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.

At risk of dropping the opening set at No. 14 Minnesota, Maryland volleyball desperately needed some production out of its front row. Middle blocker Eva Rohrbach, the team’s leader in total blocks with 61, did exactly that.

Rohrbach leaped up with her teammate and outside hitter Sydney Bryant, combining for a block that cut the Maryland deficit to 22-20. This, however, was a rare occurrence for the Terps in the match, as they were thoroughly out-blocked, 19-2, in a straight-set loss on Saturday night.

“If you don’t take enough pressure, you just end up having a ton of offense back at you,” head coach Adam Hughes said. “It’s hard as you’re trying to find different altitudes and edges of blocks. We’re finding the blocks fine, just not finding the edges that we want.”

After Friday night’s first straight set loss of the season against No. 9 Wisconsin, Maryland faced another tough road test in Minnesota. Less than 24 hours after their previous game, the Terps found themselves outmatched once again.

The Golden Gophers got themselves out to an early 7-3 lead after multiple Maryland errors and two kills from outside hitter Lydia Grote. But the Terps responded with a joint-block from middle blocker Anastasia Russ and outside hitter Sam Csire, cutting the deficit to one.

Kills from pin hitter Samantha Schnitta and Csire gave Maryland a short-lived lead. Schnitta, like she’s done all season long, kept the Terps in the opening set with three more kills. With Minnesota up, 19-18, it recorded three consecutive points, putting Maryland at risk of finding itself quickly out of the set.

A kill and service ace from Schnitta dwindled the Golden Gophers lead to one. Two kills from outside hitter Julia Hanson and Minnesota’s sixth team block of the first set closed it out, though, as the Terps fell, 25-21.

“Schnitta didn’t have as many aces, but she did have a better serving night than she did at Wisconsin,” Hughes said. “She got a bunch of out-of-system balls. That was one of the things that was a little bit frustrating, we were serving pretty well and still getting knocked out.”

Just like in the opening set, Maryland found itself down early in the second set, 9-2. A kill from Schnitta and Russ were sandwiched by four total blocks from the Golden Gophers’ middle blocker Phoebe Awoleye. Grote recorded three kills during this stretch, while Awoleye and outside hitter Alex Acevedo each tallied a kill.

Schnitta tried to spark some momentum for the Terps with a kill, but Minnesota quickly responded with five of the next seven points, including a service ace and kill from Grote. Trailing 14-5, two kills from Csire, one from setter Sydney Dowler and a service ace from Rohrbach cut the deficit back down to six.

However, that was the closest Maryland ever got, as the Golden Gophers shut down any potential run from the Terps. Bryant recorded two late kills in the set, but that wasn’t enough, as Minnesota came out on top, 25-15.

Maryland found itself ahead early in the third set, 5-3, with two kills from Dowler and one apiece from Schnitta and Russ. Two kills from Hanson cut the Terps’ lead to one, but they remained in front for a bit longer. Outside hitter Mckenna Wucherer, in her first match back from injury for the Golden Gophers, knotted the score at eight apiece.

Three kills from Csire gave Maryland the lead back, 13-11, but Minnesota responded with three straight points, including its 15th block of the match. A kill each from Schnitta, Bryant and Csire kept the Terps within one.

“I thought Csire did a really good job,” Hughes said. “She’s actually grown tremendously as someone who can find hands and tool hands.”

But three kills from Grote and another team-block extended the Golden Gophers lead to six. Csire looked to give Maryland some momentum, but back-to-back blocks from Minnesota shut the door. The Terps fell, 25-18, losing in straight sets in consecutive matches.

“[Associate head coach Becca Acevedo] did a good job of mixing and matching,” Hughes said. “Their bench was getting frustrated because they were trying to mix up servers or change serves. … If they can work like that as a unit, a good passing team, that is a huge help for us down the road.”

Three things to know

1. Offensive struggles. Maryland hit just 11.9%, slightly improving on its percentage from Friday’s match. Another concern is Minnesota’s 19 blocks — its season-high. Maryland has also only recorded three blocks over the past two matches.

2. Three consecutive road losses. The Terps have gone just 6-14 on the road, including losses in their last three. In addition, Maryland has yet to win a set at Minnesota since 1992. Despite pulling off the upset at home in 2023, the Golden Gophers continue to have the Terps’ number, with a 19-1 record against them.

3. Tough schedule ahead. Despite having played three of its last four matches against ranked teams, it doesn’t get much easier for Maryland. It returns home to face No. 16 USC before traveling on the road again, including two more ranked matchups.