NU falls into 17-point hole it can't escape
During the week, the number 17 represented Northwestern's unofficial place in the national Bowl Championship Series rankings.
After 13 minutes of Saturday's much-anticipated matchup with Michigan State - No. 20 in those same unofficial rankings - the number 17 represented the point deficit the Wildcats couldn't overcome.
NU punished itself early with bad kick coverage, Sherrick McManis' fumbled kick return and C.J. Bacher's ill-advised interception.
Michigan State took advantage of everything and kept right on rolling for a 37-20 Big Ten triumph before 32,527 at Ryan Field in Evanston.
"In the Big Ten, you can't spot a team 17 points and expect to win," said senior running back Tyrell Sutton, whose frustration boiled over early in the fourth quarter when he yelled at the coaches for choosing a field goal over a fourth-and-1 conversion try from MSU's 4 with the Wildcats down 17 points.
"We had costly mistakes that they capitalized on," Sutton said. "You can't sleepwalk through the first quarter, the first half and expect to come out and play one half of football and win."
Michigan State's Glenn Winston ran the opening kickoff back to the 50-yard line. For the next 14 minutes, every play from scrimmage started and ended in NU territory as the Spartans (6-1, 2-1) built their big lead.
MSU's Javon Ringer (35 carries, 124 yards) bounced outside for a 13-yard score to put the visitors ahead 17-0 with 2:34 left in the first quarter.
At that point, Ringer already had 12 carries for 61 yards, while the Wildcats had run just 8 plays due to their turnover-prone ways.
NU (5-1, 1-1) wound up running 30 more plays and amassing 162 more total yards, but its minus-3 turnover margin and perpetually poor field position told the true story.
"Northwestern beat Northwestern today," Wildcats coach Pat Fitzgerald said.
McManis coughed up a kick return at NU's 25 (leading to a field goal), then Bacher set up Ringer's first of two scores with a throw that he and everyone else second-guessed.
The senior was scrambling to his right and nearly out of bounds when he thought he saw Rasheed Ward flash open. He threw across his body, and safety Dan Fortener stepped in front for the pick and return to Northwestern's 34.
"He just made a poor decision," Fitzgerald said. "He should have run out of bounds. I started playing football in the second grade. You never throw the ball late over the middle, right?"
Bacher (34 of 61, 283 yards) rallied the Wildcats with a 4-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter, then started another march with hopes of slashing the 17-7 deficit.
From the Michigan State 23, Bacher had Eric Peterman open on a post pattern in the end zone. But he diagnosed the play a split-second too late, put a little too much air under the throw, and backup freshman cornerback Johnny Adams stepped in for the interception.
Michigan State zipped 80 yards and pushed the lead to 24-7 just before the half as quarterback Brian Hoyer twice burned redshirt freshman cornerback Jordan Mabin.
NU cut the margin to 10 points early in the third quarter, but an ill-fated onside kick set up Ringer's second touchdown.
The Wildcats never got closer than 14 points during the final 25 minutes.
"You can blame it on all facets of the game," Sutton said. "We didn't do anything that we normally would do."