[NU Sports] WILDCAT WRAP - NU 51, #14 Wisconsin 48

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

Northwestern opened up the offense 
 and the offense
opened a can of whuppin’ on 14th-ranked Wisconsin’s
defense Saturday in a 51-48 shootout win for the Cats.
It was a football score that topped many of the
basketball scores these two have played in recent
years with Bill Carmody and Dick Bennet in charge 

and the funny thing is that when the teams went to the
locker room at halftime, it was a 17-10 slugfest that
gave fans no warning of the wild shootout it was about
to become.

The only clue might have been on the last couple
drives each team had the second quarter. Wisconsin
found success pounding the ball with a two-headed
rushing attack and the Cats were starting to move it
with a  nice mix of slashing runs up the middle and
deep passes – but NU’s last two drives resulted in
only 3 points despite all the movement because of a
bad snap fumble at midfield and an ill-advised spike
on third down by Brett Basanez to kill the clock with
9 seconds left before half instead of trying for the
end zone. But it was obvious heading into halftime
that NU’s offensive coordinators had seen something to
exploit in the Wisconsin defense and they continued to
hammer it after the break in one of the more
impressive second halves put together by an NU
offense. There were just too many scores to keep track
of and the action was as fast as a tennis return,
giving the crowd whiplash at times.

But this is Dyche Stadium, and nothing comes easy.
Both teams decided to send their defenses home early
for the second half (seriously, I think the yardlines
made more tackles on the day than the D, tripping Baz
and a couple other runners up) and what we got was an
offensive blitz unrivaled since the 54-51 classic with
Michigan in 2000 that – as usual – kept Wildcat fans
holding their breath until the final seconds. There
were so many big plays by both offenses after the
break – and so many displays of atrocious defense on
both sides – that old lady mo’s head was on a swivel
and neither side could seize on the chance to gain
momentum fully.

Going back to our discussion after Penn State, 29
points just isn’t enough to win in the Big Ten
anymore. It’s a year of offense and after a 37-point
outburst from both teams in the third quarter, it was
clear that 40 wasn’t going to be enough on this day.
Thankfully for NU fans, Brett Basanez was up to the
task and led six consecutive scoring drives and six
second-half touchdown drives for the Wildcats.

The biggest difference (aside from Baz getting back to
spreading it around to a variety of receivers) was
NU’s aggressiveness in throwing the deep ball. We
threw it downfield 10 or more yards in addition to the
short curls, and Baz was pinpoint in his accuracy on a
pretty windy and overcast day in Evanston. The deep
ball success kept the D from stacking the box and the
O-line and superfrosh Tyrell Sutton took advantage
with some huge runs and big yards-after-contact
numbers in the second half. This in turn led to some
nice play-action calls to spring more deep balls and
the offense was clicking in perfection for the second
half.

Wisconsin kept pace until the end and mounted a
comeback that fell short in the final minutes with a
perfect coffin-corner punt by NU and a defensive
interception (at least we got one stop!), but the
Badgers were playing from behind from the early third
quarter on and NU never gave up the lead after it was
23-17. It was an amazing offensive display, aided by
solid special teams and a couple plays from the D in
terms of sacks by Tim McGarrigle and turnovers 
 but
the D still needs to improve. A lot. A heckuva lot.

But it was heartening to see the Cats come out with a 
lot of fire after the bye week and it was obvious they
worked on adding new wrinkles on offense and defense.
The offense wasn’t going to settle for field goals
this week and the coaching was much more aggressive in
play calling.

One other side note – a good amount of players from
the 1995 Championship team were on the field at
halftime. It’s hard to believe a decade has passed
already, but between the introductions at halftime and
highlights on the video board, it was a good day for
good memories. It was also remarkable to look at the
group on the field and think of how few of them would
be recognized by name outside of Evanston 
 and how
few of them ever took a snap in the NFL. Probably
fewer than any other league champ in that decade span.
It just goes to show what an amazing group of student
athletes we had then and how they can still serve as
an inspiration to teams today – it’s not all
recruiting or speed times. If you play together and
play with heart, the sky’s the limit. Great to see the
team again and encouraging to see a lot of the Cats
players on the field today displaying that same
grittiness and fire.

