Northwestern needs late TD to slip past lowly Rutgers
Disaster averted with comeback against lowly Scarlet Knights
Plus: Five first-half turnovers doom Illinois in ugly loss to Wisconsin; Purdue stuns No. 2 Ohio State 49-20.
There are exhilarating comeback victories, like last week’s thriller against Nebraska. And then there are pitiful comeback victories, like Saturday’s against Rutgers (1-7 overall, 0-5 Big Ten).
Congrats to Northwestern (4-3, 4-1), I suppose, for avoiding disaster against a historically bad Big Ten team that did not have its best skill player for the first half. But if anyone in purple actually takes pride in this performance as a threetouchdown favorite, the program needs higher standards. Here are three takeaways from the Wildcats’ 18-15 victory in Piscataway, N.J.:
1. Not sure who wore No. 18 for Northwestern. He looked like Clayton Thorson but didn’t play like him. Thorson completed 17 of 34 passes for 150 yards and no touchdowns, misfiring time and again against a lower-rung defense. He threw so far behind Ben Skowronek on a shallow cross, the receiver had to exit the game after taking a massive blow to his side. (He was hospitalized but cleared to fly back to Chicago with the team.) Thorson held the ball forever on an end-zone sack that gave Rutgers two points. He fumbled on a scramble. He dangerously threw into a crowd on first down with 10 minutes to play. Coach Pat Fitzgerald is fiercely protective of Thorson and said after the game: “Awesome! 1-0, baby. That’s the job of the quarterback.” We will see if Fitzgerald can muster a more honest evaluation after watching the film.
2. For the run game, the future is now. Fitzgerald had been reluctant to use freshmen tailbacks Isaiah Bowser and Drake Anderson, hoping to save the redshirt for one or both by limiting their appearances to four games. With Solomon Vault and John Moten IV injured, Fitzgerald started Anderson (24 yards on seven carries) and used Bowser as his hammer. The 216-pound Bowser barreled through and pinballed off tacklers, carrying the ball eight times on NU’s final clockkilling drive. He scored two touchdowns (including the goahead score with 8 minutes, 12 seconds to go) and finished with 108 yards on 24 carries. It marked Bowser’s fourth game and Anderson’s second. Will Anderson appear in just two more games? Possible. Not possible is that Bowser will get a fifth season.
3. The ‘D’ did its job. Again, you have to grade on a curve. Last week against Maryland, Rutgers’ Artur Sitkowski completed 2 of 16 passes with four interceptions. On Saturday he went 15-for-31 for 81 yards and no turnovers. He didn’t have top skill guy Raheem Blackshear until he returned from his grandmother’s funeral in time for the second half. Rutgers gained just 188 yards, with 44 coming after linebacker Blake Gallagher missed a tackle on Isaih Pacheco’s touchdown run. “Our defense was outstanding,” Fitzgerald said. “We mis-fit one play, but otherwise did a great job.”