Northwestern begins its 123rd season tonight at 6:30 p.m. CT in Nashville where our Wildcats will face Vanderbilt University’s Commodores. Both teams are the only private universities in their conferences (the Big Ten and the SEC, respectively) so while it may not be Saturday’s best season-opener, it quite possibly might be the smartest. Click below to join our live blog of the game, beginning at 6 p.m., and follow us as we follow Drake Dunsmore, Dan Persa and the rest of the Wildcats in Vanderbilt Stadium.

Northwestern lacrosse defeated Johns Hopkins Friday night 11-7 at Lakeside Field. Senior Danielle Spencer led the ‘Cats with three goals.

The Cardiac ‘Cats stayed true to their name Valentine’s Day as they edged out a 77-74 win over the Minnesota Gophers. The Wildcats came back from a 13-point deficit in the second period. Sunday’s game at Welsh-Ryan Arena attracted some 6,000 spectators. John Shurna and Drew Crawford led the ‘Cats, putting up 22 and 18 points, respectively.

The Northwestern Wildcats beat the Michigan Wolverines Tuesday night with a decisive 67-52 victory. Freshman Drew Crawford scored a team-high 17 points and sophomore John Shurna followed with another 15 points. The Wildcats’ defense held Michigan’s Manny Harris, the Big Ten’s leading scorer, to only 11 points, eight below his average per game. While the Wildcats put on a stellar performance on the court, Northwestern fans who attended the game also brought their A-game by donating supplies to benefit the Haiti relief effort.

After eleven straight losses to the Illinois Fighting Illini, including last month’s heartbreaking overtime loss, Northwestern finally beat their Big Ten rival 73-68 Saturday night at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Senior Jeremy Nash scored a team-high 22 points and John Shurna finished the game with 19 points, including 12 during Northwestern’ strong second-half performance.

The Big Ten Network sponsored a slam dunk contest and a three-point shootout Thursday night, as part of their show Hoops on Campus. Former Northwestern player Tim Doyle, former NBA all-star Jim Jackson and Big Ten Network anchor Mike Hall served as judges. You can watch the show Friday night at 9:00 p.m. Central time on the Big Ten Network.

Weinberg sophomore Oliver Kupe won the slam dunk contest and McCormick senior Tom Wallace won the three-point contest. Watch them below.

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It truly was senior night Saturday at Ryan Field as the upperclassmen led the Northwestern Wildcats to an upset over highly ranked Wisconsin, beating the Badgers 33-31.

The seniors stole the show, led by quarterback Mike Kafka. Kafka completed 65 percent of his passes, throwing for 326 yards and two touchdowns. Wide receiver Andrew Brewer was his primary target, ending his regular season career by catching six balls for 102 yards and two touchdowns. Another senior weapon on offense, wide receiver Zeke Markshausen, was relatively quiet catching the ball, but threw a pass 38 yards to junior receiver Sidney Stewart for a touchdown.

The defensive seniors played up to expectations as well. Safety Brad Phillips led the way with 12 tackles, including a sack, and added multiple key pass deflections. Defensive end Corey Wootton continued his late resurgence with four tackles and a sack of his own.

The ‘Cats were in control from the start, jumping out to a quick 10-0 lead after the first quarter behind effective passing by Kafka and staunch defense. After the Badgers erupted for 14 unanswered points to take the lead, though, the ‘Cats showed their resilience by finishing the half strong and went to the locker room behind a 27-14 lead.

At first, it looked like Northwestern was going to have another second half collapse. Wisconsin outscored the ‘Cats 10-3 in the third quarter behind the bludgeoning running style of sophomore halfback John Clay.

Clay, who is the frontrunner for Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year, finished the day with 100 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries. His 6 foot 1 inch frame, supported by 248 pounds of pure muscle, wore down the ‘Cats defense over the course of the game.

Junior quarterback Scott Tolzien took advantage of the solid running game. He finished the day with 235 yards and two touchdowns, completing 19 of 30 passes on the day.

After an early Badgers touchdown in the fourth quarter, everything slowed down. The offenses suddenly stopped functioning, and began exchanging punts.

