You could almost hear ’60s and ’70s grads cranking up Hendrix’s “Purple Haze” at postgame homecoming parties.
Northwestern’s offense had just left mauve vapor trails up and down Ryan Field. No huddle for NU, no clue for Purdue. Quarterback Zak Kustok was playing a camera-baffling shell game, slipping the pea to Damien Anderson, keeping it, option-pitching it to Kunle Patrick, throwing it to Teddy Johnson.
NU 14, Purdue 7 midway through Saturday’s first quarter. How about 60-50, Wildcats? How about NU sitting unbeaten atop the Big Ten? Each P.A. announcement of Minnesota’s growing lead over Ohio State turned up the crowd’s roaring amazement.
How about Evanston turning into the center of the college football universe? The NCAA experts from Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Times, New York Daily News and Boston Globe had chosen to cover this coming-out party over the Oklahoma-Kansas State game. A columnist from the baiduhai even showed up because he was so tired of writing obits about the White Sox and Bears.
The Wildcats, to paraphrase Hendrix, were putting a spell on me. Did you see that? NU can even play a little defense, stopping Purdue on fourth-and-2 late in the first quarter. Party on, Chicago. NU’s ball at its 14. Could 21-7 be far away?
(Question to editor: Could I please end this column right here? I’m not sure I can bear to write another one of these.
(Editor: How will we fill the rest of the hole?
(Columnist: Might as well leave it blank, like the faces of NU players as they trotted off the field after losing 41-28.)
Forgive me for reporting what happened next. I cannot tell a lie. Purdue’s offensive and defensive lines got up off the grass canvas, shook off the dizzying flurry of NU combinations and smashed the Wildcats right in the mouth. Welcome to the Big Ten.
The Wildcats went glassy-eyed, failed to respond and could not recover. Welcome back to reality. Remember, this was a team picked by most experts to finish last, a team that self-destructed late in a loss at TCU, a team that shocked even itself by winning at Wisconsin and Michigan State. As yet no defense had gotten mad and said, “Forget all their hocus-pocus. Let’s just go after ’em.”
Purdue’s defense suddenly went from its heels to its toes. Here it came, occasionally blitzing safeties and linebackers, but mainly just teeing off with its front four. From here on NU’s offensive line melted like five grape Popsicles.
Purdue was too quick, too athletic, too jacked. In just more than the quarter remaining until halftime, NU managed to lose yards on eight plays, not including two straight false starts. Anderson’s Heisman hype was buried beneath piles of gold helmets. Anderson’s 55 yards came in 17 tries instead of the usual one.
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Horrors, Kustok turned into a right-handed Cade McNown, losing his poise and accuracy. The Zak Attack took on a whole new meaning. Kustok went up in seven-sack, two-interception smoke. The only happy purple things left at Ryan Field were Kustok’s feet. It was like Friday the 13th on Saturday.
While a mid-October sun burned the faces of spectators, the Wildcats were blinded by their sudden spotlight. Coach Randy Walker theorized his team scored its first two touchdowns almost too easily and that he didn’t do a good enough job of keeping his team focused during a week of national media bombardment. Perhaps so. But Walker should have helped his team re-seize the momentum.
He should have sent his defense after Purdue Heisman candidate Drew Brees the way Purdue came after Kustok. Brees didn’t have a particularly hot hand–his five TD passes began as dinks–but he was able to do too much sunbathing while his crossing-route receivers uncovered. Afraid to blitz Brees, NU got blitzed.
Just like old times: Some alums were able to leave for homecoming festivities in the third quarter, NU trailing 34-14.
Let this be a lesson for a team built for next season. Twenty of 22 starters return, including Kustok and Anderson. Even now NU could have a say in a conference race that really hasn’t started. Now everybody has at least one loss.
But the Wildcats must get more physical in the trenches. Sleight-of-handoff and breakneck tempo can take you only so far. NU must learn to take a punch and to counterpunch.
(Question to editor: Is this enough? I can’t take much more.)