In No. 25 Northwestern’s third game of the season, the defense was embarrassed against Arizona State. The unit gave up 773 yards en route to a 52-21 drubbing by the Sun Devils.
Since then, the Wildcats (6-3, 4-2 Big Ten) have shown steady improvement each game.
In Saturday’s 28-27 win against Iowa, NU’s defense only gave up three points in the second half, allowing its struggling offense back in the game.
“There’s a lot screaming, a lot of obscenities flying around,” said senior defensive lineman Barry Cofield of his team’s halftime adjustments. “There’s a lot said, and a lot thought about. It’s almost like two different games sometimes.”
Michigan (6-3, 4-2) is the only team in the Big Ten that has given up fewer second half points than NU the last two contests, as neither team has given up a touchdown. Opponents have scored nine points on the Cats, while the Wolverines have given up a total of six.
NU coach Randy Walker said the one of the biggest keys to the win against Iowa (5-4, 3-3) was the defense’s ability to make important stops.
“We did some things pretty horrific to our defense,” he said. “We did not give them a good situation several times. I thought they responded well.”
After giving up 48 points to Wisconsin, it seemed the offense needed to score every possession in order to make up for such a terrible defense.
Now it’s the defense saving the offense.
“Every game they keep us in it the second half,” senior quarterback Brett Basanez said. “We’re supposed to be one of the most highly-touted offenses in the country, but we only put up 28.”
The Cats are still last in the nation in total defense, but have made a slow yet steady rise since hitting rock bottom.
They were allowing opponents an average of 517 yards after the Arizona State game, but improved by almost 23 yards since.
“Every week the coaches tell them to get a week better, and that’s what they have done, gotten better every week,” senior wide receiver Mark Philmore said. “They’ve given us some great opportunities the past couple weeks, and this week they gave us an extra one and we were able to come through.”
NU’s defense normally relies on giving up an abundance of yards before forcing a turnover deep in its own territory, but Saturday it did not force Iowa into giving up the ball.
Although the Cats allowed the Hawkeyes into NU territory in 11 of their 13 drives, it forced six punts, two field goals and a missed field goal. NU gave up 492 yards in the contest, including 202 rushing yards to Iowa sophomore running back Albert Young.
“The blocking was there all day, ” Young said. “I could pick and choose where I wanted to run.”
Players from Iowa and NU said there wasn’t much change in scheme from the first half to the second half, but Cofield said there was an adjustment in attitude.
“We just banded together at halftime the last two weeks and just decided that we weren’t going to let the offense down,” Cofield said. “We weren’t going to be the reason that this team doesn’t reach its goals, because were on that path earlier this season.”
Reach Abe Rakov at [email protected].
