earn the win.
Gunnar Holmberg, who threw for 221 yards in the first half alone, finished 31-of-44 for 314 yards, with one touchdown and one interception. Star running back Macaeo Durant had all 102 of his net yards in the first half, including a touchdown.
Northwestern has had more than its share of slow starts over the last few years. But this one set the new gold standard.
The Wildcats, playing their first road game of the season, fell behind 14-0 just 3:43 into the game – about half the time it took Michigan State to build a two-touchdown lead in the season opener. By the end of the first quarter, Duke had 250 yards of offense and a 21-0 lead. By halftime, it was 30-7 and the Wildcats had committed four turnovers.
Signs of the collapse were evident early. Before the first snap of the game, Northwestern was called for a delay of game. Then, on Duke’s first snap, Holmberg hit Darrell Harding Jr. for a 50-yard pass after he got a step on cornerback Rod Heard II. It only got worse from there in a horror show of a first half.
Offensively, Hunter Johnson only compounded the misery by turning the ball over four times all by himself, on three interceptions and a fumble, before he was pulled.
The most alarming aspect of the first-half meltdown was the play of the Wildcats’ once-mighty defense that finished fifth in the nation in points allowed last season. The Blue Devils looked like they could have been pulling plays out of a hat because everything was working; they averaged more than eight yards per play.
Fitzgerald couldn’t explain the change in his defense, which allowed just 138 yards and shut out the Blue Devils in the second half.
“We just stopped doing things that losing teams do,” he said.
Marty came in and hit a wide-open Jacob Gill for a 31-yard touchdown pass for the Wildcats’ first points of the game with just 1:25 left in the opening half.
Then, on Northwestern’s first possession of third quarter, Marty lofted a 40-yarder down the sideline to Stephon Robinson Jr., before hitting Marshall Lang for a 20-yard touchdown pass.
On the ensuing possession, Heard forced a Durant fumble, his second of the game, and recovered it at the Duke 7. Marty took it in on a quarterback sneak and suddenly, it was 30-20 with 10:21 left in the third quarter and the Wildcats were back in the ball game.
Northwestern got another golden chance to further cut into what was once a seemingly insurmountable lead when Bergin intercepted a Holmberg pass at the Duke 39, after Adetomiwa Adebawore impeded Holmberg’s throw.
But the Wildcats couldn’t cash in as Marty’s fourth-and-8 throw to Bryce Kirtz down the sideline went in and out of his hands.
An animated Fitzgerald said that he was tired of his team’s slow starts, only to flip a switch and play much better in the second half before ultimately falling short.
"I'm incredibly disappointed," he said. “You just can’t put yourself in that big a hole."
