Northwestern did not look like a top-25 team for most of Saturday in East Lansing. The Daily Northwestern called its first game against former coach Pat Fitzgerald a rock fight, and the Wildcats needed a blocked go-ahead kick by Brendan Flakes, then a 65-second drive and a 34-yard Jackson Kleather field goal with 2 seconds left. Escapes still count. Before that, David Braun's team handled Penn State 34-13 and Ball State 45-14 at home.
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The common opponent is the best measuring stick on the page. Indiana beat Northwestern 29-23 in Bloomington and beat Rutgers 47-15 in Piscataway. One of those is a road loss to a good team. The other is getting run out of your own building. Northwestern has also given up 7, 13, 14 and 21 in its other 4 games in this stretch, while Rutgers has allowed 28 or more in 4 of its last 5.
Northwestern has its own absences: tight end T. McGlinchey and corner J. Fussell are both out with no timetable. Losing Fussell matters more this week than it would have a month ago, with Lonergan and Duff coming off the best passing day Rutgers has had in this window. Early forecast for Evanston is 64 degrees, cloudy, 11 mph wind and no rain. That's fine football weather and gives neither offense an excuse.
The matchup is simple. Northwestern has won 3 straight by playing defense and getting the late stop. Rutgers has a quarterback who can trade points with anyone and a defense that usually has to. If Chiles and the Wildcats force Lonergan to drive the length of the field every time, the ranked team handles its business at home. If Duff gets loose against a secondary already down a corner, this turns into the kind of game Rutgers has been playing all season.