Northwestern lets another one slip away

Pat Fitzgerald needed just two words to describe his team's tackling on Saturday. And Northwestern's coach spat them out as if they gored him to his core.

"Awful," Fitzgerald said. "Awful."

He needed two more words to provide his reaction after seeing his Wildcats, for the second week in a row, squander a fourth-quarter lead.

"I'm shocked," he said.

Northwestern's Mike Kafka hit superback Brendan Mitchell for a fourth-down score at the end of the third quarter to give NU a 3-point lead.

But Minnesota answered with a long touchdown drive, then sacked Kafka and recovered two fumbles in the final two minutes to clinch a 35-24 victory in a Big Ten opener before 22,091 at Ryan Field.

Prior to last week's loss at Syracuse, the Wildcats had won 37 of 47 games in this decade when leading after three quarters.

After surrendering the final 10 points at Syracuse and the final 14 points to Minnesota, how do the Wildcats (2-2, 0-1) maintain the faith for the final two-thirds of an increasingly rugged schedule?

"I don't have a magic pill," Fitzgerald said. "I don't have a magic call. I don't have a magic formula, besides trust and confidence and staying together.

"If you stay together, you've got a chance to get the job done. And we will. I believe that. I really do."

That belief flies in the face of what NU did against Syracuse and Minnesota (3-1, 1-0).

For the second week in a row, the Wildcats gave up a slew of yards after missing tackles.

For the second week in a row, the Wildcats' running game didn't get far (22 carries for 104 yards on plays that weren't scrambles or sacks).

For the second week in a row, Kafka passed the ball well (32 of 47 for 309 yards and 2 TDs) but committed 3 critical turnovers.

The first came in the final minute before halftime with Northwestern looking to overcome a 14-10 deficit.

Kafka had superback Pat Dunsmore open over the middle near the goal line, but he overthrew him into safety Kim Royston's hands.

Then, trailing 28-24 with two minutes left from NU's own 17, Kafka never saw defensive end Cedric McKinley whip right tackle Kurt Mattes off the edge. McKinley knocked the ball out of Kafka's hands and recovered at the 3.

Minnesota's Adam Weber used the turnover to hit Eric Decker with a 1-yard scoring pass to clinch the game.

Then, just to prove the previous turnover wasn't a fluke, defensive end D.L. Wilhite ran around Mattes on NU's next snap and forced another Kafka fumble to end the suspense.