EVANSTON, Ill. — Coach Prime just got trucked by the Geek Squad.
What a Cat-as-trophe. Nerds haven’t had this much fun since Dean Ulich
And while we’re on the subject of wrecking, the Deion Sanders Era has a new tape to burn. Or fire directly into the sun at the first opportunity.
“We didn’t play the type of offensive and defensive football we’re capable of playing,” Sanders said after his Buffs suffered a 41-7 thrashing, their first loss (2-1) of a young season. “And hats off to (Northwestern) for forcing us into that… they did a great job of coaching over there. Better than we did.”
Every time new Northwestern offensive coordinator Chip Kelly dialed up a wheel route, Buffs defenders got a busy signal. For the first time since the first half at Georgia Tech, CU QB Julian Lewis looked his age.
Coach Prime’s Buffs, meanwhile, made Northwestern, the most “mid” of middling Big Ten brands, look like peak Utah.
Four turnovers. Nine penalties. Oh-for-3 on fourth-and-short. The Wildcats (2-0) are better than their record will be at the end of the year. But they ain’t Utah. They’re sure as heck not 34 points better than the Buffs. Even on a good day. Which this was … not.
That last part’s on CU.
And that’s the part that worries you.
The Buffs got drilled between the ears. CU got lulled into what any Iowa, Wisconsin or Minnesota fan could tell you is the Wildcat sleeper hold. Tiny stadium. Tiny student body. Terrible weather. If you don’t bring your own juice, you’re going to want to be heading home at the first available opportunity.
True. But that smelly library just boat-raced you on national TV, my man.
The Buffs’ meltdown wasn’t about talent. It was about maturity.
CU outrushed the Wildcats 119-84 in the first half and outgained them 199-189. On a dry field and sunny skies at any altitude, the Buffs probably win this one by 10 or more. Alas, Evanston doesn’t do dry. And it rarely does sunny.
The Wildcats couldn’t extend a drive longer than 35 yards until their last one of the first half. And even then, the Buffs gave ’em help. With 3:04 left in the half, trailing 14-0, Boo Carter was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct on Northwestern’s third-and-11 at the CU 38 that would’ve forced an unmakeable kick or a funky punt. Instead, the hosts got a new set of downs at the CU 25. Northwestern scored five plays later on quarterback Aidan Chiles’ second rushing score.
Can’t extend gifts on the road to a Big Ten team, even a mediocre one. Just can’t. The Wildcats’ first two scoring drives amassed all of 33 and 18 yards, respectively.
The Buffs were able to hang on to the ball on their initial drive of the second half, at least. After a Northwestern fumble gave CU the ball at their own 34, it went to work again. The Buffs’ fourth play was their best of a lost evening, as wideout Joseph Williams took a low Julian Lewis toss on a screen, found blockers and a lane, and zipped up the right boundary for a 50-yard score. The touchdown cut Northwestern’s lead to 21-6 before the extra point.
But even a little spark of joy had a short shelf life. Kelly had fun alternating body shots via Chiles’ legs, and daggers with Chiles’ arm, on Northwestern’s first drive after that CU score. On fourth-and-1 at the Buffs’ 27, the 6-foot-4 transfer from Michigan State powered for the first down. On the next play, Kelly ripped out what was left of the Buffs’ hearts. Chiles spotted a breakdown in the CU secondary and hit a wide-open Joseph Himon II for a 25-yard score, pushing the lead to 27-7 before the kick.
“We wanted to force them into some tough throws,” Sanders said. “And guess what? He made them. He made those tough throws.”
As for the weather, brother, you can have it. Balls in the first half wiggled through Buffs hands like greased pigs. Footing resembled center ice at an Avalanche preseason game.
The Buffs were Mother Nature’s first victims. With five minutes left in the first quarter, CU back Micah Welch ran into a pile of purple. Wildcats defensive lineman Michael Kilbane reached around and punched the ball loose. The rock squirted around the turf before being recovered by Northwestern’s Robert Fitzgerald at the CU 44.
The slower hosts relished the short field, driving methodically over six plays to the CU 2. Chiles faked a handoff and kept it for a short touchdown scamper and a 6-0 lead.
A slick ball did the Buffs in again on their very next drive. Damian Henderson and JuJu alternated carries past midfield and into Northwestern territory, grinding as they did against Georgia Tech and setting up a third-and-3 at the NU 17. With 12:45 left in the half, Martin Stadium’s Turf Monster struck again. Henderson failed to secure the handoff from Lewis and the rock bounced into the waiting arms of Northwestern’s Brayden Brus at the hosts’ 20-yard line.
After the rain, CU’s worst enemy was itself. The Buffs’ team speed and tempo had the Wildcats on their heels early in almost every drive. On their fourth crack with the ball, two holding penalties turned a first-and-10 at midfield into a first-and-30 at the Buffs’ 28. On the ensuing play, Lewis threw short across the middle, where the Wildcats’ Braden Turner jumped the route, picked off the rock, and returned it to the CU 18. On second-and-10, Himon got free on a wheel route up the left boundary, scoring from 18 yards out, and the Buffs trailed 13-0 with 7:59 to go in the second stanza.
“Thank God,” said Lewis, who threw for 168 yards and two picks, “that wasn’t a (Big 12) conference game.”
Amen. If there’s a silver lining to a cloudy night, it’s that the Big 12 doesn’t have a setting like Northwestern’s lacrosse stadium on a lake. Evanston, a sleepy, haughty lakeshore Chi-town suburb, is the meteorological opposite of Boulder. CU students get 300 days of sunshine. Northwestern’s kids see 300 days of grey. If they’re lucky.
The game opened under a light drizzle, with a flood watch looming after midnight for Chicago, whose downtown crept 14 miles south along Lake Michigan’s shoreline. Any views of the Second City from Martin Stadium, sadly, were obscured by clouds, giving the NU campus, with its gothic windows and ancient spires, an even stronger Hogwarts feel.
The wizardry on Saturday night, though ultimately belonged to Kelly and his nerds, who made the Go-Go a no-show. In the 150-year history of Northwestern football, the Wildcats had never beaten — until Coach Prime and his cussin’ Buffs rolled into town. That rinky-dink, Erector set of a stadium may be temporary, but those scars on the scoreboard are permanent.
Study up. If the Buffs play smarter against Baylor next weekend, everything short of 12-0’s still on the table. Although if Saturday night was any harbinger, they might want to spend next week hitting those books. And the weights.
