Football

MINNEAPOLIS — A day that began with scattered snowflakes ended equally coldly for Northwestern as leading receiver Austin Carr went down with an injury and the Wildcats lost 29-12 in Minnesota on Saturday.

NU (5-6, 4-4) scored on just two of five trips inside the Gophers’ 30-yard line and turned the ball over twice via Clayton Thorson fumbles and twice more on failed 4th down conversion attempts.

Minnesota (8-3, 5-3 Big Ten) marched down the field for an opening drive touchdown but didn’t find the end zone again until the final seven minutes of the game. The Golden Gophers instead converted three field goals and played the field position game before a passing touchdown by quarterback Mitch Leidner with 6:46 left.

With its back against the wall, NU drove the length of the field and scored on a pass from Thorson to sophomore receiver Flynn Nagel with 2:46 left, but an incompletion on another two-point conversion try virtually sealed the loss. Leidner scrambled for a final, meaningless Minnesota touchdown less than a minute later.

NU trailed 15-0 midway through the third quarter when Carr, a senior, was knocked down in a helmet-to-helmet hit and also appeared to twist his knee on the ensuing tackle. Carr was helped off the field several minutes later and did not return.

Junior running back Justin Jackson punched the ball into the end zone just a few minutes later, but a two-point conversion attempt failed to cut the deficit to a single score. The Cats then recovered a fumble on the kickoff but turned it over on fourth down, squandering their momentum.

Takeaways

1. NU must beat Illinois to automatically qualify for a bowl game. At 5-6, the Cats now need a win in their final game of the season — next Saturday at home against Illinois — to secure a guaranteed postseason bid. It is the same situation as two years ago, when NU lost to the Illini 47-33 to fall to 5-7 and miss a bowl.

2. Third and fourth downs doom the Cats. The visitors went 2-for-15 on third down and 1-for-3 on fourth down in the game. They were regularly stuffed on runs up the middle in short-yardage situations, and Thorson found himself frequently unable to escape Minnesota’s pass rush in long-yardage situations.

3. Injuries create concerns moving forward. An immense portion of NU’s offense this season has run through Carr, who entered the day as the conference leader in receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns. If his injury is serious, Thorson will be missing his go-to target next week. Junior safety Kyle Quiero and sophomore cornerback Montre Hartage also temporarily left with injuries during the game but later returned.

Stats

Thorson completed 28 passes — 12 on the final two drives — on 44 attempts for 276 yards.

Jackson carried 22 times for 90 yards.

Leidner completed just 14 passes but still managed 197 yards, including a 62-yard toss to receiver Rashad Still.