Stanford vs. Northwestern: Score, Highlights and Twitter Reaction for Upset

Northwestern put together an outstanding defensive display to score a Week 1 upset of No. 21 Stanford, 16-6, Saturday in front of its home fans at Ryan Field.

The Cardinal opened the game with a drive that lasted more than six minutes and resulted in a Conrad Ukropina field goal. The Wildcats scored the next 13 points, highlighted by a 42-yard touchdown run from quarterback Clayton Thorson in the second quarter, en route to the victory.

ESPN put the clinching interception from Northwestern's Kyle Queiro on display:

SportsCenter showcased the celebration:

Stanford finished the game with just 240 total yards of offense and turned the ball over twice. The inability to move the football with any level of consistency is concerning, but Stewart Mandel of Sports Illustrated tweeted that the Northwestern defense deserves much of the credit:

A single-digit outing for the Cardinal offense is extremely rare. The last time it happened was all the way back in 2007, when Washington held the unit to nine points, per ESPN College Football.

On the flip side, it's been two decades since the Wildcats opened the regular season with such a marquee win, as noted by ESPN Stats & Info:

Brett McMurphy of ESPN pointed out how they seem to thrive in these types of situations:

Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald didn't downplay the nature of the victory afterward in an interview on ESPN (via Tim May of the Columbus Dispatch).

"Obviously this is a big win for our program," he said.

Fitzgerald also called it a "dominant performance by us on the line of scrimmage," according to Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune.

One of the theories tossed around as a reason for the loss was Stanford had to travel east for an early kickoff. Former San Diego Chargers fullback Jacob Hester isn't buying that as a legitimate excuse:

The task for Northwestern is to build off the victory, as it has a favorable schedule on the horizon. The Wildcats face Eastern Illinois next Saturday and aren't scheduled to face another ranked opponent until Wisconsin in late November.

While the loss is certainly a setback for Stanford, an early defeat is survivable as long as it serves as a wake-up call. The Cardinal have a clash with UCF next weekend before a high-profile meeting with USC on Sept. 19. Should they pull off victories in those games, their season will be back on track.