Northwestern’s seniors put the Wildcats in the lead on Senior Day at Ryan Field, but a duo of underclassmen kept them ahead for good.
The seniors made their last game at Ryan Field one to remember: Quarterback Mike Kafka finished the game with 326 passing yards and two touchdowns, Andrew Brewer caught six passes for 102 yards and safety Brad Phillips recorded 12 tackles. But with Wisconsin driving late in the fourth quarter, it was junior linebacker Quentin Davie’s forced fumble and sophomore cornerback Jordan Mabin’s interception that gave NU its eighth win.
“(We’re) very happy and proud for our 21 great seniors,” coach Pat Fitzgerald said. “If you’re going to have your last game in your home field, that’s the way to finish.”
Much like the last time the two teams squared off in Evanston, Saturday’s game was an offensive slugfest. In front of a season-high crowd of 32,150, NU and Wisconsin combined for 64 points and 771 yards of offense.
“There were big plays in all aspects for both teams,” Fitzgerald said. “(It was) just a tremendous battle.”
The Cats’ offense got going early. NU scored a touchdown on its opening drive for the first time since the Eastern Michigan game, a 26-yard strike from Kafka to Brewer. The Kafka-Brewer connection carried the Cats all day, and Brewer’s second score came 18 minutes later on a 12-yard pass. It put the Cats ahead 17-14 midway through the second quarter.
“This week with (Wisconsin’s) quarters defense, we were going to try and isolate me one-on-one with their corners,” Brewer said. “On both of those touchdowns I was able to take advantage of my speed and get past the corners.”
Another senior stepped up on NU’s next drive. The Cats were on the Badgers’ 38-yard line when Kafka hit senior wide receiver Zeke Markshausen in the flat. Markshausen promptly turned and nailed junior wide receiver Sidney Stewart for NU’s third touchdown of the day.
A 38-yard field goal by junior kicker Stefan Demos five-and-a-half minutes later gave the Cats a 27-14 lead going into the locker room.
In one half, NU amassed 292 total yards of offense while holding star running back John Clay to 30 yards on the ground. Clay rushed for 100 yards on the game, his lowest total in four weeks.
“I bit (Clay’s) ankles all night,” Phillips said. “There were a couple times when I hit him up top, and I’ll feel it tomorrow. Going into the game, I knew I was going to hit his legs all game.”
With their running game grounded, the Badgers went to the air in the second half. After rushing 13 times in the first half, Clay carried just seven times in the second. Meanwhile, quarterback Scott Tolzien threw 20 passes in the final 30 minutes after throwing just 10 in the first half.
Seven minutes into the second half, Wisconsin scored 10 points to pull within three. After two NU field goals and a Wisconsin touchdown, the Cats’ lead shrank to two.
The Badgers never came closer. Davie’s forced fumble and Mabin’s interception ended Wisconsin’s final two possessions.
“The big turnovers there in the fourth quarter were critical,” Fitzgerald said. “We talk all the time about just keep fighting, keep swinging, and I thought our guys did that today.”
The victory was the Cats’ second over a ranked team in three weeks. It also capped off a three-game Big Ten winning streak, the longest of Fitzgerald’s career.
“To go 3-0 in November is a statement about where our program’s at right now,” Fitzgerald said. “We’ve worked our tails off to get better. The adversity we faced at the end of last year, the amount of offseason surgeries we had, obviously led to a slower start than we would have liked, but to the young men’s credit and to the coaches’ credit, they just stayed the course.”
With the win, NU’s senior class became one of the most successful groups in a century. The seniors have totaled 34 wins since 2005, the most by any five-year class since the early 1900s. In that span, the Cats have defeated five ranked teams, including Wisconsin twice.
“I can’t say enough about our seniors,” Fitzgerald said. “They’ve led us. They’ve battled.”The victory puts NU in position for one of two bowls, the Champs Sports Bowl or the Outback Bowl. The bowl announcement will come Dec. 6.
“I assume we’re going to be playing some champion from some other league like we did last year,” Fitzgerald said. “And so 99.9 percent of the country will pick us to lose, like they did last year. So I don’t have to motivate our guys a whole lot.”
Looking for more in-depth coverage of Saturday’s upset of No. 16 Wisconsin? Read our live-blog from the game at catscorner.dailynorthwestern.com
