DUBLIN, Ireland-There was a lot of pomp and circumstance around Northwestern’s season opener against Nebraska on Saturday.
The Wildcats were playing at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland, more than 3,000 miles and six time zones from home. They were in the only matchup of two Power Five teams scheduled for Week 0. They enjoyed a bowl-type experience during the week. A pub called Fitzsimons Temple Bar was rebranded as Coach Fitz’s and displayed more purple than you see on any storefront in Evanston.
But in the end, this trip was all about a football game. It was a business trip and, for Northwestern’s players, a chance for redemption against the team that embarrassed them last season.
Mission accomplished.
Less than a year after getting humiliated, 56-7, in Lincoln, the Wildcats rallied twice from 11-point deficits to post a 31-28 win over the Huskers.
Head coach Pat Fitzgerald had talked throughout camp that this team felt different than last year’s. Today, the Wildcats proved him prophetic.
Ryan Hilinski looked like a different quarterback than the one who often struggled last season, completing 27-of-38 passes for 312 yards and two touchdowns, without an interception. He was dynamite in the first half, going 20-for-23.
The running game took over in the second half, and finished the job. Evan Hull (119 yards) and Cam Porter (94) combined for 215 yards and two touchdowns. With Nebraska tiring, the Wildcats ran the ball on 15 straight plays to close out the game.
The much-maligned offensive line played a sensational game, holding Nebraska to zero sacks, limiting them to two TFL and opening holes right up the middle for Hull and Porter to run through.
The end result was 528 yards of total offense, the most for the Wildcats since 2017.
And the defense that Nebraska shredded for 427 yards rushing last season? They held the Huskers to just 110 yards on the ground and came up with three turnovers. Nebraska quarterback Casey Thompson finished with 322 yards, but he also threw two interceptions and was sacked twice for 19 yards in losses.
Early in the game, however, the Wildcats looked shaky, a bit too much like last year’s unit.
Thompson, using short and intermediate passes underneath the safeties, dinked and dunked the Huskers down the field to score TDs on two of their first three drives. The first one ended with a 32-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Garcia-Castaneda in the corner of the end zone right over the head of AJ Hampton; the second one was capped with a one-yard run by Thompson himself on the Huskers’ fourth attempt to punch the ball across the goal line.
All Northwestern had to show for it after that stretch was a 35-yard Adam Stage field goal.
But this is where Northwestern showed that it wasn’t the same team. This time, they responded. In the face of a hostile crowd that was two-thirds red, the Wildcats started making plays and scored 14 straight points. And it was a couple of former walk-ons who stoked the fire.
Hilinski hit a wide-open Ray Niro III – a former walk-on who earned the No. 1 jersey this season – for a 43-yard touchdown pass that pulled the Cats to within 14-10.
Then, when Nebraska drove into Northwestern territory on the ensuing drive, linebacker Greyson Metz came up with a big play. Thompson hit Garcia-Castaneda for a 24-yard pass down to the NU 10-yard line when Metz, a linebacker who famously turned down a scholarship offer from Iowa to walk on at Northwestern two years ago, stripped the ball away from him on the way down and gave the Cats the ball back.
At the end of the half, Northwestern’s offense made a statement. Taking over with just 3:40 left in the half, the Wildcats went on a 15-play, 80-yard drive that was topped by a six-yard Hilinski-to-Donny Navarro touchdown pass.
Northwestern went into the half with a 17-14 lead, but it proved to be short-lived.
Thompson, under heavy pressure, scrambled all over the backfield before he hurled a pass to a wide-open Garcia-Castaneda, who ran it all the way down to the NU 19 for a 57-yard play that shifted momentum to the Nebraska sideline. Anthony Grant scored on a three-yard run and the Huskers regained the lead.
Then, Porter busted through the line for what looked like a big gain before Nebraska’s Tyreke Johnson delivered a hit that caused a fumble that the Huskers recovered in NU territory. Nebraska took over and, moments later, Grant scored on a 46-yard run.
Northwestern was again down by 11, but that’s when Nebraska head coach Scott Frost made the call that changed the complexion of the game. He ordered an ill-advised onside kick that Northwestern recovered at the Nebraska 44. Six plays later, Porter scored to bring NU to within four at 28-24.
Stage missed a 36-yard field goal try on the next possession but it didn’t take the wind out the Wildcats’ sails. Cam Mitchell picked off a Thompson pass and returned it 42 yards to the Nebraska 43. Hull did the heavy lifting on the ensuing drive, running the ball on three consecutive plays for 32 yards and the four-yard touchdown that gave the Cats the lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
The Huskers got the ball back three more times, but never threatened again. Linebacker Xander Mueller intercepted a tipped Thompson pass with 1:27 left to clinch the win.
Northwestern’s win puts them in first place in the Big Ten (no one else has played a game) and, more importantly, makes the Wildcats 1-0 in the Big Ten West with one rival already out of the way.
Nebraska, meanwhile, lost its seventh straight game. Their last win? It came against Northwestern last season. The Huskers are now 5-21 under Frost in one-score games.
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