It’s shock and flaws
Wildcats run out of gas after opening-drive touchdown as Fitzgerald’s jump-start fails
Northwestern played a clean game in the opener against Purdue — no turnovers, no sacks allowed.
Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald asked media members if they’d written any “fluff ” pieces in praise of the offensive line.
Against Duke on Saturday? Different story.
Fitzgerald pounded the lectern during his postgame news conference to emphasize why he went for it on a fourthand-9 from the Duke 40, declining a chance to pin the Blue Devils deep.
“I’m trying to jump-start the thing there,” he said. “You saw the same game I did. Sometimes I have to make a decision that maybe does not make sense from the standpoint of conventional wisdom, but when you’re not playing well, you have to get the paddles out and shock the system.”
Shocking Saturday was not that Duke won 21-7, ending Northwestern’s winning streak at nine games. The Blue Devils are damn good.
Shocking was that Northwestern got a touchdown on its first possession, an 11-play, 79-yard masterpiece, and then failed to score in their next 13 drives. The Rolling Stones’ “Start Me Up” blared through Ryan Field in the fourth quarter. If anyone sings “Shut Me Down,” that would have been more fitting.
These were the major issues:
■ Both Clayton Thorson and TJ Green threw an interception on consecutive second-quarter possessions. Green didn’t have enough juice on a throw to his left intended for Nagel. Thorson rolled to his left and fired into traffic, saying, “I should have kept it outside or thrown it away.”
Making matters worse, Northwestern superback Cam Green made the tackle on Thorson’s interception — but with his helmet. Green, a big and big-time target, was ejected for targeting.
■ Northwestern receivers could not get enough separation from the Duke defensive backs, who were well prepared. Twice Northwestern receivers attempted one-handed catches. They’re not Odell Beckham Jr.
“(The receivers needed) that nanosecond longer to get open,” Fitzgerald said. “When the timing and rhythm is off, offensive football is just really ugly, right? It’s like bad backyard football playing with your buddies.”
■ Jeremy Larkin had another nice game (121 rushing yards on 24 carries), but Northwestern still lacks a game-breaker, a Venric Mark. Thorson (22-for-38) and Green (9-for-18) needed 56 attempts to throw for 282 yards.
■ Starting right tackle Rashawn Slater was lost to a lower-body injury. Starting left tackle Blake Hance missed part of the game after hobbling off. Replacements Gunnar Vogel, Jesse Meyler and Ethan Wiederkehr had a tough time.
“I’m not pinning the blame on the offensive line,” Fitzgerald said, “but it looked like we had guys who didn’t perform very well today. A week ago that group played outstanding. So we have a little Jekyll and Hyde going on right now.”
Three bright spots:
■ Joe Gaziano motored around the end two times for second-half sacks. The 2017 Big Ten sacks leader had a third tackle-for-loss and a quarterback hurry.
■ Eight months after surgery to repair his right ACL, Thorson took some low hits and got back up every time. He said his knee feels fine.
■ The defense shut out Duke in the second half.
“We have a good football team,” Fitzgerald said. “We just didn’t play very well today.”
Fitzgerald went for it five times on fourth down. Northwestern cashed in once.
After the fourth-and-9 from the Duke 40, the Blue Devils took advantage of the good field position, pushing ahead 21-7 after an eight-play drive.
Still down 21-7, Northwestern had a fourth-and-goal from the 4. Rather than try a 21-yard field goal, Thorson dropped back and got sacked because of good coverage.
“We were somewhat inept, weren’t we?” Fitzgerald said of the offense. “We were 4 yards away, let’s go score a touchdown. Let’s go be aggressive. You look at the stats and analytics in that situation … (but) I’ll probably look back and say that was a field-goal situation. It was a 50-50 situation.”
In the end, with this offense, it would not have mattered.