[NU Sports] WILDCAT WRAP - NU 28, Iowa 27!

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

If Northwestern fans have learned anything from the
past decade of Wildcat football at Ryan Field, it
should be two things:

#1, you NEVER leave
#2, you gotta believe

Both philosophies were put to the test Saturday as for
the first 57 and a half minutes of the game, the
Wildcats seemed to be playing a repeat of the Michigan
game. The offense was lifeless, turnover prone,
committing stupid penalties to end any hopes of
getting a drive and not much was happening.

But in the final 2 and a half minutes, some of that
old Dyche Stadium magic was present as senior Brett
Basanez and the offense came alive in time to engineer
a 28-27 “Cardiac Cats” style victory over Iowa. The
win made Northwestern bowl eligible and ensured that
for the third straight year, Coach Randy Walker’s team
would have at least six wins and a .500 or better
record in the conference.

Entering Ryan Field on Saturday was a world apart from
entering the stadium last week for the Michigan game.
The excitement in the air for homecoming was gone and
it was if the air had been let out of the place. The
student stands – full a good hour before kickoff for
Michigan – were almost empty and so was most of the
stadium. And the gray, overcast and misty November day
just summed up the mood. It was a Sleepy Hollow day
and the Wildcat offense picked up where it left off
last week against Michigan – in mid slumber.

Iowa stormed out of the gate to drive down the field
for a 7-0 lead. Drew Tate was perfect on the drive and
the Hawkeyes never reached third down. The Cats
offense still seemed to think they were playing
Michigan on their first drive, with little running
game and receivers failing to help Baz out by dropping
passes. Iowa responded with another scoring drive
thanks to a short field and a miserable punt and it
was quickly 14-0 and not looking good for Wildcat
fans.

The Wildcats did score in the second quarter on a nice
third and long pass from Basanez to Shawn Herbert (the
middle was open all day – we just dropped a lot of
home run balls or stopped running). But Iowa stormed
right back down the field and a helicopter dive by
Tate made the score 21-7 and took momentum away. Iowa
added a field goal before half after the NU defense
stood up in the red zone and it was 24-7 at the break.

Tyrell Sutton mustered a little offense in the third
and it was 24-14 heading into the fourth quarter when
things got wild. The weather was starting to play a
role with the mist and fog turning into moderate rain
(I have no idea why the lights were not turned on –
yes, we don’t have a full set, but it was getting
pretty dark down there) and the NU offense was still
sputtering to get something started. After the
Hawkeyes again pinned the Cats deep, a Basanez
interception set up Iowa in the red zone with a chance
to put the game away.

But the defense held Iowa to a field goal. And a later
Hawkeye drive resulted in a missed 41-yard field goal.
Those were two HUGE stops for the defense. We didn’t
get a turnover on the day, but the defense came up big
in the second half by keeping this game within
striking distance.

All that was missing was the offensive spark to take
advantage of the defensive stops. But that was just
not there. Between the last two quarters of Michigan
and the first three and a half Saturday, the Wildcat
offense had looked about as bad as it could look with
ineffective play calling, poor execution,
self-inflicted wounds, drops and more. And when
Basanez threw his second interception with just over 5
minutes left in the game after the Cats had driven
inside the Iowa 40, the game appeared to be over and
many purple fans headed for the exits while the
bumblebees celebrated.

Speaking of which, I had forgotten what a pleasure it
is to host Iowa and Iowa fans at Ryan Field. They’re
certainly loyal, boisterous and support their team.
But they are crude and obnoxious as well (basically
Wisconsin fans without the cheese and brats 
 and that
doesn’t redeem them, but cheese and brats can go a
long way). They were making themselves at home,
confident of their victory and about to get the shock
of their lives.

The Cats – in a smart coaching move – had saved all
their timeouts and managed to force a punt. Basanez
quickly drove NU down the field (with the help of a
nifty quarterback draw) and Sutton punched it in to
make it a 27-21 game with just over 2 minutes
remaining.

And then came the onside kick. On a wet day, you can
hope for a fumble, but it’s tough to see an onside
kick converted on grass anymore without a turf bounce.
I’m not sure how the Cats did it, but Joel Howells got
a perfect bounce and Reggie McPherson snagged it out
of the air for the HUGE play. Basanez quickly drove NU
down the field again and found Ross Lane by the goal
post for the 28-27 lead with just under a minute left
on the clock. In les than 90 seconds, what was looking
like a disappointing home finale for Baz and the
seniors became a potential rally cry for the season
and showed that the Cats are capable of bouncing back.

There was still a lot of time left, but Iowa had
wasted its timeouts and the defense got a little
pressure on Iowa. When the Hawkeyes dropped 4th and 8
with :07 remaining, the comeback was complete and the
loyal NU fans in the stands went into a frenzy. Final
score, 28-27, CATS WIN!

Any season that has wins over Iowa and Wisconsin (our
two REAL rivals) is a good one! But this win is extra
sweet because it was a bounce back from the Michigan
loss (and from 57 minutes of terrible football). It
was a fitting salute to our seniors and a great way to
send them off in style. Now hopefully it turns into
something more – like a win in Champaign, another In
Columbus and another in a bowl.