Wisconsin took over with just more than three minutes left in the game, and seemed like it was going to get in position for the winning field goal. But with 1:44 left in the game, junior linebacker Quentin Davie forced a Clay fumble, giving the ‘Cats the ball back. A Jordan Mabin interception in the final minute would seal the deal for Northwestern.

The victory puts the ‘Cats in great position for the Champs Sports Bowl, or at the very least the Alamo Bowl. The ‘Cats and Badgers will finish the year tied for fourth in the Big Ten with a conference record of 5-3, making Wisconsin’s game next week against Hawaii all-important. If the Badgers falter again, the ‘Cats could potentially jump to the Outback Bowl.

In Northwestern’s 67-54 defeat to #10 Butler at Welsh-Ryan Arena Wednesday night, there was clearly one thing missing: Kevin Coble.

The senior forward will miss the rest of the season after having surgery to repair a Lisfranc fracture in his left foot, taking away his 15.5 points per game with him. Given the vast offensive dry spells against the Bulldogs, the Wildcats needed those points.

Too often, the ball would just swing around the arc of the three-point line, resulting in too many contested jumpers. They never really found a way to establish a post game with either Luka Mirkovic or John Shurna, and they couldn’t really shake free for many open looks behind the 3-point line or create many layups. Point blank, baskets were just too hard to come by.

Some credit goes to Butler, who was playing a tight and physical man-to-man defense throughout the entire night. Nevertheless, Northwestern was never really able to challenge the defense and force the action in the ways necessary.

Butler never really respected Northwestern’s ability to beat them off the dribble, and it showed. The Bulldogs were in the jerseys of Northwestern players all night. No easy buckets, barely any open looks, a nonexistent fast-break game.

Who are the ‘Cats supposed to go to when they are in desperate need of a basket? Mirkovic had a difficult time dealing with the strength of Butler inside, especially Matt Howard. Jeremy Nash was an offensive afterthought for most of the game after a strong first game. Michael “Juice” Thompson didn’t make an impact on the second half until the tail end, when the game was basically decided.

What’s the problem offensively? Northwestern was just too predictable. On virtually every offensive possession, they tried to set up some kind of post-up for either Mirkovic or Shurna, and when Butler had an answer for it, the offense didn’t adjust.

I have no problem with the ‘Cats’ Princeton offense, but when the defense has pretty much figured out how to stop the offense in key stretches, there have to be some adjustments. Coble would clearly help in these situations, where he could create his own shot in ways that other guys on the team just don’t. Instead, you have to find other ways to score when a defense has figured you out.

More pick and rolls and dribble-drive action with Juice would be a start, letting him create for himself and others in the lane. This would force the action on the defense, instead of reacting to what they are doing to you.

Anything that is attacking the rim is good, which was evident in the Northern Illinois game where the ‘Cats lived at the free throw line and were able to create a lot of opportunities outside the arc when the defense collapsed inside. Or, the defense is going to have to create more opportunities in the open court, where Nash thrives, off of turnovers and long rebounds.

Nevertheless, it’s going to be an adjustment without Coble for the whole season. It’s too hard (and early) to try to prognosticate what Northwestern is going to do from here on out without Coble on such a small sampling but a few things will be key to whether they break the infamous NCAA tournament appearance (or lack thereof) streak.

First, they have to rebound better. They let Butler grab 10 offensive boards. When you’re struggling offensively, you can’t give the opponent more opportunities to score.

Second, they can’t let teams shoot 47 percent from the field. The focus of this team really needs to shift to the defensive end, and they need to try to fix the holes in the 2-1-2 zone defense, because Butler really began to exploit the weaknesses, a lot like Ohio State did in the final game of the regular season last season.

Third, get to the line and make the free throws – it should be easy money. When you’re struggling offensively, getting to the line is the surest way to get points, something the ‘Cats couldn’t do with consistency against Butler.

It’s a long season, but this is only the beginning of Northwestern basketball sans Coble.

It’s almost too easy to predict what’s going to happen in a Northwestern football game. The ‘Cats will play one half of tremendous football that makes you step back and think, “Hey, that’s a good team.” Then there’ll be a crucial injury and everything will unravel.

That’s what happened Saturday evening when Northwestern hosted Penn State on parents’ weekend. After leading 13-10 at halftime, the ‘Cats fell apart as the Nittany Lions exploded for a huge second half en route to a 34-13 victory.

