Wildcats, weather can't quite pull off upset of No. 2 Ohio State

EVANSTON-Saturday’s miserable weather conditions looked like they could be a perfect storm for Northwestern.

The wind was blowing in from the southwest, gusting to 65 miles per hour and wreaking havoc with passes and kicks. Rain came down in sheets intermittently. CJ Stroud looked bothered by the conditions and didn’t play like the Heisman Trophy contender he’s been all season.

But in the end, the wind and rain weren’t quite enough for the Wildcats. No. 2 Ohio State, which entered the game as 38.5-point favorites, rallied from a 7-0 second-quarter deficit and scored three unanswered touchdowns to escape with a 21-7 victory.

The loss was Northwestern’s eighth straight defeat, the longest of head coach Pat Fitzgerald’s 17-year tenure.

Yet Fitzgerald felt much better about this loss to the Buckeyes than he did in last week’s 33-13 defeat at Iowa, when he couldn’t find a single positive in his team’s performance.

“We had a lot of good happen today,” said Fitzgerald, whose Wildcats are now 1-14 in their last 15 games, dating to last season. “I thought our defense, for the most part, did a pretty darn good job… I thought those guys fought their tails off and gave us a chance to win.”

Stroud struggled all day throwing the ball, completing just 10-of-26 throws for 76 yards, the lowest output of his career and a long way from his season average of 297 yards per game. But he made the biggest play with his legs in the fourth quarter. With a 14-7 lead, it was Stroud’s 44-yard run to the Northwestern 5-yard line that set up Miyan Williams’ two-yard touchdown run to clinch the win.

A Northwestern offense that failed to score over the last 51:45 wouldn’t be able to muster two scores in the last 4:21, despite outgaining Ohio State 285-283 on the day.

Northwestern’s Brendan Sullivan threw for more yards than his more celebrated counterpart, finishing 10 of 14 for 79 yards passing. He also ran for 55 yards and wasn't sacked a week after getting dropped seven times behind the line of scrimmage.

“[I am] really proud of his toughness and his grit,” said Fitzgerald. “Impressive the way he bounced back” from last week’s loss at Iowa.

Evan Hull led all rushers with 30 carries for 122 yards and a touchdown. Williams, who started in place of injured starter TreVeyon Henderson, finished with 111 yards and two TDs on the ground for the Buckeyes.

The Wildcats took the wind to start the game and, after a three-and-out on their first possession, drew first blood on a touchdown drive that, quite frankly, looked easy. They went 80 yards in nine plays; seven of the nine plays were runs, and all but two of them went for at least seven yards. Hull capped it with a 16-yard sprint to the pylon for a 7-0 lead with 6:45 left in the first quarter.

Fitzgerald probably couldn’t have scripted a better first quarter. Northwestern built a 7-0 lead, outgained the Buckeyes 113-47 and had seven first downs to OSU's two. Northwestern also stopped Williams on third-and-1 and fourth-and-1 situations to get the ball back.

Ohio State’s high-powered offense, averaging 48.9 points per game, failed to convert a single third down in eight tries in the first half.

The Buckeyes eventually evened the score when they got the wind in the second quarter. The defense pinned Northwestern deep in its own territory, and after a 32-yard punt by Hunter Renner into the wind, they took over the ball at the NU 46. Stroud converted a fourth-and-1 with a designed run, and a 15-yard run by Emeka Egbuka made it 7-7 with 2:26 left in the half.

Northwestern was fighting the wind to start the third quarter and decided to cut out the quarterback middle man, snapping the ball directly to Hull as a wildcat on six of their first seven plays. The Cats converted one third-down, but on fourth-and-1, Hull was stopped for no gain to give OSU the ball at the NU 45.

The Buckeyes again took advantage of the short field, converting their first two third downs of the game in the process. The second one, on a third-and-3, was the dagger as Williams cut to the outside and took it 27 yards for a touchdown to give Ohio State its first lead of the game, 14-7.

Still, Northwestern couldn’t complain. Fitzgerald said that their game plan was to keep it close and make it a four-quarter game, and they trailed by seven and had the wind at their backs for the final period.

Sullivan ran for a first down, made an impressive tight-window to Malik Washington and somehow eluded a heavy Ohio State rush to hit Cam Porter for a first down on the run. The Cats reached the Ohio State 36, but Genson Hooper-Price dropped Sullivan’s third-down throw, and, on fourth-and-8, Sullivan threw over Donny Navarro’s head on a slant.

That turned out to be as close as the Wildcats would get the rest of the game. They got the ball back with 8:11 left but went three-and-out on three straight Hull runs up the middle. Stroud’s touchdown on the ensuing drive put the game out of reach.

Northwestern will be on the road, at Minnesota and Purdue, for its next two games, before returning to Ryan Field for the season finale against 7-1 Illinois on Nov. 26.

But Hull liked the fight and energy he saw from his teammates against the Buckeyes and thinks it sets the Wildcats up well for the stretch run.

“We just showed we can play with anybody in the country,” he said. “If that doesn’t give us confidence, then nothing else will.”