With November fast approaching, Northwestern football is on the ropes.
The Wildcats’ (3-5, 1-4 Big Ten) road to a bowl game looks bleak — coach David Braun’s team still has to face two ranked teams in Ohio State and Illinois, as well as the defending national champions, Michigan.
NU’s best chance at victory will come Saturday at Purdue.
Just two weeks ago, the ’Cats sat at 3-3 after their best performance of the season, trouncing Maryland 37-10 in College Park. But after two dismal displays against Wisconsin and Iowa where the team scored zero offensive touchdowns, the season might be going off the rails. NU is averaging 271.1 yards per game, a Big Ten low.
The bottom line is the ’Cats are struggling across the board.
It starts with the quarterback position, specifically the passing game. The ’Cats have not consistently moved the ball through the air for most of the season. Whether the quarterback was graduate transfer Mike Wright, who started the first two games, or redshirt sophomore Jack Lausch, the growing pains have been immense.
Lausch has four passing touchdown passes in six starts and Wright has zero in two.
Lausch has some tools to make him a successful college quarterback: mainly his legs. His ability to scramble has gotten him out of many sack situations — the same goes for Wright in his two starts — and NU has allowed just 11 sacks with a developing offensive line.
But, passing inconsistencies have haunted the ’Cats.
NU has also failed to find a third passing option. Graduate student wide receivers A.J. Henning and Bryce Kirtz often face tough matchups, and graduate student tight end Thomas Gordon, redshirt freshman wide receiver Frank Covey IV and redshirt junior wide receiver Calvin Johnson II haven’t turned into three-down threats.
Last season, the ’Cats receiving corps of Henning, Kirtz and Cam Johnson was formidable, but the room has taken a step back this season.
NU’s run game has also sputtered in the past month. One of the team’s offensive strengths early on in the season was the run game behind graduate student running back Cam Porter, but in his past four games, Porter has averaged fewer than four yards per carry.
This all goes to say that the ’Cats have not figured out a lot of things on the offensive side of the ball, and it has led to losses. NU has had three games this season — Washington, Wisconsin and Iowa — where it failed to score an offensive touchdown, and regardless of how good the defense played, this is not a recipe to win football games.
The defense hasn’t been perfect either. While there have been signs of improvement, NU has had some rough times on this side of the ball, including Duke scoring two overtime touchdowns, Indiana piling on seven straight scoring drives and former Wildcat Brendan Sullivan moving the ball at will for Iowa.
Defensive coordinator Tim McGarigle’s unit has shown potential. The defense has a young secondary outside of redshirt junior cornerback Theran Johnson. Graduate student safety Coco Azema and linebackers Xander Mueller and Mac Uihlein have been a solid unit, and the pass rush has been able to generate pressure.
But it has broken down in some crucial moments, leading to losses.
Even the kicking game has struggled for NU. With redshirt junior kicker Jack Olsen sidelined, redshirt junior punter Luke Akers has been responsible for kicking duties but has missed a kick in consecutive weeks.
While three points would not make up the ’Cats’ entire deficit, it’s deflating for the offense to drive down the field and come away with nothing.
NU has struggled throughout Big Ten play. Outside of the Oct. 11 game against Maryland, the ’Cats have not played the type of complimentary football that Braun preaches. This is not how a team wins football games, especially in a conference with many ranked teams.
Now, NU’s season is on the brink, and the team still has more questions than answers.
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