The day after: Thoughts on the Holiday Bowl
Here are WildcatReport's five thoughts on Northwestern's thrilling, come-from-behind 31-20 win over Utah in the Holiday Bowl on New Year's Eve.
1. The third quarter was one for the ages
Utah coach Kyle Whittingham had no idea what hit his team after halftime.
"I've been coaching a long time and I don't think I've ever been a part of third quarter like that," he said.
Very few have. After getting dominated in the first half, the Wildcats came out with their hair on fire, outscoring the Utes 28-0 and creating four turnovers. That turned a 20-3 deficit into a 31-20 lead that would stand for the rest of the game.
Everyone got into the act in that fateful third period. Blake Gallagher intercepted a Jason Shelley pass to set up Northwestern’s first touchdown of the game on a four-yard Clayton Thorson touchdown pass to Riley Lees.
Then came the big one: with Utah driving in the NU red zone, Joe Gaziano stripped Shelley and Jared McGee scooped it up at the 18 and sprinted 82 yards for the touchdown to make it 20-17. Now, the game was a dogfight.
On the very next drive, Utah’s Jaylen Dixon got hit by Trae Williams after a catch and fumbled. JR Pace recovered it and returned it 34 yards to the Utah 31. That led to the most entertaining play of the game, when Thorson hit Trey Klock – a 296-pound guard-turned-jumbo-package-superback – for a touchdown to give the surging Wildcats their first lead of the game, 24-20.
After a Utes three-and-out, Northwestern’s suddenly rejuvenated offense scored again on a drive punctuated by a 23-yard Isaiah Bowser run, two passes to Cameron Green and a Lees 8-yard touchdown run as a Wildcat quarterback.
That turned out to be the last score of the game, but Pace added one final turnover in the quarter when he picked off a deflected pass. It was his second turnover of the game, and those two plays plus seven tackles and a pass breakup earned NU’s sophomore safety the defensive player of the game award.
2. The game was a microcosm of the season
Whittingham didn’t see Northwestern’s rally coming, but fans wearing purple shouldn’t have been that surprised. The Wildcats did it all season.
"We talked at halftime about, get a stop, get a score, seize momentum," Fitzgerald said. "The credit goes to our guys. They were resilient all year. Today was indicative of our team."
Yes, it was.
Looking at the big picture, the Wildcats were 1-3 at the end of the September, with three home losses, including one to Akron. But they rebounded to win their next seven Big Ten games to capture the West and earn the first division championship in school history.
And they did it several times in games, as well. The Wildcats went 99 yards in 1:50 to tie Nebraska and then win it in overtime. They scored a fourth-quarter touchdown to get past pesky Rutgers on the road. They scored 14 straight points in the fourth quarter to pull to within three points of No. 3 Notre Dame before bowing. They came up with a fourth-quarter touchdown to beat Iowa in Iowa City to clinch the Big Ten West. Then they scored two straight TDs to narrow Ohio State’s lead to three points in the Big Ten title game they eventually lost in Indianapolis.
Time and again, when this team looked down-and-out, they came back. And the ironic thing is that they didn’t start the season that way. It seems like a long time ago, but Northwestern was the team that couldn’t close out games early in the season. The Wildcats failed to score a single point in three of its first four games and blew leads in all three of those losses in September.
In a funny twist, Northwestern led 21-3 at the half in its worst loss of the season, 39-34, to Akron. The Wildcats then trailed 20-3 in their best comeback win of the season in the Holiday Bowl.
3. The Cats did it all shorthanded
A lot was made of the fact that Utah was missing its starting quarterback (Tyler Huntley), leading tackler (Chase Hansen), best running back (Zack Moss) and best receiver (Britain Covey). That no doubt hampered the Utes.
But the Wildcats were a M*A*S*H unit by the end of this one, as well.
Northwestern came into the game missing two senior starters: defensive tackle Jordan Thompson and linebacker Nate Hall both had post-season surgery. Montre Hartage, another senior and the team’s best cover corner, did not play in the game and was wearing street clothes on the sideline.
Then, in the first half, a Northwestern offense that looked completely overmatched, lost their top two receivers to injury. Flynn Nagel and Bennett Skowronek went down in the first half and did not return.
So Northwestern scored those 28 third-quarter points and generated five turnovers without a total of five starters on both sides of the ball. In the battle of costly injuries, this one was a just about a draw.
That's why Fitzgerald won the Big Ten Coach of the Year award this season.
4. Give the offense some credit
Northwestern’s defense got the lion’s share of the credit for the Holiday Bowl win, and deservedly so. They generated six turnovers, with three of them turning into 21 points. They took one of them in for a touchdown all by themselves.
But the Wildcats’ offensive transformation in the second half shouldn’t be overlooked, either.
It’s difficult to describe how badly overwhelmed the Wildcats looked on offense in the first half. Utah’s defensive front dominated the line of scrimmage. Thorson was under siege, getting sacked twice and pressured just about every time he dropped back to pass. Northwestern ran for a total of -6 yards.
It was so bad that after Thorson hit McGowan for a 32-yard pass to the Utah 3-yard line, the Wildcats couldn't gain another inch and had to settle for a chip-shot, 21-yard field goal. The Wildcats ran three plays – two Bowser runs and an incomplete pass – that totaled zero yards.
In the second half, however, the offense found itself. Yes, they were given short fields by the opportunistic defense, but give the O credit for capitalizing.
The Wildcats adjusted to Utah’s pressure by sprinting Thorson out away from the overloaded side. After completing 13 of 20 passes for 132 yards and a pick in the first half, a much more comfortable Thorson went 8 for 10 for 109 yards and two TDs in the second to claim the offensive player of the game award. The offensive line turned things around, so the running game that couldn’t get out of its own way in the first two quarters produced 87 yards in the last two.
The Cats produced just 322 yards overall and were outgained by Utah’s, which finished with 393. But they made those yards count, scoring on all four of their chances in the red zone.
5. Two out of three ain't bad
The 2018 Wildcats probably will not go down in the history books as Fitzgerald’s best team. But they accomplished more than any of the coach’s previous 12 squads in Evanston.
Etched in glass at Northwestern’s sparkling new Walter Athletics Center are the three goals of the program:
- Win the Big Ten West
- Win the Big Ten championship
- Win your bowl game
This team, however flawed – their offense ranked in the 100s in all major categories but passing, and they didn’t have a reliable kicker for most of the season – accomplished two of them with Monday night’s win. They won the West and their bowl game, and they even gave themselves a shot at that last one, the Big Ten title. It’s the first Fitzgerald team to accomplish more than one of those objectives.
Not only that, but the Wildcats won eight of 10 Big Ten games and finished 6-1 away from Ryan Field, whether on the road (5-0) or at neutral sites (1-1).
That’s a pretty good legacy to leave.