Don’t look now, but Northwestern may have found itself an offense.

The Wildcats displayed a previously unseen potent attack in their 38-31 upset of Iowa in Iowa City on Saturday. Clayton Thorson threw for 164 yards and three touchdowns, without an interception. Justin Jackson ran for 171 yards and one TD. Wide receiver Austin Carr caught a career-high three touchdown passes. And, most surprisingly, they scored 38 points, more than double their season average (16.5) and just three less than they scored in their three losses combined.

After playing room-temperature football for most of the first four games, Northwestern’s offense was a white-hot bonfire at Kinnick Stadium – in the team’s first road game and in one of the toughest venues to play in the Big Ten, no less.

The natural question, then, is where was this offense hiding during the Wildcats’ ugly 1-3 start?

“I think the offense has been there, I just think that we’ve self-inflected wounds,” said head coach Pat Fitzgerald after the game. He and his staff didn’t change anything in their game plan this week; he just thinks that his team executed better.

He’s right.

Northwestern’s total offensive output on Saturday wasn’t outlandish: the Wildcats had 362 yards, less than they did against Duke (420) and Nebraska (388). Thorson, in fact, had his lowest yardage output of the season. The difference was that the Wildcats made those yards count by cashing in on their scoring chances for a change.

Fitzgerald will tell you ad nauseum that statistics are for losers, but his team produced one for winners in the red zone on Saturday. The Wildcats scored on all four of their trips inside the Iowa 20-yard line, scoring three TDs and a field goal. That’s a stark contrast to the first four games, when they had the worst red-zone rate in the Big Ten, converting just three of seven chances, or 42.9 percent.

Another telling number was penalties. Fitzgerald complained that so often over the team’s 1-3 start, a trip into enemy territory was set back by an ill-timed holding penalty or another costly infraction. On Saturday, however, the Wildcats were flagged just once for five yards.

They also committed just one turnover, though they paid a steep price for it: Justin Jackson’s second-quarter fumble – his only one in 109 carries this season – led directly to an Iowa touchdown.

There were signs of Northwestern’s offensive revival over the previous two games. Thorson threw for 569 yards and four touchdowns in the win over Duke and the loss to Nebraska, though his four touchdown passes in those contests were offset by four interceptions. On Saturday, Thorson completed 18 of 30 throws, and he got rid of the ball when he had to, taking just one sack and, most importantly, avoiding any turnovers.

With Thorson making plays in the passing game, Jackson enjoyed his best game of the season against the Hawkeyes, carrying the ball 28 times for a season-high 171 yards. It was the talented junior’s first 100-yard game since the season opener against Western Michigan. Jackson also had a season-long 58-yard touchdown run against Iowa in which he broke through the line, stiff-armed tackler Brandon Snyder and then showed a gear we haven’t seen all season in outrunning defensive backs to the end zone.

As for Carr, he just continued his storybook season, catching six passes for 73 yards to maintain his Big Ten lead in receptions (32), yards (465) and touchdowns (6). If he keeps it up, the former walkon could find himself in the hunt for the Big Ten Silver Football Award.

For the first time all year, Northwestern’s offense had its running and passing games working at the same time against Iowa, and their three biggest weapons – Thorson, Jackson and Carr – were all humming. Not coincidentally, the Wildcats also converted eight of 18 chances on third (6-of-16) and fourth (2-of-2) downs.

Northwestern’s offense is going to turn into Louisville’s prolific attack anytime soon, but on Saturday it showed that it could score in bunches against a Big Ten defense. Coupled with a defense that limited Iowa to 283 yards and registered a season-high six sacks, the Wildcats could be more competitive than expected just a week ago during this brutal stretch of four games – at Michigan State, vs. Indiana, at Ohio State, vs. Wisconsin – over the next five weeks.

It’s just a shame that this newfound offense didn’t show up on Sept. 3 instead of Oct. 1.