Northwestern’s first two Big Ten victories were all about offense.
The Wildcats somehow turned into a scoring juggernaut against Iowa and Michigan State, putting up 92 combined points to win a pair of shootouts. Those offensive outbursts made it easy to overlook the performances of the defense, which struggled in both games. Northwestern entered its homecoming matchup with Indiana on a two-game winning streak largely because of its offense and in spite of its defense.
In the second half on Saturday, those roles did a 180-degree flip.
With Clayton Thorson and the offense unable to move the ball after halftime, the defense came up with numerous big stops as Northwestern hung on to win, 24-14.