Thorson struggled in the first half, turning the ball over three times – two fumbles and a ugly interception. That has earned the first-year player a shot to start his first collegiate game on Saturday against the Wildcats’ vaunted defense and he will have his hands full.
Advertisement
The Ball State Cardinals are coming from a 28-17 come-from-behind win over Eastern Michigan in Week 3.
Northwestern went nowhere and Ball State missed a scoring opportunity when Hagee failed on a 40-yard field goal try with 9:45 remaining in the half.
But it could’ve been way worse for Northwestern.
Who is winning the Northwestern vs Ball State game?
[MORE BIG TEN: Illini narrowly avoid defeat against Middle Tennessee State].
In a sloppy performance exacerbated by said injuries, the game was disappointing for Northwestern in all aspects other than the final score. Thorson has mostly been asked not to lose the game early this year, but the redshirt freshman quarterback showed something on Saturday, especially in the second half.
Second half Thorson wasn’t finished, cutting through the Cardinals like butter once again, orchestrating another 80-yard drive and finding Austin Carr streaking along the sideline for a 25-yard touchdown pass to make it 21-10 with 8:01 left in the third quarter.
Northwestern (3-0, 0-0) has looked mightily impressive in its first three games this season.
All that scoring made it a 24-10 Northwestern lead.
The Cardinals moved the ball, but settled for field-goal attempts on three of their first five drives. But Northwestern sat on the ball and milked the clock to pull out the win.
According to oddsmakers from online sports book GT Bets, the Wildcats are 19.5-point home favorites versus the Cardinals while the over/under is now sitting at 49.5 points. The Cats accumulated 546 yards of offense, while Thorson and Justin Jackson had the biggest days of their young careers. Jackson ran for a career-high 184 yards on 33 carries. The Northwestern Wildcats passing attack has averaged 218.7 yards per game (No. 79) compared to the Ball State Cardinals defence that ranks No. 55 give up through the air (225.2 yards per game on average). The Wildcats give up just 235 yards of total offense per contest.
Worrisome in the long term was the large amount of injuries Northwestern sustained, with Godwin Igwebuike, Geoff Mogus, Kyle Queiro, Connor Mahoney and Ifeadi Odenigbo all knocked out of the game.
Advertisement
Northwestern, 19-2 in September since the start of the 2010 season after beating Duke last week, is looking to stay on a roll heading into the Big Ten opener against Minnesota.
