RECAP: Wildcats, weather can't quite pull off upset of No. 2 Ohio State

Northwestern gave No. 2 Ohio State their closest game since their season opener, but the Buckeyes escaped Evanston with a 21-7 win.

The wind was howling, the rain was driving and the Wildcats gave the national title contenders the fight of their season.

After a tough loss at Iowa last week, many Northwestern fans were bracing for the worst against the Buckeyes. Instead, the team hunkered down with a little help from Mother Nature, and fought the second-best team in the country to the very end.

"We had a lot of good happen today," head coach Pat Fitzgerald said.

Northwestern falls to 1-8 with this loss, but seeing the buy-in and determination from the Wildcats despite being heavy underdogs was the highlight of this season since the Week 0 win in Ireland.

Here are our takeaways:

Just like in Week 5 against Penn State, extreme weather conditions gave Northwestern a shot against a premier program. Penn State escaped with a 17-7 win, while Ohio State made it out of Evanston by the skin of their teeth, 21-7.

Whoever had the wind, had the way to score. Both first-half touchdowns came with the wind at the back of the scoring team, and the stats showed the weather's impact.

In the first quarter, when Northwestern had the elements on their side, they outgained OSU 113-47 and opened up a 7-0 lead. OSU had the wind in the second quarter and outgained the Wildcats 71-27 and tied the game up at 7-7.

The theme continued early in the second half, but OSU wore Northwestern down and scored a touchdown in the third and fourth quarters to salt the game away.

Even with the weather, Northwestern's defense deserves credit. They held OSU's potent offense to just 21 points, their lowest tally since their season opener against Notre Dame.

"I think we fit gaps well," Fitzgerald said. "I thought we tackled, for the most part, well. We got off the field on third down. I thought the guys played pretty solid team defense."

Defensive back Cam Mitchell spoke to the challenge of defending OSU's loaded wide receiver room.

"We also have a great room, and I'm a good player myself," Mitchell said. "I think we just stepped up to the challenge today and accepted it."

Northwestern offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian's commitment to running the Wildcat formation ran sour after initial success. The Wildcats ran 17 plays out of the formation for 63 yards and a touchdown, but the drop off in returns was sharp.

The first two Wildcat plays were unequivocal successes: two rushes for 29 yards, including a 16-yard scamper by Hull for Northwestern's only touchdown. The next 15 Wildcat plays gained 34 yards and ground three different drives to a halt.

Northwestern started the second quarter up 7-0, with first-and-10 on the OSU 27. They ran three Wildcat plays, which led to a fourth-and-8, where Brendan Sullivan connected with Malik Washington short of the sticks for a turnover on downs.

To start the second half, Northwestern came out committed to the Wildcat formation again. With the score tied 7-7, the Wildcats had something going out of the Wildcat initially. They picked up a first down, and a gain of nine by Hull got them to second-and-1. Then, a Wildcat run, followed by a Brendan Sullivan sneak, followed by another Wildcat run netted zero yards and turned the ball over on downs. Ohio State scored to take the lead, 14-7, on the ensuing possession.

On the second drive of the third quarter, Northwestern again hamstrung themselves via the Wildcat. Using traditional offense, Cam Porter had two rushes that led to a third-and-3, where Sullivan scrambled and flipped a pass to Washington for a nine-yard gain and a first down.

A Wildcat run by Porter on first down picked up three, but an end around to Washington out of the Wildcat set Northwestern back two yards to a third-and-9. With the wind in their face, that spelled doom for another Northwestern drive.

In a game that the Buckeyes escaped by two scores, punching any of those drives into the end zone or further into OSU territory could have fueled the fires of upset potential.

Junior running backs Hull and Porter delivered on the biggest stage of Northwestern's season.

Playing the No. 2 team in the country, with one of the top defenses in the country, Hull finished with 30 carries for 122 yards and a touchdown, while Porter had 11 carries for 50 yards.

With windy conditions, passing became almost taboo. Heisman hopeful CJ Stroud completed just 10 passes for 76 yards as running backs ruled the day. For Northwestern, that meant Hull and Porter.

With the entire Buckeye defense guessing run almost every down, and with 17 Wildcat plays to boot, Hull and Porter made chicken salad all day long. This running back tandem was cause for major excitement throughout the preseason. Hull had mostly seized the reins as the lead back heading into this game, but Porter's resurgence against the Buckeyes shows that they can deliver as a tandem.