Any win over Wisconsin is a good win and it’s
especially sweet to send Barry Alvarez out the same
way we sent our old pal Hayden out on his last visit
to Evanston. It’s true that we’re a couple plays from
being 1-4 at this point, but we’re also a play from
being 4-1 
 so at this point we’ll have to take 3-2
and head forward one week at a time. Purdue is
beatable if we stay on fire on O and bring a little D
at least. Great day, (another) great finish and a
great win.

GAME BALLS
* Tyrell Sutton – I can’t express how much I love this
kid right now – and I find more to love every game I
see him. Against PSU, he showed that ability to squirt
through small holes and slip under tackles. Against
Wisconsin, Sutton showed surprising strength – often
driving piles of Badger tackles forward 3 or 4 yards
before going down. This kid gets more amazing every
game and it’s not too early to start mentioning him in
the “freshman of the year” talks. A special player who
fits perfectly into NU’s attack and is growing by
leaps and bounds every week. Cats fans are gonna love
watching this kid the next four years.
* Brett Basanez – Baz needed to be on his game today
and he was razor sharp – great accuracy, poise and he
spread it all around the field. And he followed
Sutton’s lead and would drag the pile forward on a few
of his runs today. He didn’t let the mistake of
spiking it right before half get to him and led his
team to an amazing second half of offensive
near-perfection. THAT’s what a senior
quarterback/leader is supposed to do – well done, Baz!
* Tim McGarrigle – OK, it wasn’t a banner day for the
defense, but it sure wasn’t because of a lack of
effort from #41. It seemed like the PA announcer was
calling his name every play and he got some nice
pressure and made a lot of hustle plays. Every week,
this guy resembles his coact Fitz more and more – a
tireless worker who was passed over by other schools
for lack of size or speed but makes up for it in his
heart and smarts.

THINGS TO WORK ON
* Defense. We seem to get to 3rd down fine, but then
give up huge chunks of yardage on 3rd and 12 or 3rd
and 16. The front seven was decent today, but these
secondary problems are really starting to hurt.
* Stupid penalties. After not having many this year so
far, we saw them return today – wiping out a big
kickoff return from the non-play side of the field
with holding, some drive-killing penalties early, etc.
Get smart, guys!
* Keeping momentum – in a game and in the season. The
second half was the longest our O has sustained being
in the zone 
 let’s keep extending that next week in
West Lafayette.

AROUND THE LEAGUE
* This is shaping up to be one unbelievably wild Big
Ten race! PENN STATE looks like they’ve grown by leaps
and bounds since they were in Evanston two weeks ago
and got JoePa a HUGE win against OHIO STATE in Happy
Valley. Their reward? A trip to traditional nemesis
and freshly embarrassed Michigan.
* Speaking of Big Blue, how can they explode on O
against MSU and then clam up again at home against a
MINNESOTA squad coming off a thrashing at PSU? Nice
bounceback by the Gophers (who’ll get the angry
Badgers next week), but it’s still puzzling how Lloyd
wastes such offensive talent every other week. This
may have been an elimination game in the Big Ten race,
just as MSU/OSU could be next week.
* And speaking of elimination, IOWA stayed alive but
PURDUE continued to crumble. Hopefully their funk
continues at least one more week and we can exploit
their passing D like ND and Iowa have done the last
couple weeks.
* And don’t look now, but INDIANA is 4-1. They don’t
play the Cats, but if they can pull off an upset in
the next few weeks (and given the way the Big Ten is
going, who knows what an upset is anymore?!), the old
buckey game could be worth a bowl bid for the
Hoosiers.

Another wild week in the league. As I said last week,
I think we have the capabilities to beat anyone left
on our schedule (except OSU, but even they look human
now???) 
 it’s all going to come down to how well we
can put a streak together against a rough schedule.
Gotta just focus on Purdue and beat the Boilers this
week – then worry about the rest.

But it does go to show the depth (and
unpredictability) of the league that 8 teams have been
ranked from the Big Ten so far this year and at least
8 appear to be bowl bound – but 10 still appear to
have legit hopes of heading someplace warm for
Christmas and it’s mid-October.

Just another wild day at Ryan Field.
GO CATS!!!
-SjT

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


		
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