ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Two consecutive red zone drives ending in field goals should’ve left Northwestern in a comfortable position heading into halftime.
Instead, the Wildcat defense did something it has done in its last four games: allow a score with seconds to go.
On its last offensive drive of the first half, Michigan drove 65 yards in 11 plays, capping it off with a three-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Davis Warren to tight end Colston Loveland.
“Everything has to be evaluated, but especially that. Our performance in two-minute drill defensively has really hurt us,” coach David Braun said. “We got to figure out a different way to practice it, different way to rep it, and change that trend.”
The defensive breakdown that ensued allowed Michigan to roll to a 50-6 victory, scoring on all of its drives in the second half and handing NU its worst loss of the Braun era.
On the second play from scrimmage of the second half, Michigan running back Kalel Mullings broke through for a 47-yard rush, setting up the Wolverines in the red zone. Three plays later, he finished what he started, rushing 10 yards for a touchdown.
A Wildcat team that allowed just 14 rushing yards in the first half allowed 75 rushing yards on that one drive.
“We’re always going to take full ownership. The performance, the tackling, not good enough,” Braun said. “Those are things we had an opportunity to come to the sideline, adjust, felt like we had good adjustments, but far below the standard, not good enough.”
The Wolverines scored rushing touchdowns on four of their following five drives. NU allowed 187 rushing yards in the second half alone.
To top it off, Michigan had six rushing plays of 10 yards or more, three of which were second half touchdowns.
“We didn’t do a good enough job … in terms of playing within the framework of the defense,” graduate student linebacker Xander Mueller said. “They capitalized on that. We gotta be better next week.”
The ’Cats’ defense, which prided itself on being strong against the run early in the season, has allowed more than 150 rushing yards in four of its past five games.
While the passing defense allowed its fewest yards since Oct. 26 against Iowa, the ’Cats allowed three passing plays of 15 yards or more. Despite showing early success in the first half with a Mueller interception, the NU defense couldn’t stop anything.
“There’s no other better way to put it. Absolutely snowballed on us,” Braun said. “(It was) a humbling experience.”
When the ’Cats forced third downs, they were unable to capitalize. Michigan converted 11 of its 16 third down plays, amounting to a 68.8% conversion rate. The average third down distance for the Wolverines was 5.5 yards.
Last week, NU held Ohio State to a 40% conversion rate on third down.
“They were able to rush the ball in third down situations, picking up first downs again,” Braun said. “Giving up that many yards per carry and for them to convert 11 of 16 of their third downs is a recipe for what we saw out there tonight.”
Heading into its last regular season game of the year and senior night, the ’Cats must find a way to regroup on the defense.
Braun said seeing how the team responds will be telling.
“We’re gonna find out a lot about me, our staff, our entire team, collectively, in terms of the way that we respond,” Braun said. “We don’t want to send this group out with a taste like that.”
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