This Saturday belonged most to Northwestern quarterback C.J. Bacher, who transformed Ryan Field into a canvas and produced a painting on it fit for framing.
This is not to say he was perfect during the Wildcats’ 27-0 season-opening victory with Northeastern. Early in the third quarter and under Huskie pressure, he threw an incompletion into double coverage from deep in his own territory.
Late in that same quarter he also missed an open Tyrell Sutton on a swing pass and finally, early in the fourth quarter on his final play, he short-armed a curl to Eric Peterman that bounced in front of his receiver. But those were the only blemishes on his dazzling portrait.
“The game plan was pretty solid,” he said, low-key, after completing 23 of 29 passes for 243 yards and a touchdown. “We wanted to spread the field and then get the ball to Tyrell. He’s the superstar on this team.”
No so fast, according to Sutton.
“That’s a bogus statement,” rebutted Sutton, who himself ended with 108 net yards on 24 carries. “It’s C.J. who makes the wheels go on this team. He’s the superstar.”
From the start Bacher certainly filled that role against the Huskies, hitting Peterman for 11 yards on the first play of the Wildcats’ first possession. Shortly thereafter he threw a curl to Ross Lane for 9, a swing to Sutton for 2 and another swing to Sutton for 4 yards.
When he ended this 72-yard drive with a 5-yard scamper for a touchdown, he was a perfect 7 of 7 for 61 yards.
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“I was mad [on that drive],” Sutton cracked with a smile. “C.J. threw seven times. You get bored back there.”
“After a series like that, it is a lot easier,” Bacher said more seriously. “The field’s more spread out, you see the defenses better, you see the guys better. With the more experience you get, the more the game slows down.”
It was that way this day for many of the Wildcats, who performed with an efficiency rarely seen in the first game of the season. They committed no turnovers. Kicker Amado Villarreal converted all three of his extra-point attempts and both of his field goal tries.
Their offense, even with regular left guard Adam Crum at center for the suspended Trevor Rees, was whistled for no offside or motion penalties. It controlled the ball for nearly 37 of the game’s 60 minutes.
“It was awesome getting all that rest,” chirped middle linebacker Adam Kadela. It also took the Huskies out of their favored power attack, holding the 230-pound Maurice Murray to just 48 net yards on 16 carries, and forced them to the air, where their pair of quarterbacks combined to go just 19 of 32 for 151 yards.
That keyed the shutout it threw, which was the school’s first since opening day of 1997.
“We’re happy about the shutout,” Kadela said. “But you look at the stats, we didn’t have any sacks or turnovers. So we have a lot to improve on.”
That, even when considering Bacher, was also the ultimate theme of Wildcats coach Pat Fitzgerald, who sounded a bit like the art critic who complained that Mona Lisa’s smile was crooked.
“You look at a game, it’s never about perfect,” he said. “So C.J. played very well. He played a good game. But I look forward to being able to say he played a great game. He’s on the cusp of doing that.”
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