Down by two points with less than five minutes remaining Saturday, Northwestern found itself with a third-and-six near midfield.
Junior quarterback Dan Persa took the snap, surveyed the field, stepped forward to evade a sack and suddenly took off down the middle of the field. Still untouched, Persa turned to the outside and kept going until he was finally forced out-of-bounds at the Minnesota 24.
“You see your space and you got to go get it,” Persa said. “Just be as decisive as possible. As soon as I saw, I knew there was nobody there.”
The successful scramble marked the Wildcats’ eighth third-down conversion of the game and set up senior kicker Stefan Demos’ game-winning 27-yard field goal.
NU went 8-for-11 on third-down conversions in Minneapolis after going 11-for-17 the previous Saturday against Central Michigan. The Cats have now converted 51 percent of third-down opportunities, the 14th-best rate in the FBS and third-best figure among Big Ten teams.
Such success is nothing new for NU, who also excelled on third-down last year. The Cats converted 46 percent of third-down situations last year, which ranked 17th in the nation and third in the conference. “We’ve been pretty good over the last few years on third down,” coach Pat Fitzgerald said. “(Offensive coordinator Mick McCall) and our offensive staff do a great job schematically. We put the ball in the playmakers’ hands and the guys execute.”
Such success doesn’t come without hard work.
“The last couple of weeks, it’s been a big emphasis trying to convert on third-down,” junior superback Drake Dunsmore said.
The team typically runs through situational plays in practice, working on how to convert third-and-two or third-and-long plays.
“It’s just a simulation of the game,” Persa said. “We simulate the defense we’re going to play and try to execute it.”
Persa has been electric on third down this season, as he has used his dual-threat talent to great success. In Minneapolis, the team gave Persa the ball on nine of eleven third-down plays. In those nine plays, Persa passed for the first down three times and scrambled past the marker three times.
“It’s hard to overload a guy like (Persa) because if you miss a gap, he can make you pay,” Fitzgerald said. “He’s going to make you limit your coverage concepts a little bit because if you’re playing man and chasing guys all over the field, all he has to do is make one person miss and you have an explosive play. He’s a headache to prepare for.”
NU had already put 14 points on the board Saturday before it faced a single third down, converted two-of-four third down plays in the first half, and trailed on their way into the locker room. But on the first drive of the second half, Persa scrambled for seven yards on a third-and-five to get NU near midfield. That drive ultimately resulted in a touchdown, narrowing the gap to 21-20.
But the Cats best third-down magic was yet to come. Down 28-20, Persa completed a pass to junior running back Jacob Schmidt on third-and-seven in NU territory and then threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Ebert on another third-and-seven to bring the Cats within two.
This Saturday night, NU will have a chance to continue its third-down success against a Purdue defense that has struggled on third downs all season. The Boilermakers give up a first down on 46 percent of all third-down opportunities, which is the worst percentage in the Big Ten.
