EAST LANSING, Mich. – They’d been the weak link, allowing countless yards and points and turning nearly every Northwestern game into a shootout.
But for more than 50 minutes of game time in NU’s 49-14 win Saturday, between Michigan State’s first touchdown and its last, the Wildcats defense was dominant.
It stuffed the run. It shut down the pass. It pressured Drew Stanton, the nation’s No. 1 passer, into missing several open receivers. And it forced turnovers.
“The last couple of weeks we’ve been saying we want to put together a full game – all three aspects of the defense,” senior linebacker Tim McGarigle said. “Today we did.
“For 60 minutes, we clicked and we all played together.”
NU allowed 480 yards, but many of them came in two segments – on Michigan State’s first drive, during which it powered 75 yards downfield in 1:06 for a score, and late in the game, when NU had taken a commanding lead and nearly half of Spartan Stadium was empty.
The defense also forced four turnovers, including three interceptions of one of the Big Ten’s top quarterbacks. The fourth was a fumble junior linebacker/defensive end Demetrius Eaton returned 86 yards to put NU up 21-7.
It was the second straight week the defense made its physical presence felt. In shutting down the nation’s No. 3 offense, the Cats allowed the fewest points since their season-opening, 38-14 win against Ohio.
“We didn’t do anything different,” NU coach Randy Walker said. “We just played our game.”
AN EASY WIN
Walker refused to be content.
The Cats led 21-7 at halftime, but their coach had seen it all before – double-digit leads evaporating, turning once-blowouts into last-second, gut-wrenching games.
“I didn’t breathe easy until about three minutes to go in the game,” Walker said “That’s how paranoid I am.”
In the last three weeks the Cats had led by 16, 17 and 19 points, only to lose one game and need last-minute interceptions to save the other two.
Nine of NU’s last 10 wins have come by seven points or less, with three going into overtime.
“One of the first things I did in the locker room was apologize to our football team,” Walker said. “I do my worst job of coaching in a game like this. If we get a couple up I become very paranoid, because I’ve done this too long. And after 30 years, I’ve seen it all, and I don’t trust anything.”
But Walker could trust this one. The Cats pulled away 49-7 and both teams’ backup quarterbacks entered the game, sealing the Cats’ first easy Big Ten win of the season.
“Maybe we learned a little something,” Walker said “How to close it out, how to finish, how to keep the accelerator down.”
SMITH INJURED
Freshman safety Brendan Smith had two choices when he intercepted a first-quarter Stanton pass one yard into the end zone – run it out or stay for a touchback.
The good news for NU: He returned it to the NU 37-yard line, setting up a Cats touchdown drive.
The bad: Smith injured a knee ligament when he was tackled, forcing him to miss the rest of the game.
“I felt my knee go in a little bit, which was unpleasant,” Smith said. “But I was happy that I could walk off the field.”
Smith has 24 tackles and two interceptions this season. His status is uncertain for next week.
inches to go
Freshman running back Tyrell Sutton ran 21 times for 109 yards, ending the game with 970 for the season. This left Sutton 30 yards shy of tying Marshall Faulk, Emmitt Smith and Adrian Peterson as the fastest freshmen to 1,000 yards. – Junior wide receiver Shaun Herbert caught 10 passes for 138 yards, a career high – Senior safety Herschel Henderson, who started the season at cornerback, intercepted the first two passes of his career.
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