In three glorious hours on Friday night, Northwestern blew past its floor — and may have raised its ceiling.
Remember those shows on HGTV about flipping houses? The ones that every doctor’s office waiting room in the nation seem to have a contract to play? For those who don’t, the plot of those shows is simple. People known as house flippers will purchase a property that’s in horrible condition — no running water, hasn’t been painted in 20 years, lawn looks like a forest — and then turn it into a house that can sell for millions of dollars. The flipping process takes a lot of time, a lot of effort and is almost impossible to comprehend unless you’re in the business of flipping houses.
Well, David Braun isn’t in the business of flipping houses, but his team just flipped its season on Friday night. Against all odds, Northwestern’s hopes for a bowl game are still very much intact, and even (dare I say) plausible after last night.
Here’s some fun statistical nuggets from Friday night’s contest. Northwestern was outgained 355 to 283. The Wildcats committed 7 penalties for 54 yards. NU was 3-of-12 on third down and picked up just nine first downs across the entire GAME. The ‘Cats also slapped up 2.4 yards per carry and completed only 10 passes (with only four of those completions coming in the second half). To make matters worse, the Terrapins ran 85 total plays to Northwestern’s 52.
Your final score from College Park: Northwestern 37, Maryland 10.
This game bears STRIKING similarities to the wild Minnesota comeback from last season, exactly 385 days ago. At that point in the season, the Wildcats were reeling from an offensive disaster on the road and a three-possession loss to a ranked squad. They desperately needed the win to stay at .500 and give themselves a shot at making noise in conference play. If that game had ended up a loss, then the season could very well have spiraled into 3-9.
But much like that fateful September night at the old Ryan Field, David Braun and his staff found a way to work their magic Friday night against Maryland. Despite all the stats mentioned earlier, I’m not sure Braun could have written a better script for this game if he was given full control over everything that happened on the field. It’s almost as if he was granted a wish for everything to go right — again, eerily similar to the Minnesota comeback last year.
Just look at some of the things he said on Monday in his weekly presser.
When asked about Billy Edwards Jr., the gunslinging Maryland quarterback, Braun said “We’re going to have to find ways to affect him.” Well, the football gods cued up three sacks, a quarterback hit and three pass breakups from the front seven.
Braun said that special teams would be “critical…it can help flip the field and create a long field for your opponent.” The football gods were REALLY smiling down on Luke Akers, who punted five times for 246 yards (49.2 yards per punt), pinned Maryland inside the 20 twice, forced an average starting field position of the Maryland 27 and, just for “kicks”, also converted all four extra points and all three field goals he attempted for the first points of his collegiate career.
Braun said that the team’s struggles against the RPO were “something that we have to get fixed…we have to do a better job of forcing the quarterback to process post-snap.” Edwards Jr. was held to just 55% completion, his lowest mark of the year by over 10 percentage points, and completed just 7 of his final 17 passes.
Braun said that “the equation for winning football here at Northwestern is to win in the turnover margin.” Well, Coach, how’s four Terrapin turnovers, along with three turnovers on downs, strike your fancy? Maryland ended their last FIVE drives with a giveaway — two turnovers on downs, two fumbles and an interception.
And of course, Braun said that Carmine Bastone, making a triumphant return, had “done a great job of leading, and now he’s going to have an even better platform to lead from being back on the field with his teammates.” Well, Bastone led the charge at Edwards Jr. early in the fourth quarter and popped the ball loose at the Maryland 2-yard line. Aidan Hubbard recovered the fumble in the end zone to put Northwestern up two scores and open the floodgates.
Are there some things to clean up, especially on the offensive side? Absolutely. But here’s the thing — the fact that there are still things to clean up is a really good sign. Northwestern went into a conference opponent’s house and came out with a 27-point victory despite getting almost nothing from its run game and allowing over 10 yards per completion.
This wasn’t a perfect game for the Wildcats, far from it. Jack Lausch was brilliant throwing the deep ball — three completions of 40+ yards, and another throw that went right through AJ Henning’s hands — but struggled occasionally in the short game, especially when on the run. Joe Himon was a nonfactor, only Henning and Bryce Kirtz tallied a catch longer than six yards, and Maryland did go 6-for-14 on third downs.
But, again, those are all nitpicks. In just three weeks, we’ve gone from complaining about this team’s basic foundation (Does it have a legit quarterback? Will the secondary hold up?) to complaining about the window dressing (What’s with all the stretch plays? Can anyone on this team be a dependable third receiver?). Braun and his team have flipped the script. The “house” of this season is no longer an eyesore, but instead a cozy little two-story with lots of space to remodel. And if you peek in the upstairs closets, there just might be enough room set aside for some new bowl game memorabilia.