Wildcats hope for bowl bid after loss to MSU
Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald felt the pain for his departing seniors as they walked off Ryan Field for a final time. A drizzly day became even more dismal after a 31-17 loss to No. 11 Michigan State in the regular-season finale, a defeat that left the Wildcats hoping for a bowl bid with a 6-6 record.
"We'll have those guys and their families to the house tonight, but I won't console them. I'm not a consoler, that's not my nature," Fitzgerald said.
"I can't stand it. It drives me crazy when we don't win and it drives me up a wall. I expect to win and I expect to win everything we do. To not do that six times this year is disappointing. We have a chance for a winning season and a chance to win a bowl game. We'll do everything we can to send these seniors off the right way."
With the score tied at 3-3 late in the first half, Northwestern was driving when Treyvon Green fumbled after a hit by Max Bullough and Michigan State's Denzel Drone recovered at the Spartan 3 with just over five minutes to go. Northwestern called a timeout — hoping to have the play reviewed — but Michigan State retained possession.
MSU then took off on a 97-yard drive — Kirk Cousins hit Brian Linthicum for 15 yards and heaved a 46-yarder to Keshawn Martin that carried to the NU 7. Le'Veon Bell then ran the final 7 yards for a TD, completing an eight-play march that put the Spartans up 10-3.
The Spartans defense then forced a Northwestern punt and Martin fielded Brandon Williams' boot, broke to his right, signaled to blockers and sailed in from 57 yards for a score with 34 seconds left in the half to make it 17-3. The two TDs came just 66 seconds apart.
Cousins then threw two TD passes to B.J. Cunningham in the second half as the Spartans (10-2, 7-1) fought off a Northwestern comeback.
"It's tough. I thought we played decently well, but we can't turn the ball over going in to score," Northwestern quarterback Dan Persa said. "I think we can regroup and take the positives from the game and clean up the negatives and move on to our bowl."
Cousins threw a 33-yarder to Cunningham in the third quarter and hit him again on a juggling 29-yard TD pass with 5:17 left to complete a 93-yard drive. It was the 62nd career touchdown pass for Cousins, breaking the school record held by Jeff Smoker (61).
"None of those touchdowns I threw by myself — I passed to someone, I had an offensive lineman protecting me," said Cousins, who is 21-4 as starter the last two seasons. "Any individual records are a testament to the team and the more records we can pile up shows how special the team has been."
Michigan State is now on its way to the Big Ten championship game — the Spartans had already clinched the berth before beating Northwestern — and will play for a trip to the Rose Bowl.
Northwestern (6-6, 3-5) closed to 24-17 early in the final quarter on Persa's 12-yard TD pass to Demetrius Fields, set up by a clutch fourth-down pass from Persa to Jeremy Ebert.
The Wildcats got the ball back at the MSU 47, but a holding penalty and Jerel Worthy's sack of Persa forced a punt and then MSU went on its long, game-clinching drive.
Northwestern had responded quickly to its 14-point deficit when the second half began.
The Wildcats' Drake Dunsmore got wide open on a blown coverage, hauled in a Persa pass and raced downfield on a 69-yard play before he knocked out at the 3. One play later, Persa flipped a 2-yard TD to Jeremy Ebert and two minutes into the third quarter, Northwestern was back in the game at 17-10.
But Cousins had a third-down keeper of 8 yards for a first down to keep the Spartans moving. And then on a third-and-13 he rolled out and avoided the rush before making a beautiful throw to Cunningham for a 33-yard TD that made it 24-10.
Cousins completed 14 of 20 for 214 yards and Cunningham had six catches for 120 yards. Persa completed 23 of 32 for 245 yards and two TDs.
Northwestern lost senior defensive back Jordan Mabin to a right shoulder injury in the first quarter and it was costly against the Spartans' talented passing attack and receivers.
"I'd like to say it was back-breaking or something like that, but we're confident in the depth we have on defense," NU linebacker Bryce McNaul said. "Especially at other positions, you can't afford to worry about what's going on somewhere else. You have to focus on your little job. Having said that, unfortunately we didn't do that enough today."