During Northwestern’s four-game losing streak to Duke, Southern Illinois, Miami (OH) and Penn State, something rather unexpected occurred: the Wildcats appeared to flip the script defensively. After surrendering 31 points in each of its first three contests, Jim O’Neil’s unit gave up only 34 combined points to the RedHawks and No. 10 Nittany Lions, including five takeaways in Happy Valley.
While NU’s defense still looked like a far cry from its 2020 iteration, fans were assuredly eager to have seen some form of improvement on that side of the ball, even if results were not following.
The concept of defensive adjustments became all for naught right from the initial snap on Saturday.