Hull, a team captain this season, spoke about how proud he was to see Porter get back to the form he showed as a freshman before a knee injury sidelined him in 2021.

"I saw confidence, I saw him run through tackles," Hull said. "I'm super proud of him, he's been through a lot. To see him play to his potential today, I couldn't be prouder."

In a 1-8 season with few bright spots, the potential of this duo as seniors in 2023 can be something for Wildcat fans to look forward to and monitor as the disappointing 2022 campaign wraps up.

It sounds odd to say in a game where he only threw the ball 14 times, but this was a solid performance from quarterback Brendan Sullivan. There were awful conditions against one of the best defenses in the country, but Sullivan protected the ball to perfection.

He threw zero interceptions, handled every snap cleanly and never fumbled. He overthrew Donny Navarro III on a potential fourth-down conversion early in the fourth quarter, but stood and delivered for much of the game.

"We're starting to see some growth and maturation," Fitzgerald said. "I'm really proud of his toughness and his grit."

His stat line doesn't leap off the page, but he held serve against Ohio State's Heisman Trophy contender, CJ Stroud. Sullivan finished 10-for-14 for 79 yards passing and added 12 carries for 55 yards on the ground. Adjusting for weather conditions, that's the kind of game that Northwestern needs from its quarterback in a Mike Bajakian system.

He also made a couple impressive plays in the fourth quarter, throwing a bullet to Malik Washington through a very tight window, and finding Porter for a first down after twice avoiding a heavy Ohio State rush.

Sullivan suffered a hit to the head late in the fourth quarter and entered concussion protocol. Assuming a healthy and swift recovery, there is hope under center with Sullivan and in the backfield with Hull and Porter for the 2023 Wildcats.

A week after getting pushed around by the worst offense in FBS, Northwestern's defense rebounded with a Herculean effort against the Buckeyes.

The weather may have been a 12th man for the defense against CJ Stroud & Co., but Fitzgerald lauded his squad's performance on Saturday.

“I thought our defense, for the most part, did a pretty darn good job… I thought those guys fought their tails off and gave us a chance to win, he said.”

Northwestern limited the Buckeyes to 21 points, less than half their season average of almost 49. Ohio State could muster only 283 yards, a far cry from its season average of 508.9. The Wildcats tackled well and, save for a play here and there, did a good job of keeping plays in front of them.

Ohio State didn't pick up a third-down conversion until the third quarter, as the Wildcats got stops on the critical play eight consecutive times in the first half.

Northwestern's secondary blanketed Ohio State's big-time wide receivers, as Marvin Harrison Jr., Emeka Egbuka and Julian Fleming combined for just eight catches and no touchdowns.

"They have a great room over there," said cornerback Cam Mitchell, who had three PBUs, "but we have a great room, too."

When a team loses seven, and now eight straight games, it is easy to throw in the towel on the season. Especially when facing a nearly impossible matchup against a presumed College Football Playoff opponent.

But this team showed heart on Saturday, and it punched Ohio State right in the mouth to start the game.

No one picked Northwestern outright in this game, and most people wouldn't have even taken them with the nearly 40-point spread offered by most sportsbooks before the game. But this team gave it their all and refused to be bullied or blown out by one of the most talented teams in the country, despite entering the game with a 1-7 record.

Star players like tackle Peter Skoronski, defensive end Adetomiwa Adebawore, defensive back Mitchell and running back Hull all delivered quality performances to keep Northwestern in it against one of the best teams in the country.

Not only did the stars bring their best, albeit in a loss, but Northwestern is giving younger players opportunities to step up. Freshman defensive back Devin Turner stood out today, finishing fifth on the Wildcat defense with five tackles. Getting guys like Turner snaps and reps and experience is crucial as Northwestern looks to rebuild their roster to compete in 2023.

"You want to win every game," Fitzgerald said. "That's kind of the way it operates. We did have a few more guys get reps, especially in the kick game. I think we now have access to our entire roster."

Next week, the Wildcats play at Minnesota. I will hold off on predicting a late-season push, because a similarly stalwart performance in inclement weather at Penn State was followed by a 42-7 loss to Wisconsin the next week earlier this season.

But if the Wildcats can take their intensity, drive and performance from this game and bring it to the end of this season, they can start building towards something in 2023.

"We just showed that we play with anybody in the country," Hull said. "If that doesn't give us confidence, then nothing else will."