Northwestern holds off Central Michigan 30-25

On the surface, Pat Fitzgerald enjoyed a Saturday for the history books.

Long before kickoff, he wore a personalized Blackhawks sweater bestowed by the team's management and introduced his wife and three sons to the Stanley Cup in Northwestern's locker room.

Apparently his middle son, Ryan, was particularly tickled to see the Cup - even if his hero Patrick Kane didn't deliver it personally.

Nearly 31/2 hours after kickoff, the Wildcats nailed down a 30-25 non-conference victory over Central Michigan before 30,075 at Ryan Field.

Considering that wrapped up Northwestern's second 4-0 start in the last 48 seasons - a drought nearly of Stanley Cup-ian proportions - you'd think the gleam in Fitzgerald's eye represented a measure of contentment.

Alas, no.

Not after the Wildcats committed 11 penalties for 106 yards. Not after they lost 2 turnovers that turned into touchdowns.

Not after they built a 17-point, second-half lead, only to falter defensively in the final 10 minutes and require Drake Dunsmore to recover an onside kick with 1:11 left in order to ensure victory.

"If you're in that locker room right now, I promise you it wasn't Mardi Gras," said Fitzgerald, just in case anyone mistook all of the thrown penalty flags as party beads.

"Northwestern can't beat Northwestern. We're not good enough to beat two teams on any given Saturday. We had to beat two teams today and we were lucky to do it. We were very lucky to do it."

Dan Persa threw for 280 yards and 2 touchdowns while Jacob Schmidt rushed for 2 scores to guide the Wildcats to their third consecutive 30-points-plus effort.

NU's numbers looked better than they felt, though, due to all of the penalties and play reviews that lent the game a disjointed feeling.

The Wildcats committed a block in the back on the opening kickoff and proceeded to get flagged five times for 50 yards in the game's first 15 plays.

Central Michigan (2-2) got into the swing of doing undisciplined things and racked up 9 penalties for 90 yards.

When the Wildcats and Chippewas weren't busy breaking the rules - including 4 penalties for having 12 offensive players on the field - they teamed up for 5 turnovers and 4 blocked kicks.

Northwestern defensive tackle Jack DiNardo swatted an extra point and tipped a field-goal try while backup DT Niko Mafuli also snuffed an extra point.

Each block mattered in a game that was otherwise even.

Northwestern also benefited from generating the game's biggest mood swing early in the third quarter.

After Stefan Demos booted a 27-yard field goal to put NU ahead 16-13, the Wildcats ran a zone blitz on Central Michigan's ensuing play.

The scheme required defensive end Quentin Williams to drop into coverage and cover the short out pass. CMU quarterback Ryan Radcliff took a three-step drop and fired the ball right to Williams to set up the Wildcats at CMU's 25-yard line.

"I had my eyes somewhere else," Radcliff said. "By the time I was throwing it, it was almost released and there he was."

One play later, Persa found Ebert wide-open over the middle on a post route for a 25-yard score. The play wasn't dissimilar to their 24-yard touchdown hookup that opened the scoring in the first quarter.

"Their safeties were getting a little wide," Ebert said. "We kind of saw that and talked on the sideline and it opened up."

Before the Wildcats start preparing for Minnesota and Saturday's Big Ten-opening road trip, they'll spend a ton of time evaluating themselves.

Maybe that's why Fitz had that postgame gleam in his eye.

"I like it when we don't do things well, because I get to go back to work a little bit more."