Northwestern played without star senior quarterback Mike Kafka the entire second half and sophomore Dan Persa was unable to move the ball effectively down the field. Penn State took advantage of great field position and put up 24 points in the second half.

Head coach Pat Fitzgerald attributes the second half collapse to a shift in attitude and composure, rather than on having Persa in at quarterback.

“It’s about big plays and execution and playing physical and doing it for 60 minutes, and as a coaching staff we’re not getting guys to do that consistently enough, and that’s on us,” Fitzgerald said. “We lost our attitude, and when you lose your attitude, you lose your stinger and you lose your physicality.”

The difference between the first and second half, though, was tremendous. Kafka completed more than 77 percent of his passes for 128 yards, adding 46 yards and a touchdown with his legs. He moved the ball down the field with grace, hitting open receivers routinely and taking off with his feet when there was nothing available.

Persa, on the other hand, was questionable. He completed barely more than 60 percent of his passes for 115 yards, although he did add 42 yards on the ground. While Northwestern converted 15 first downs in the first half, the Persa-led offense could only produce nine first downs in the second half, including two three and out drives.

Although Fitzgerald didn’t blame Persa, the young quarterback put the weight of the game on his shoulders.

“I didn’t play hard enough to get the win, and that’s what matters,” Persa said. “Penn State is a top team and it’s good experience, but it still doesn’t excuse how I played. I didn’t get it done.”

There were some bright spots for the ‘Cats, though. The team showed that it could compete with one of the best teams in the nation, and actually looked like the better team after the first half. Senior wide receiver Zeke Markshausen continued his impressive year, with nine receptions for 60 yards while fellow senior wide receiver Andrew Brewer added 65 yards on six catches of his own.

Defensively, the ‘Cats were fairly dominant in the first half, showing impressive composure in the red zone. After the break, Penn State had little to no trouble moving the ball. Senior quarterback Daryll Clark had only 99 yards passing in the first half, and the Nittany Lions combined for only 37 yards on the ground in the half as well. The second half was clearly a different story, as Clark ended the game with 274 yards passing and Penn State exploded for 163 yards rushing, with three touchdowns on the ground to boot.

The ‘Cats played without star senior cornerback Sherrick McManis, who was sidelined with a leg injury. Sophomore walk-on Ricky Weina played in his place, recording five tackles and a pass break-up after an impressive performance last week against Indiana.

“[Weina] made a couple plays and was in the right places at the right time,” senior safety Brad Phillips said. “I didn’t expect any less because of what he did in practice this week.”

Phillips said that he felt like a “broken record” because of how many collapses Northwestern has had this season.

“We just didn’t do our job in the fourth quarter. Penn State took advantage of us when we didn’t make plays. Teams have been taking advantage of us when we haven’t been doing our jobs appropriately.”

Read our liveblog of Saturday’s game below.

Though it seemed headed towards a blowout loss for most of the first half, Saturday’s homecoming game concluded as arguably the greatest win of the season for the Northwestern Wildcats. On Saturday, the Cardiac ‘Cats pulled off a school-record 25 point comeback to defeat Indiana 29-28.

After trailing from 20 seconds into the first quarter, Northwestern took its first lead of the game with 21 seconds remaining in the game when Stefan Demos hit a 19-yard field goal.

With the little remaining time Indiana attempted to get itself back in field goal range, but a 59 yard field goal try by Nick Freeland fell well short, giving the ‘Cats their fifth win of the season.

The late game heroics of Demos were necessitated because of dismal first half by Northwestern that saw the ‘Cats fall behind 28-3.

“It wasn’t a Picasso, but it’s a win,” said head coach Pat Fitzgerald.

The ‘Cats got off to a terrible start. On the first play from scrimmage, Darius Willis broke to the right sideline for a 70-yard touchdown run, very quickly putting Northwestern in a hole.

Indiana extended that lead to 21 by early in the second quarter on touchdown runs by Ben Chappell and Willis.

“I thought we came in prepared, but we sure didn’t execute very well,” said Fitzgerald. “We were just a little out of sync.”

Finally, getting the ‘Cats on the board, Demos knocked in a 28-yard field goal. The relief of breaking the shutout was short-lived, however, as on the ensuing kickoff, Ray Fisher broke free for a 93-yard return for a touchdown.

