Wildcats fall despite 10-point halftime lead
A common phrase used by Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald is to “flush it.” That means when a bad play or tough loss happens, his players are instructed to move on and forget all about it.
The line has never been more appropriate now that the Wildcats have let 2 potential upset wins over ranked teams go down the toilet.
Last week, they squandered an 18-point, third-quarter lead at Illinois. On Saturday beneath the portable lights at Ryan Field, Northwestern led No. 12 Michigan 24-14 at halftime and had Heisman Trophy candidate Denard Robinson on the ropes with 3 interceptions.
Once again, the Wildcats couldn't keep it up. Robinson and Michigan dominated the second half to post a 42-24 victory.
“When it came down to crunchtime, we failed,” NU defensive end Tyler Scott said.
“Yeah, it's frustrating, but we have no one else to blame but ourselves,” quarterback Dan Persa added. “So we've got to look inside ourselves to see what we have to do to pull it out.”
The idea of Robinson having a bad game was long forgotten by the time this was over. He threw for 337 yards and ran for 117.
Michigan opened the second half with a pair of 80-yard touchdown drives and ended up outgaining the Wildcats 205-17 in the third quarter.
“Coach (Brady) Hoke, he never says much,” Michigan defensive tackle Mike Martin said. “He knows we're mentally strong as a team.”
Northwestern's opening drive of the second half lost 6 yards.
Then the Wildcats turned the ball over twice, first when a pass bounced off the chest of Drake Dunsmore and Michigan's Brandin Hawthorne made a diving interception. Then Jeremy Ebert caught a pass and had the ball stripped just before he hit the ground.
And those are two of the Wildcats' most reliable players.
“It doesn't matter who it was,” NU coach Pat Fitzgerald said. “It comes back to playing better team football. We can't turn the ball over and expect to win. I'm not quite sure they made a whole lot of adjustments. I think we just didn't execute.”
Robinson helped lead Michigan to 268 yards of offense in the first half, but his 3 interceptions were the biggest reason for the Wolverines' halftime deficit.
Two of the picks were simply bad throws, while the other, from the NU 16-yard line, was a poor decision while under heavy pressure from Wildcats linebacker Bryce McNaul. Redshirt freshman Ibraheim Campbell came down with 2 of the picks.
“He's going to throw the ball up there for you,” Fitzgerald said of Robinson. “We got 3 picks, we should have had at least 5. If we get those 2 other ones, it's a completely different ballgame.”
Fitzgerald was referring to a couple of jump balls that were hauled in by Michigan receivers. Roy Roundtree caught a 57-yard rainbow from Robinson to set up the first touchdown of the third quarter.
“My teammates kept pushing me and telling me to calm down and just do what you can do,” Robinson said. “Some throws I could have easily put it on the guy, and I overthrew it. There's some things I've learned from it.”
The Wolverines scored on their first three drives of the second half to go up 35-24, then had a 37-yard field goal attempt blocked by Northwestern's Jack DiNardo.
The Wildcats caught a tough break on their next drive. On fourth-and-5, Michigan safety Jordan Kovacs charged in on a blitz. Persa ducked and lost his helmet as Kovacs slid over top of him. By rule, a play is dead if a player loses his helmet, so the Cats were tagged with a 10-yard loss and lost the ball on downs.
Fitzgerald drew a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty while arguing vehemently for a face mask call.
“I don't know how else my helmet would have come off,” Persa said.