Here are our takeaways from Northwestern's business-like 35-6 win over Ohio on Saturday at Ryan Field.

Hull torched Ohio for 216 yards and two touchdowns, the second-best output of his career. He was the focal point of the offense from the start and should continue to be for the Wildcats. His 90-yard touchdown run at the end of the first quarter is tied for the third-longest in Northwestern history.

Northwestern is yet to lose a game when Hull gets more than 10 carries. This is largely a function of the early deficits the Cats faced against Michigan State and Duke, but it holds true. When he gets involved and in a rhythm, the Cats win games.

Head coach Pat Fitzgerald praised his tailback. "Evan's tough. I think he's gritty...his work ethic is incredible," he said.

The offensive line opened up holes in the Bobcat defense in their first full game without senior center Sam Gerak. Guard Charlie Schmidt filled in for Gerak at center, and Conrad Rowley came in at guard.

There were some moments of discomfort like a pair of false starts, one on fourth-and-goal on the 1, but they kept Hilinski upright and helped Hull run rampant.

"We made a decision we wanted to run the ball today," said Fitzgerald. "I thought our offensive line, at times, was dominant."

Fitzgerald talked about winning the turnover battle as a core part of Northwestern's identity, and the defense answered the call against Ohio.

Chris Bergin changed the momentum of the game when he forced a fumble on Ohio quarterback Kurtis Rourke with 6:25 remaining in the first quarter. Though Ohio had come up empty on their first drive due to a missed 31-yard field goal, Rourke was 7-for-7 for 68 yards passing before Bergin punched it out.

After Coco Azema's fumble recovery on the play, Northwestern got the ball on its own 41and went on to score its first touchdown of the game. Ohio's offense had been slow and steadily advancing on both of its drives to that point, and ground to a halt after that.

Rourke finished with 166 passing yards, but Ohio ended up with only six points and the defense swung the game back in Northwestern's favor.

In the second half, Northwestern's secondary got in on the action with their first two interceptions of the season. Safeties Brandon Joseph and Bryce Jackson both took advantage of tipped balls and came away with a turnover.

Bergin liked that the defense played more like they are capable of playing this week. But, he said, "I promise you we'll be an even better defense next week."

Quarterback Ryan Hilinski took what was given to him in his first Northwestern start, finishing 12-of-20 for 88 yards passing, with no touchdowns or interceptions. His performance had relatively low stakes as Hull and the offensive line paved the way for a ground game that amassed 373 yards, but he made effective throws to Bryce Kirtz and Stephon Robinson Jr. on the sidelines throughout the game.

It wasn't all sunshine and rainbows, however. Hilinski got lucky when a tipped ball at the line of scrimmage slipped through defensive back Jett Elad's hands at the NU 8-yard line rather than turn into a surefire pick-six. He also underthrew Charlie Mangieri several times on simple flat or crossing routes.

But Hilinski was steady and stayed turnover-free, and made sure to keep the offense running smoothly.

"I'm proud of the way (Hilinski) played," said Fitzgerald.

Despite a dominant 35-6 win, he will still have room to improve heading into a matchup with Nebraska next week.

The defense as a whole had a solid day, pitching a shutout until the last play of the game and forcing three turnovers. But the linebacking corps struggled when Ohio sought to attack the middle of the field.

The more mobile Bergin played well, forcing the aforementioned fumble. But larger linebackers, like Peter McIntyre, Khalid Jones and Bryce Gallagher, seemed to have more trouble in the passing game.

The Bobcats found what little success they had using shallow crosses, screens and other routes that put their skill players against the middle of the Wildcat defense in space. Once out there, Ohio proved evasive and slipped through the grasp of the linebackers and secondary.

Bergin recognized the mistakes even within a lockdown performance from the defense.

"We played far from our best tackling game," Bergin said. "We have a lot of work to do in that area, we are going to do that in our practice and our preparation."

Northwestern got to the red zone seven times against Ohio but came away with only 28 points.

Northwestern scored touchdowns in its first appearance inside the 20 with a 17-yard touchdown run by Evan Hull, and its sixth appearance, with a seven-yard run by Wildcat quarterback Anthony Tyus III. Sophomore running back Jake Arthurs chipped in a five-yard touchdown run with :42 left on the clock in the seventh trip.

But among those touchdowns, Northwestern cracked the Ohio 15 four times and scored just six points. Mercurial kicker Charlie Kuhbander went 2-for-3 on field goals, all within 26 yards, on three of those drives that fizzled out short of the end zone. The fourth drive, started by a Brandon Joseph interception, came to an end after a bad exchange between Hilinski and Andrew Clair gave the ball back to Ohio.

Fitzgerald laid out what needs to happen for the Cats to put points on the board more often.

"Number one, score," Fitzgerald said. "[We] can't have a false start penalty on the one-yard line, and then we can't miss a field goal. Common-sense stuff there.

"We just have to execute cleaner. Looks like we missed some cuts, from my vantage point, I have to see it on tape. And then we missed some targets, we have calls and we're not targeting people the right way."

The Wildcats were in control all day long, but the failure to turn red-zone chances into touchdowns more often is concerning heading into Big Ten play.