Brought to the brink of a blowout, Northwestern responded with 26 straight points over the remaining two and half quarters to steal what seemed like a sure win for the Hoosiers.

“After the long touchdown return,” Fitzgerald said, “we started to play as good of football as we’ve played as a team maybe all year.”

After only completing two of eight passes for 14 yards and rushing once for eight yards in the first quarter, Mike Kafka found success with both his arm and his feet, scoring once on the ground and twice through the air.

By halftime, the ‘Cats had cut the deficit to 11 on a run by Kafka and a brilliant eight yard touch pass that found Zeke Markshausen in the back right corner of the end zone with seven seconds left.

During halftime, Corey Wootton, who got his first sack of the season, gave what Scott Concannon described as a “very emotional” speech. That speech certainly seemed to have an effect on the defense, which held Indiana scoreless for the final 37:46 of the game.

That effect was immediately felt in the third quarter when, after the defense forced a punt from the Indiana 23, Ricky Weina, playing for an injured Sherrick McManis, blocked the punt. Though the ‘Cats were unable to recover the fumble, they did tackle Terrance Thomas in the end zone for a safety.

Indiana threatened to rebuild its shrinking lead, getting down to the Northwestern one yard line. However, a tremendous goal line effort forced a turnover on downs when Ben Johnson brought down Mitchell Evans at the two.

In the fourth quarter, the ‘Cats pulled within a field goal on a 51-yard strike from Kafka to Andrew Brewer.

Thanks to the renewed defensive effort of the ‘Cats, Indiana was forced to punt and stopped on another fourth down try, allowing Demos to nail his second game-winning field goal of the year.

Despite the slow start for Kafka, he finished with 377 total yards, including 312 passing, with three touchdowns. Kafka was however picked off three times, all in the second half.

Fitzgerald said that not all of the blame for those interceptions should fall on Kafka, as one interception was caused by “a breakdown in execution between [Kafka] and a receiver,” he said. “Mike gets the interception, but it wasn’t all Mike’s fault.”

Kafka showed continued rapport with Brewer and Markshausen, completing eight passes to each player for 135 and 94 yards, respectively.

Northwestern may have found its new feature back in Concannon, who averaged 4.6 yards per carry for 74 yards.

Concannon showed great agility and was able to evade defenders with quick direction changes, prompting Markshausen to nickname him “Cut-cannon.”

Surprise, surprise! Northwestern’s defense finally came to play during Sunday’s game at Ryan Field.

Celebrating the inauguration of incoming Northwestern president Morton O. Schapiro and remembering the life and services of former Miami of Ohio and Northwestern head coach Randy Walker, Northwestern pulled out a victory over Miami by a score of 16-6, closing out the non-conference slate for the Wildcats in 2008.

Through the first five games of the season, the story of the Wildcats’ season was the struggling of its acclaimed defense. However, on Saturday it was the offense that struggled while the defense lived up to its billing.

The ‘Cats offense got off to a quick start and it looked like yet another blowout against a Miami team that has lost by an average of 29 points per game. On the first drive of the game, Mike Kafka completed his first three passes to lead the offense deep into Miami territory. Once the drive stalled, Stefan Demos kicked a 46-yard field goal to put the ‘Cats up 3-0. Two drives later, the ‘Cats drove 73 yards on 12 plays to take a 10-0 lead, capped off by a 6-yard touchdown run by Kafka.

Northwestern’s defense looked much like the dominating unit of 2008, shutting out the RedHawks during an uneventful first half in which they allowed less than three yards per play. Despite being without the services of All-American DE Corey Wootton, and later losing FS Brendan Smith to a hand injury during the game, the vulnerable Miami offense gave the Wildcats plenty of opportunities to capitalize on QB hurries and sacks. In total, Northwestern racked up seven sacks for the day, eclipsing the Wildcats’ season total of five coming into the game.

After their quick start, the Northwestern offense, bearing the load all year for the Wildcats, looked surprisingly tame. The coaching staff did away with the screen passes and short-yard plays in favor of mid-range out routes and post routes, trusting the efficient arm of QB Mike Kafka, who came into the game third in the country in completion percentage. However, Kafka struggled in the first half, completing only 10 passes on 19 attempts, and ended the game a mediocre 15-for-31 with one interception.

