It didn’t look good.
And when Randy Walker described it on Saturday, it didn’t sound good either.
Early in the fourth quarter, senior linebacker Billy Silva sprained his right knee and hobbled off the field. He spent most of the rest of the afternoon watching the game from the trainer’s table with a bag of ice wrapped around his knee.
Silva wasn’t near the action — a 12-yard sideline pass over Northwestern safety Mark Roush — when his injury occurred.
Walker said Sunday that Silva’s injury will require surgery, ending his senior year one game early.
“It’s unfortunate,” Walker said. “You think you’re going to play forever and you don’t — that’s the cruel reality of this game. It has a definite end and it’s always before you want it to end.”
Silva had nine tackles and a sack on Saturday. Backup Dan Pohlman, a sophomore, had five tackles.
Fellow players also knew the extent of Silva’s injury, expressing doubt about his ability to play in the Wildcats’ final game against Illinois on Thursday.
Quarterback Zak Kustok said the Cats will miss Silva’s unique style of leadership.
“I definitely feel bad for him,” said Kustok, who cited a Silva quote that he kept with him all season. “His mentality was to play every play as hard as you can, leave it all on the line, because you never know when your last play is.”
LONG TIME COMING: After going nearly two years without playing a snap and spending this season nursing injury, NU wideout Jovan Witherspoon got a chance to shine against Bowling Green on Saturday.
A blue-chip recruit three years ago, the 21-year-old redshirt freshman sat out last season after transferring from Notre Dame and was sidelined with a broken foot for the first few weeks of this season.
But against the Falcons, Witherspoon, who caught four passes for 46 yards and his first collegiate touchdown, got a chance to show NU the value of its investment.
“I got my swagger back,” Witherspoon said. “It’s a feeling that I miss — I haven’t played that much since the state championship game my senior year.”
Witherspoon has been criticized at times for a lack of effort, which has also kept him on the Cats’ bench. But the wideout said he has remained focused on his team despite the problems of the last year.
“Today was a big lift for me, even though we lost,” Witherspoon said. “Whatever anybody says, I just have to think positive.”
STRONG INSIDE: Bowling Green had a lot to brag about heading into Evanston.
The Falcons’ defensive line was allowing just 72.6 yards of rushing offense per game, which ranks as the third-best in the country. In addition, NU was playing a fourth-stringer and a wideout in the backfield — Bowling Green’s defensive front seemed to be facing an easy afternoon.
But the Cats rushed for 203 yards — the most the Falcons have allowed all season — largely because of the performance of NU’s veteran offensive line, which created space for both Kustok and running back Torri Stuckey to move.
“I didn’t expect anything less out of them,” Kustok said of the performance of the offensive line. “I knew those guys were ready to play.”
FOURTH AND INCHES: Bowling Green was going for the two-point conversion.
Everyone knew it.
If not because the Mid-American Conference team was on the road against a Big Ten opponent, then because both teams had played out every drive and avoided the kicking game.
The Cats and the Falcons attempted four fourth-down conversions each. Both teams converted on three.
In the first quarter, Kustok converted a 4th-and-1 on Bowling Green’s 32 by rushing for three yards over left guard. In the second, Stuckey ran nine yards up the middle on a 4th-and-1 at Bowling Green’s 39.
A few minutes later, Falcons quarterback Josh Harris connected on an 8-yard pass on a 4th-and-6 at NU’s 32. The Falcons’ front line stopped Kustok on a 4th-and-2 later in the second quarter.
Inches to go: Bowling Green is the first MAC team to beat a Big East, Big 12 and Big Ten team in the same season. … Saturday’s loss was the second time in Walker’s career as head coach that he has lost a game after leading through three quarters. His record in that situation is now 61-2-1. … Kustok’s two rushing touchdowns moved him into third place (22) on NU’s all-time touchdown list behind Damien Anderson (38) and Darnell Autry (35). … Kustok’s 80-yard touchdown pass to wideout Kunle Patrick was the Cats’ longest play from scrimmage all season. Patrick’s 176 yards receiving was a career high. … Wide receiver Sam Simmons made his 100th career reception on Saturday, making him the eighth player in NU history to do so.
