Half a league, half a league, half a league onward.
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
“He was writing about LSU-Ole Miss. ‘Forward the light brigade’ — it’s like the offense. ‘Charge for the guns!’ he said — it’s like the end zone.”
There is no metaphor more apt for Northwestern’s bout with the Buckeyes than Tim McGraw’s bumbling interpretation of Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s Charge of the Light Brigade from “The Blind Side.”
Northwestern is a 29.5 point underdog against No. 2 Ohio State. The Friendly Confines will no doubt have a little Death Valley to them on Saturday morning.
In the movie, Michael Oher replies to his adoptive father with his eyes wide.
“They’re all gonna die, aren’t they?” says Oher, “That’s really, really sad.”
But death, in the football sense, is relative. Northwestern will, barring a miracle of genuine epic proportion, leave Wrigley Field 4-6, likely with a black eye or two to show for it.
Not all losses are created equal. Northwestern will play two more games after Ohio State — on the road at Michigan and at Wrigley again vs Illinois. We will judge the 2024 Northwestern Wildcats on their performance in those final two games, and not by the score on Saturday. That being said, a competitive, respectable showing against the No. 2 ranked team in the country does matter for that stretch run.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson may very well have been writing about the Northwestern offense. Jack Lausch has mustered just 110 passing yards per game against the top nine defenses in the Big Ten. Without Bryce Kirtz for the third week in a row, the Wildcat cavalry is bearing hapless down a valley into Buckeye artillery.
Lausch showed definite growth against Purdue. He was far from perfect, but the sophomore played well enough to give life to the weekly game of “is Jack Lausch a Big Ten quarterback or not?” If Lausch can play a composed game of football—if he can move the football, makes his easy throws, and earn a few first downs with his legs—Northwestern will be primed to compete for a bowl game in late November.
Bravery is not a football term, but resilience is. How Northwestern and its quarterback carry themselves in the jaws of death will speak to their belief in their head coach in the thick of a down season.
We measure that belief on defense more than anything. Northwestern is battered on that side of the ball — as it is everywhere else — and Xander Mueller is questionable to play on Saturday. Yet, I like the Wildcat run defense to show up, regardless of whether Mueller is able to suit up or not. Northwestern limited Kaleb Johnson for much of the first half against Iowa before the future All-American ripped off three big runs against a gassed NU front seven that inflated his numbers. Look to the trenches on Saturday again for signs that this team still has some fight.
The secondary may be a different story. Much of Theran Johnson’s improvement this year can be attributed to the increased burden placed on his shoulders after Northwestern lost Ore Adeyi for the year. But if Johnson’s 2024 has been baptism by fire, Josh Fussell’s Saturday will be baptism in an unrelenting Buckeye inferno. Jeremiah Smith and Emeka Egbuka are not just the best wideout duo Northwestern has faced this year, but perhaps the best duo in the country.
Fussell will be more than volleyed and thundered. The 99th ranked Northwestern pass defense has their marching orders. Into the valley of death.
The last time Northwestern faced Ohio State, a reeling 1-8 Wildcat squad played the CJ Stroud-led Buckeyes tight. The late Ryan Field summoned all her supernatural power in that one, beckoning in 35mph winds and torrential rain to greet the second-ranked team in the country. Northwestern entered the half tied 7-7 and found itself in a one possession game in the fourth quarter before eventually falling 21-7.
Despite the close score in that one, Northwestern lost its final three games — against Minnesota, Purdue and Illinois — by a combined 89-15. It was a short crest in the ravine to rock bottom. There is a world where Saturday’s iteration of Northwestern-Ohio State is no different. Michigan is 5-5, but the talent in those Wolverine trenches is enough to dampen any hopes of an upset. Illinois beat that Michigan team 21-7.
Yet the David Braun Northwestern Wildcats have, if anything, showed inimitable resilience. They will likely need just one win — not two — to get into the postseason due to Academic Progress Rate rules that award a bowl appearance to the most scholarly 5-7 teams in the FBS. Saturday matters for the tone it will set for a stretch run that will define a extraordinarily frustrating season of Northwestern football. Half a league, half a league, half a league onward.