It was, to paraphrase a literary classic, a long day’s journey into the off-season. It was, as if to honor the slasher movies of Wes Craven, a two-thumbs-up, four-stars-shining horror show. It was, much to Northwestern’s embarrassment, really no game at all.
That is how ineffective the Wildcats were Saturday at Memorial Stadium, where their bewildering season ended with a dud, a thud and a 41-22 loss to Illinois.
This was not their worst performance of the year. But it surely was bad enough to cop the title of first runner-up in the Mr. Ugly Contest.
“I was very disappointed,” wide receiver Eric Peterman said. “I wanted to win this game more than any other game that I’ve ever been part of. Our backs were against the wall. We just didn’t come through. On both sides of the ball, they just dominated us.”
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Running back Tyrell Sutton couldn’t say what had gone wrong.
“Maybe we were too ready for the game,” he said. “Maybe we weren’t ready enough. I don’t know. When you have everything on the line, going home versus going to a bowl … it’s all or nothing. I guess we chose nothing.”
The Wildcats (6-6, 3-5 Big Ten) technically are still eligible to play in a bowl. But for that to happen, countless stars would have to align in their favor. That celestial phenomenon is unlikely to occur. But because they chose nothing, that is a miracle they hardly deserve.
That kind of reward should be earned, and the Wildcats’ display Saturday earned only disgrace. They missed tackles and blew coverages and transformed Illini receiver Jeff Cumberland into an All-American. Entering this game, he had five catches for 75 yards. On the day, he caught four for 131 yards and a touchdown.
They did not contain Illini quarterback Juice Williams, who blew by them as if they were standing in wet cement. They did not wrap up Illini running back Rashard Mendenhall, who wasn’t affected by their ineffective arm tackles. When the score was 35-7, which meant the game was effectively over, the Illini had run 67 plays, of which a staggering 20 had gained 10 yards or more.
“When you have a coverage called, when you have a front called and the guy doesn’t do his assignment, that’s typically a lack of discipline or the lack or inability of us as coaches to be sure our guys understand exactly what the scheme was,” Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald said. “The fault lies somewhere in between.”
But this snapshot provided midway through the third quarter hardly can be blamed on coaching. The Illini, on third-and-2, threw to Cumberland in the right flat, where the only two players between him and a first down were Wildcats Reggie McPherson and Deante Battle. Still, with no blockers, he cut left, got by them and picked up 10 yards.
That is how inept Northwestern often was in this game, which also was lowlighted by a pair of C.J. Bacher interceptions and its inability to run. That left it with a one-dimensional offense that, in its first nine (and only meaningful) possessions, scored two touchdowns but also gave up an interception and went three-and-punt four times.
Much of this play merely mirrored the Wildcats’ season, which was consistently inconsistent.
“This season should never have happened. I’m speaking truthfully,” Sutton said. “A 6-6 season is definitely not what we wanted. But we were on a roller coaster. We went up. We went down. You could look back and say if we hadn’t missed a play here or if we had won that game there … I mean, it’s too late now.”
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