No overconfidence for Northwestern

Should Northwestern be concerned about feeling overconfident after the 28-25 upset of No. 9 Nebraska on Saturday?

Coach Pat Fitzgerald hopes not, and he had a warning for his players when they returned to Evanston.

“Hopefully, they’ll be humble in the way we had success,” Fitzgerald said at his Monday news conference. “I told them no girl wanted to talk to them on campus three weeks ago. Now every girl wants to talk to them. So congratulations.”

Not long ago the Wildcats suffered through a five-game losing streak, and their defense seemed incapable of holding a conference opponent below 35 points.

“That’s definitely true,” defensive tackle Will Hampton said of Fitzgerald’s claim. “We were a sad group of guys, giving up so many points. It was good to have a couple girls talk to us.”

There is still danger of losing popularity on campus. Northwestern (4-5, 2-4) needs 2 more wins to become bowl eligible.

With three home games remaining — against Rice, Minnesota and Michigan State — that goal is within reach. But the Wildcats need to keep doing whatever they did right defensively against Nebraska.

The Cornhuskers were limited to 149 yards rushing, more than 100 below their season average, and scored their final touchdown with just 18 seconds remaining.

“They finally figured out what kind of preparation it takes to be successful,” Fitzgerald said. “Now two weeks in a row we haven’t been perfect but we’ve been pretty consistent. It all goes back to our preparation.

“Especially defensively, some of our young guys are starting to mature a little bit. They understand just how hard it is to win, regardless of what situation — home or road, conference or nonconference.

“During the week players started getting their rest, eating right, preparing right on the practice field.”

The Wildcats start six seniors on defense, so the excuse of being young only goes so far. In recent weeks, Northwestern has been rotating more players on the defensive side with a goal of letting them play to their strengths.

A couple of moves that paid off were moving junior David Nwabuisi to outside linebacker and starting sophomore Damien Proby in the middle. Proby had 14 tackles two weeks ago at Indiana, while Nwabuisi was named defensive player of the week for the Nebraska game.

“We missed about the same number of tackles that we’ve had on average, but we had better swarm and better pursuit and better passion to the football,” Fitzgerald said.

“That’s encouraging. Our guys grew up a little bit. It’s about time. We’re starting to see some positives, some flickers, some semblance of a Big Ten defense. That’s encouraging.”

Another injury report:Quarterback Dan Persa did not play in the second half at Nebraska after taking a couple of hits to his left shoulder. Coach Pat Fitzgerald said Persa plans to play Saturday against Rice (11 a.m., BTN).Tight end Jack Konopka (Fremd) has a bone bruise on his leg, which was something of a relief. He#146;s questionable for now but should be back soon.Cornerback Jeravin Matthews is OK after taking a blindside hit from Nebraska receiver Quincy Enunwa late in the contest. Matthews was squared up to make a tackle and took a helmet in the ear hole from Enunwa, who then stood over Matthews in a taunting fashion. No flag was thrown on the play.#147;It#146;s funny. We sit in these rules meetings and we put all these rules in to protect offensive players as being defenseless,#148; Fitzgerald said. #147;Then I watch that play. I don#146;t fault the kid. That#146;s a legal block. And I don#146;t fault the officials.#147;It#146;s funny; it#146;s the old linebacker in me. You knock a guy#146;s lips off on defense, it#146;s a penalty. An offensive guy knocks a guy#146;s lips off, it#146;s no big deal. I don#146;t know. He#146;ll be fine.#148;Payback by quarterback:Northwestern#146;s players were talking about a big block earlier in the game thrown by backup quarterback Kain Colter.With Colter lined up at receiver, quarterback Dan Persa took off on a scramble during the Wildcats#146; first scoring drive.Colter #8212; listed at 6-feet, but that#146;s while wearing long cleats #8212; doubled back and flattened Nebraska defensive tackle Justin Jackson (6-3, 270).#147;When you#146;re playing with someone like that, it makes you want to play even harder,#148; center Brandon Vitabile said. #147;Why can#146;t I do that? Why can#146;t I be like Kain?#148;