MINNEAPOLIS — A week ago, Northwestern made its ranking as the worst rushing defense in the Big Ten look like it was on its way out the window.
On Thursday, the conference’s third-best rushing offense made the distinction look perfectly appropriate.
Against Ohio State, the Wildcats defense held the conference’s No. 2 rushing offense to 285 rushing yards and forced Heisman hopeful Maurice Clarett to fumble three times. Thursday night at Minnesota, all that improvement seemed to disappear. The Cats were slow off the blocks and soft on tackles, yielding 418 yards on the ground and 519 yards in total offense.
NU’s defense was giving up a conference-worst 5.4 yards per carry coming into the game but gave up six yards per carry to the Gophers in the 45-42 loss.
“Somebody forgot to tell Minnesota how well we played last week,” NU coach Randy Walker said. “I thought we were really making strides, but we took a step backwards tonight. We just couldn’t get off blocks and makes tackles. You can’t call it a defense if you can’t get off blocks.”
The Cats’ 21 fourth-quarter points brought the score to 45-42, but with two minutes remaining, the Gophers’ Thomas Tapeh broke several tackles on 3rd-and-7, running for 22 yards and silencing the comeback.
“We had our eyes closed,” Walker said. “We couldn’t get their flags if we were playing flag football.”
The Gophers’ running back tandem of Tapeh and Terry Jackson II ran for a combined 415 yards and three touchdowns. The backs also gained more than 100 yards apiece against Illinois last Thursday.
“They were good backs,” NU linebacker Doug Szymul said. “They kept their feet moving and ran hard. They wanted that extra yard, and we gave it to them every time.”
Minnesota coach Glen Mason said that with the exception of a costly fumble in the fourth quarter, it was a “banner day” for his running backs.
“A lot of guys are going to wake up tomorrow and go, ‘Wow,'” Mason said.
Minnesota quarterback Asad Abdul-Khaliq — known to be as dangerous on the run as he is throwing the ball — was supposed to be a critical part of the Gophers’ rushing offense. But he sat the game out with an ankle injury.
Backup quarterback Benji Kamrath wasn’t much of a threat on the ground, but he kept the Cats honest, completing 6-of-9 passes for 101 yards.
“I was a little nervous going into the game, but I started to relax within the first few plays,” Kamrath said. “The offensive line clicked really well tonight. We knew we had to establish the run early on.”
According to Szymul, the Cats prepared in practice this week for the possibility that Kamrath would start, so anticipating Abdul-Khaliq was not an excuse. And Walker said he would certainly expect more from his defense, imperfect as it has been in the past.
“I don’t know why our defense would relax, any time,” Walker said. “If they did, they’re more immature than I thought.”
The NU defense lacked the spark it had against the Buckeyes from its first step on the field, which was earlier than expected as special teams botched the Gophers’ opening onside kick. From there, things went downhill.
“This week we were flat,” Szymul said. “Things snowballed from the opening kickoff. We can’t do that as a defense, and it’s a matter of personal pride to get back on track.”
