Even a baseball fan with Cubs blue on the brain knows that when you’re matched up against a college football superpower, such as No. 2-ranked Ohio State, you don’t fumble away a prime scoring opportunity on your first possession.
But that’s what Northwestern did in a 31-7 loss Saturday to the fearsome Buckeyes at Wrigley Field. One barely had time to estimate the crowd at 85% red and 15% purple before the Wildcats — allegedly the home team — had gone 59 yards in 11 plays. But then quarterback Jack Lausch got popped in the open field and fumbled and, nope, not good at all.
And perhaps the very last thing you do as a 28½-point underdog is what the Wildcats (4-6, 2-5 Big Ten) did with 5:55 left in the first half of what, to that point, had been a surprisingly competitive 7-7 game.
In punt formation from NU’s 31-yard line, long snapper Will Halkyard sailed the ball through the fingertips of leaping punter Hunter Renner, who raced back to retrieve the ball at the goal line, made one Buckeye miss and tried to boot the ball away but had it blocked by David Adolph. Two plays later, Ohio State running back Quinshon Judkins plunged in from the 1-yard line for his second touchdown and a 14-7 lead.
‘‘There’s no one else in the country I’d rather have snapping for us than Will Halkyard,’’ NU coach David Braun said. ‘‘I’ve never seen Will make a snap like that, either in a game or in practice.’’
This was a wild play 👀
In the end, it's a blocked punt and No. 2 @OhioStateFB takes over at the 1-yard line.#B1GFootball on Big Ten Network 📺 pic.twitter.com/E4x0YBYfnT
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) November 16, 2024
The Buckeyes (9-1, 6-1) — owners of the top-ranked defense in the country coming in — then forced a three-and-out, clearing the way for their offense to drive 77 yards for the first of two Carnell Tate touchdown grabs from Will Howard, making it 21-7 with 47 seconds left in the half.
So much for a highly promising Wildcats start during which they drove 92 yards for the first touchdown of the game and built a 151-30 edge in yardage in their first two possessions. It didn’t take long for this one to shift like the Wrigley winds in the direction of a blowout the other way.
The Wildcats never reawakened on offense. Perhaps in homage to a Cubs team that couldn’t buy a run in May or June, they were shut out after those first two possessions and outgained 390-100.
For a while there, however, Braun really thought they had a shot.
‘‘We all know and understand that if we played Ohio State in a seven-game series, that’s a tall task,’’ he said. ‘‘But that’s why you play on Saturdays.’’
Things heat up from here for the Buckeyes, who face unbeaten Indiana next before heading to Michigan and, they hope, the Big Ten championship game in Indianapolis and the College Football Playoff after that.
It’s a tremendous team with stars everywhere, including linebacker Sonny Styles, who had two of the Buckeyes’ four sacks, and jaw-dropping Jeremiah Smith, who already has broken all of Pro Football Hall of Famer Cris Carter’s freshman receiving records at Wideout U.
NU has lost 11 consecutive games to the Buckeyes, its last victory coming in 2004. With games left at Michigan and back at Wrigley against Illinois, it’s must-win time if the Wildcats are going to get back into bowl season.
‘‘I still don’t think we’ve played our best football yet,’’ Braun said. ‘‘Let’s see if we can go out on a high note.’’
With the Bucknuts packing Wrigley, it was impossible not to appreciate the enormity of the gap between these programs. Ohio State’s only loss this season was by one point at Oregon, and it was sixth-year coach Ryan Day’s first Big Ten loss to an opponent other than Michigan. Yet Day is under immense pressure, while Braun — who two years ago was North Dakota State’s defensive coordinator, prepping for the likes of Western Illinois and Southern Illinois — merely is trying to grasp on to any opportunities for incremental progress.
Braun took over a seemingly impossible situation after Pat Fitzgerald was fired amid a hazing scandal and succeeded in 2023 well beyond anyone’s expectations. But he didn’t have to play Michigan, the national champion last season, or Ohio State on the way to 8-5.
This was a taste of what the Big Ten is like at its very best.
‘‘We’re not there,’’ Braun said. ‘‘Clearly, we’re not close right now.’’
The Wildcats could use a few 100 mph arms and a couple of power bats. Or is that the Cubs?
Sorry, football at the ol’ ballpark still can be a bit confusing.