[dropcap]I[/dropcap]s this deja vu all over again?
I’m referring to the 2013 collapse by the Northwestern Wildcats (5-2, 1-2 Big Ten) when that Pat Fitzgerald led squad started 4-0 but then lost their final 7 games. Fitzgerald and this years team is trying to avoid that type of collapse after starting 5-0 and now having two bad losses in back to back games.
The undefeated Iowa Hawkeyes (7-0, 3-0 Big Ten) infiltrated Evanston on Saturday and put up 492 total yards on the Wildcats once stifling defense in route to a 40-10 victory.
Hawkeye starting tail back Jordan Canzeri went down in the first quarter with an ankle injury and then Akrum Wadley happened for Iowa. Wadley stepped in and ran for 204 yards on the ground and tied a school record with four rushing touchdowns to carry the 17th ranked Hawkeyes to victory. Wadley came into the contest with only eight carries on the year so this performance was not something that was expected.
“Next man in — we’ve got four great backs (and) it’s just big play waiting to happen,” Wadley stated. “Any one of us is capable of making big runes and I just stepped up to the plate.”
The Wildcats tallied 10 second quarter points to bring the score within 6 as they were down 16-10 at the half. Northwestern failed to score for the remainder of the game.
“We’ll get right back to work… the team has to make a decision. (Are we) the team that won five games and made plays and we’re making plays all over the place, or (are we) a team the last two weeks quite frankly that is void of making plays.” Coach Fitzgerald stated.
Wildcat quarterback Clayton Thorson completed 17 of his 35 passing attempts for a meager 125 yards with 1 TD and 1 INT. Zack Oliver took some snaps as well behind center and was 3 for 8 for 22 yards.
The running game hasn’t been the same the past two weeks as it was during the Wildcats 5-0 start. Justin Jackson tallied 30 yards on the ground on 10 carries and the team had a combined 51 yards on 26 carries for a lackluster 2.0 yards per carry.
Next up on the schedule is a date Saturday morning with the 3-4 Nebraska Cornhuskers at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln. The Wildcats are looking to get back on track and hopefully find that swagger that they had the first five weeks.