“We played pretty well on offense, but we’re nowhere near where we want to be right now,” said Coach Pat Fitzgerald after the victory.

“We got the win today, and we just have to learn from this and grow. We have got to get more points on the board,” Kafka said.

The run game was also suspect. Although Stephen Simmons returned this week, he rushed only twice for three yards. The Wildcats had only 128 yards rushing against a defense that has allowed an average of 172 yards per game on the ground. After the game Coach Fitzgerald said, “We have to run the ball better. Our offensive line needs to get better.”

On his personal involvement and play, running back Jacob Schmidt added, “It’s an 11-man operation, and I have to do my part the best I can.”

Coming into the game, Miami led the nation in turnovers, while Northwestern had come off a week where the defense forced six turnovers against Purdue. The trend continued late in the first quarter, when LB Nate Williams picked off a long 4th down conversion attempt. A couple of hard hits during the first half rang the proverbial bell of the defense’s homecoming into 2009 mid-year form, one by Peters that resulted in a disputable penalty and another by SS Brendan Smith against RedHawk QB Zac Dysert to end the first half.

In the second half, both offenses never broke out of their respective funks, as receivers dropped easy passes and the running games were mediocre at best. Northwestern’s defense remained the trump card, however. Safety Brian Peters bobbled and intercepted a pass on Miami’s first drive of the second half, and later recovered a fumble that was forced by LB Quentin Davie. CB Sherrick McManis also got in on the turnover party, notching an interception to his stats in the fourth quarter for his third straight game with an interception. Multiple Northwestern defenders racked up huge tackle and sack totals, with both Williams and SS Brad Phillips leading the way with 12 and 11 tackles, respectively.

Although the Northwestern defense consistently gave the offense excellent field position, the ‘Cats failed to pull away, frequently squandering opportunities in Miami’s territory. Early in the second quarter, Demos had a 40-yard field goal blocked. Two drives later, Kafka failed to complete a pass on fourth and 1 from the Miami 31 yard line. Despite the oftentimes stagnant state of the Wildcats’ offense, QB Mike Kafka did his best to keep drives alive, using his feet to put up yards on the ground and escaping would-be sacks against the RedHawks defensive line and making use of his dual-threat abilities.

DE Vince Browne said, “We still got the win. We still got to him seven times, probably more [...] The sky’s the limit for the defense.”

Miami’s offense, despite being shut out, was still a headache for the revived Northwestern defense. Operating between short and long passes and sprinkled run plays, QB Zac Dysert kept many drives alive with feet, improvising on blown pass plays by running for large gains for first downs. Late in the fourth quarter, Miami’s offense finally broke up the shutout on a 23 yard pass to wide receiver Andy Cruse. However, the ‘Cats defense thwarted the two point conversion and recovered Miami’s onside kick attempt, sealing the win.

With a vaunted Northwestern defense hitting its stride with seven sacks today and 10 turnovers in two games, the question now shifts back to the offense and the coaching staff’s plan against a formidable Michigan State squad that is steamrolling through the Big Ten schedule with gusto. The Wildcats face off against the Spartans next Saturday, October 17th in East Lansing, Mich.

Check out our liveblog of Saturday’s game.

The Wildcats are experiencing a bit of déjà vu. Another Saturday, another early deficit overcome, another fourth quarter lead, another loss sealed by a late turnover.

Northwestern lost its Big Ten opener to Minnesota 35-24 Saturday at Ryan Field. Despite leading 24-21 at the start of the fourth quarter, the Northwestern defense was unable to hold on to the lead.

“It was definitely a rough one because we know we had it,” senior quarterback Mike Kafka said. “We had it grasped, fourth quarter with the lead.”

After trailing by as much as 11 points, the ‘Cats grabbed their first lead of the game late in the third quarter on a 13-yard touchdown pass from Kafka to senior superback Brendan Mitchell. Northwestern relied on it aerial attack for the drive, marching from its own 21-yard line to the Minnesota 13-yard line.

Faced with a fourth-and-two, head coach Pat Fitzgerald elected to go for the lead rather than three points, which still would have left the ‘Cats down 21-20. Kafka found Mitchell in the back-left corner of the end zone, and despite bobbling the catch initially, Mitchell managed to haul in the pass to give the ‘Cats their lead.

