The 33-yard pass tipped off Riley Lees fingers, and after the junior wide receiver fell to the ground empty handed, he slapped the turf four times. Last week against Ohio State, Lees did the exact same thing after dropping a potential first-down catch.

The same scenes keep happening for Northwestern, now stuck in the middle of a season that feels like a recurring nightmare. History isn’t being shy about repeating itself, and this loss looked a lot like the others.

Junior quarterback Aidan Smith threw for fewer than 150 yards interception again. The Wildcats didn’t score a touchdown or force a turnover again. And NU (1-6, 0-5 Big Ten) keeps losing in blowout fashion, this time a 20-0 loss at Ryan Field to No. 20 Iowa.

“From the standpoint of our inability to score points and take the ball away, that makes it really challenging to win games,” Fitzgerald said. “It’s been our recipe that we had been able to get the ball across the 50 and make some plays and get some points on the board. Both of (those) didn’t happen today.”

NU never even made it into the redzone Saturday, continuing its recent trend of inefficient offense. The Cats were held to 10 or fewer points for the fifth time this season and shutout for the first time since October 2015 in Ann Arbor.

Smith connected with sophomore receiver JJ Jefferson for his first two completions in the first quarter, gaining 23 yards through the air. But on that second reception, Jefferson sustained a lower-body injury that kept him out the rest of the game. After that, Smith threw for only 115 yards.

The Cats only made it to midfield five times, and they turned the ball over on downs on four of those possessions. The furthest they made it was the 28-yard line late in the first quarter, but that drive ended with Smith throwing the ball away to avoid taking a sack on fourth down.

Smith is now 0-3 in his tenure as a starter, and he said being a college quarterback is about more than just showing up on Saturdays.

“It’s not just a gameday thing,” he said. “It’s all about the preparation that you have to do. I’ve been doing a good job of doing that preparation, but in order for my play to go to that next level, I probably need to double or triple what I’ve been doing. That’s what I’ve learned, that it’s a lot of preparation and you can’t just go out and play like you did in high school.”

While Saturday’s offensive performance looked like several other games this season, the defense has started to show cracks. The Hawkeyes took a 7-0 lead early in the first quarter off a 50-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Nate Stanley to receiver Tyrone Tracy. Tracy caught the ball at the 36 with six NU defenders in the area, but he reversed fields to avoid all of them and scored his second career touchdown.

Stanley threw three completions longer than 35 yards, including a 41-yard bomb to tight end Sam LaPorta –– his first career reception. It’s been a while since the Cats have kept an opposing quarterback in check, allowing more than 175 passing yards in four of five conference games.

“Sometimes they’re just going to break through and make big plays,” junior linebacker Blake Gallagher said. “A couple of them were us at the point of attack not having solid fundamentals, and then stuff like that pops through the defense.”

Iowa added to its lead with a field goal that ended a 12-minute drive in the second quarter, and Stanley took the Hawkeyes 59 yards down the field in their first possession of the third quarter to take a 17-0 lead. After adding a field goal in the fourth quarter, Iowa became the third team this season to beat NU by 20 or more points.

With five games left, the Cats have to run the table to avoid missing a bowl game for the first time since 2014. After the game, Fitzgerald said he told his players that he’s willing to try whatever it will take to ensure the NU execute its gameplan well on Saturdays.

“We had scouts at practice on Wednesday and they thought, ‘Wow. Seeing (NU’s) attitude and morale, you’d think we were undefeated,’” Fitzgerald said. “We’re just not taking practice to the games.”

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Twitter: @2021_Charlie