And the legacy these seniors leave? The Cats are now
eligible for the sixth bowl appearance in school
history – the third in Randy Walker’s tenure as coach.
And for the third straight season, Northwestern will
have at least six wins and no worse than a .500 record
in the Big Ten conference. Those are BIG steps on
which to build a program.

It wasn’t a pretty day and for 57 minutes, it was an
ugly game – but true Cats fans know that it’s never
over when you play the Cardiac Cats and the guts and
determination of this squad to bounce back and get the
rally is a testament to our players, coaches, program
and seniors. This was a big win!

GAME BALLS
* Brett Basanez – With three minutes left in the game,
it looked as if Baz’s last home game would be one of
his worst and that much of the loss would be on his
shoulder. But in the last two minutes, Baz showed why
he is the Big Ten’s MVP by a long shot and still one
of the more dangerous quarterbacks in the country on a
bad day. He took some monster shots (some legal, some
cheap) and stood in there until the last nanosecond on
that winning TD pass to get the ball in there. It’s
going to be a shock next season to walk into Dyche
Stadium and not see #14 in command of the office.
* Reggie McPherson and the onside kick team – Special
teams were a disaster for NU most of the day, usually
resulting in a 20-30 yard field position edge for
Iowa. But they came up BIG when it counted with one of
the better onside kicks I have seen executed (and I
can’t remember too many working at Ryan Field – even
with all the comebacks there I the last decade). You
just don’t see that kind of bounce on grass usually,
and after it soared over the front line of Hawkeyes,
it still looked like it was headed to the second line
of gold and black until McPherson made an incredible
athletic leap to snag the ball.
* Tim McGarrigle and the defense – Yeah, it was a
dismal opening half and they gave up a lot of yardage,
but they settled down nicely after the first quarter
despite being put in some poor field position by the
offense’s ineffectiveness and dreadful punting. After
three quick Iowa TDs, the D held the Hawks to only two
field goals the rest of the day and much like last
week, kept hope alive. This time, the offense was able
to wake up and snatch the win in time. And it seemed
like the PA announcer said Tim McGarrigle’s name every
other play. Once again, #41 was everywhere on the
field and showed why he will be sorely missed next
year. However, our linebacker tradition of the last
10-15 years looks to be in solid hands with Nick
Roach, who also made some nice plays.

THINGS TO WORK ON
* The opening drive – Last year we wanted the ball
first, this year we defer. Which I generally agree
with because we’ve needed that drive out of halftime a
couple times this year and it sends a vote of
confidence to our defense. But it’s backfired the last
couple weeks as we start in a 7-0 hole by the time the
O gets the ball. Be aggressive - blitz or cover tight,
but you can't have no pressure AND a soft zone.
* Special teams – Even before the rain came, the
punting was brutal and kickoffs weren’t much better.
Our kickoff returns never got past the 20 and we lost
the battle of field position all day. We can not do
that if we hope to stay even close in Columbus.
* Get Sutton started – Yes, I know defenses are
stacking the box and keying on #19, but we have to
find ways to get him touches and get him going in the
game early and stick with the run even if we get
behind. In the fourth quarter, Sutton had two runs
(one with a couple nifty Play Station-worthy spins and
the other where he pushed the pile ahead 4 yards at
the end of the play) that reminded Wildcat fans that
even though #14 and #41 may be moving on, there will
be plenty of reasons to come back next year. It’s
going to be exciting to watch this kid develop over
the next few years.

AROUND THE LEAGUE
* PENN STATE solidified its hold on the BCS bid from
the league with a  whuppin’ of Wisconsin. Now JoePa
has two weeks to prepare for a dangerous road game at
MSU in order to secure only the second Big Ten title
for PSU since they entered the league in 1993.
* OHIO STATE started slow but piled it on Illinois
late. Hopefully they’ll be looking ahead to the annual
mega-game in Ann Arbor when we visit next week but
still, with that D and the O gaining confidence, the
Bucks are making a solid case for a BCS at-large bid
if they can’t overtake PSU.
* PURDUE really put a dent in MSU’s bowl hopes with
the upset this week. You knew Tiller was gonna play
spoiler for someone – thankfully it wasn’t us. Sparty
now needs to win at Minnesota or vs. PSU to get in to
the postseason and face yet another late-season
collapse after a promising start that included the win
at ND.
* MINNESOTA clinched bowl eligibility and all but
destroyed Indiana’s hopes to make it back to
postseason play for the first time in ages (Michigan
should take care of that officially next week when the
Hoosiers visit). Still, nice first season for Coach
Hoeppner. As for the Gophers, beating MSU at home and
Iowa on the road could improve their bowl status to as
high as the Alamo.

What a wonderful – and typically Northwestern – way to
end the season at home. Thank you seniors for laying
the foundation for building a winning program at
Northwestern with three straight 6-win seasons and
non-losing Big Ten marks. Sad to see the season over
already at home, but I doubt any of us expected 6-3 at
this point back in August and we now have a 12th game
(and all that extra practice) to look forward to!

Now don’t settle for just six wins – get an upset in
Columbus next week and force the higher bowls to take
the Cats and let’s win that bowl game!

GO CATS!!!
-SjT

* * * * * * * * *
STEPHEN J. TRUOG
sjtruog at yahoo.com
GO CATS!!!


		
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