Sustaining drives has been a problem for Northwestern's offense all season. They've had much more success at creating big plays than they did a year ago, but stringing positive plays together has been nearly impossible for the Wildcats at times.

That was evident on Saturday in Ann Arbor as Ryan Hilinski connected on two pass plays of more than 25 yards and Evan Hull added a 75-yard sprint to the end zone. Even with those big plays, Northwestern was still held under 250 yards of total offense and managed just seven points.

Looking back at Northwestern's last three games, all against Big Ten opponents, the Cats' offense has been a boom-or-bust unit. The only score against Nebraska was an explosive pass to Stephon Robinson Jr. NU opened the scoring against Rutgers with a 64-yard catch-and-run by Malik Washington. (Their final two scores against the Scarlet Knights came on a short toss to Marshall Lang and short run by Andrew Clair, but both those drives would likely have stalled out if not for defensive penalties committed by Rutgers.)

Then the only points against Michigan were Hull's mad dash.

Northwestern can't rely on splash plays to be their only offense. It's unsustainable, as the 1-2 record in the last three games shows.

Head coach Pat Fitzgerald had a simple diagnosis of his offense's struggles on Monday.

"We've got to be able to move the ball consistently," he said.

One way Fitzgerald thinks the offense can get going is by running the ball better. The running game has been a microcosm of the offense as a whole in recent games.

If Hull isn't gashing the defense for big plays -- he also had a 90-yard run against Ohio -- NU is often stuck with minimal gains on the ground. Hull has shown the ability to make plays when given daylight, but his offensive line just hasn't given him daylight all that often.

"We need to do a better job of sustaining blocks and fundamentals," senior center Sam Gerak said.

The offense has also dealt with injuries this year. They're on their third quarterback and were without their top two receivers for the final two quarters in Ann Arbor -- Bryce Kirtz is out for the season, while Robinson was injured and didn't return.

Fitzgerald pointed to "new guys thrust into starting roles" as another reason for the offense sputtering. These new players getting more comfortable should hopefully limit the "handful of one-man breakdowns" that Fitzgerald said knock drives off course.

Even with the offense's struggles, Northwestern still has a chance to get their season back on track. Iowa and Minnesota are currently tied atop the Big Ten West standings at 3-1. Those two teams take on the Wildcats at Ryan Field over the next two weeks. Fitzgerald isn't worrying about standings, though.

"I'm trying to get us to play consistently," he said.

Northwestern has yet to win multiple games in a row this season. If that is to change over the final five games of the season, the offense can't be a zero-sum unit either hitting a home runs or striking out. They need to mix in some singles and doubles, too.

Fitz wastes no time moving on: Fitzgerald doesn't like to dwell on the past game, whether it's a victory or defeat. He said that he moved on mentally from the Michigan game and started focusing on Minnesota at about "8 o'clock" on Sunday night.

That's why he couldn't wait to get done with Monday's press conference, so he can just think about and work on the game plan for the Gophers.

"I look forward to this (media availability) being over," he said with a smile.

Expect another ground assault on Saturday: While Michigan has the No. 1 rushing offense in the Big Ten, Minnesota is not too far behind. The Gophers rank fourth in the Big Ten and 24th in the nation with 210.0 rushing yards per game, despite losing their top two tailbacks early in the season.

Fitzgerald applauded the job that Minnesota head coach P.J. Fleck has done establishing his program's identity as a running team. He said that it all starts up front with a veteran Gopher offensive line that is big and physical.

"This is probably the most experienced team in the Big Ten this year and it shows," he said. "I think they have about 500 starts between their offensive linemen. They just broke a record last week... They play really hard, really physical and fundamentally sound."

A little love for No. 77: It's pretty rare for an offensive lineman to get a weekly award, but sophomore left tackle Peter Skoronski took home the offensive player of the week honors for his performance against the Wolverines.

While his talent has been obvious from the beginning of his career -- he started all nine games last season as a true freshman -- fifth-year senior center Sam Gerak has seen Skoronski's growth as a leader, as well as a blocker.

"I think it's pretty obvious that he's continued to improve technique-wise, but the more impressive thing, I think, is that he's continued to grow as a leader, and the guys on the team have perceived him as such," said Gerak, who is a captain himself. "He's done a great job of leading by example and vocally, and it's just going to be great for the team as he continues to do so."