EVANSTON, Ill. _ So much for eking out close victories.
No. 23 Northwestern ended its home season on snowy Saturday afternoon with a 39-0 blowout of Minnesota for its sixth straight victory.
The Wildcats' defense forced five turnovers to set up the offense with short, rapid scoring drives. The last time they shut out a team was also Minnesota, 27-0, at Ryan Field in 2015. The Gophers' miscues led to three Northwestern touchdowns.
In his last game in Evanston, running back Justin Jackson became just the second Big Ten player to rush for 1,000 yards in four straight seasons and joining former Wisconsin great Ron Dayne. He is just the fourth to reach that milestone in FBS history.
He finished the game with 166 yards on 31 carries.
Northwestern quarterback Clayton Thorson threw three touchdown passes on 9 of 13 passing through three quarters.
A week after Minnesota scored 54 points and rushed for 409 yards against Nebraska, the Gophers (5-6, 2-6) were limited to just 182 total yards.
Nate Hall kept the shutout intact in the third quarter, picking off an end zone pass. He also recovered a fumble in the fourth quarter. Hall, a junior linebacker, accounted for 2{ of Northwestern's six sacks of Minnesota quarterback Demry Croft.
Cornerback Montre Hartage secured a fumble recovery and picked off a pass from Croft, who connected on just 2 of 11 passes for 43 yards with three interceptions.
The Wildcats have had five overtimes in the last four games and haven't won any of the previous four by more than 10 points.
Northwestern closes out its regular season next weekend at Illinois.
