Five Things We Learned from Northwestern-Maryland

Coming into Friday night on a short week of rest and with Maryland favored by 10.5 points, Northwestern upset Maryland 37-10 and claimed its first Big Ten win of the season. Never trailing once, the Wildcats dominated the Terps’ on both sides of the ball as Jack Lausch seemed to find his offensive rhythm. Here are five things we learned from a game that no one thought NU could win.

Northwestern has Maryland’s number

This is the second year in a row where the Wildcats upset the Terrapins in surprising fashion. Last October, Northwestern again entered their contest against Maryland as the underdogs. Every InsideNU score prediction saw Maryland rolling through the Cats. However, Northwestern kept up with the Terrapins through the entire game, putting up 33 points. It all came down to the last Maryland drive where an interception deep in NU territory by Coco Azema put the Terrapins away for good.

History tends to repeat itself with Northwestern again entering their game against Maryland as the underdog. Again, every InsideNU score prediction saw the Terrapins outpacing the Wildcats offensively. This year, however, the game did not come down to the wire as it did last year. From the end of the first quarter, it was evident that Northwestern had found an offensive rhythm and that the defense would continue to pressure Maryland quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. all night. NU entered halftime up 17-7. Both teams went scoreless in the third, but Northwestern got back into their groove in the fourth outscoring Maryland 20-3 to end the game. In the past two years, no matter the situation, the betting odds, who’s healthy, who’s not, or anything else, as long as Northwestern is playing Maryland, the Cats are sure to show out.

Luke Akers thrives in expanded role

Starting kicker Jack Olsen is currently week-to-week dealing with a lower-body injury and was listed as out for Friday’s game. This meant kicking duties fell on Luke Akers, the Wildcats’ punter. An NU senior, Akers has never handled kicking duties before. But that didn’t stop him from putting on a kicking spectacle. Akers was perfect on three field goal attempts — with his longest being from 43 yards out — and four extra points, singlehandedly outscoring the Terrapins. Luke Akers is the son of six-time Pro Bowl kicker David Akers, so it is no wonder he rose to the kicking occasion.

Akers still punted spectacularly throughout the game. The Wildcats punted five times, two of which Akers was able to land within the Maryland 20-yard line. His kicking masterclass also set up a few electrifying special teams plays.

Lausch continues to improve every week (and he can run?!)

When Jack Lausch has time in the pocket, it’s easy to see that he has true arm talent. The key word there is “time”. To start the game against Maryland, the O-line continually collapsed on Lausch, forcing him to scramble or rush his passes for little to no gain. This can partially be attributed to the fact that Northwestern has been without its starting center Jack Bailey since the Washington game. As time passed though, the O-line seemed to find a system and got Lausch some time, resulting in a few beautiful deep balls over the middle to Kirtz and Henning. Lausch ended the game 10/18 with 203 air yards. When the O-line holds up, Lausch throws a good ball.

Lausch also put his running skills on full display, rushing eight times fora total of 24 yards and a touchdown. What the stats don’t say though is that he looked athletic and competent as a run threat, outpacing defenders and not avoiding contact when necessary. As the season progresses, he can absolutely cement himself as a competent and productive dual-threat QB in the Big Ten.

Forget a Wildcat Offense, let’s talk about this Wildcat Defense

It’s hard to name an MVP for the Maryland game. Lausch made the right plays and the right reads when necessary. Bryce Kirtz converted on third down and made some big plays. Our vote, however, would have to go to the entirety of the Wildcat Defensive line. It feels like cheating to name the entire D-line the MVP, but they looked insane Friday night. Three fumble recoveries. Three sacks. One touchdown. All night, Northwestern’s defense made these big plays and profited off them. Even moving away from the stats, just the eye test could tell you everything you need to know. Billy Edwards Jr. was traumatized all night by a ferocious defensive line that swarmed him every play. The ‘Cats essentially removed Maryland’s run game from the face of the Earth, giving up only 59 rushing yards on 33 attempts (and even that mostly came from a single 20-yard run).

The secondary is still a point of weakness in this Wildcat defense though, allowing nearly 300 passing yards. Thankfully, on multiple occasions, the D-line pressured Billy Edwards Jr. into some rushed passes. This is exactly what happened when Edwards Jr. threw his first interception in his last 88 passes late in the fourth quarter, as Damon Walters came down with it. For the rest of the season, this defensive line should remain a strong point for Northwestern and force a substantial number turnovers. But if that D-line wasn’t cooking like they were Friday night, that NU secondary would not have been able to effectively guard against that Terrapin passing game, and the score would have looked much more like the predictions than what actually happened. Against a good O-line, this secondary is really going to have to step up.

Crazy Kirtz Connection

Bryce Kirtz has to be Jack Lausch’s favorite target at this point in the season, and he can do a whole lot with very little. Kirtz only caught three balls all night but notched 123 receiving yards. That’s an average of 41 yards per catch! The Wildcats remain a non-pass-heavy offense, only attempting 18 passes Friday night. But if their receivers can average over 20 yards per catch like they did on Friday, they don’t need to attempt 50 passes a night. As Lausch gets more comfortable in NU’s offensive scheme and gains more confidence in his throwing ability through impressive games like this, those passing attempts will steadily go up. After all, he has the weapons (Kirtz, Henning, Gordon) to do that. Northwestern will go on to face Wisconsin this Saturday, October 19th, in another Big Ten matchup, and Lausch is will need Kirtz and crew to keep up with the Badgers’ offense.