WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – After turning a comfortable game into a close one by giving up two late touchdowns to Wisconsin last Saturday, the same words and phrases echoed through Northwestern’s secondary all week – asstertive, agressive, making plays.
At some point before NU’s 34-29 win at Purdue on Saturday, those words sunk in.
The Wildcats’ secondary gave up 378 passing yards – 70 more than its average – but it made its presence felt among the Boilermakers’ receivers, crashing into them and forcing three turnovers. The final turnover was an interception by junior cornerback Marquice Cole with 59 seconds left, sealing the Cats’ win.
“The secondary came up huge this game,” senior linebacker Tim McGarigle said. “They were laying the wood on these guys, and we need them to play hard. They’ve been tested a little bit this year and this game, this was their breaking-out point.”
Senior free safety Herschel Henderson made eight tackles – seven solo – and added two pass break-ups and a forced fumble. He also brutalized receivers with the game’s biggest hits in what he and NU coach Randy Walker called his best game.
Henderson credited the linebackers for dropping back deep into coverage, forcing Purdue quarterbacks Brandon Kirsch and Curtis Painter to put more air under the ball and expose their receivers.
“He was knocking the rust off back there at safety,” Walker said.
But it wasn’t just the linebackers’ solid coverage or the defensive line’s pressure that helped the secondary to what Walker called the unit’s best game.
Part of it was attitude, they said. The other part was planning for a team that they knew would pass first and pass often – Purdue finished the game with 65 pass attempts and 36 rushes.
“We knew this game that pretty much it was going to be on us,” said sophomore cornerback Deante Battle, who made seven tackles and an interception after battling junior Cory Dious for the starting spot. “Our secondary is known for being the weak link of the team, so we knew we had to step it up.”
A unit burned for big touchdown passes all season – part of which Walker blamed on tentativeness – the NU secondary kept Purdue’s receivers in front of them Saturday.
The Cats did not give up a touchdown pass for the first time since NU’s season-opening, 38-14 win against Ohio. They also allowed just three plays of more than 20 yards and none more than 25.
Keeping the ball in front meant a lot of intermediate routes and a lot of yards. Purdue wide receiver Dorien Bryant caught 16 passes for 153 yards and Andre Chattams added eight catches for 98 yards, helping the Boilermakers rebound from a 28-9 halftime deficit to take a fourth-quarter lead before relinquishing it.
But when Cole grabbed the game-sealing interception – the second straight NU defensive back to do so in as many weeks – positive talk surrounded a secondary known more for giving up big plays than making them.
“I think we’ve finally settled in on the right guys back there,” Walker said. “We’ve got the right mix of people and now I think they’re doing a great job.”
Reach Patrick Dorsey at [email protected].
