Here are three things we learned from the Maryland game, two questions we have moving forward and one bold prediction about the future as the Wildcats get ready to host Wisconsin in their final game in Evanston in 2024.

1. Northwestern's defense got its swagger back.

Anyone who saw what head coach David Braun had to say on Monday during his weekly press conference could have picked up that the former defensive coordinator was less than pleased with how the Northwestern defense played en route to giving up 41 points in a loss to Indiana last week. A big question going into Friday night in College Park was whether the Wildcat defense could regain the form they showed in the first four games of the season. That's exactly what defensive coordinator Tim McGarigle's group did against the Terrapins.

Despite facing an offense with the Big Ten's top receiver in Tai Felton and a quarterback who ranked in the top 10 nationally in completion percentage, the Wildcat defense was stingy from the start. The Wildcats stayed true to their bend-but-don't-break identity, as the Terps held the ball for nearly 34 minutes and gained 355 yards of offense, but only managed 10 points. In addition to a pair of fourth down stops, the biggest reason for the yards and points discrepancy was the Wildcats' ability to take the ball away. Coming into Friday night, Maryland was one of the best teams in the country at protecting the football, having only committed three turnovers through five games.

Northwestern racked up four takeaways against Maryland on a trio of fumble recoveries and Damon Walters' first career interception. After not taking the ball away against the Hoosiers, Northwestern was active and got their hands on the ball consistently against Maryland. Most importantly, each of those four turnovers were converted into points for the Wildcats. The Cats scored 20 points off Maryland turnovers en route to their largest margin of victory in a Big Ten game since beating the Terrapins by 40 in the 2020 season opener.

Scoring off turnovers wasn't just for the offense, either. With Northwestern leading by seven with 13:17 to go in the game, Maryland quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. dropped back to pass. He was drilled by Carmine Bastone, who was playing his first game of the season after dealing with an injury. Edwards lost the ball, which was picked up by Aidan Hubbard, who fell into the end zone for a touchdown. The score put the Wildcats back up by 14 and completely changed the momentum as NU closed the game out with 20 unanswered points.

It was a complete group effort for the defense. In addition to Bastone's heroics in his season debut, the Cats got home to Edwards for sacks from Michael Kilbane and Hubbard, who continues to terrorize Maryland after a three-sack game against the Terps last season. Hubbard's sack was especially key as it forced Maryland to settle for a field goal on a drive where they had first-and-goal from the NU 2-yard line at one point. At the next level, Mike linebacker Mac Uihlein led the team with a whopping 13 tackles and forced a fumble for good measure. The front seven combined to hold Maryland to only 59 yards rushing on 1.8 yards per carry.

Not to be outdone, Northwestern's secondary largely kept a potent Maryland passing attack under wraps. The star of the show in the back end was Theran Johnson, who held Felton to 77 yards, his second lowest total on the season. The coverage was tight elsewhere, too. Edwards had been completing 72.4% of his passes coming into the game, but struggled to a 54.9% mark on Friday.

Braun touted his team's high "give-a-crap" factor during the week and the defense backed their head coach up on Friday with an outstanding bounce back performance.

2. The Wildcat offense can be explosive.

After turning in by far their best game of the season, Northwestern's offense came into College Park looking to continue building momentum. After a three-and-out to start the game, the Cats got rolling, scoring on their next three drives. A nine-yard scamper from Jack Lausch opened the scoring. That was followed by a three-yard Cam Porter run to cap a 92-yard touchdown drive. Then a Luke Akers field goal capitalized on a Maryland fumbled kickoff return to stretch the lead to 17-0. The offense certainly cooled off after a hot start with four straight three-and-outs sandwiched around a kneel down to end the first half, but 30 points is still 30 points. The offense continued to show they are capable of putting points on the board and took advantage of short fields. Both of those seemed impossible just a couple games ago.

On top of that, Northwestern showed a surprising ability to be explosive. Both first-half touchdown drives were keyed by 40-yard completions, one to AJ Henning and another to Bryce Kirtz. Kirtz also added a 28-yard catch and run on NU's 92-yard scoring march, meaning 68 of the 92 yards came from the Cats' sixth-year senior captain. Kirtz wasn't done there, either. He added a 55-yard reception in the fourth quarter to help NU stretch its lead to three scores. In total, Kirtz only made those three catches but they were good enough for 123 yards. Paired with the Indiana game, Kirtz has now gone over the century mark in back-to-back games for the first time in his career.

Three passes of more than 40 yards in the same game was unfathomable as Northwestern struggled to break 50 yards passing against Washington not too long ago. Lausch was incredibly accurate throwing the ball down the field, dropping it right in his receivers' hands time and time again. He even had another deep completion dropped by Henning on the Cats' only third-quarter drive.

Offensive coordinator Zach Lujan will certainly look to iron out some of the offense's inconsistencies before taking on Wisconsin. After the game, Braun pointed to Maryland's huge time of possession advantage in the third quarter (the Terrapins had the ball for 13:28) as the reason the offense lost its rhythm because they spent so much time standing on the sideline. Even with the up-and-down performance, Friday night was still another step in the right direction for the Wildcat offense. For the second game in a row, Lausch showed marked improvement and Lujan's group showed signs they can be a dangerous unit.

3. An unlikely star was born.

Depth is an important piece of every football team. No team can get through a season completely healthy, and it's crucial to have guys waiting in the wings ready to step up when their number is called.

The biggest next-man-up story for NU on Friday night was at a spot where depth is almost never a consideration: kicker. With Jack Olsen injured and not making the trip, special teams coordinator Paul Creighton asked starting punter Luke Akers to take on the kicking duties. Akers was an iron man against the Terrapins, taking on the placekicking, punting and kickoff jobs.

