By his own admission, Keith Lozowski is having a subpar season.
But the Northwestern defensive end has started to turn things around the last two games.
On Saturday, he forced a fumble on a sack of Michigan’s Brian Griese in the third quarter and recovered another fumble the next series.
Even though Northwestern lost 23-6, Lozowski and his teammates were encouraged by his play.
“I was really disappointed early on with my performance, as well as the team in general,” he said.
“But I knew, one thing you can do is look at yourself instead of pointing fingers other places. I knew I wasn’t playing nearly as well as I could play. I didn’t think I played nearly as well as I could today.
“I thought I took a step forward today. I think our defense is starting to jell.”
Linebacker Barry Gardner, Northwestern’s most consistent defender, finished with 15 unassisted tackles and four assists.
Down and out: Brian Musso suffered a hip pointer late in the third quarter and did not return.
“I took a helmet right below my hip, and it’s just a deep bruise in my muscle,” he said. “It’s one of those things. If it had happened in the first quarter, I probably would have been back in the third. But it’s something that’s going to take a couple of days.”
Musso finished with five catches for 60 yards.
Slippery when wet: Musso and the rest of the players had to deal with slippery grass much of the game. Michigan’s receivers and running backs seemed to have the most trouble with it.
“The field was real slick,” Musso said. “It seemed to get better as the game went on.”
Slow going: Northwestern managed just 170 yards of total offense Saturday. Quarterback Tim Hughes was sacked four times.
“We’ve got to get after it,” Hughes said. “I never feel any better losing a game and walking off the field saying, `Gee, we got to the 5, but we can’t get the ball in.’ It’s happened every week. We’re not getting the ball in.”
Hughes estimated that Michigan blitzed about 90 percent of the time.
Good and bad: Brian Gowins made field goals of 42 and 52 yards but missed a 47-yarder in the third quarter.
“Sloppy operation, but I take full credit for all the ones I make, so I’m going to take all the blame for the ones I miss,” he said.
Etc.: The crowd of 106,048 was the largest to watch a Michigan-NU game, topping the 104,642 for 1995. Michigan has filled Michigan Stadium with at least 100,000 fans for 139 consecutive games. . . . Quarterback Corbett Elsen saw action for the first time, playing in the last series of the fourth quarter. . . . Hughes had a career-best 71-yard punt in the first half. . . . Michigan cornerback Charles Woodson saw action on 67 plays–53 defensive, seven offensive and seven on special teams.
