Wildcats set records in 59-38 rout at Indiana

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Northwestern played pinball with Indiana's defense on Saturday.

It scored points by the dozens, piled up yards by the hundreds and made one of the Big Ten's worst scoring defenses look worse than its reputation.

Dan Persa and Kain Colter combined to throw a record-tying five touchdown passes, four to Drake Dunsmore, and the Wildcats ended a five-game losing streak by routing the Hoosiers 59-38.

"Dan said it the best, it's been so frustrating these last five games. We really haven't shown what we can do," Colter said. "In our opinion, we shouldn't have lost these games. We just keep beating ourselves, so we get frustrated. Dan said, 'Let's take all that frustration out and put it on Indiana and get this win.' All this pent-up frustration, we just let it loose."

Did they ever.

Persa was 16 of 20 for 261 yards with three scores. Colter completed just two passes, both for scores, and had six receptions for 115 yards. He's believed to be the first 100-yard receiver to throw two for TDs in school history, too.

Dunsmore caught seven passes for 112 yards and four scores, breaking the single-game TD reception record on the same day he broke Jon Harvey's school record for career yards by a tight end (1,356).

Three Wildcat players had caught three touchdown passes in a game — Jeremy Ebert did it Oct. 1 against Illinois.

And the margin easily could have been more lopsided.

After racking up 555 total yards in the first three quarters, Northwestern (3-5, 1-4 Big Ten) finally scaled things back in the fourth quarter and wound up with 616 yards — short of the school-record 674 set against Wisconsin in 2005. The Wildcats also could have broken the school scoring record against league foes (61 vs. Illinois in 2000), but instead finished the game by kneeling down three straight times inside the Indiana 20.

For the Hoosiers (1-8, 0-5), who started seven freshmen on defense — the most by a Football Bowl Subdivision team all season, it was a homecoming embarrassment.

"They have athletes, they have good players and they were able to get the ball into the athletes' hands," linebacker Leon Beckum said. "Of course we helped them out with our missed tackles, our missed opportunities."

Indiana has now lost six straight and has allowed 204 points in its last four games.

Four straight opponents have scored at least 40, the first time that's happened since a five-game streak at the end of the 2005 season, and next week, the Hoosiers head to Ohio State where they last won in 1987.

Indiana has given up more than 55 points twice in three games, and is looking for a quick fix.

"To me, it's your job to know your job and to know your assignment, to get the call, to be on top of it and be demonstrative if you're not," Hoosiers coach Kevin Wilson said.

Instead, the Wildcats made this one look easy.

They scored on nine of their first 10 possessions, the only stop coming when Persa closed the half by taking a knee on the final two plays. The Wildcats' only punt came early in the fourth quarter. By halftime, Northwestern had run 28 plays in Indiana territory, produced nine plays of 15 yards or more and put up 38 points.

But it was a shootout.

After Indiana opened the scoring with a 12-yard TD run from Tre Roberson, Northwestern answered with 24 straight points — a 37-yard field goal, a 29-yard TD pass from Colter to Ebert, a 1-yard TD run from Treyvon Green and a 22-yard TD pass from Persa to Dunsmore. That made it 24-7 just 34 seconds into the second quarter.

"All those passes from Dan and Kain were just dead-on perfect," said Dunsmore, who now has 1,373 yards receiving. "This is where we needed to be, we needed to get this win."

All the Hoosiers could do was trade scores, and not much changed in the second half.

Dunsmore opened the third quarter with a 9-yard TD catch from Colter, giving him the single-game record and the Wildcats a 45-21 lead.

Indiana never recovered.

Northwestern's Jacob Schmidt ran 15 times for 110 yards and two touchdowns.

Roberson, a true freshman making his second career start for Indiana, was 14 of 26 for 169 yards and one score. Roberson also ran 22 times for 121 yards and a TD. Stephen Houston carried 19 times for 151 yards and two scores.

But it wasn't nearly enough against the highly-efficient Wildcats.

"I wanted to get 60, you know, but you've got to be smart," Colter said with a chuckle. "You don't want anything to happen, so I can't complain."