This game was not the shootout that Northwestern fans saw last weekend in Ann Arbor. No, the Wildcats’ 23-20 win over Michigan State on Saturday would be more aptly described as a war of attrition.
Despite losing running back Venric Mark to an upper extremity injury and substituting quarterback Trevor Siemian for a battered Kain Colter, the ‘Cats found a way to victory. When safety Jared Carpenter jarred the ball loose from Spartan tight end Dion Sims on fourth down with less than two minutes remaining, the Northwestern contingency in attendance started to sing, and Northwestern held on for its biggest win of the season.
“To come up here on the road, make the plays that winners make, especially down the stretch, it was a great team win,” head coach Pat Fitzgerald said. “The guys responded when we got back off the bus a week ago from Ann Arbor. That’s when this game started.”
But while it may have started last Saturday, it ended on defense. After an effort in Ann Arbor that was criticized all week by Northwestern beat writers, the ‘Cats defense played one of its best games all year, making two goal-line stands and forcing four turnovers. For Carpenter, holding the Spartans to no points after facing first-and-goal situations was paramount.
“Goal-line stands like that are huge,” he said. “We essentially took points off the board. It’s three or four big plays here or there [that determine the game].”
The first big stop made it appear as if Northwestern had averted a first quarter crisis, as Michigan State quarterback Andrew Maxwell fumbled the ball on a quarterback sneak inside of Northwestern’s two-yard line. But after defensive lineman Sean McEvilly recovered the fumble, the ‘Cats gave the ball right back on the next play. Colter was blindsided in the end zone by Michigan State’s William Gholston for a safety, and the baseball jokes about the score began on Twitter.
With a halftime score of 6-5, even Fitzgerald could not help but crack a joke about a largely ugly first half.
“I thought the White Sox were playing the Tigers,” he said.
Yet despite his displeasure at the two-minute drill and a poor third down conversion rate (the ’Cats were 3-8 in the first half on third down, and 3-14 for the game), Fitzgerald was proud of his team’s resilience.
“To see the way our program has responded [following the Michigan loss] is a credit to our players,” he said.
Two players in particular, freshman super-back Dan Vitale and sophomore safety Ibrahim Campbell, were seemingly mentioned on almost every other play by P.A. announcers and helped ensure the ’Cats would arrive back in Evanston with a victory.
Campbell, who finished with 11 tackles and a forced fumble, earned the praise of his teammates for bouncing back after a disappointing performance last week. On perhaps his most important play of the game, he hit Maxwell hard in the backfield on a first down pass, causing an inaccurate throw that ended up in the hands of linebacker David Nwabuisi. From there, Nwabuisi was headed straight to the promised land.
“I’ve always thought I was gonna get me [a touchdown],” Nwabuisi said. “It’s a good feeling to finally have it.”
Even though the ‘Cats forced four turnovers, the lack of big plays for the Spartans was Northwestern’s most impressive feat. Le’Veon Bell rushed for an impressive 133 yards, but his longest of the day was only a 17-yard gain. Overall, the Wildcats allowed only four plays of that distance or longer all day. For a secondary that was gashed by Michigan quarterback Devin Gardner last weekend, this Saturday’s showing was a drastic improvement.
On offense, while Vitale was unable to get a touchdown of his own this week, the true freshman had nine catches for 110 yards, including a 41-yarder with the score tied in the fourth quarter.
“I’m starting to prove myself,” Vitale said. “I’m just going to keep doing my job…do nothing more, nothing less.”
For just doing his job, he did a good one on Saturday, proving every bit as valuable for Northwestern as Sims, who finished with five catches for 102 yards, was for the Spartans. Still, Vitale claims it was not difficult to be motivated for this game.
“We had a pit in our stomach, a lot of pain in our stomach from last week,” he said. “I think we released a lot of demons, and it felt great to win.”
But before Siemian kneeled to take the clock to triple zeroes, before the ’Cats sprinted over to the purple-clad faithful and before the Northwestern fight song rang through a quickly emptying Spartan Stadium, it was Carpenter who kept punching the ball out of Sims’ hands, ensuring a Wildcat victory. And although the play was ruled an incomplete pass on the field, it did not ultimately matter.
“Either way,” he said, “Incomplete pass [or] fumble, ’Cats win.”