Ten Questions: 3. Will Ben Bryant be the answer at quarterback?

Third of 10 questions we are asking that will determine Northwestern's 2023 season.

After a second straight season rife with uncertainty and inconsistency at quarterback, Northwestern has brought in quarterback Ben Bryant from Cincinnati via the transfer portal.

Over the past few seasons, the offense has been in freefall. It has gone from below average production within a complimentary system to completely comatose.

Northwestern needs a steady and experienced hand who can reverse the scoring skid and put its offense back on track. Enter Ben Bryant.

Bryant has 24 games as a starter in the past two seasons, one with Eastern Michigan and last year with Cincinnati. He started 11 games for the Bearcats, leading them to a 9-2 record and a No. 22 ranking in the AP Poll before a season-ending foot injury. Bryant's injury came right before a ranked matchup with Tulane in the final week of the season, a marquee game that Cincinnati lost by three.

Looking at the rest of Bryant's games, it looks like Northwestern could be getting just what the doctor ordered: a calm, cool and collected quarterback. He has 10 games with a passing touchdown, eight with 200+ yards and just one with multiple interceptions.

He acquitted himself well in Cincinnati's two games against Power Five opponents. He threw for 325 yards, two touchdowns and an interception in a hostile SEC environment at Arkansas, and 354 yards, four touchdowns and an interception in a rout of Indiana. For a direct analog to Northwestern's schedule, Miami (Ohio) did not give the Bearcats the same troubles they gave the Wildcats. Bryant threw for 337 yards, two touchdowns and an interception in a 38-17 win over the RedHawks. Northwestern’s Ryan Hikinski mustered 257 yards without a touchdown or interception against the same defense a week later in a disappointing 17-14 loss.

Transfer quarterbacks have been a mixed bag for Northwestern over the past five seasons. They hit the jackpot in 2020, when the Wildcats brought in Peyton Ramsey from Indiana and won the Big Ten West. But they misfired with Hunter Johnson from Clemson and, to a lesser extent, with Hilinski from South Carolina. Under those two QBs, the Cats found themselves mired in quarterback battles and with one of the worst offenses in the nation.

Here’s how Bryant's starting season at Cincinnati stacks up with Ramsey’s and Hilinski's starting campaigns before they hit Evanston (Johnson had just 27 pass attempts in his lone season at Clemson):

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TEN QUESTIONS SERIES:

1. Can the Cats flip their turnover ratio? l 2. Will the Cats be able to stop the run?

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Bryant didn’t match Ramsey's strong completion rate, or play against Hilinski's strength of schedule at South Carolina, but he does have the best numbers of the trio. Those numbers beg the follow-up question that appears on every application for aspiring Wildcats: why Northwestern?

First of all, the LaGrange Township (Ill.) Lyons product may have simply wanted to play closer to home in his final season. He joins transfer WR AJ Henning, a former Michigan Wolverine who hails from Frankfort (Ill.) Lincoln Way East, as players finding their way back to Chicagoland via the transfer portal.

But beyond homesickness, Northwestern gives Bryant a chance to put together a final season of tape for a run at the NFL. Had Bryant not injured his foot down the stretch, he told The Athletic in April, it was his intention to declare for the draft and try to play professionally. Instead, he came back to Cincinnati but found a very different place than a season ago.

His former coach, Luke Fickell, left for the Wisconsin job and in came coach Scott Satterfield, as well as transfer quarterback Emory Jones. Bryant was plunged into a quarterback battle with Jones, a dual-threat who rushed for 759 yards as Florida's starter in 2021. Jones ended up winning the battle, and Bryant entered the portal and headed to the Big Ten.

Northwestern offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian prefers a dual-threat quarterback to run his offense. While Bryant may not have the mobility to be Bajakian's dream signal caller, he projects to be Northwestern's best passer since Ramsey two seasons ago, and possibly since Clayton Thorson in 2018.

Head coach Pat Fitzgerald loves to be cagey about his quarterbacks, so while Bryant has the passing pedigree, it's not an absolute certainty that he will have the starting job next season. Brendan Sullivan, a player who fits Bajakian's dual-threat system more cleanly, lost the preseason quarterback battle to Hilinski last season but won the starting job halfway through the year. Sullivan was plagued by injuries and a struggling offense, but showed flashes of promise.

Still, Bryant is the clear frontrunner for the job and should be the starter in the opener against Rutgers. A year under an experienced quarterback like Bryant makes more sense than going back to Sullivan and leaving Bryant cooling his heels on the bench for any amount of time.

If Northwestern's offensive line holds and weapons brought in via the portal (Henning and fellow wide receiver Cam Johnson) can complement his pocket-passing style, Bryant is the key to Northwestern's 2023 campaign. He's a proven, dependable and consistent passer who can deliver on big stages, pressure defenses down the field and make the right decision. That sounds a lot like what Ramsey brought to the table a few years ago.

Put it this way: as Ben Bryant goes, so goes the 2023 season.