Shortly after Indiana shellacked Northwestern 34-17 last October, quarterbacks Antwaan Randle El and Zak Kustok met at midfield, shook hands and briefly chatted. Randle El consoled his disheartened counterpart, who hit his low point of the season with an interception and only 13 yards passing.

When the two players met again Saturday, the smiles were still there, the handshake just as firm and the conversation nearly identical. But this time Kustok gave the pats on the shoulder and spoke the uplifting words to Randle El, who was virtually shut down by an impressive Wildcats defense.

“We stood and talked a little bit more last year,” Kustok said. “But I know he played his heart out. He played a great game and he’s really a competitor. And I’m sure he wasn’t happy with the outcome.”

After faltering three weeks ago against the Texas Christian option attack, facing the lightning-quick Randle El seemed a daunting task for NU. Indiana dominated the ground war last year in Bloomington, Ind., with Randle El rushing for three touchdowns and tailback Levron Williams exploding for 241 yards. The Hoosiers accumulated 543 yards of total offense and outscored the Cats 34-0 after the second quarter.

But last year is a distant memory for the Cats, whose defense attacked and flustered Randle El and Indiana.

“I think the mistake we made last year was to focus our game plan to stop Randle El,” linebacker Kevin Bentley said. “But one man can’t beat a football team, so we just decided to go at our responsibilities. If you’ve got the quarterback, we trust that you’re going to win that one-on-one match-up.”

“We were much more assertive and decisive as a defense,” coach Randy Walker said. “I thought last year we were very cautious and tentative, and a guy like that can mesmerize you. He (Randle El) is so athletic and so quick and does so many things well that you find yourself being a spectator, just watching him.”

Randle El came into the game fresh off a 187-yard rushing clinic last week against Iowa. With his team-leading 398 yards and six touchdowns, stopping Randle El was the main focus for NU.

The Cats answered the call with an aggressive blitzing scheme that had Randle El scrambling for most of Saturday. On a vital fourth-and-1 midway through the second quarter, Randle El tried to sprint around left end before Bentley crushed him for a five-yard loss.

The lights went out for Indiana when, on a desperation scramble in the fourth quarter, defensive end Dwayne Missouri blindsided Randle El, knocking the ball loose for linebacker Napoleon Harris to recover for the Cats.

It would be Randle El’s final play of the day.

“We thought today was going to be the biggest game of the year for us coming in,” Bentley said. “We got torched by them last year, I think we gave 500-some yards up, and TCU torched us with the option, so we wanted to show the country our defense could shut down the option.”

“They didn’t surprise me with anything they did,” Randle El said. “I know some of the guys over there so I know that kind of attitude when it comes to playing ball.”

Although Randle El is touted for his athleticism as a runner, it became clear early in the game that Indiana planned to put the ball in the air. Randle El passed 40 times but connected on just 19. He had significant difficulty with deep passes, often overthrowing his receivers by 10 yards or more.

Despite his struggles as a passer, the Cats had nothing but praise for Randle El.

“He did a great job passing today, ” said cornerback Harold BlackMonday, who had a key interception off Randle El early in the third quarter. “My hat goes off to him and his receivers, who did a great job running routes. They had us off balance, but after halftime we just got it together and settled down.”

A main reason for the shift in Indiana’s offensive plan was the absence of Williams, who left the game in the second quarter due to lingering pain from an abscessed tooth. After rushing for 352 yards in his first four games, Williams had only one carry Saturday, a three-yard dive over left end on the final play of the third quarter.

The ball carrying duties were delegated to fullbacks De’Wayne Hogan and Jeremi Johnson and backup tailback Brian Lewis. The result was only 174 rushing yards for Indiana, less than half what it totaled last year against the Cats.

“I just give credit to (NU) more than anything,” Randle El said. “They did a good job when it came to getting the option stopped and forced us to do some different things.”

“It’s the same exact defense (as last year), they’re just better,” said Indiana coach Cam Cameron.

After netting 50 yards on a scintillating cutback run in the second quarter, Randle El managed only 30 yards rushing the remainder of the game, an average of 4.4 yards per carry. His 245 yards of total offense was the lowest this season.

“It was a tough day at the office,” Randle El said.