Northwestern Wildcats Have Déjà Vu All Over Again

Stop me when this sounds familiar. Northwestern football heads to a hostile environment for their first Big Ten road test of the season.  They fall behind by a lot early in the game. Breakdowns in defense lead to some big plays by the opponent, and NU finds themselves down by double digits in the second quarter.

All hope looks lost after NU fails to drive the field late in the first half to cut into the deficit. But just when you’ve given up all hope, a huge turnover changes the nature of the game. All of a sudden, the momentum swings the other way, and while NU doesn’t exactly dominate on offense, they do just enough to scratch and claw back into the game.

Helped by a bunch of fumbles by the opponent, NU finally takes the lead in the 4th quarter. But the determined opponent refuses to surrender as they drive the field as time winds down. All of a sudden it’s first and goal, and NU’s defense must stop four shots at the end-zone. It seems like an impossible task, but somehow they do it, as the final pass falls harmlessly to the ground.

I am of course talking about the 22-17 win over Iowa in 2008.

Yes, it was a weird game today in West Lafayette. Purdue fumbled the fall an incredible five times.  Iowa only fumbled it away 4 times last year, but you get the picture, the parallels to last year’s thriller in Iowa City were uncanny.

Of course, the game changing turnover in this case was Sherrick McManis’ incredible interception. For those of you who doubted his impact, I give you, two diving interceptions in the past two games.

His pick turned into an Arby Fields touchdown run, which would be NU’s only TD until Mike Kafka scored with just over two minutes remaining in the game to give NU their first lead of the game.

But Purdue wasn’t done, driving the field to set up first and goal, but NU’s defense held when it counted the most.

I don’t know what Coach Fitz said to his troops after they fell behind by 18, but whatever it was, it worked…really really well.

Could this be the return of the 2008 NU defense? NU last year would give up some points in the 1st half, only to dominate the second half of competition. NU scored the final 24 points in this win, and shutout Purdue in the second half.

It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t inspiring, but it was a win.

It was a win that was oh so familiar, and has the potential to turn this seemingly lost 2009 season around.