EVANSTON, Ill. — With the Wisconsin football team leading the Big Ten in rushing defense, the Northwestern Wildcats did what any logical opponent would do when faced with such a stiff test on the ground.
They took to the air with reckless abandon.
NU quarterback and Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year candidate Mike Kafka attempted 40 passes against the Badgers beleaguered secondary, completing 26 for 326 yards and two touchdowns in a 33-31 UW loss Saturday.
The Badgers were blitzkrieged early, giving up a touchdown on the first drive of the game and 27 points in the first half.
The 248 yards passing and 33 points for the game were the most the Badgers have given up all season.
As if Kafka wasn’t doing enough damage on his own, Northwestern found the end zone on a 38-yard wide receiver pass by Zeke Markshausen.
“I think what it was is they knew a lot of the stuff that we were doing,” UW junior cornerback Niles Brinkley said. “They knew the concepts, they knew what coverages we were doing. … It was just them making a couple of big play that we didn’t make.”
“It was crazy,” UW senior linebacker Jaevery McFadden added. “They was calling out names of our coverages out, right down to the number. It was crazy.”
Only sacked once in 40 pass attempts, the UW pass rushers hit home several times throughout the game only to find the elusive quarterback scrambling.
Although Kafka only finished with 17 yards on seven carries, the mobile senior often robbed Wisconsin of a drive-killing sack.
Making pass rushers even more frustrated, the Wildcats utilize a quick hitting spread attack, usually getting rid of the ball on three step drops or short out routes.
“Their offensive line did a great job,” UW sophomore defensive end J.J. Watt said. “And Kafka got the ball out real quick. We tried to get our hands up to bat some balls away, but we just didn’t do that. We put a lot of pressure on our D-backs because we didn’t get enough pressure on the quarterback.”
“It’s extremely hard and it’s really frustrating as a defensive lineman, even if you win you may not get there.”
Although Wisconsin scored a reasonable 14 points in the first half utilizing a balanced attack, UW took a note from Northwestern’s playbook and came out in the second half throwing.
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