Lake the posts everyone! Northwestern football has won it’s first home game, check that, their first game played in the United States of America, since October 16, 2021. That was 692 days ago, a 21-7 homecoming triumph over Rutgers.
It ends an American soil losing streak of 18, and an overall slide of 12. Some other losing streaks still persist, even after this, but we’ll save those statistics for another day. For now, Purple Hearts rejoice in your 38-7 win over the UTEP Miners.
Congrats to the UTEP Miners, on joining the Big Ten West today.
When you play a BTW opponent, the division consumes you like a gelatinous blob and then reshapes your complete identity into its mold.
— Paul M. Banks (@PaulMBanks) September 9, 2023
Because after all, not many were on hand to see it. Regardless of what official attendance numbers may be, Ryan Field was about 2/3 empty most of the day, and about 75%-80% vacant for most of the second half, when the Wildcats pulled away.
Given that Ryan Field capacity is about 47,000 one would have to estimate that approximately 15,000 were on hand for this.
However, there were several scouts from multiple NFL teams on hand.
The local side, the Chicago Bears sent a handful of scouts, as did the Los Angeles Chargers, Green Bay Packers and Washington Commanders.
They all saw interim Northwestern football coach David Braun get his first W.
Braun, in answering a query on what this win means to the program:
“I don’t know if we needed it. What we need is just continued support, and need one another. But, my gosh does it feel good.
“I’ll tell you right now: this is our win. It means so much to me because it was with an incredible group of people.”
However, there is still a ton for Braun and company to clean up. UTEP really looked pretty good early on. They were tied 7-7 with this Northwestern football team, and out-gaining them in yardage entering the third quarter.
UTEP looked very much like a team that would fit right in in the Big Ten West.
“There’s nothing flashy about how the ‘Cats are going to win,” Braun said at his postgame presser.
Everything changed as Northwestern football won the third quarter 21-0. UTEP QB Gavin Hardison was actually having an efficient at worst, pretty solid at best, kind of day until he threw his second interception of the day, exactly midway through the third quarter.
It was a brutally awful INT, as there was no UTEP receiver anywhere near Northwestern’s Xander Mueller, on a 2nd and 22 from his own 13. That play changed the tide of the game for good. Soon after, Northwestern QB Ben Bryant punched it in from the 1 to decide it.
An 85 yard TD pass on a tunnel screen from Ryan Hilinski to Joseph Himon II iced it.
QB1 Ben Bryant left early due to an unspecified injury and QB2 Brendan Sullivan was questionable entering this game.
Northwestern would add another TD, and field goal, to further window dress the score. Northwestern had a lot of stellar individual performances today, but there wasn’t any one specific, overwhelming stat line to immediately point to.
Cam Porter had 90 yards rushing on 17 carries. Jack Lausch had 53 on four with a touchdown.
A week after accruing just 12 yards rushing at Rutgers, Northwestern outgained UTEP on the ground 184-104.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He’s written for numerous publications, including the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. He regularly appears on NTD News and WGN News Now. Follow the website on Twitter and Instagram.
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