No. 19 Northwestern took a big step forward in the race for the Big Ten Championship Game by knocking off No. 10 Wisconsin 17-7 at home on Saturday. As the score would suggest, this was a classic Northwestern-y, Big Ten grind of a game. The Wildcats didn’t light it up on offense by averaging 3.9 yards per play, but they didn’t need to. Their defense is what wins games, and what a defensive effort they put up.
Wisconsin had 17 drives over the course of 60 minutes. Only one ended in points, and it was a six-play, 80-yard drive off of a Northwestern turnover at the goal line. Otherwise, no Badgers drive went more than 42 yards. Northwestern’s defense forced four three-and-outs and had five takeaways — three of those turnovers were Graham Mertz interceptions. Mertz has been excellent in his first two games but looked very freshman-on-the-road against the Wildcats’ experienced group. The four first-half turnovers by Wisconsin were the most by the program since 2004, while the five turnovers overall were the most for the program under coach Paul Chryst in five years.
This also marked the fourth time this year that Northwestern’s defense shut out the opposing offense in the second half. This defense is legit, and at 5-0, Pat Fitzgerald’s team is in the driver’s seat to head to Indianapolis for the Big Ten Championship where it’s likely to face Ohio State. With only three games left against Michigan State, Minnesota and Illinois, Northwestern could be crowned Big Ten West champs for the second time in three years at this pace.
CBS Sports was with you the entire way updating this story with the latest from the game. This story will be updated shortly with takeaways from Northwestern’s massive Big Ten West victory on Saturday.
