In a college football season, one loss can ruin your chances at making the College Football Playoff. Especially if that loss comes against an unranked team that had a losing record last season.
Unfortunately, that’s exactly what the No. 21 Stanford Cardinal did on Saturday, as they were shocked by the Northwestern Wildcats 16-6 in both teams’ season opener.
The Wildcats got strong performances from freshman quarterback Clayton Thorson and running back Justin Jackson.
Northwestern, coming off consecutive 5-7 seasons, have developed a penchant for shocking upsets. Last season, the Wildcats toppled both the Wisconsin Badgers and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the regular season.
Northwestern’s defense shut down Stanford, led by quarterback Kevin Hogan. Hogan completed just 20 of 35 pass attempts for only 155 yards. He was picked off once, at the end of the game which sealed the Cardinal’s defeat. Hogan was sacked three times as well.
The Wildcats didn’t do much offensively either but baseball outfielder turned football field goal kicker Jack Mitchell kicked three field goals and Thorson scored on a 42-yard scamper for the game’s only touchdown. Stanford’s first drive was their best as they drove well into the red zone before Northwestern’s defense stiffened and held the Cardinal to a 29-yard field goal. Northwestern responded later in the quarter with a Mitchell field goal from 31 yards out. The Wildcats were the only team to score in the next two quarters, collecting seven points on Thorson’s 42 yard touchdown run through a large hole in the left side. Mitchell boomed the extra point in through the uprights and Northwestern led 10-3. The run was the highlight of Thorson’s night as he only threw for 105 yards, completing 12 of 24 passes. The score stayed that way until the fourth quarter when Mitchell added two more field goals including his long of 49 yards. Stanford also collected three points in the fourth quarter but their lackluster offensive performance was not enough as they defeated 16-6. Conrad Ukropina, Stanford’s kicker, collected all of the Cardinal’s points with field goals of 29 and 37 yards.
Stanford stayed close to the Wildcats and were trailing by 10 with the ball near the end of the game. They needed a score to have a chance to comeback but the Wildcats’ defense came up big again. Kyle Queiro intercepted Hogan in the end zone to end Stanford’s comeback bid.
Stanford was led offensively by Christian McCaffrey who ran for 66 yards on 12 carries. Stanford only garnered a total of 240 offensive yards.
Northwestern were 10-point underdogs entering the game. They will look to improve to 2-0 against Eastern Illinois who dropped a 33-5 decision in their opener to Western Illinois.
Stanford’s offense will have to improve before their game against the University of Central Florida. UCF was upset 15-14 by Florida International but displayed a stingy defense that will test Hogan and the Cardinal next week.