Oh, what might have been

Northwestern's defense played well enough to win. Northwestern's offense, on the other hand, may have been the team's biggest enemy.

The Wildcats dug themselves a 24-3 hole, aided in part by two Wisconsin defensive touchdowns, and their two-touchdown, fourth-quarter rally fell short in a 24-15 loss to the No. 8 Badgers.

Still, were it not for a couple major mistakes -- and a couple questionable coaching calls -- the 24-point underdog Wildcats might have been able to pull off an upset.

The loss dropped Northwestern to 1-3 and 0-2 in the Big Ten and snapped the Wildcats' eight-game road winning streak.

Here are our five takeaways from Northwestern's second straight defeat:

The two two-point conversions were...uh...questionable, to say the least: Why? Why go for two when you are down 24-9 at the moment? If you make it, you still need two more scores and PATs. Yes, you would conceivably win the game at that point, but if you are playing for the win, wouldn’t it make sense to think of your “go-to” two-point play while you’re working on getting your next 14 points? Oh, and you still have to stop them defensively.

When Northwestern scored its second touchdown, on an Aidan Smith pass to JJ Jefferson two drives later, they went for two again instead of kicking the PAT to pull within eight. The Wildcats again failed to convert, making it 24-15 and a two-score game, with just 4:10 left. If they had just kicked the PAT, it would have still been a one-score game and they could have gone for two after their next theoretical TD.

Even if this was the point where you decided it was the best chance to use your momentum to strike the Wisconsin defense when they were on their heels, why run a play where the ball carrier is five yards from the goal line instead of throwing to someone in the end zone? To be fair, it appeared as though there may have been some miscommunication on the play and someone (either Smith or Drake Anderson) did not execute as it had been called.

Head coach Pat Fitzgerald called them "analytics decisions" after the game and directed the media to a John Harbaugh YouTube video explaining his rationale for going for two. “We had a mindset to try to score as many points as we could.”

The Cats did a poor job picking up blitzes, especially in the second half: Credit to Wisconsin defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard’s adjustments in the second half with pass rushes. Trailing by multiple scores, the Wildcats were throwing the ball out of four- or five-receiver sets. In those cases, with four or more receivers running routes, the protector was a superback.

The Badgers were getting strong pressure off the edge, with the edge rusher usually coming untouched and unseen. One came from Safety Eric Burrell (who was returning after serving a targeting suspension in the first half), and another came from Chris Orr. Both resulted in turnovers.

The Badgers figured out the best way to put a stop to Northwestern's passing game was to outnumber them at the line and rush the passer fast and furiously. Needless to say, it worked, and the Wildcats need to make some necessary adjustments heading into next week.

Giving up two defensive touchdowns really hurt: Speaking of that quarterback pressure, it led directly to two defensive scores.

The first was the Burrell sack that caused an unsuspecting Hunter Johnson to fumble the football with so much momentum that the ball rolled into the endzone and was recovered by WIsconsin's Matt Henningsen for a touchdown. The other came when OLB Zack Baun beat Rashawn Slater off the edge and caused an Aidan Smith throw to wobble into the waiting arms of Noah Burks, who took it down the near sideline virtually unabated for the six-point play.

The difference in the game was nine points, and 14 of the Badgers’ 24 points came from defensive touchdowns.

That tells you two things. First, it demonstrates how well NU's defense played to hold the No. 7 scoring offense in the nation to essentially 10 points; and secondly, that Northwestern's offense barely scored more than it gave up.

Northwestern's defense is the real deal: Wisconsin came into the game with a top-25 offensive unit. They averaged 504 yards per game in total offense (21st) and 264 yards on the ground (11th). They also ranked 16th in passing efficiency. The Wildcat defense severely limited the Badgers in all of these categories.

Collectively, Wisconsin rushed for 130 yards (Taylor had 119) for an average of 3.6 yards per carry. They only racked up 243 yards of total offense (NU had 255) and quarterback Jack Coan, who came in completing 77% of his passes with a 5-0 TD-INT ratio, only completed 62% of his throws against the Wildcats, for just 113 yards, no TDs and an interception.

As inept as Northwestern's offense was for most of the game, they actually outgained Wisconsin 255-243 and had eight more first downs.

Northwestern's defense also did a good job of keeping everything in front of them and limiting the big play, as no Wisconsin play went for more than 19 yards and only four total plays went for more than 15.

This group continues to impress and is carrying the load as this team tries to find its footing.

Aidan Smith’s play opened our eyes: How about the unanticipated performance by backup the backup quarterback?

The junior, who waited patiently and “grinded”, to use a Fitzism, came into the game in the third quarter after Johnson got drilled on one of those aforementioned edge blitzes, this one by Reggie Pearson. Smith only completed 8 of 20 passes but threw for a touchdown (and an interception) and led the Cats on two scoring drives to get them to within striking distance.

Smith threw for 99 yards on 20 passes (5.0 ypa), while Johnson collected just 59 on 21 (2.8). More importantly, he led two touchdown drives in his quarter of work, while Johnson had just a field goal to show for his three quarters. Some of Smith's production was certainly the result of play-calling, which opened up because Northwestern was trailing by three scores, but he was clearly the more effective QB.

Last week, Fitzgerald said Smith was brought in to provide a spark to this feeble offense and, while it came a week later, we saw a glimpse of it this week. What was most impressive was how he did not shy away from this top-notch defense, even after throwing a pick on his first possession. Given a full game’s body of work, where he has a chance to play in a close game, or even with a lead, he may be able to deliver positive results for this unit. We don’t want to suggest any quarterback controversy, but Smith has the hotter hand right now and might give the offense the signs of life it needs moving forward.