That lead simply would not stick for the ‘Cats though, as Minnesota responded to the deficit with a powerful ground attack, supplemented by a 27-yard completion from junior quarterback Adam Weber to sophomore wide receiver Brandon Green. The drive was capped off by a four-yard touchdown rush by sophomore running back Duane Bennett, his third score of the game.

With a chance to take back the lead and steal a win from Minnesota, Northwestern instead faltered. Kafka fumbled twice in final two and a half minutes, including one that Minnesota recovered on the Northwestern three-yard line.

Similar to last week’s loss to Syracuse, Kafka once again had no trouble moving the ball through the air, completing 32 of 47 passes for 309 yards and two touchdowns. Kafka has now thrown for over 300 yards in consecutive weeks, making him the first Northwestern quarterback to achieve that feat since C.J. Bacher did it in 2007.

Senior wide receiver Zeke Markshausen, who was Kafka’s favorite target, catching six balls for 70 yards, attributed Kafka’s improved passing accuracy on “his work ethic. There’s no man out there that probably works harder.”

However, with Kafka’s moments of aerial brilliance also came three costly turnovers.

“I think I need to pick my game up a little bit more,” said Kafka. “We left some points out there.”

As strong as Northwestern’s passing game was, the Wildcats’ defense struggled to slow Minnesota. Northwestern surrendered 166 yards rushing, including 89 to Bennett.

The Gophers’ success on the ground stemmed largely from the Northwestern’s difficulty to tackle on first contact. The frequency of missed tackles caused Fitzgerald to describe his team’s tackling as “awful.”

The ‘Cats defense got off to a rough start when on Minnesota’s first drive of the game, the Golden Gophers took only five plays to score. After rushes of seven and nine yards, and passes of 20 and 21 yards, Bennett got into the end zone for his first score of the day from one-yard out.

The Cats responded with a slow, methodical 19-play drive, including five straight third-down conversions, but the offense stalled inside the red zone due to a holding penalty and settled for a 26-yard field goal by Stefan Demos.

In a Minnesota drive eerily similar to the Gophers’ first of the game, Weber made passing connections with seniors wide receiver Eric Decker and tight end Ni Tow-Arnett for 20 and 16 yards respectively, before Bennett punched it in on a three-yard rush. With the four-play drive, the Gophers extended their lead to 11.

Decker and Tow-Arnett almost entirely comprised Minnesota’s receiving options. The duo combined for 13 of the team’s 15 receptions, and 149 of the team’s 186 receiving yards.

After Bennet’s touchdown put Northwestern down 11, the Wildcats wasted no time in responding to the increased deficit as Kafka led a solid passing drive down the field. True freshman Arby Fields got Northwestern its first touchdown of the day with a two-yard run.

Northwestern threatened to score once more to take the lead at the end of the half, but Kafka was intercepted at the Minnesota two-yard line by Kim Royston, sealing a 14-10 halftime score.

“I overthrew him,” said Kafka. “That was my fault on that one. It was just a poor decision.”

“We’ve just got to take care of the football in the red zone,” said Fitzgerald. “You can’t turn it over going in, and you can’t turn it over backed up,” he said, referring also to Kafka’s two fourth quarter fumbles that came within Northwestern’s own 20-yard line.

While war veterans filled the stands to celebrate Heroes’ Day at Ryan Field, junior kicker Stefan Demos was the only true hero on the football field Saturday in the Wildcats’ second game of the season. Northwestern narrowly defeated Eastern Michigan University, with Demos kicking the game-winning 49-yard field goal with 11 seconds left in the game.

Though the ‘Cats can add one more win to their tally, Northwestern’s performance in this non-conference game is a surprising disappointment for the team and their fans, especially after their crushing victory over Towson last Saturday.

Head coach Pat Fitzgerald said this near-loss was caused by “self-inflicted wounds and not continuing to play our style of football [...] We made a lot of big plays, but we also gave up a lot of big plays.”

Ending the first half of the game leading 21-3, the Wildcats seemed destined for a commanding victory. Northwestern’s offense dominated throughout, scoring a touchdown in both the first and second quarters.

Junior halfback Stephen Simmons started out with an impressive game, rushing for two touchdowns and 73 yards. Simmons also returned kickoffs for 108 yards and caught a 15-yard pass.

