BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Something in his game was off-key from the first snap.
The Wildcats were lined up for their first possession of the afternoon. Indiana had just followed up a three-and-out drive with a weak punt that left Northwestern on its own 48-yard line.
Momentum, for the moment, looked liked it belonged to the Cats.
But quarterback Zak Kustok fumbled the snap from center Austin King, leaving running back Damien Anderson scurrying six yards in reverse to recover the ball.
Kustok’s first-quarter efforts amounted to six total yards of offense – his worst performance of the season. A second half improvement helped boost him to 254 yards passing and 38 yards rushing for the day. But after Indiana put up 28 first-quarter points, NU was never able to catch up.
“I have no explanation for it,” NU coach Randy Walker said. “Sometimes guys come out of the box and struggle a little bit. But (Kustok) kept battling.”
NU’s second possession of the game began with a 4-yard gain by Anderson – exactly the sort of gain Walker said he wanted to see from his offense on first down. On 2nd-and-6, Kustok took the ball.
Under pressure from a weak Indiana defensive line, Kustok heaved the ball over the head of receiver Jon Schweighardt. Then on third down, Kustok dropped back three steps, had plenty of time, looked to his left to see receiver Ronnie Foster on a 10-yard slant, aimed – and threw the ball three feet behind him.
“You can look at the receiver and where the ball is thrown, but the spacing also didn’t look good to me,” Kustok said. “It looked like I threw it behind (Foster), but from what I saw, it looked like a linebacker was in the space if I would have thrown it right to him, so it could have possibly been an interception.”
His early incompletions fueled some speculation that Kustok might have been more banged up in last week’s showdown with Purdue than he let on – but Kustok said he felt fine.
Meanwhile, the Hoosiers scored again – this time 36 seconds later – to take a 14-0 lead.
For the next attempt, Kustok and the Cats were on their own 34 after a rush from Anderson set up NU for 2nd-and-7. Kustok took the snap – and whipped the ball into the ground two feet short of receiver Jovan Witherspoon.
NU offensive tackle Leon Brockmeier jumped before the next snap – deleting Anderson’s gain and leaving NU with a 3rd-and-12. Kustok dropped back and looked to his left again, this time eyeing Anderson on NU’s 35. But his toss was wide by three feet and Anderson couldn’t get a finger on it.
Kustok’s first completion of the half came on the next drive – a 13-yard strike to wideout Tom Fluegge. But what looked like relief turned out to be another disaster when Fluegge fumbled, handing the ball right back to the Hoosiers.
Down 28-0, the Cats got the ball back once more in the first quarter with just enough time to repeat the routine. Anderson rushed for four yards, but a holding call on second down brought the Cats back for a 2nd-and-16. Behind the chains and with little time to spare, Kustok looked for wideout Kunle Patrick – and missed.
“Our sideline was in a state of shock,” Walker said. “When you get (this offense) singing, it’s fun,” Walker said. “But when you go three-and-out, it isn’t what you want – you send your defense right back out.”
Kustok and the Cats offense didn’t make a single first down in the first quarter – advancing only 24 yards on five possessions. In contrast, Indiana moved the chains 11 times and put together more than eight times as much yardage.
Indiana’s defense learned how to shut down the Cats offense from studying tape of last year’s game, as well as NU’s losses this season. Each week the Cats leave future opponents a few more tips.
“It was all about preparation – we watched a lot of film during the week and knew what they lacked in certain situations,” Indiana cornerback Marcus Floyd said. “Once you’ve seen what teams have done against them – what’s successful, what’s not successful – you really learn from those other teams. It was definitely easier a year later.”
