This time, no heroics were needed. This time, there was no rousing comeback or dramatic field goal or double overtime or final play to punctuate a compelling drama. That was last week when Northwestern upset then-No. 7 Wisconsin.
This time, it was all very matter of fact. This time, the Wildcats jumped on their opponent and dominated both lines as they ultimately ran the Spartans out of their game and the football game.
That was Saturday at Spartan Stadium, where the NU simply overwhelmed No. 18 MSU 37-17.
The Wildcats (4-1, 2-0 Big Ten) simply beat the Spartans (3-1, 0-1), beat up the Spartans, beat on the Spartans, and in the end, did nothing less then lay an old-fashioned whipping on the Spartans.
Wildcats coach Randy Walker did a better job than Bobby Williams, his Michigan State counterpart. The Wildcats’ offensive line of Leon Brockmeier, Mike Souza, Lance Clelland, Jeff Roehl and Austin King shredded the Spartans’ defense, opening huge holes for tailback Damien Anderson.
“Our guys were just a lot more physical than theirs,” Anderson said.
The line had a lot of confidence.
“Coming off the Wisconsin game was a big boost for the offensive line,” Roehl said. “We felt we could handle them and if we did our jobs, that we could score on every play.”
Anderson scored on runs of 32 and 41 yards, rushing for 219 yards in 25 carries. Quarterback Zak Kustok worked through the day without suffering a sack, rushing for 42 yards and a touchdown and going 12-of-23 for 160 yards and another touchdown. After rolling up 544 yards against Wisconsin, NU’s offense here collected 506 yards, went three-and-out only once and averaged 6.5 yards per play.
“This one was bigger than Wisconsin,” Kustok said after the Wildcats became the only team this season to beat two ranked teams on the road. “We had to prove that wasn’t a fluke. If we lost this game, people would say, `They got lucky.’ We knew we could play with any Big Ten team, but we had to prove it.”
The Wildcats led at the half 23-10, shutting out the Spartans in the second quarter and prompting Williams to ignore his primary offensive weapon.
That is running back T.J. Duckett, who began the day averaging 163.7 yards per game and was going up against a rushing defense that ranked at the bottom of the Big Ten. He pounded away at that defense nine times in the first quarter and found holes enough to go for 53 yards and a touchdown. But then Duckett got only 10 more carries for 18 yards.
“We smacked him around a little bit, and they stopped giving him the ball,” Wildcats linebacker Kevin Bentley said. “I was surprised.”
So was defensive end Dwayne Missouri. “I don’t want to second guess their coaching staff,” he said. “But I don’t know what they were thinking.”
They were playing catch-up.
“It’s hard to play catch-up when you’re running the football,” Williams offered lamely.
But there would be no catching the Wildcats, who again blanked the Spartans in the third quarter and lengthened their lead to 20 on Anderson’s 41-yard touchdown run. Now this was a rout, and after Kustok scampered seven yards to make it 37-10 with 11 minutes 24 seconds to play, Walker finally started sprinkling his lineup with backups.
This was a rare sight, Wildcats doing mop-up duty in a rout of a ranked team. When the carnage was officially over, there came another sight that was equally rare. Last week, after their emotional victory in Madison, the Cats erupted in wild celebrations. But here, after handing out a very straightforward beating, they simply walked off the field.
“We came into the season telling everyone we were expecting to make a bowl game,” Kustok said. “I think a lot of people were laughing at us then.”
“We’ve [raised] people’s eyebrows. They’re like, `Northwestern what? They did what?'” Anderson said.
“Our goal was to come in here and show the Big Ten we’re for real. I’m glad that we did that.”
