Northwestern traveled down to Bayou country for its Week 1 road matchup against Tulane. The Wildcats couldn’t get anything going on offense with their five turnovers, plus they couldn’t stop Tulane at all. This was not an ideal start to the 2025 season.
In a game filled with disappointment, the run game was one of the only things that had any positives. The problem was that the ‘Cats got behind early and needed to throw to try and keep up. When they did put the ball in the hands of the running backs (or wide receivers), there was more success than anything else. Joseph Himon II, Cam Porter and Caleb Komolafe all rushed for over 30 yards on less than 10 carries each. Take out the yardage lost from sacks and NU ran for 126 yards. Not too shabby considering the rest of the game.
Despite the struggles from Preston Stone, Wilde was the bright spot of the passing offense. The presumed wide receiver No. 1 for the ‘Cats showed that he is indeed the alpha in the receiver room, as he led Northwestern with 6 catches on 11 targets for 64 yards. That’s about it though as that’s all he did.
From previewing this matchup throughout the week, many signs pointed to this being a sloppy weather game with possible thunderstorms. Yes it was humid and hot, but it wasn’t a bad weather game like expected. Instead, it was clear skies and sunny weather.
Three interceptions in the first half speaks for itself. In his career, Stone had never thrown three interceptions in a single game. He did it in his first half as a Wildcat. Stone’s accuracy wasn’t as advertised either. He was supposed to be a huge upgrade from the quarterback play Northwestern has had over the past few years, but it was arguably even worse. The opening drive interception seems to have impacted the whole game, not to mention him fumbling on the first play of the game. To add insult to injury, Stone threw a fourth interception when the ‘Cats were finally starting to move on offense. To be fair to him though, the offensive line wasn’t very good at protecting their quarterback as he was sacked four times, but he fumbled twice with one of those going right back to Tulane. While this is only one game and it’s against a strong defense, the decision-making needs to improve if Northwestern wants to be considered as a bowl game contender. Five turnovers isn’t going to cut it though.
Northwestern was unable to stop the run in the first half; especially the quarterback runs. Tulane quarterback Jake Retzlaff had over 100 yards on the ground, including a 69-yard rushing touchdown, in the first half alone. The Green Wave got an early lead and never looked back. Running back Maurice Turner had 85 yards of his own on the ground as the ’Cats allowed 267 total rushing yards on 6.5 yards per carry. On a day with a lot of disappointments for Northwestern, giving up that 69-yard touchdown on a quarterback draw says all it needs to say: the run defense was not up to par. The linebackers struggled to stop runners from getting into the secondary, and the NU defensive line was being outplayed by Tulane’s offensive line.
The offensive line was one of the question marks for this NU squad headed into the season. However, Caleb Tiernan being beat on the first play around the edge is not what I had on my bingo card. Stone was hit from his blindside and lost the ball (the ‘Cats did recover it), but overall the offensive line didn’t play up to its potential. Stone was sacked multiple times and was missing on many of his passes, including a few errant throws with pressure in his face. The run blocking has been fine in this one, but the Green Wave didn’t needed to play much run-focused defense as they knew the Wildcats needed to throw to try and mount a comeback.
Honorable Mentions: Fourth down offense, David Braun, Zach Lujan, Tim McGarigle, Frank Covey IV
