Midway through the fourth quarter, the Wildcats (1-3, 0-2 B1G) were trailing by 21 and a victory over Wisconsin (4-0, 2-0 B1G) seemed way out of reach.
Hunter Johnson had gone down, the offense could not keep the ball in their possession, and the defense’s efforts were no longer enough to hold off Jonathan Taylor, who was finally starting to heat up.
With Northwestern coming off the field after yet another three-and-out, including a heart-wrenching moment watching Johnson leave the field, the Wildcats were in desperate need of something positive. As the special teams unit took the field, Kubiuk let his tenth punt of the day fly and watched it slip right through the hands of Wisconsin’s Jack Dunn.