It was all in front of the ‘Cats. Nebraska was reeling, coming off a complete dismantling at the hands of Minnesota. There were rumors circling around Matt Rhule and Penn State. And everyone in Nebraska thinks that they will easily roll Northwestern even though the two teams have largely played football games that resemble cats hissing and batting at each other until one team is eventually forced to win in a very stupid way. The ‘Cats improbably sit just one win away from a bowl game. The game was right there for them until it wasn’t.
Northwestern did what it wanted to do on offense, which was to feed the ball to its running backs and hang out in the huddle and watch the clock slowly drip away and eventually kick a field goal or even just punt it away knowing that they have caused their opponents to watch the clock wind down on another slow, excruciating drive questioning what they are doing with their lives.