Sports narratives are strange in that they are inherently based upon a binary outcome. Despite all the intricacies on the field and in each team’s gameplan, everything revolves around one of two results: A win or a loss. Then from there, reasons are given for why that result occurred, and often the same facts can be spun to support either outcome.
What this means is that this article could have just as easily been called “Northwestern finishes in clutch to win despite bend-don’t-break defense” or something like that. Instead the defense can be looked to as a major reason why Northwestern fell to Western Michigan.