Takeaways: Northwestern 21 Rutgers 7

Here are our takeaways from the Wildcats’ first Big Ten win of the season, a Homecoming matchup with Rutgers at Ryan Field.

The Northwestern defense snapped back into form this week against Rutgers. The defense was stingy, holding the Scarlet Knights to 222 yards and just one touchdown.

After a rocky start to the season, it looked like a unit that regrouped, refocused and reset during the bye week. It was classic Northwestern: they kept everything in front of them and let Rutgers make the mistakes.

There were some hiccups. Rutgers quarterback Noah Vedral was able to take the top off the defense with a couple of passes to Bo Melton in the first quarter, including an 18-yard pass to the back of the end zone to cap off a 97-yard touchdown drive in the second quarter.

But outside of that, this squad was a force. The tackling issues that plagued them earlier this season were gone and they were swarming to the ball. Bryce Gallagher led the unit with 10 total tackles, something Chris Bergin said began to get annoying.

"I think we all agree today was Bryce's coming out party," Bergin said. "It was quite fun to watch while I was out there with him, got sick of his hearing his name at one point."

There were also some much needed breaks, like a series of Rutgers red-zone errors in the third quarter. A bobbled snap by Vedral put the Scarlet Knights behind schedule, then came a fourth down delay-of-game penalty that forced them to settle for a 33-yard field goal that Valentino Ambrosio missed.

It was a familiar and welcome refrain for Wildcat fans, with the offense handing the defense an early lead, and the defense taking it the distance. Bergin isn’t yet certain whether or not Northwestern has earned the respect he talked about in preseason.

"I think we took a step in the right direction," Bergin said followed by a chuckle. "We took two steps back, now two steps forward. Respect, in this game, in this conference, you're only as good as your last game. So I think we took a step in the right direction."

Adetomiwa Adebawore was a force against the Scarlet Knights, spearheading a Northwestern defense that had the Scarlet Knights off their rhythm. Northwestern's pass rush had been subdued all season, save Adebawore, and he woke it up for real this game. He finished with seven tackles, four of them for loss, and a sack.

For the game, Northwestern's defense finished with 11 tackles for loss and four sacks. The damage was done by of course Adebawore, with Samdup Miller, Bryce Gallagher and Jeremy Meiser also taking down Vedral behind the line of scrimmage.

When the defense looks to limit the big plays that have been its Achilles heel all year, Adebawore and the pass rush are key, and they showed out today. Adebawore talked about what the pass rush can bring to the rest of defense.

"I'd just say momentum," Adebawore said. "When we're making plays, we have more energy, we get a lot more excited and usually we make more plays."

Quarterback Ryan Hilinski had his best game as a Wildcat, and it was defined by finding his favorite duo, who collected 10 of his 18 completions.

Stephone Robinson Jr. finished with five catches for 115 yards and Mailk Washington had five catches for 84 yards. Washington had one of the highlights of the game early when he broke a tackle and sprinted off for a 64-yard score. But he wasn't a one-hit wonder and continued to make himself available throughout the game.

Robinson Jr. has been the offense's best receiving threats all season, but this may have been his defining game. The grad transfer's highlights included a 47-yard reception on the opening drive, a 19-yard catch to convert third-and-17, and a leaping sideline grab for 20 yards late in the third quarter.

Combined with his 116-yard performance in Lincoln two weeks ago, that is back-to-back games with more than 100 receiving yards. Robinson Jr. is the first Wildcat wide receiver to have back-to-back 100+ yard games since Flynn Nagel in 2018.

It was an electric performance by the pair of receivers, and they proved themselves as legitimate outside threats for this offense. When Bryce Kirtz returns, this group will be able to seriously stretch the field and threaten defenses.

Hilinski put together solid and safe performances against Ohio and Nebraska, but really opened up the throttle and let it rip early against Rutgers. He finished 18 of 33 for 267 yards and two touchdowns passing, with three completions of 30 or more yards.

He spread the ball around, throwing a touchdown to tight end Marshall Lang and completing a pass to six different receivers.

Rutgers was able to get some pressure throughout the day, but Hilinski stayed calm and responsible with the ball. The Northwestern offense stayed turnover-free, though a hit during a flea-flicker exchange put the ball on the ground and Hilinski had some difficulty with mesh handoffs, Luckily for the Wildcats, Rutgers failed to capitalize.

The wind was strong at Ryan Field, especially in the first half, but Hilinski made confident throws all over the field. The 47-yard opening completion to Robinson Jr., a 30-yard toss to JJ Jefferson and the third-and-17 conversion were all examples of Hilinski challenging the defense down the field.

Several weeks ago we posited that Hilinski could be the kind of quarterback to manage games and lead Northwestern wins. This was a perfect example of the kind of game this team needs from him.

Fortunately for Northwestern, the transfer from South Carolina isn't satisfied and doesn't think this is near his best possible performance.

"Absolutely not," Hilinski said. "I'm not satisfied at all. I left some throws out there, I left some plays out there, I know I can get better. And I know Coach [Bajakian] sees it, we could have scored a lot more points than we did, but we came out with the win and I'm excited about that."

The Northwestern offense stalled out three times in the no man's land between the Rutgers 35- and 45-yard lines. It was a case of the good, the bad and the ugly.

The good: when the Wildcats elected to punt and Derek Adams pinned the Scarlet Knights on their own 3. Albeit, Rutgers went on to score a touchdown that drive, but that is out of Adams' hands.

The bad: Northwestern went for it on fourth-and-12 from the Rutgers 37. Hilinski's attempt to connect with Charlie Mangieri was not close to a completion.

The ugly: an attempted fake punt on fourth-and-4 ended up with the Rutgers special teams teeing off on Adams, who lost five yards and limped off, but returned to the game later.

Fitzgerald explained his varied decision making in a similar part of the field.

"I just played rock, paper, scissors, shoot with [special teams coach] Jeff Genyk, and I lost, that's why I punted," Fitzgerald joked.

Turning serious, he elaborated on the actual process.

"I'm going to make some decisions to try and make some plays," Fitzgerald said. "You're in no man's land, more times than not I'm going to be really uber-aggressive."

He joked once more about the roller coaster of results before moving on.

"I like all three calls, they were outstanding, maybe my best three calls of the game." Fitzgerald said.

Evan Hull had monstrous games against Indiana State and Ohio and looked to be Northwestern's lead back for the season. He almost evenly split carries with Andrew Clair and Anthony Tyus III in Lincoln, but the 49-point Nebraska loss if far from a strong indicator of the team's game standard game plan.

Today against Rutgers, it became clear that keeping Clair involved on the ground is a priority. Hull led him in carries with 25 to Clair's 13, but Clair finished with more yards, 63 to Hull's 53, and the only rushing touchdown on the day.

When Northwestern is in Big Ten or Power Five play, look for Hull to get the lead but to share the rushing attack with Clair.