Akers handled all three without missing a beat. As a kicker, he looked just like his old man, former NFL All-Pro kicker David Akers. The younger Akers was 4-for-4 on extra points Friday and 3-for-3 on field goals, connecting from 38 yards out twice and once from 43. As a punter, Akers averaged 49.2 yards per punt and pinned Maryland inside the 20 twice, including once at the 1-yard line. His 58-yard bomb pinning Maryland at their own 15 set up Bastone and Hubbard to combine on the game-changing strip sack and scoop-and-score. His work as the kickoff man wasn't too bad, either, as the Cats forced a fumble on a Maryland return and were also able to pin the Terps at their own 10 thanks to perfectly placed boot from Akers.

Akers was such a star he even got to give his first career press conference after the game.

"I've never done that, no one has ever wanted to talk to the punter," he joked.

1. What was Northwestern thinking at the end of the first half?

A strong first half very nearly ended on a very sour note for the Cats. Leading 17-7, a great punt from Maryland pinned Northwestern at their own 6-yard line with only 58 seconds remaining before the break. Based on the first play call of the drive, a Lausch keeper that went for a loss of a yard, Northwestern seemed content to take the game into halftime. Maryland, on the other hand, decided to use the first of their two remaining timeouts and try to take advantage of field position. Northwestern played right into Maryland's hands and threw the ball on second down. Lausch fired a pass behind Henning that fell incomplete, stopping the clock. Maryland then called their final timeout after a short Caleb Komolafe run on third down, stopping the clock with 42 seconds left. All of a sudden, the half was still on.

Northwestern was forced to punt from their own end zone with nearly a minute remaining on the clock. Akers and the Wildcat defense were able to bail the Wildcat coaches out despite gifting Maryland a chance to make it a one-score game going into halftime. Akers' booming punt out of the back of his own end zone set Maryland up near midfield at the NU 49-yard line. The defense was able to force Maryland into trying a 53-yard field goal that was pushed wide right, and NU remained up by 10 points going into the half.

It shouldn't have been that complicated, though. Had Northwestern kept the ball on the ground on second down, Maryland likely would have called their final timeout then. That would have left the Wildcats to run their final play with around 47 seconds left. After another run on third down and allowing the 40-second play clock to run down prior to fourth down, Northwestern would have punted back to Maryland with less than 10 seconds remaining in the first half. Maryland would not have been able to even get in range to attempt a field goal, and the Cats would have gone stress-free into intermission with a double digit lead. Lausch and Braun both explained that the second-down throw was an RPO call and the redshirt sophomore quarterback should have been smarter and taken the run option.

"We need to do better communicating he needs to hand that off, he had an RPO option," Braun said. "He made the right decision based on install, but not in that case [with the clock]."

Northwestern should have called three consecutive runs and taken the game into halftime. Instead the Wildcat coaching staff gave Maryland a chance to completely change the game. The Cats got away with it this time, but tempting fate like that is not a recipe to win many ballgames.

2. Can the Cats make the lakefront home sweet home again?

After closing out the old Ryan Field with a sterling 5-1 record last season, Northwestern finds themselves at 2-2 so far in 2024 at Martin Stadium, their temporary home on the lakefront. The Cats will welcome Wisconsin on Saturday with a chance to finish the season above .500 in Evanston. Last year, NU made the trip to Madison and dismantled the Badgers en route to a 24-10 victory at Camp Randall Stadium.

This year's Wisconsin squad looks a little different, especially on offense. Head coach Luke Fickell's squad is led by redshirt sophomore quarterback Braedyn Locke. Locke is filling in for prized transfer acquisition Tyler Van Dyke, who tore his ACL in week three. At running back for the Badgers is Tawee Walker. Last season's starter Braelon Allen has taken his talent to the next level and Wisconsin's starting running back to begin the 2024 season, Chez Mellusi, has stepped away from the team. That hasn't been a problem for the Badgers, though, as Walker has taken the starting job and ran with it -- literally. Last week on the road against a previously 4-1 Rutgers squad, the Oklahoma transfer carried the ball 24 times for 198 yards and three touchdowns. Walker has ran for 292 yards and six scores over the last two weeks since becoming the top dog in the Badger backfield. In those two games, Wisconsin has scored 47 points per game. Safe to say that the Wildcat defense will have their hands full.

Saturday will be the Wildcats' final game in Evanston at Martin Stadium. The final two "home" games for NU in 2024 will be at Wrigley Field. Sitting at .500, the Cats will look to parlay a resounding road victory into a win on campus and finish with a winning record in the first season at their temporary home.

Damon Walters will be named All-Big Ten before his career in Evanston is done.

Prior to Friday night in College Park, Walters, a redshirt freshman who did not play in 2023, had only been credited with one tackle in his career. The Bolingbrook, Ill., native showed why the Wildcat coaches are so high on his potential against the Terrapins.

First, he recovered a fumbled kickoff return from Ricardo Cooper Jr. to set the Wildcats up for a field goal in the second quarter. Then, Walters made his biggest play of the night in the fourth quarter when he undercut a deep ball from Edwards for his first career interception, which he returned 33 yards down the right sideline to set up Jake Arthurs' nine-yard touchdown run. His knack for being around the ball and making plays was on display all night.

The local safety was a big recruiting win for the Wildcats. Walters picked Northwestern over offers from Big Ten foes Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota and Penn State, among a number of other power conference offers. Friday was just the beginning, as Walters will pay off the Cats' recruiting efforts with an All-Big Ten career before his time as a Wildcat is done.