After a disastrous opening series, Northwestern rallied to take the lead 17-10 heading into halftime against Cal tonight.

On their first drive, the Golden Bears marched down the field with ease thanks to big runs from junior running back Brendan Bigelow. The Bears then faked a field goal on fourth down as senior kicker Vincenzo D’Amato threw a touchdown to senior holder Jackson Bouza to put Cal on top 7-0.

The Wildcats responded with a score of their own as junior running back Treyvon Green dashed 33 yards for a touchdown.

Green has seen the most playing time of all the NU running backs and leads the Cats in rushing with 45 yards on seven carries.

Senior quarterback Kain Colter left the game early with an upper-body injury. He has not returned to the field.

In Colter’s absence, junior Trevor Siemian has stepped up and picked apart the Cal secondary. He enters halftime completing 15 of 20 passes for 199 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Junior Tony Jones received Siemian’s lone touchdown and leads the Cats with 70 yards on five touchdowns.

Since Cal’s opening drive, the NU defense has settled down and applied pressure to the Cal offense. Redshirt freshman Ifeadi Odenigbo recorded his first career sack late in the second quarter.

The Bears drove down the field just before the half ended and kicked a 28-yard field goal to close the scoring gap.

Junior cornerback Daniel Jones was carted off the field late in the first half with an apparent leg injury and is out for the rest of the game. Freshman cornerback Matthew Harris has also been ruled out for the second half with an injury.

— John Paschall