A triumphant victory for the Wildcats.
From start to finish, Northwestern kept the pedal to the metal on the Scarlet Knights, hopping out to a quick 21-3 lead and holding onto that margin the rest of the way. It’s another Big Ten win for the ‘Cats, one that adds to its College Football Playoff campaign, which continued to grow in odds following Texas Tech’s loss to Cincinnati in the morning slate.
Here are the biggest trends from the purple jerseys’ Saturday win:
Stock up
Pass rush
The big boys got after Rutgers’ signal-callers.
On its second drive of the game, Michael Kilbane got after AJ Surace, strip-sacking him at the Rutgers 8-yard line. Jamaal Johnson would recover the fumble, setting up Honig’s eight-yard touchdown reception two plays later.
And in the third quarter, as Rutgers mounted some offensive momentum, it was the pass rush that stood tall defending the end zone. Linebacker Kobie McKinzie brought down Ashenfelder for a fourth-and-7 stop on its own 7-yard line and in the fourth quarter an NU pass rush contributed to errant throws from Ashenfelder on two fourth downs in NU territory, one of which resulted in a Jalen Lewis interception.
Led by McKinzie, who had a sack, a TFL and a quarterback hit, and Kilbane, who had a sack and a TFL, Northwestern’s quarterback hunters finished with four sacks, five tackles for loss and five quarterback hits, good for their best performance of the season. With the Wildcats still down a couple players in the secondary, the capability NU showed Saturday to dial up some heat with a four-man rush could be critical to whether it has success late in the season.
Explosive rushing
EXPLOSIVE ON THE GROUND! The ‘Cats finished with nine explosive running plays (gains of 10 or more yards), four of which were good for 30+ yards.
Three of the big gains came from Caleb Komolafe, who ripped off a 30-yard gain on the ‘Cats’ first touchdown drive, a 56-yard gain on the ‘Cats’ second touchdown drive and a 33-yard touchdown run late in the second quarter to put NU up 28-3. Komolafe finished the first half with six carries for 121 yards, and concluded the game with 150 yards on 11.5 yards per carry.
Aidan Chiles was also extremely efficient as a runner, continuing to showcase his mobility as a game-changing attribute. Chiles posted his CAREER HIGH in rushing yards against the Scarlet Knights, taking a quarterback keeper to the house for a 37-yard touchdown run and finishing the game with 12 carries for 83 yards.
Northwestern finished the game with 6.9 rushing efficiency and 283 yards — its second highest rushing total of the season. The ‘Cats are now averaging 204.6 yards per game, which before Saturday would have been good in the Big Ten standings for second in the Big Ten.
The Sioux Falls route runner
How about Griffin Wilde?
Wilde continues to turn the heads of more and more NFL draft scouts, asserting himself game after game as one of college football’s most reliable pass catchers and purest route runners.
The senior hit the ground running early, hauling in two third-down receptions on the ‘Cats’ first possession of the game before making a 13-yard touchdown reception to punctuate his hot start. Then, after quieting down for the rest of the first quarter, Wilde made 25+ yard receptions on each of the ‘Cats’ first two drives in the second period, pushing himself over 100 yards on the game with over nine minutes remaining in the half.
Wilde finished the game with nine receptions, 133 yards and a touchdown. The senior is now averaging 87.9 yards per game this season and has an average yards per reception of 15.8 yards. Not to mention, he still hasn’t dropped a pass.
Last year Wilde was good, but this year he has been great, becoming one of the Big Ten’s best.
Honorable mentions: Red zone offense, Chiles making plays off schedule
Stock down
Run defense
With 1:46 remaining in the second half, the game had been completely dominated by Northwestern. Rutgers had mounted just one scoring drive, and on its last four drives it had three punts — two of which were off three-and-outs — and a fumble. The ‘Cats were up 28-3, completely in the driver’s seat… and then their run defense collapsed.
On its second drive of the third quarter, Rutgers marched right down the field without throwing a single pass, gashing the field open with 83 rushing yards on five carries.
Then, after Chiles threw his first interception of the season, Raymond ripped off a 46-yard touchdown run on the second play of Rutgers’ subsequent drive, putting the Scarlet Knights in the end zone for the only time all day.
Rutgers finished the game with 244 rushing yards on 6.3 efficiency. Plain and simple, in the final thirty minutes of the game, Northwestern had little answer for Antwan Raymond and the scarlet rushing attack.
There’s no doubt the ‘Cats missed their second-leading tackler Robert Fitzgerald, but the real concern here is that this isn’t a game-specific issue. It’s not an overstatement to say that the ‘Cats would be undefeated if not for its run defense, which allowed 271 yards on 40 carries against Indiana, including three carries of 30 or more yards. The ‘Cats also allowed 147 rushing yards against South Dakota State and 180 yards against Colorado, including an explosive 35-yard rushing touchdown.
Tim McGarigle will need to find a way to stop the run if Northwestern wants to keep winning games.
Controllable mistakes
Despite Northwestern’s dominance in this football game, there is still some room for criticism. As has been the case in many of its games this season, some of NU’s most negative drive results were completely self-inflicted.
With 11:35 remaining in the second quarter, Jackson Kleather missed a 47-yard field goal try. While Kleather was praised following his clutch game-winner against MSU, the senior transfer is now 3-for-6 on field goal attempts of over 40 yards — those are points lost that are self-caused.
Then, near the end of the half, a 15-yard roughing-the-passer penalty on senior linebacker Matthew Smith set Rutgers up in NU territory, leading to its 35-yard field goal as time expired in the period. Sure, the Scarlet Knights also supported that drive with 43 other yards, but the drive was kickstarted by the Smith penalty.
On Saturday, the ‘Cats were dominant enough elsewhere that these plays didn’t affect the outcome of the game. However, in games against stronger opponents, Northwestern may not be afforded the same security. In its upcoming games against Oregon, No. 15 Iowa and No. 3 Ohio State, it would be a tragic feeling if a late game roughing-the-passer penalty or missed field goal ended up being the difference in a critical game.
Honorable mentions: Aidan Chiles’ turnover rate after throwing his first interception of the season, half of the student section leaving after halftime