NASHVILLE—It a battle of the only Private Schools from the Big Ten and SEC, Northwestern never trailed,and was able to hang on for a thrilling 23-21 win over Vanderbilt in the season opener. Dan Persa threw three touchdown passes after`Stefan Demos hit on an early field goal.This was far from easy.After Northwestern(1-0) won the coin toss and elected to defer, it looked like a mistake when Vanderbilt’s Eric Samuels broke a few tackles and took the kickoff 44 yards to his own 45. The Commodores then marched to the NU 33 where they were second and three,but two forced incompletions by Larry Smith forced a punt which forced the Cats to start at their own 11. QB Persa then took his team up field thanks in part to runs of 8,11,21 and 9 yards. But on a third and goal from the Vandy eight, Arby Fields was stopped for a loss to the nine and Demos kicked a 26 yard field goal for “first blood” and a 3-0 lead with 8:47 left in the quarter.The drive covered 80 yards in 11 plays. Demos’s kickoff was bobbled by VU’s Trey Wilson, they started at their own 7 and the Cats forced a ‘three and out’ and a Richard Kent punt to the NU 47. On the fourth play of the drive Persa hit Jeremy Ebert in stride for a 33 yard TD to make it 10-0.The Cats dominated most of the second quarter but a key mistake allowed Vanderbilt to get on the board with 2:19 left in the half as Persa was hit while being chased out of the pocket and had the ball knocked from his grasp, and John Stokes of Vanderbilt(0-1) recovered at his own 48. Just five plays later,RB Warren Norman broke a tackle and scored from the 4,but Ryan Fowler’s extra point try was wide right. The Cats had to punt and the Commodores took over at their 36 with :44 left and no timeouts,but a critical late hit out of bounds on NU’s James Kurzawski helped move the ball to the 22 and on the last play of the half Fowler hit on a 30 yard field goal to cut the Wildcats lead to 10-9 at halftime.

The score remained the same as Vandy was driving with their first possession of the third quarter when Smith overthrew his receiver and Justan Vaughn intercepted it at his own 28 and returned it to the 46. Persa then took the Cats 54 yards in 8 plays,capping it with a 9 yard TD pass to Drake Dunsmore in the near corner of the end zone to make it 17-9 with 5:03 to go in the third period. Vanderbilt answered with a 71 yard drive that the Wildcats appeared to have stalled,but on a third down, Smith was chased out of the pocket to his right and heaved one 36 yards to TE Brandon Barden,but Smith was stuffed on a two point try so it was 17-15 NU after three quarters. The Wildcats drove to the Vandy 9 where Demos tried a 26 yard field goal,but it was blocked by T.J.Greenstone who then recovered it. But after Fowler’s 46 yard field goal try for Vandy was wide left, the Cats took over,moved 71 yards in 9 plays with Persa play faking and hitting a wide open Josh Rooks for a 2 yard score,but the PAT never came off as the snap was poor. The Cats led 23-15 with 4:39 left. The Commodores responded with Zac Stacy breaking a 33 yard TD run with 2:25 left,but they again tried for two points and the snap got through Smith and the Cats fell on it, retaining a 23-21 lead and then running out the clock.

NOTES—Attendance was 37,210…..The Wildcats have their home opener against Illinois State in Evanston next Saturday at 11:00am.

LES