Northwestern 35 Auburn 19. The 10 ten things you need to know about the Northwestern win over Auburn in the Vrbo Citrus Bowl.
Northwestern vs Auburn: Vrbo Citrus Bowl
10. Really, Auburn defense?
Auburn didn’t get the memo that the Northwestern offense just doesn’t do a whole lot.
It failed to hit 300 yards of total O in four of its eight games before this and only hit 400 yards against Maryland and Illinois. The 457 yards against Auburn were the third-most this season, with everything clicking early to take control of the game, and then hammering to take over late.
Auburn struggled to get a third down stop, didn’t generate enough pressure, and couldn’t hold up as the game went on. The Wildcat passing game had time to operate, and the offensive line was able to blast away on a run defense that had big, big problems against teams that were able to control things on the ground. The 51 carries by Northwestern tied Ole Miss for the most against the Tiger D. And with that …
9. Cam Porter is going to be really, really good
The 5-10, 220-pound freshman didn’t do much of most of the season, and then he tore up Illinois for 142 yards on 24 carries and ran for 61 yards in the Big Ten Championship. This was his day to be the hammer, running 33 times for a tough 98 yards and a late touchdown.
Auburn didn’t give up a ton of big runs, but it got nickeled-and-dimed to death.
8. The Northwestern coaching staff
Is that it for Pat Fitzgerald? He’s being rumored to have a whole lot of interest from the NFL types, but he was supposedly in the mix for the next level a few years ago, too. For a program that couldn’t win bowl games and struggled to come up with any sort of success, that’s four bowl wins in four tries – five in the last six bowl appearances – to go with two Big Ten West championships in three years.
Northwestern gave DC Mike Hankwitz his 400th career win after the Wildcats beat Auburn 35-19 in the Vrbo Citrus Bowl 👏 pic.twitter.com/A3236RPSdH
— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) January 1, 2021
Fitzgerald might still stick around, but defensive coordinator Mike Hankwitz is calling it a career after being a part of the success since 2008. The 73-year-old was tremendous during Colorado’s heyday, was a big part of great defenses at Arizona and Wisconsin, and then with the Cats. His D allowed some late yards, but it dominated.
7. Northwestern went Northwestern
You want to pitch a near-perfect game if you’re Northwestern? Control the clock for almost 36 minutes, don’t turn the ball over, dominate on third downs, and most of all, get up fast.
The 14-0 in the first quarter meant the world. This isn’t necessarily a come-from-behind team – even though it was able to do it at times – and it works a whole lot better when it got to rely on its defense and ball control style.
NEXT: Top Six Thoughts From The Vrbo Citrus Bowl
6. The Big Ten won a Citrus Bowl?
The last time the Big Ten one a Citrus Bowl? Michigan dominated Florida in the 2016 version, but before that, it was Penn State beating LSU when this was the Capital One Bowl.
It might be a strange year, and the SEC sent one of its mid-level teams and this was – by the rankings – the Big Ten’s third best, but still, for the conference to come up with a big bowl victory over the SEC is always a big deal. Before this, the Big Ten was 1-7 in the last eight of these against the SEC.
5. Auburn was in a bad situation
It’s always next to impossible to do the whole bowl thing during a coaching change, but this was truly tough. The Tigers struggled late in the year, the program is waiting to make the full transition to the Bryan Harsin era, and it was going against a program that is always, no matter what, going to bring the full effort and focus.
That’s not to say Auburn didn’t play like it wanted this or wasn’t trying – quite the opposite; more on that in a moment – but it was a tough bowl game against a tough opponent in a tough situation. Now …
4. Step One for new Auburn head coach Bryan Harsin …
Get that ground game going again.
It wasn’t bad late in the year with over 200 yards against Mississippi State, and it was able to get to around 200 yards on a regular basis after behind stuffed by Georgia early on, but the rushing attack didn’t even work a little bit.
The Northwestern run defense that appeared to be cranked up after being run over by Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship was fantastic, but without Tank Bigsby – who missed the game with COVID issues – Auburn ran 26 times or 61 yards, and 32 of them were by leading rusher Bo Nix.
NEXT: Top Three Thoughts From The Vrbo Citrus Bowl
3. A Northwestern passing game?!
Northwestern was able to run 51 times, but it also picked a great time to come up with its best passing game of the season.
The Wildcats threw for 239 yards against Wisconsin and 224 against Ohio State. Against Auburn, Peyton Ramsey hit 24-of-35 passes for 291 yards and three touchdowns. He had all day to throw, three different receivers caught touchdown passes, and this looked and played like a normal offense, and not just one that played to a type.
This was for all the Citrus! pic.twitter.com/mx8IGDtlhk
— Vrbo Citrus Bowl (@CitrusBowl) January 1, 2021
2. Bo Nix battled hard
The Auburn QB didn’t have any running game to help the cause, the team was down early, and he was going against one of the nation’s most efficient pass defenses. Throw in a leg injury that caused him to miss a little time, and it was a grind. Even so, he still led the team in rushing, threw for 292 yards and a score, and he kept on fighting in a lost cause.
1. Don’t blow off just how special this Northwestern team was
It’s still hard to properly describe just how bad Northwestern football was for so long.
Big seasons isn’t as normal as Pat Fitzgerald makes it seem.
It’s still a small, private school with a limited local fan base and a specialized recruiting base to pick from. While Michigan, Penn State, Michigan State and Nebraska all struggled through the season, Northwestern won seven games, got to a Big Ten championship, and won a big bowl game.
The season showed how quickly things going be fixed. The 2018 team was fantastic, the 2019 version was a disaster, and now the program bounced back enough to do all of this.
No, this really isn’t normal.
