Football

The year 2016 has generally not been kind to Northwestern’s players — except one.

In another loss for the Wildcats (1-3, 0-1 Big Ten), senior wide receiver Austin Carr was again an offensive star. NU’s 24-13 defeat at the hands of No. 20 Nebraska (4-0, 1-0) leaves the team with a lot of questions, but Carr’s eight-catch, 109-yard showing left no doubt about his ability to get open against a quality conference opponent.

Carr said his and his fellow receivers’ confidence is at a new high early this season after making more plays in the passing game than in 2015.

“We’re as confident as I’ve ever seen us,” Carr said. “I think (sophomore quarterback Clayton Thorson) trusts us all, and that’s the biggest difference.”

The Cats lacked playmakers on the outside last season, but seem to have found one they can rely on in Carr, whose 392 total receiving yards in just four games are more than any NU player put up last year. His ability to free himself consistently on intermediate routes has been a huge boost to an NU offense that has been inconsistent in many other areas.

Over the course of the game, Carr showed off his sure hands and route-running ability to repeatedly beat a Nebraska defense that bottled up most of Thorson’s other options throughout the game. Two of Carr’s biggest catches — a 15-yard reaching grab over the middle and a 24-yard snag in the end zone — helped the Cats put together a scoring drive in the third quarter that cut the Cornhuskers’ lead to 17-13.

Carr said an offseason with Thorson has helped him and his position group get on the same page coming into the year.

“All the wide receivers just working together with Clayton has helped a lot, building chemistry on and off the field,” Carr said. “We talked a lot about that preseason, and it’s starting to show.”

If Thorson has improved chemistry with the whole receiving corps as Carr said, it hasn’t necessarily been apparent so far this season. But his connection with Carr is real, with Thorson looking his way frequently on key third downs and near the end zone.

That reliance on Carr could be to the detriment of NU’s offense later in the season, as teams look to key in on Thorson’s security blanket and force other receivers to beat them. And Carr’s emergence hasn’t moved the needle for the Cats this season, coach Pat Fitzgerald noted.

“We’re a 1-3 football team,” Fitzgerald said. “I’m happy for him, and I’m happy we’re throwing it better, but not to be successful on the field is what it’s all about.”

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