Will Northwestern fans remember this one as the Austin Carr game? The Ifeadi Odenigbo game? The game that made Wildcats football watchable again?
Yes, yes and yes.
The Wildcats awoke from a season-long funk and stunned Iowa as a two-touchdown underdog. They scored early and often in a 38-31 victory that had many wondering: Where was this offense in the first four games?
Carr had three touchdown catches Saturday, not bad for a fifth-year senior who walked on and began the season with two career scores.
Odenigbo, who entered the program as a top-100 recruit, has been invisible on far too many Saturdays. But he was a demon against the Hawkeyes, sacking C.J. Beathard four times.
“Ifeadi is like a handful of our older players who were not very pleased with how they played in that first month,” Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald said. “You get that fork in the road: You can feel sorry for yourself or you can do something about.”
His contributions actually began Friday night at chapel, which is non-denominational and optional for Northwestern players. The 40 to 45 players who attended at the team hotel heard Odenigbo read from John 20:24-29 in the New Testament. It’s the story of Thomas, a.k.a. Doubting Thomas.
“I don’t like (public) speaking,” Odenigbo said. “It’s one of my pet peeves. So I was doubting myself: Will I say something that touches people?”
Odenigbo applied that to football. The Wildcats needed to stop doubting the game plan, or themselves, or whatever else had contributed to their ugly 1-3 start.
Carr said Odenigbo’s message “inspired a lot of the guys.”
Including Odenigbo, who said he woke up Saturday in a bit of a rage.
“We’re 1-3, we’re not in a good place and I’m pissed off,” he said.
“We’re in Iowa City. We’ve lost three straight games (to Iowa). We’re not leaving without a win.”
Northwestern typically swoons in October, but on the first play Oct. 1, the Wildcats drove tailback Akrum Wadley back two yards. They sacked Beathard on third down, and Flynn Nagel returned a punt to the Iowa 5, leading to a quick score.
Game on.
Northwestern’s offense produced every which way, as Justin Jackson rushed for 171 yards on 26 carries and Clayton Thorson connected with 10 receivers. His favorite target was Carr, who scored touchdowns on half of his six receptions.
Two were spectacular: After admittedly running the wrong route, Carr worked free toward the side of the end zone and got a foot down after Thorson bought time with a scramble. Northwestern’s final touchdown came after Carr caught a pass and bounced off 210-pound safety Brandon Snyder.
“(Carr) is really the key to our offense right now,” said Jackson, who actually is the key to Northwestern’s offense.
Iowa (3-2, 1-1 Big Ten) trailed by seven and got the ball back with just more than two minutes left. The Hawkeyes drove to midfield but when Beathard rolled to his right and fired, Trae Williams made a sliding interception to cement the victory … and perhaps save Northwestern’s season.
At 1-1 in Big Ten play, their goals are still in reach.
That seemed barely plausible for a team that entered Saturday with the worst scoring offense in the Big Ten — and 125th of 128 FBS teams.
“What was the message to staff, to the team?” Fitzgerald asked. “I’m going to keep grinding you. What we do works when we do it the way we are capable of doing it. It works. It works. We have won a lot of football games by doing it the right way. When we do it the wrong way, we’ve lost our fair share, too. It’s a simple choice.”
tgreenstein@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @TeddyGreenstein
Wildcats 2-minute drill
Runs, hits, errors: Northwestern’s offense went from famine to feast, but coach Pat Fitzgerald said the only change came in its execution, not in scheme or play-calling. To his point, the Wildcats committed a lone penalty, for five yards, avoiding those drive-wrecking holding calls. And a Justin Jackson fumble was their only turnover. “When you have to beat two teams on Saturday,” Fitzgerald said, “typically you don’t win.”
Hold it in: Iowa’s crowd turned nasty, with some fans firing water bottles on the field to protest calls. Jackson said he enjoyed the tense atmosphere: “You don’t get an environment like that all the time. They got riled up, and that’s when it becomes even more fun, when they’re screaming and you can’t hear anything.”
Recovering nicely: Wildcats linebacker Brett Walsh went down during a kick return and lay on the field, motionless. He was carted off on a stretcher, and the crowd cheered when he gave a thumbs-up. Fitzgerald reported Walsh would be OK: “The tests came back negative. Awesome news. Best news of the day.”
Big number: The Wildcats sacked C.J. Beathard six times.
Looking ahead: Northwestern’s next game is Oct. 15 at Michigan State.
