After a dark and dreary Evanston morning gave way to sunshine by kickoff, Northwestern faced a more ominous fate than the day’s early deluge as it prepared its Big Ten-opener against No. 4 Oregon on Saturday morning.
Through the game’s opening quarter, the Wildcats (1-2, 0-1 Big Ten) looked like a team that could weather the storm, holding the College Football Playoff contending Ducks (3-0, 1-0 Big Ten) to just seven points through 15 minutes.
Even with two fourth-quarter touchdowns, the ’Cats couldn’t bounce back from what had been a 34-point Oregon lead, ultimately falling 34-14.
Coach David Braun’s defense forced the visitors to punt on their opening drive, and NU’s offense followed the stop with its own early traction, picking up three first downs in the process.
Despite a first-drive interception thrown by graduate student quarterback Preston Stone resulting in an Oregon touchdown, the ’Cats still managed to prevent a full-fledged flood from a potent opposing offense early on.
Following a quick three-and-out NU drive, the Ducks tacked on a field goal to make the score 10-0 with 9:28 left to play in the second quarter.
The ’Cats never threatened to score throughout the first half and conceded another Oregon touchdown less than a minute before intermission.
Looking to trim a three-possession deficit, NU fell short with another scoreless drive to open up the third quarter.
After turning the ball over on downs, the ’Cats couldn’t stop the Ducks from adding to their already ballooning lead. The visitors scored just 12 seconds later, running a one-play, 66-yard drive to the back of the endzone.
Upon kicking the extra point, Oregon led 24-0.
An already stifled student section began to file out after Stone threw his second interception of the day, and the Ducks easily capitalized on their favorable scoring position for another touchdown.
Oregon added a field goal to the scoreboard before NU stopped the shutout. Four plays after a 40-yard reception by sophomore wide receiver Drew Wagner, redshirt sophomore running back Caleb Komolafe rushed two yards for a touchdown.
Fresh out of the two minute warning, the ’Cats refused to go down without a final push, adding another late touchdown on a 79-yard run by redshirt freshman running back Dashun Reeder.
Here are five takeaways from NU’s loss to Oregon:
1. A competitive start
In the Ducks previous contest against Oklahoma State, they scored 40 seconds into the game on a two-play opening drive. The game before that, they were on the board three minutes in, riding yardage acquired on just six snaps to the endzone.
After winning the coin toss and deferring possession to the second half, NU became the first team this season to force an Oregon punt on its first drive.
Prior to Saturday’s matchup, the Ducks had punted on just three occasions all season.
Graduate student linebacker Mac Uihlein amassed three tackles during Oregon’s first drive alone, and graduate student defensive lineman Aidan Hubbard made the crucial stop that forced the Ducks near midfield.
From there, despite Stone’s interception, the ’Cats didn’t immediately succumb to the visitors’ defense.
In the same amount of time it took the Ducks to score against NU, they had already racked up 20 points against Oklahoma State and 17 against Montana State.
But much like Oregon’s two opponents that came before them, the ’Cats were ultimately in for a loss.
2. Preston Stone, a liability
On the heels of a dismal NU debut where he threw four interceptions and fumbled twice against Tulane, Stone held onto the ball in a dominant Week 2 win over Western Illinois.
But without the relative safety net of facing an FCS-caliber opposing defense, the transfer passer looked just as unreliable against Oregon as he did in New Orleans.
In the first half alone, Stone threw one pick and fumbled for a loss of 18 yards. But outside of those critical moments, there were various other close-calls.
Just plays before Oregon linebacker Bryce Boettcher reeled in Stone’s errant pass during NU’s otherwise optimistic opening-drive, Stone nearly turned the ball over as he searched for wide receiver Griffin Wilde, but threw behind him.
Though NU remained unphased by the play, it was the type of early warning that signified how Stone would fare for the rest of the game.
Stone tossed another pick with just over five minutes to play in the third quarter and Oregon linebacker Jerry Mixon picked up an additional 35 yards on the play.
In his first performance against a conference foe this year, Stone wound up with two interceptions, a fumble and zero passing touchdowns.
3. Adding insult to injury
In a contest where they were already outmatched, the ’Cats couldn’t take advantage of the few glimpses where momentum could have turned in their favor.
Down 17-0 to kick off the second half, Braun’s squad had a 3rd and 1 opportunity to keep what had already been a more-than-six-minute drive alive.
After Stone was sacked for a loss of eight yards and NU opted to go for it on 4th and 9, it seemed like the clouds had parted when the struggling quarterback spotted a wide open receiver in redshirt sophomore Ricky Ahumaraeze.
Stone hurled what would have been a 14-yard pass that easily picked up the first down, but Ahumaraeze blatantly dropped it, prompting a turnover on downs.
Moments later, Oregon opened their fresh drive with a 66-yard run for a touchdown.
No individual play would have altered the result of the ’Cats’ Saturday defeat, but moments where they beat themselves without the added force of Oregon pressure only made matters worse.
4. Amid defensive injuries, Uihlein makes a dent
Positive takeaways from NU’s performance against Oregon were few and far between.
As the Ducks ran up the score on a ’Cats’ offense that provided no response, it became clear early on that the visitors would return to the West Coast with an easy win in tow.
Already without redshirt sophomore safety Damon Walters, NU’s defense was forced to grapple with early injuries to graduate student safety Garner Wallace and redshirt sophomore cornerback Josh Fussell. Both saw their final minutes of the game during Saturday’s first half and were labelled questionable to return with injuries.
In their stead, Uihlein and redshirt junior safety Robert Fitzgerald combined for 18 total tackles.
With the Ducks already leading 31-0 at the top of the fourth quarter, Uihlein intercepted a pass deep in NU territory in what was poised to be another Oregon scoring drive.
Though the ’Cats couldn’t score any points of their own immediately following the turnover, Uihlein’s play was a bright spot in an otherwise dismal NU performance.
5. Must-win games await
Nestled between tilts with two of its most daunting opponents the road will briefly relent as the ’Cats return from their upcoming bye week with games against Big Ten bottom-dweller UCLA on Sept. 27 and Louisiana-Monroe on Oct. 4.
With both Braun’s group and the Bruins coming off a bye week before they face off in NU’s lakeside abode, the contest will be an important test for two programs that have struggled early on this season.
UCLA dropped games to Utah, UNLV and most recently, to New Mexico in its non-conference slate.
Both squads will search for a bounceback victory to fuel the bulk of their conference schedule.
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