The ‘Cats final touchdown was completed by sophomore linebacker Ben Johnson. Johnson intercepted an Eagles’ pass and ran the ball 70 yards the other way to score.

Sophomore superback Drake Dunsmore was responsible for 48 of the Wildcats’ 158 receiving yards, the highest for the team today; however, other big names in the ‘Cats offense were far less present in the game. Senior starting wide receiver Andrew Brewer moved the ball only 18 yards today, compared to his 145 yards against Towson. Running back Arby Fields also gained only 5 rushing yards today, compared to 48 yards last week.

Another major disappointment of Northwestern’s game was its defense, especially in the second half. Starting in the third quarter, the Wildcat linemen let the Eagles move the ball quickly down the field with some big rushing and passing plays. This allowed Eastern Michigan to score their first touchdown, bringing the score to 21-10.

Eastern Michigan continued to control the second half of the game, scoring two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter. The final score by senior running back Terrence Blevins tied the game at 24-24 with 2:40 left.

After receiving back-to-back penalties for holding and pass interference, Northwestern found itself at the midfield line, first down and 35 yards, with 43 seconds left on the clock. The ‘Cats managed to bring the ball to the Eagles’ 32-yard line with 11 seconds left, leaving the game in the hands — or feet, rather — of kicker Stefan Demos.

“It’s a kicker’s dream to kick a game-winning field goal,” Demos said after the game. “I just played my game.”

While Demos and a few others helped save the team from defeat, the Wildcats have a lot of work to do before they begin playing more challenging opponents in their Big Ten conference games.

“We’re going to need to correct these things in a hurry,” Coach Fitzgerald said. “It was a disappointment. We should be better than that.”

Next week, Northwestern takes on Syracuse on the road. Hopefully, there will be more than one hero on the field in New York for the Wildcats.

Check out our liveblog of Saturday’s game.

Fans did a double-take Saturday afternoon at Ryan Field when they saw #19 cut through the Towson defense and streak down the sideline for a 22-yard touchdown, his second of the quarter. No, it wasn’t Tyrell Sutton back for another exciting year at NU — it was true freshman halfback Arby Fields, who amassed 48 yards and two touchdowns in Northwestern’s 47-14 win over Towson University.

Fields was just one weapon in the Cats’ rushing arsenal Saturday. Junior halfback Stephen Simmons bludgeoned his way to a tough 77 yards on 18 carries and sophomore Scott Concannon ran for 32 yards and two touchdowns. Northwestern racked up an impressive 485 yards on the day, 221 of which were on the ground.

Even more exciting was senior quarterback Mike Kafka, who went 15-20 for 192 yards, completing his first seven throws for 92 yards. Known for his success running the ball last season, Kafka found himself more than comfortable in the pocket.

“It felt good. We just took what the defense gave us,” Kafka said. “Our playmakers stepped up and made plays.”

The ‘Cats struck early and often when sophomore Jacob Schmidt found the end zone on a 2-yard touchdown run seven minutes into the game after a pair of Kafka completions to senior wide receiver Andrew Brewer. Brewer finished the day with six catches for 145 yards and a touchdown.

The Wildcats’ next two drives both culminated in touchdowns by Arby Fields from 2 and 22 yards to give the Cats a 21-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Towson struggled offensively on the day against a staunch Northwestern defense that held the Tigers to 65 rushing yards and just 205 total yards. It was only until the last play of the first quarter that the Towson offense was able to move the chains. The Cats’ defense was spearheaded by junior linebackers Quentin Davie, who had nine tackles, and Nate Williams, who had seven tackles. Junior cornerback Justin Vaughn nabbed an interception on the Northwestern goal line to end the first half.

Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald attributed his team’s success to the different halfbacks he employed to wear down the Towson defense.

“They’ve all got different strengths,” Fitzgerald said. “We can utilize what they do well and play to their strengths […] That makes us very difficult to defend.”

The Tigers’ two scores came on a 1-yard touchdown run by Tremayne Dameron and a 33-yard touchdown reception by wide receiver David Newsom.

Towson’s Peter Athens threw 25 times for 140 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. Northwestern second-string quarterback Dan Persa went 1-2 for 72 yards, with one touchdown and one interception.