The defense continues to shine, but the offense lagged behind in the OT loss.
Hoping to break a five-game losing streak against the Blue Devils, Northwestern came up just short in heartbreaking fashion in overtime by a score of 26 to 20. Here’s a look at who’s on the rise and who’s on the decline after the ‘Cats’ second game of the season.
Stock Up
Cam Porter
Northwestern’s running back had 63 yards rushing last week against Miami (OH) on 4.8 yards per carry, a solid showing for the graduate student. Porter’s improvement as the ‘Cats’ top rusher this season feels paramount. He started off his evening against Duke with a bang, toting the ball 44 yards up the field on his second rush of the game. He got involved in the passing game early as well (something that’s not typically a major part of his game) on an 11-yard gain. After the ‘Cats received a gift muffed punt, Porter charged through the center of the line and scored the first touchdown of the game for Northwestern.
Porter struggled a little more in the second half, but was productive in OT, scoring a touchdown and finishing with 93 yards rushing. Porter is looking like Northwestern’s only reliable back—at least so far. Caleb Komolafe and Joseph Himon II combined for only 21 yards. Komolafe also had a poorly timed fumble directly following a Theran Johnson pick that quickly reversed the momentum against the ‘Cats. Porter’s workload doesn’t appear to be in much jeopardy as it stands, but Northwestern needs more production from its other backs.
The defensive line
The ‘Cats were stellar against the run in the opener, allowing just 40 yards rushing on 1.7 yards per carry. It was a notable positive from the week one victory. They followed up that performance with another impressive showing agains the Blue Devils. Duke had just 42 yards rushing in the first half with only two runs over ten yards. Eli Pancol, a receiver, was the leading rusher in the half. The Blue Devils were similarly unsuccessful in the second half, finishing with 93 yards rushing. Northwestern came up with key run stops when it really needed them on third downs in this one, part of a dominating performance at the line of scrimmage.
The pass rush created four sacks last week to just two this week, but they were creating pressure and doing their job. RJ Pearson had a sack early in the third quarter, setting the Devils back four yards and forcing a punt. This appears to a be a strength for NU, albeit with a small sample size.
Punt team
A couple big special teams plays helped keep the ‘Cats in the game during regulation. They recovered a muffed punt in the first half which led to the Porter touchdown. Then, after stymying Duke on its first drive of the second half, Noah Taylor blocked a punt leading to an Akers field goal attempt. He missed a 29-yard field goal, part of the reason why this isn’t a more general props to the special teams, but the punt team created the opportunity.
Luke Akers had seven punts for an average of 38.6 yards as well, a decent showing for the junior punter. After a difficult season of punting last season for Northwestern, Akers has been solid in the early in 2024. Henning wasn’t much of a factor returning, but the team around him stole the show on special teams against Duke.
Honorable Mentions: Xander Mueller, A.J. Henning, Braden Turner, Theran Johnson, Northwestern bunnies
Stock Down
Scoring touchdowns
Northwestern struggled to punch the ball in last week, part of the reason the game came down to the wire. Things started out with more of the same as the ‘Cats’ first offensive drive stalled just outside of the red zone, and they were forced to settle for a Jack Olsen field goal. Early in the second, Northwestern pushed the ball into opposing territory again with some tough running and a couple encouraging plays to A.J. Henning, but failed to score altogether. They got behind the sticks on a negative rush by Caleb Komolafe, and then Wright took a brutal seven-yard sack to push Northwestern out of field goal range.
Early in the fourth quarter, Northwestern had to settle for another Olsen field goal (which he made this time to take a 13-10 lead). The ‘Cats just haven’t been able to find the end zone as often as they would like thus far in the season. And of course, failing to find the end zone in double overtime sealed the gut-wrenching loss.
Third down conversions
When Northwestern got behind the sticks on early downs in this game, it struggled mightily. The ‘Cats were 1-of-7 on third down in the first half, leading to four Luke Akers punts. They were 5-of-11 last week, but noticeably struggled throwing the ball down the field early in this one, completing just two passes over 12 yards in the first half.
The struggle continued early in the second half, as Northwestern failed on its first three attempts. It finished 3-of-16 on third downs for the contest, a frustrating total that hindered the ‘Cats all night, stalling drives and putting immense pressure on the defense to get stops.
Mike Wright
Going into this game, the hope was that Wright would sharpen a little and capitalize on some situations he failed to in the first game—a contest in which he flashed on the ground and through the air. He was worse in both facets against Duke. Wright threw for 158 yards, and his completion percentage was a suspect 56%. On the ground, he had 17 yards rushing on 8 carries, down from 65 yards against Miami (OH). Wright also threw some ill-advised passes, and arguably should have been picked off more than once. He did throw one interception in the first half when a safety undercut his pass deep down the left sideline.
Northwestern needs Wright to start taking positive steps dropping back and slinging it as the season continues. He was clearly off in that respect in this one. But his ground game is an enormous part of his overall game, and if he struggles there, it’s likely to always make things hard on this offense. Bottom line, this wasn’t a good enough performance under the lights in Evanston.
Honorable Mentions: penalties, offensive line, Caleb Komolafe