Football

On Sept. 8, 2001, Damien Anderson broke Northwestern’s all-time rushing record with a 113-yard performance against UNLV. Just over 18 years later, it was Damien’s son, Drake, who powered the Wildcats to an important win over those same Rebels.

Anderson, who had 41 career rushing yards coming into Saturday’s game, tore up the Rebels defense for 141 yards on 26 carries to help NU (1-1) win its home opener 30-14 in front of 37,714 fans Saturday at Ryan Field.

“His opportunity presented itself, and obviously he took full advantage of it,” coach Pat Fitzgerald said. “Really proud of him. He’s got a bright future ahead of him.”

The Cats started off quick and drove down the field with relative ease on their first drive, which culminated in a one-yard rush for Hunter Johnson’s first Ryan Field touchdown. The lead was short-lived though, because Charles Williams — who haunted NU’s defense all afternoon to the tune of 144 rushing yards and two scores — promptly took a handoff 65 yards to the house to even the score.

After a Cats field goal, Williams again gashed the NU defense and reeled off a 37-yard score that gave the Rebels (1-2) the lead. The Cats worked their way into the red zone on several occasions but couldn’t find the end zone and had to settle for three field goals from junior Charlie Kuhbander, including a key connection from 44 yards out.

Jesse Brown started at running back in place of the injured Isaiah Bowser, and he had his way with the UNLV defense throughout the first half, rushing for 79 yards on nine carries. But the junior was ruled out for the game after suffering a lower-body injury near the end of the half, and Anderson took over as NU’s lead back.

“It felt good to finally be out there again,” Anderson said. “(NU retired running back and student coach) Jeremy Larkin’s always telling me at practice, ‘prepare like you’re number one,’ so every time I’m in a game, I’m just preparing like I’m number one.”

Anderson picked up where Brown left off early in the second half and had his way through the middle of the Rebels defense. With the ball at midfield, Johnson finally connected on a deep pass, hitting JJ Jefferson in stride for a walk-in touchdown that gave NU its first two-score lead of the day at 23-14.

NU’s defense — which struggled with missed tackles in the opener against Stanford and in the first half against UNLV — finally clamped down in the second half, and the Rebels couldn’t get anything going. Quarterback Armani Rogers was effective on the ground but threw for just 120 yards with an interception.

“The solutions were pretty simple,” Fitzgerald said. “Execute the game plan at halftime, and to our guys’ credit, I thought they really settled down. I thought they were really good at halftime. Our defense takes a lot of pride in the way that they play against the run and the execution.”

Johnson had an uneven game under center. The sophomore made a bad read that led to a first-half interception but rebounded with a number of impressive throws in the second half, including the touchdown to Jefferson and several other deep shots that were within inches of going for huge gains. He also rushed for 55 yards on 11 carries.

The Cats earned their first win of the season after losing their opener to Stanford two weeks ago. Now at .500 at the season, NU will head into a daunting stretch, starting with its Big Ten opener against Michigan State next Saturday.

“It’s hard to win, regardless of if you’re in the Big Ten or you’re playing a nonconference game,” defensive end Joe Gaziano said. “Today, we weren’t focused on who the opponent was. We were focused on ourselves. And we played the best type of ball that we could and executed. First half, there’s still some hiccups, it’s a young team, but I think second half we really saw what we’re capable of.”