ANN ARBOR, Mich. — With Northwestern facing a 25-point deficit late in the third quarter of Saturday’s tilt 50-6 loss at Michigan, redshirt sophomore quarterback Jack Lausch took a shotgun snap and fired a screen pass several strides behind graduate student wide receiver A.J. Henning.
While the ball traveled out of bounds and cost the visiting offense a mere three-yard loss, the miscue marked a microcosm of the Wildcats’ (4-7, 2-6 Big Ten) dismal offensive display against the Wolverines (6-5, 4-4 Big Ten).
Two plays later, Lausch threw his second interception of the game.
NU had faced its fair share of hostile road environments prior to Saturday, combining for just 19 points and zero offensive touchdowns in losses at Washington and Iowa. But, when well over 100,000 maize-and-blue-suited spectators showered the ’Cats with a chorus of boos as they departed the visiting tunnel, the Big House proved a far different beast.
“Collectively as a team, we (have) to do a better job,” coach David Braun said. “These past couple of weeks, we’ve done a really poor job responding in game to adversity.”
Adversity struck Braun’s squad less than three minutes into its Michigan Stadium showdown. After graduate student running back Cam Porter eluded tacklers for an 11-yard gain, NU worked its way into Michigan territory on its opening drive.
Then, Lausch scrambled right and slung a sideline interception on just his third throw of the game. While Braun said the play wasn’t “the end of the world,” he felt it rattled his young quarterback’s confidence.
“It’s an opportunity to flush it and move onto the next drive, but I felt after that, you just didn’t see the same Jack that we’ve seen in many other games,” Braun said. “Continue to believe in that young man, love him (and) he’ll bounce back, but that affected him. He probably wouldn’t tell you that. That’s making an excuse as an explanation.”
Lausch finished the game 10-of-21 for 106 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions. The Wolverines sacked the redshirt sophomore five times as he struggled to extend plays with his legs.
Saturday’s defeat was Lausch’s fourth start with fewer than 150 passing yards in Big Ten play. His completion percentage also dipped under 50 for the third time this season.
Compounding the young quarterback’s struggles, the ’Cats failed to establish any semblance of a run game.
“They couldn’t get the run going, and there was very little they could do in the pass game,” Michigan coach Sherrone Moore said. “It seemed like they were just searching and couldn’t do much.”
After Porter’s 11 yard rush, NU accumulated negative net rushing yardage for the matchup’s final 59 minutes and 39 seconds, capping out at 26 attempts for 10 yards.
Braun pointed to Wolverine defensive lineman Graham Mason as a game-breaker and said Michigan defensive coordinator Wink Martindale’s scheme was especially difficult to face.
“(We) do have to be better in the run game, but I don’t envy our offense’s task today,” Braun said.
Still, the ’Cats had two red zone opportunities during a then-one-possession game in the first half. Both drives stalled out inside the Michigan 10-yard-line, and redshirt junior punter Luke Akers scored NU’s lone six points on a pair of field goals.
Graduate student wide receiver Bryce Kirtz, who hauled in a team-high 67 receiving yards Saturday, said his team’s inability to complete drives boils down to execution.
“Whenever we get down there, everybody has to win their one-on-one matchup, everybody has to know what they’re doing,” Kirtz said. “That just comes back (to) just prepping for it in practice, really putting an emphasis on the red zone — maybe coming up with a different package that we can throw in there, get some bigger guys in there.”
Braun’s squad has one final regular season battle with in-state rival No. 21 Illinois next Saturday at Wrigley Field. While the ’Cats picked up a fatal seventh loss in Ann Arbor, NU possesses a fading chance of a bowl bid due to its high academic progress rate — but the sputtering offense must make a remarkable turnaround from its blowout in the Big House.
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