Northwestern 28, Minnesota 13
November 19, 2011 - Ryan Field - Evanston, IL
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Northwestern 28, Minnesota 13 November 19, 2011 - Ryan Field - Evanston, IL |
NCAAF FINAL 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH TOTAL --- --- --- --- ----- MINNESOTA 7 3 0 3 13 NORTHWESTERN 21 0 0 7 28 FINAL
SCORING SUMMARY
1ST QTR: NORW - TD, KAIN COLTER 7 YD PASS FROM DAN PERSA (JEFF BUDZIEN KICK), 13:34 MINN - TD, MARQUEIS GRAY 5 YD RUN (JORDAN WETTSTEIN KICK), 11:09 NORW - TD, DEMETRIUS FIELDS 28 YD PASS FROM DAN PERSA (JEFF BUDZIEN KICK), 8:13 NORW - TD, TREYVON GREEN 2 YD RUN (JEFF BUDZIEN KICK), 2:29 2ND QTR: MINN - FG, JORDAN WETTSTEIN 28 YD, 6:20 4TH QTR: NORW - TD, JACOB SCHMIDT 1 YD RUN (JEFF BUDZIEN KICK), 11:02 MINN - FG, JORDAN WETTSTEIN 48 YD, 7:28
Extended BoxNCAAF 1 2 3 4 F - - - - -- Minnesota 7 3 0 3 13 Northwestern 21 0 0 7 28 FINAL
Northwestern-Colter 7 pass from Persa (Budzien kick) Minnesota-Gray 5 run (Wettstein kick) Northwestern-Fields 28 pass from Persa (Budzien kick) Northwestern-Green 2 run (Budzien kick) Minnesota-FG Wettstein 28 Northwestern-Schmidt 1 run (Budzien kick) Minnesota-FG Wettstein 48
Minnesota Northwestern First downs 22 23 Rushed-yards 51-269 47-152 Passing yards 124 216 Sacked-yards lost 2-5 2-11 Return yards 0 0 Passes 9-22-1 22-31-1 Punts 4-24.0 3-58.3 Fumbles-lost 2-1 1-1 Penalties-yards 5-43 0-0 Time of possession 31:34 28:26
Individual Statistics RUSHING: Minnesota-Gray 27-160, Bennett 22-114, Crawford-Tufts 1-(-4). Northwestern-Schmidt 13-69, A Smith 10-31, T Green 8-23, Colter 6-16, Persa 7-7, T Jones 1-4, Ebert 1-3.
PASSING: Minnesota-Gray 9-21-1-124. Northwestern-Persa 22-31-1-216.
RECEIVING: Minnesota-McKnight 2-52, B Green 2-49, Lair 1-10, Bennett 1-6, Moulton 1-4, Crawford-Tufts 1-3, McGarry 1-0. Northwestern-Ebert 6-62, Colter 5-47, D Fields 2-34, Lawrence 4-29, C Brown 1-17, Dunsmore 2-14, C Jones 1-8, Schmidt 1-5.
Att: 26,215
Game StoryEVANSTON, Ill. (AP) - Dan Persa threw for 216 yards and two touchdowns, and Northwestern won its fourth straight, beating Minnesota 28-13 on Saturday. Venric Mark came through with two big kickoff returns as the Wildcats (6-5, 3-4 Big Ten) scored touchdowns on their first three possessions to build a 21-7 lead. That set the tone as Northwestern became eligible for its fourth straight bowl appearance. If it seems like a modest accomplishment, consider where this team was when this streak began. The Wildcats lost five in a row after winning their first two and appeared to be going nowhere, but they turned it around in a big way with lopsided wins over Indiana and Rice sandwiched around a tight stunner at Nebraska. Minnesota (2-9, 1-6) had two deep drives stall, settling for a field goal after getting to the Wildcats' 10 in the second quarter and coming away with nothing late in the third when it was threatening to make it a four-point game. "We had a couple issues on defense early in the game and it hurt us," Minnesota coach Jerry Kill said. "We played hard, and in my opinion, we played well enough to win the game. We just didn't make enough plays offensively." Instead, Ibraheim Campbell tipped a 9-yard pass intended for Brandon Green in the end zone and Brian Peters made the interception. That led to an 80-yard Northwestern drive, with Jacob Schmidt running it in from the 1 on a pitch to make it 28-10 early in the fourth and seal the victory. The Wildcats will try to strengthen their standing against Michigan State next week, but they can breathe a little easier knowing they have enough wins to make a bowl. Coming off a career performance against Rice, Persa was sharp again after throwing for a personal-best 372 yards and matching a high with four TD passes. He was 22 of 31 with an interception. Jeremy Ebert had a relatively quiet day with 62 yards receiving after setting career highs the previous two weeks with 147 yards against Nebraska and 208 against Rice. Mark's 44-yard return on the opening kickoff and 42-yarder on Northwestern's next possession both led to touchdowns, giving the Wildcats an early lead that ultimately stood. "We got beat in the kicking game and didn't perform as well," Kill said. "The kicking game is the difference." The Golden Gophers, meanwhile, got solid performances from MarQueis Gray and Duane Bennett but simply couldn't pull this one out. Gray ran for 147 yards and a touchdown and threw for 124, but completed just 9 of 21 passes and got picked off once. Bennett finished with a season-high 127 yards rushing, 78 in the first half.