This was the last game of the first quarter of its 12-game season, and Northwestern was in search of not only a victory.
No. Against Duke under the Saturday night lights at Ryan Field, it wanted much more. It wanted confirmation that it was a growing and maturing team.
It had often claimed it was just that this season, and now, with the minefield of the Big Ten schedule looming, it had to produce the walk to support the talk. For these Wildcats had yet to show the complete game that special teams often do.
In the Blue Devils, the Wildcats had a foil that trudged into Ryan riding a 22-game losing streak, the longest in the nation. This clearly made the setting ripe for a rout. But it also made it a trap that could lull the Wildcats into complacency and defeat.
“It’s going to be a big game for us,” Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald said before the game.
“It’s going to be critical that we go out and perform.
Fitzgerald meant his team needed to perform consistently. But once more his Wildcats did not manage that, and this time it cost them as they fell to the Blue Devils 20-14.
Again, the culprit was the first half, which was as miserable as the Wildcats’ aspirations were great. This was no growing and maturing team making its prime-time debut. It instead resembled a motley crew caught in the throes of prime-time nerves.
On the second play of Northwestern’s first possession, quarterback C.J. Bacher rolled left and threw an interception. The Cats got the ball right back, recovering a muffed Blue Devils handoff. But on their second possession they were called, on successive plays, for a personal foul after the whistle on a 13-yard gain and then a hold on a sweep that had gained 8.
The Northwestern single-game record for penalties is 16, which it set in 2002 against Duke in a game that was officiated by an Atlantic Coast Conference crew. It was another ACC crew at work on this night, but it was not the reason the NU defense looked so bedeviled.
That reason was Duke quarterback Thaddeus Lewis, who had completed just 48.3 percent of his passes in his team’s first two games. Those were hardly inspiring performances, but he cut through Northwestern with ease.
He led Duke on an 11-play, 86-yard drive that put it up seven at 6:47 of the first quarter. After the Cats tied it on a 4-yard run by Brandon Roberson, playing in place of the injured Tyrell Sutton, Lewis led Duke on a 10-play, 70-yard drive that put the Devils up 14-7 early in the second quarter.
Heading into the game, the NU defense had promised to play with the same passion and aggression that had driven its comeback win against Nevada. But the Cats showed little of that as, on Duke’s next possession, Lewis drove it 80 yards in seven plays to give it the 13-point lead at halftime.
A week earlier, against Nevada, Northwestern had trailed by 14 and rallied to win. Now the Wildcats were in the abyss again, and again they responded, slowing down the Blue Devils and pulling within six when Bacher scored in the fourth quarter.
But there were no more dramatics, and the Wildcats still were without a complete game. They also came away losers.
———–
smyslenski@tribune.com
