As we all know, the holidays are a time of giving. With Thanksgiving approaching, Wisconsin was in a giving mood to Northwestern for most of Saturday in a 13-7 Wildcat victory.
Joel Stave and the Badger offense weren’t just generous. They were charitable on their own side of the field, especially in the early going. Wisconsin’s offense did not indulge in any taking until the final drive, when it came up just short.
While the Northwestern defense is very stout, turnovers just cannot happen in the shadows of your own goal post. This is especially true when the other offensive unit is playing as bad as Northwestern’s did most of the day.
Even with all the turnovers and difficult situations, the game remained a one-score battle until the end. Some of this was due to huge performances from Wisconsin’s defense. Other parts of this game-flow scenario emerged due to poor offensive play (and special-teams mistakes) by the Wildcats.
Northwestern missed two field goals, including a chip shot. Both came directly off turnovers in which they picked up little to no yards.
The only part of the offense that allowed the Wildcats to win the game was the heroics of Justin Jackson. Outside of Jackson’s 139 rushing yards, the Northwestern offense had just 70 total yards from scrimmage. Jackson entered the game third in the conference in rushing yards, and Northwestern needed all of them on Saturday.
Conversely, the Badgers rushed for minus-26 yards in the return of Corey Clement. When is the last time that Wisconsin was not able to rely on the running attack, not to mention, having negative rushing yards? The lack of rushing help was a huge issue for Stave, as he has now thrown five interceptions in the last four games, a fact made possible by the constant pressure he faced on Saturday.
Wisconsin ended the game with 205 total yards, just four fewer than the Wildcats. However, most of those came on two good drives – the scoring drive and the final drive. On the touchdown drive, two long pass plays led to a total of 64 yards accumulated. On the final drive, the Badgers picked up 63 yards.
Northwestern improved on its unbelievable numbers against the pass. The Wildcats were allowing just 184.2 yards per game through the air and had snagged nine interceptions coming into the game.
The Badgers did have a long punt return for a touchdown called back in a questionable manner. It was ruled that the returner made an invalid fair catch signal, even though he was instead waving his hands below his waist in a motion to keep his own players away from the ball. It was ruled that this was too close to a fair catch, and the touchdown was called back. As it turns out, this was a huge play in the game.
The road win for Northwestern Saturday was the first time in the past nine meetings where the visiting team has won. The Wildcats continued to win ugly. Wisconsin has won the last four in the series at Camp Randall Stadium by an average of 30 points, so the win was huge for morale within the Northwestern program.
With Wisconsin now to fall out of the top 25, the question remains how that would affect Iowa on Tuesday in the rankings. Additionally, with both teams entering the contest with just two losses, and against quality opponents, they were both competing for bowl standing.
Northwestern just earned a better January destination.
