The dual threat at quarterback is back for Northwestern football.
Quarterback Clayton Thorson, making his first career start versus a ranked team in a premier national game, did just enough passing (105 yards) to keep the defense of #21 Stanford honest in the Wildcats 16-6 upset of the Cardinal. This was not a game of high octane offense though. On both sides, it was ground and pound, as the season opener clipped along at a very rapid pace for the 36,024 in attendance at Ryan Field. Stanford was mostly ground-oriented until they fell hopelessly behind and had to start passing.
Here are some of the video highlights:
Of course, the real game ball here goes collectively to NU’s defense. Yes, Stanford has some issues on offense, and there was some concern about that side of the ball this summer, but the ‘Cats played some Heavy D. (and the Boyz!!)
It also helps that one of Stanford’s receivers dropped a wide open, certain to be a touchdown pass late in the fourth quarter.
Had Michael Rector made that play, it would have been a totally different ballgame at that point. Cardinal QB Kevin Hogan was plagued by drops from his receivers all day.
The only really big play of the entire game was Thorson’s 42 yard touchdown run on a brilliant read of the SU defense. He got it done on the ground (68 yards rushing on a 8.5 yards per carry average), along with NU running back Justin Jackson (134 yards on 28 carries) Northwestern football won the first of their two “Privileged Elite Bowl” games by taking down Stanford, a 13 point favorite. They’ll travel to Duke on September 19th. Getting at least a split in these two marquee non-conference games puts them in great shape for a potential bowl.
Pat Fitzgerald is now 9-1 in season openers. Following a summer of low expectations, Northwestern football fans should expect some votes in both polls this week. This NU’s first season opening home win over a ranked opponent since 1967.
“There’s no reason anybody should’ve talked about us. We had no evidence from the way that we finished last year. But we had a lot of evidence from the way we worked this offseason,” said Fitzgerald.
“We had a great great plan, and I want to thank Mother Nature for the weather in Chicago. We expected the heat and humidity,” Fitzgerald added.
Kickoff temperature was 74 degrees, but it got into the mid 80s as the afternoon progressed, and the humidity was 85% in Evanston, Illinois today.
“I think our defense dominated today, that’s as good a performance as I’ve seen,” added Fitzgerald.
Indeed, this Northwestern football team limited Stanford to just 240 yards of total offense. It was on a national stage too. This was ESPN’s national game in the morning window. Not ESPN2 or ESPNU but the mothership, and as consequence both “Northwestern” and “Stanford” were nationally top ten trending terms on Twitter in the late morning, early afternoon.
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net, which is part of the FOX Sports Engage Network. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes to the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. He also appears regularly on numerous talk radio stations all across the country. Catch him Tuesdays on KOZN 1620 the Zone.
Follow him on Twitter and Instagram