Things started about as bad as they could have for Northwestern in its 30-23 loss on Saturday to Duke.
The Wildcats fell behind 27-0 in the first half in Durham and did almost nothing right for the first 27 minutes or so of competition. Duke receivers ran scot-free through the secondary and the offense turned the ball over four times and gained little to no traction.
Whatever head coach Pat Fitzgerald said at halftime must have worked because the Wildcats looked like a new team in the second half. Led by relief quarterback Andrew Marty, the Cats outscored Duke 23-3 over the final 33 minutes, but it wasn't enough to overcome their disastrous start.
Here are our takeaways:
Call to the bullpen pays dividends: Fitzgerald went to the big righty out of the 'pen, Andrew Marty, and that changed the tone of the game.
After Marty came into the game, near the end of the first half, Northwestern outscored Duke 23-3. Even going back to the final two games of 2019, the fiery 6-foot-3 Cincinnati native is always able to inject life into Northwestern's offense.
Before leaving the game with the ever-mysterious upper-body injury in the fourth quarter, Marty completed 11 of 15 passes for 151 yards and two touchdowns. He carried the ball for 44 yards and another score. He did turn the ball over on a fumble on the play he was hurt, but he attempted to cover the ball up and a well-timed punch from DeWayne Carter still knocked it loose.
Marty may not have the recruiting pedigree of Johnson or Ryan Hilinski, the other two quarterbacks who saw snaps for Northwestern on Saturday, but his combination of confidence and toughness gives him the ability to move the ball and put points on the board; something Northwestern desperately needs moving forward.
Fitzgerald didn't have an update on Marty's status after the game.
QB1 no more: Johnson was supposed to be a feel-good story in 2021. He had put a disastrous 2019 season behind him and was ready to live up to his five-star potential.
On Saturday, however, 2019 Johnson came back like Jack Nicholson in The Shining. Johnson was abysmal in the first half, his seven drives ended in four turnovers and three punts.
His first turnover came on a fumble inside the Duke 10-yard line. It was a great chance for Northwestern to quell some of Duke's momentum, but Johnson failed to recognize a Duke blitz, held the ball too long and had it stripped away on a hit from Lummie Young IV.
The first interception was an overthrow that sailed over the head of Stephon Robinson Jr. and into the waiting arms of Young. Johnson's next interception was a poor decision, as was the final one which got him pulled. The final pick was the culmination of the issues that have plagued Johnson over his NU career: he backpedaled immediately after getting the snap, never set his feet, threw off his back foot and, to top it all off, didn't read the defense. If he did, he would've known Duke was in cover two and there was going to be a corner, in this case, Leonard Johnson, sitting right where he threw the ball.
Even after Marty left the game, Johnson was not reinserted. Hilinski took over, and though he wasn't much better than Johnson, it was a sign that Johnson has fallen out of favor with the coaches.
Slow start too much to overcome: Northwestern put on a clinic of what not to do on a football field in the first half.
Just about every play that Duke head coach David Cutcliffe dialed up worked to perfection as the Blue Devils rolled to 420 yards and a whopping 30 points in the first half.
Northwestern's offense, meanwhile, was completely derailed by a four-turnover performance from Hunter Johnson and an offensive line that resembled a revolving door.
Things changed in the second half as Northwestern seemingly screwed its collective head on straight, but overcoming a 27-point deficit in 32 minutes was just too much. This was a very winnable game that Northwestern threw away in the first half.
Tale of two halves on defense: Northwestern's defense could have stayed in the locker room in the first half and the result wouldn't have been that much different.
Duke did whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted. The Blue Devils scored 30 points in the opening 30 minutes, with Gunnar Holmberg throwing for 221 yards and Macaeo Durant ran for 102.
Northwestern's defense didn't even give up 30 in an entire game last season, not even to Justin Fields and Ohio State. At times it looked like Northwestern had to have had less than 11 players on the field because of how open Duke receivers were. It was ugly.
Then, something changed. Northwestern's defense was the aggressor. Rod Heard II forced and recovered a fumble, Chris Bergin grabbed an interception. The Cats were dictating the game, not getting steamrolled. NU held Duke to just 88 yards of offense in the second half.
Fitzgerald said after the game that coaches didn't make any adjustments to the scheme in the second half but that Wildcat players started "playing the way we can." What matters now is that Northwestern builds on this. The defense couldn't build on a solid performance against Indiana State, but this second-half shutout of Duke needs to be a springboard for Northwestern to get back to playing defense the way they have been for the last six years. Otherwise, it's going to be a long two months.
Missed opportunities kill comeback: It's true that Northwestern's response to a 27-0 hole showed a lot of character. It's also true that they had a real chance to come all the way back and leave Durham with a win.
After Marty's QB sneak cut Duke's lead to 30-20 with 10:21 left in the third quarter, Bergin came up with a huge interception. On fourth-and-8, Marty dropped a perfectly placed ball down the right sideline to Bryce Kirtz. The ball slipped through Kirtz's hands inside the 10-yard line, costing Northwestern a chance to cut the deficit to one score while still in the third quarter.
On Northwestern's next drive, Marty found a seam up the middle and was able to run 25 yards, deep into Duke territory, before Carter punched the ball out and recovered it at the Duke 37-yard line. Marty didn't return to the game after the play, all but sealing NU's fate.
The easiest way for Northwestern to win this game was to not go down 27-0, but they still had a couple of chances to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in the second half.
