Northwestern traveled to Minnesota looking for its sixth win of the season and bowl eligibility. The Wildcats came back with a 29-12 loss and a fat lip.
Northwestern had no answer for a blitzing Minnesota defense that sacked quarterback Clayton Thorson seven times and limited the Wildcats to just 339 total yards and two touchdowns.
Coming off of a 605-yard, 45-point performance in a win over Purdue last week, it was a rude awakening for a Wildcat offense that looked as out of sync as it was during the first two weeks of the season. Now Northwestern will have to win its season finale against Illinois to lock up a bowl invitation.
Here are our six pointers on the Wildcats’ ugly loss:
Another slow start for the Cats: Northwestern did it at Michigan State, falling behind 14-0, and at Purdue, falling behind 10-0. But while the Wildcats won both of those contests, this time they couldn’t get out of the hole they dug for themselves in the first half against the Gophers. Minnesota took the opening kickoff and went 80 yards for a touchdown to take a 6-0 lead (they missed the PAT), with 61 of those yards coming on the ground on just five carries. It didn’t get any better when the Wildcats took possession, either. Northwestern ran three plays on its first drive and lost 10 yards: an incomplete pass, a 1-yard run by Justin Jackson (and a holding penalty that was declined), and a sack of Clayton Thorson that lost 11 yards. That deficit eventually turned into a 12-0 halftime lead and held up on a day where Northwestern’s offense couldn’t do much right. In fact, the Wildcats were lucky to be down just 12-0 at half after losing two fumbles, giving up four sacks and producing just 146 yards of offense in the first 30 minutes.
Northwestern was dreadful on third and fourth downs: The Wildcats offense looked a lot like the anemic unit that produced just seven points in an embarrassing Week 2 home loss to FCS Illinois State. Northwestern converted just two of 15 third downs in the game, going three-and-out five times and never really sustaining drives. Worse, the Wildcats were just 1-of-4 on fourth downs as their aggressiveness cost them two golden scoring opportunities in a game where points were precious. On a fourth-and-1 at the Minnesota 16-yard line in the second quarter, Jackson was thrown for a three-yard loss. The Wildcats again came up short on a fourth-and-1 at the Minnesota 13 in the third quarter when a Thorson pass to Garrett Dickerson fell incomplete.
Minnesota defense blitzed the Wildcats into oblivion: The Gophers came out blitzing and essentially didn’t stop as Northwestern was never really able to stop it. Minnesota sacked Thorson seven times, with four of them ending drives on third down. The Gophers sent pressure up the middle repeatedly and tightly covered Northwestern’s underneath routes, forcing Thorson to throw the ball downfield; he never really got a chance to do that as he was often on his back before he could find a receiver. On those few occasions that Thorson did get time to throw, Minnesota’s excellent coverage in the secondary didn’t provide him with many options. Thorson finished 28-of-45 passing for 276 yards and one touchdown, but a lot of those gains were wiped out by his sacks and many of those yards came late in the game. Austin Carr, the leading receiver in the Big Ten, was injured when he took a blow to the head in the third quarter and didn’t return. Minnesota’s Duke McGhee received a 15-yard personal-foul penalty and an ejection for targeting for the hit.
Northwestern’s defense kept the Cats in the game: Minnesota’s defense played a dominant game, but Northwestern’s unit wasn’t far behind. The Gophers, in fact, gained just 328 yards, 11 fewer than the Wildcats. Northwestern also came up with a pair of turnovers to match the Gophers: a marvelous Marcus McShepard interception on a 50/50 ball and an Anthony Walker Jr. strip on a kickoff return that could have (and should have) been a game-changing play. Rodney Smith, the leading rusher in the Big Ten, was limited to 32 yards, and he and Shannon Brooks combined for 105 yards on 30 carries (3.5 ypc). The Wildcats also came up with two goal-line stands, one in the second quarter and one in the third, to hold Minnesota to field goals after driving deep into Northwestern territory.
Northwestern had its chance in the third quarter: As bad as the Wildcats played in the first half, they trailed just 15-0 in the third quarter, when they mounted a 12-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to pull to within 15-6 (the Wildcats’ two-point conversion attempt failed when the Wildcats ran the same handoff to Jackson that failed on a fourth-and-1 earlier). The drive was aided by a generous spot on a fourth-down completion to Andrew Scanlan that was surprisingly held up after a review. The Wildcats had momentum on their side when Walker came up with his strip of Jalen Myrick on the ensuing kickoff to give Northwestern the ball at the Gopher 22. But Northwestern’s offense failed to capitalize as Thorson’s throw to Dickerson was incomplete on fourth-and-1 at the Minnesota 13 and failed to draw what could have been a pass interference penalty.
More than the Land of Lincoln Trophy will be on the line next week: Now more than bragging rights and “The Hat” will be at stake when the Wildcats play rival Illinois next week. Northwestern, with a record of 5-6 (4-4 Big Ten), will need to win the game to get that all-important sixth win and an automatic bowl bid. Does that sound familiar? It should. The Wildcats were in the same situation in the 2014 season finale, when Tim Beckman-led Illinois came in and posted a 47-33 win over a Northwestern team that lost starting quarterback Trevor Siemian the week before. Illinois is just 3-8 and the Wildcats will certainly be favored, even if they are just 2-4 at Ryan Field this season.
