Cats’ ground game grinds to a halt
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Northwestern’s losing streak grew to seven as the Wildcats stumbled 33-13 on the road to Iowa, which saw its stagnant offense rev up behind embattled quarterback Spencer Petras.
“They played one of their cleanest games of the season,” Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald said. “Quarterback-wise, that was probably his best game of the year.”
Petras threw for a touchdown and ran for another, and Drew Stevens kicked four field goals as Iowa (4-4, 2-3 Big Ten) snapped a three-game losing streak with their highest point total of the season.
“You can’t get down for too long,” Petras said. “You’ve got to push through, and today we pushed through.”
Northwestern (1-7, 1-4) was held to 177 total yards, with only 18 rushing yards on 37 attempts. The Wildcats got a one-yard touchdown pass from Brendan Sullivan to Duke Olges in the third quarter, and a seven-yard touchdown pass from Sullivan to Raymond Niro III on the final play of the game.
“We’ve got to keep developing guys,” Fitzgerald said. “We’ve got a lot of guys out there. We have to find a way to win a game.”
Sullivan, a sophomore, threw for 159 yards and was sacked seven times in his second career start.
“He’ll learn from this, grow and get better,” Fitzgerald said.
Meanwhile, Petras went 21-for-30 for 220 yards. He had a one-yard touchdown run in the first quarter and threw a six-yard touchdown pass to Luke Lachey in the second quarter.
“No question this was our best offensive performance,” Hawkeyes coach Kirk Ferentz said.
“I was running off the field a lot of times today with a smile on my face,” tight end Sam LaPorta said.
Petras, in his third season as Iowa’s starter, had been replaced by Alex Padilla in the second half of last Saturday’s 54-10 loss at Ohio State. The two were listed as co-No. 1s on this week’s depth chart, but Petras got the start. He then led the Hawkeyes to points on all four of their first-half possessions for a 20-0 halftime lead.
“It’s just like life,” Petras said. “You don’t reset everything, and abandon everything, that got you to the point where you’re at. You just go back to work. So yeah, it felt good to be back out there.”
“I’m really happy for him,” Ferentz said. “When we’re not winning, that’s rough for everybody. He’s been a little bit of a magnet for criticism. That’s part of playing the position, that’s part of the game. We all believed in him.”