Partway through the postgame press conference, quarterback Dan Persa, still in uniform, walked in and sat next to Jeremy Ebert at the front of the room.
The first question posed to him wasn’t about his 309 yards of passing or two red zone turnovers, but rather the blood on his hands and left elbow.
“It’s a street fight,” Persa said. “You gotta be ready to go.”
Now obviously it’s a metaphor, assuming that Persa didn’t get into any postgame fisticuffs. That “fight” is hard-wired into Northwestern players, linebacker Bryce McNaul said after the game.
“We preach it every single snap of practice, every single rep of offseason training,” he said.
So when the Wildcats went into the locker room down 21-14 at the half, Ebert said the team was somewhat jumpy and antsy. It was the first time they trailed all season, in a game they could’ve been winning handily if not for a couple key fumbles.
Persa, who had coughed up the ball in the red zone himself, had a few words for his teammates without the coaches around.
“I just told everybody, ‘Just stay the course,'” he said. “‘We made a lot of mistakes, but it doesn’t matter anymore. We can’t fix them, just stay the course, we’re fine. Everybody relax and let’s go play.'”
For the past few seasons, while the Cats have beaten their fair share of ranked opponents (Iowa and Wisconsin in 2009, Minnesota in 2008), they’ve also lost games they should have won. In 2008 they lost to an abysmal Indiana team, and last season lost to Minnesota in the Big Ten opener at home.
This easily could have been a game that, on paper, NU should have won but didn’t. Instead, the team followed Persa’s lead.
“My team counted on me to be confident at all times,” Persa said. “And I didn’t want to let them down.”
The fight in the Cats, personified by Persa, looked dormant for much of the game. The front seven, who was dominant in the previous four games, gave up 165 yards rushing. NU was penalized 10 times for 79 yards, a week after their 11-penalty, 106-yard performance against Central Michigan. Even Persa looked sloppy at times, making an ill-advised throw (again, in the red zone), and kicker Stefan Demos missed his third extra point attempt of the season.
After Minnesota took a 28-20 lead in the fourth quarter, NU finally woke up. Persa led the offense 69 yards down the field to put the game within two, and after the defense forced Minnesota to a three-and-out on their next series, the Cats again drove down the field to set up the game-winning field goal.
It was a far from perfect game. But the trademark of a good team is not whether they can win when they play their best football, but rather that they can win ugly.
Still, coach Pat Fitzgerald isn’t pleased, and he talked in the same manner that he did after NU’s win against Central Michigan.
“This stuff has got to get fixed and we will work diligently to get it fixed,” coach Pat Fitzgerald said. “We cannot have that happen and continue to win football games.”
He’s right. It’s not very often that a team can play a mistake-ridden game in the Big Ten and win, no matter the opponent. So before you look ahead to 6-0 and a big matchup with Michigan State in three weeks, keep in mind that a “shoulda won” game could still be coming against Purdue.
Andrew Scoggin is a Medill senior. He can be reached at [email protected]
