{"id":19938,"date":"2015-11-10T13:37:06","date_gmt":"2015-11-10T19:37:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=19938"},"modified":"2015-11-10T13:37:06","modified_gmt":"2015-11-10T19:37:06","slug":"game-winning-field-goal-leads-northwestern-past-penn-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/game-winning-field-goal-leads-northwestern-past-penn-state\/","title":{"rendered":"Game-winning field goal leads Northwestern past Penn State"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jordan Ray<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the first quarter, Northwestern kicker Jack Mitchell missed a field goal.<\/p>\n

In the second quarter, he missed an extra point.<\/p>\n

In the third quarter, he missed another field goal.<\/p>\n

In the fourth quarter, he won the game.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Mitchell\u2019s field goal with nine seconds left secured a 23-21 win for the No. 21-ranked Northwestern Wildcats at home Saturday against the Penn State Nittany Lions.<\/p>\n

\"NU<\/a>
Northwestern kicker Jack Mitchell (7) kicked the game-winning field goal in Saturday’s win against Penn State. (Big Ten)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI was being reminded the entire time that the game was pretty much on me,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cIn my mind, if I made my field goals and extra points, we would\u2019ve been up by six.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead, the Wildcats trailed 21-20 in the fourth quarter after squandering a 20-7 halftime lead.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had full confidence he was going to make that kick,\u201d Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald said. \u201cHe\u2019s pretty good. When a guy misses a few, you don\u2019t lose confidence in him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mitchell has made 29-of-39 field goals (74.4 percent) in his career.<\/p>\n

Northwestern quarterback Clayton Thorson went down<\/a> in the first quarter with a lower body injury, so senior Zack Oliver played the final three quarters. Oliver threw for 111 yards and a touchdown and rushed for another score.<\/p>\n

Thorson is expected to play Saturday against Purdue.<\/p>\n

Mitchell\u2019s first miss came with Thorson still in the game. He then missed the extra point after Oliver\u2019s lone touchdown pass<\/a> of the day.<\/p>\n

\u201c(It was) on me to kind of right that,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cPeople were saying, \u2018It\u2019s going to come down to you. Stay focused. Respond.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

A 96-yard kickoff return for a touchdown<\/a> by sophomore Solomon Vault helped give the Wildcats their halftime lead, but the Nittany Lions fought back in the second half.<\/p>\n

Mitchell missed his second field goal on the second drive of the third quarter, and Penn State took advantage.<\/p>\n

On the ensuing possession, Penn State wide receiver Geno Lewis threw a 32-yard touchdown pass on a broken trick play<\/a>, cutting Northwestern\u2019s lead to 20-14 after the extra point.<\/p>\n

Running back Saquon Barkley later ran for a 13-yard touchdown, which helped give Penn State a 21-20 lead. Barkley rushed for 120 yards and two touchdowns on the day.<\/p>\n

The Wildcats had two priorities during their bye week<\/a>: converting third downs on offense and getting stops on third down on defense. With time running out, they had to execute both give Mitchell a chance to win the game.<\/p>\n

Trailing 21-20 with 2:28 left, Northwestern\u2019s defense faced a critical third down.<\/p>\n

With Northwestern having already used two of its timeouts, a Penn State first down would mean the Wildcats would have almost no time to drive for a game-winner.<\/p>\n

Needing only one yard, the Nittany Lions gave the ball to Barkley.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t enough.<\/p>\n

Northwestern linebacker Anthony Walker stuffed Barkley\u2019s attempt for a loss, forcing Penn State to punt with about two minutes remaining.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a huge play for us,\u201d defensive end Dean Lowry said.<\/p>\n

Walker, the team\u2019s leading tackler, had 10 tackles on the day, including a sack and three tackles for loss.<\/p>\n

The offense made the most of its final possession.<\/p>\n

Facing third and 15, Oliver lofted a 23-yard pass<\/a> to wide receiver Austin Carr, putting the Wildcats at midfield.<\/p>\n

Northwestern faced third and five later in the drive, but converted it with a seven-yard run from Justin Jackson. The sophomore running back ran for 186 yards on the day, which brought his career total up to 2,104.<\/p>\n

Jackson ranks 10th<\/sup> in school history for career rushing yards.<\/p>\n

Fitzgerald then went to his kicker and asked if he wanted the ball on the left hash mark or the middle of the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I\u2019d like the middle, but whatever you have,\u201d Mitchell responded.<\/p>\n

\"NU<\/a>
Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald speaks with reporters after his team’s 23-21 win over Penn State (Jordan Ray\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This wasn\u2019t the first time Mitchell could win the game with a kick: he made a game-winning field goal last season during Northwestern\u2019s 43-40 overtime upset over Notre Dame.<\/p>\n

Mitchell has also never missed a potentially game-winning field goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith that under my belt, I feel like this was not as big of a moment,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cThat just really helped me stay focused.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sure enough, his 35-yard attempt Saturday sailed through the uprights<\/a>, securing a Wildcats win. The victory improved Northwestern to 7-2 overall (3-2 in Big Ten play) and dropped Penn State to 7-3 (4-2 Big Ten).<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the next step,\u201d Fitzgerald said. \u201cWe\u2019re in the mix for a New Year\u2019s Six bowl.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Wildcats need to win out and hope for a few upsets at the top of the Big Ten for Northwestern to still be playing at the start of next year.<\/p>\n

Photo at top: The Northwestern Wildcats and Penn State Nittany Lions play a football game Saturday. The Wildcats won 23-21. (Jordan Ray\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jordan Ray In the first quarter, Northwestern kicker Jack Mitchell missed a field goal. In the second quarter, he missed an extra point. In the third quarter, he missed another field goal. In the fourth quarter, he won the game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":147,"featured_media":19940,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[509,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fall-2015","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\nGame-winning field goal leads Northwestern past Penn State - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/game-winning-field-goal-leads-northwestern-past-penn-state\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Game-winning field goal leads Northwestern past Penn State - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Jordan Ray In the first quarter, Northwestern kicker Jack Mitchell missed a field goal. 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