Northwestern's brutal start is a distant memory

Just as the sting of last fall's seven-game Big Ten losing streak began to fade into the optimism of a new football season, the head winds hit Northwestern once more.

First, the players were at the epicenter of a controversial push for student-athlete unionization, and that was an apparent team distraction during spring ball. Then, on one grim day in August, Northwestern announced both the transfer of star running back Venric Mark and that top receiver Christian Jones was out for the year because of a knee injury. And once this season began, any lingering expectation that the Wildcats could flip-flop their 1-7 conference record of a season ago was all but smashed after a head-scratching start.

Northwestern dropped its first two games, against California and Northern Illinois, before unconvincingly topping Western Illinois. In the eyes of many analysts, they had promptly fallen out of Big Ten contention even before conference play kicked off.

"We couldn't get out of our own way offensively," coach Pat Fitzgerald said. "We couldn't sustain drives. We couldn't score points. We left our defense out to dry and left them on the field way too long, and then conversely, our defense didn't do a good enough job of limiting explosive plays."

But somehow, heading into Saturday's matchup against Minnesota (4-1, 1-0 Big Ten) at TCF Bank Stadium, those words now sound foreign.

In the past two weeks, Northwestern (3-2, 2-0) has picked itself off the mat and started swinging, transforming a listless start into perhaps the conference's most impressive opening weeks. With the Wildcats sitting next to last in the Star Tribune's power poll for the week, Northwestern traveled to Penn State and shocked the Nittany Lions 29-6. One week later, the Wildcats played host to No. 17 Wisconsin and didn't slow down, rolling over the Badgers 20-14.

The Wildcats' athletic defense turned dynamic, snatching five interceptions (four against the Badgers) in two games while holding Penn State and Wisconsin to a combined 20 points. And the offense looks plenty capable as well, with quarterback Trevor Siemian and freshman tailback Justin Jackson powering the team.

"They just stayed with the plan," Gophers offensive coordinator Matt Limegrover said. "The kids are starting to feel it and cut it loose in play. That's dangerous, because when you get that and they're doing what they're supposed to, they can really get after it. And that's where I think they're at right now."

Saturday's matchup is quite different from a year ago, when Northwestern — fresh off losses to Ohio State and Wisconsin following a 4-0, nationally ranked start — played host to Minnesota on Oct. 19. The Wildcats couldn't hang on to the ball that day, and their gut-wrenching 20-17 loss to the Gophers perpetuated a seven-loss nose dive that wouldn't end until a Nov. 30 victory at Illinois.

After the shaky start this year, Fitzgerald said he gathered the coaching staff for some soul-searching at the top. "You analyze: Why are we so inconsistent?" Fitzgerald said. "Are we asking guys to do too much with what we're teaching and what we're coaching? Or is it what we're allowing guys to get away with?"

He later met with his players to address the struggles, and "We owned it," he said.

Gophers coach Jerry Kill sees no remnants of the squad that was prematurely deemed out of the race. This Northwestern team is 2-0 in conference play for the first time since 2000, and has inserted itself into the Big Ten West conversation.

"They don't make mistakes," Kill said. "The last two ballgames, they've just played dominating football. Their type of football. They win doin' it."