EAST LANSING, Mich. – The highly anticipated heavyweight matchup between the top-two offenses in the Big Ten turned out to be no contest.
No. 21 Northwestern scored four straight touchdowns after halftime to knock out then-No. 22 Michigan State, positioning the Wildcats squarely in the hunt for the Big Ten title.
NU (5-2, 3-1 Big Ten) pounded Michigan State (4-3, 1-3) 48-14 and vaulted into the national rankings behind Unitas Award candidate senior quarterback Brett Basanez and a defense that tied its lowest point total of the year against the nation’s third-ranked offense.
“I’m not sure if three or four weeks ago many people would have bet on this,” NU coach Randy Walker said. “All that mattered was a handful of guys believed in it.”
Like the game, the matchup of the most efficient quarterback in the nation, Michigan State junior quarterback Drew Stanton, and the Big Ten’s top passer, Basanez, wasn’t even close.
Stanton accounted for all four of the Spartans’ turnovers, throwing three interceptions – doubling his total on the year – and fumbling once, which led to 21 points for the Cats.
Basanez was in rare form, completing 24-of-30 passes for 331 yards, tossing two touchdowns while running into the end zone twice.
“I’ve always said the most important thing a quarterback has to do is walk in the huddle and make 10 guys better,” Walker said. “He’s making more than 10 guys better.”
Offensive firepower is something NU has been used to this season, but the defense put together a game the team hadn’t seen since playing Ohio the first game of the season.
NU held Michigan State to its lowest point total of the year and 10 points less than it scored against the Big Ten’s top-rated defense in Ohio State last week.
“I think the defense knew we could do this the whole time,” said freshman safety Brendan Smith, who intercepted Stanton once. “Obviously, it’s going to help us out. We’ll have a little momentum going into next week.”
Along with the turnovers, the Cats had three tackles for a loss and five pass breakups.
The defense kept the Spartans off the scoreboard for nine consecutive drives, but the Spartans’ opening drive could not have gone much worse for the Cats.
In three plays, including a 53-yard strike from Stanton to senior wide receiver Kyle Brown on the first play of the game, Michigan State scored a touchdown just 1:06 into the game.
“It looked like we were mesmerized or something,” Walker said. “I’m not sure they could do that against air, let alone 11 guys.
“Fortunately we shook it off.”
Early in the second quarter with the score 14-7 and Michigan State driving, Stanton fumbled while trying to run for a touchdown. Junior defensive end Demetrius Eaton scooped it up off a bounce and plodded 86 yards for a touchdown.
“I was tired, I was tired,” Eaton said of his run. “But you know, my pride wouldn’t let me stop. My pride wouldn’t let anybody catch me.”
As easy as NU made the game look, Michigan State special teams compounded its own problems.
Along with Stanton’s turnovers, the Spartans missed two field goals, booted a kickoff out of bounds, and aside from a 61-yard punt that ended up in the end zone for a touchback, averaged 32.5 yards per punt.
Michigan State converted two-of-six red zone opportunities, and forced NU into only five third downs.
“I don’t have a lot to say other than to congratulate those guys,” Michigan State coach John L. Smith said. “They played harder than we did. They played much better than we did.”
The win was the third straight for the Cats. It was their largest margin of victory since defeating Duke 44-7 early in the 2001 season and their fourth largest win on the road ever.
NU also finds itself ranked for the first time since that season.
“We were coming in here trying to make everyone believe that we’re contenders in the Big Ten,” freshman running back Tyrell Sutton said. “And in the nation, for that matter.”
Reach Abe Rakov at [email protected].
