Penn State had stopped Kustok and the 'Cats early on, but, much like Northwestern's defense, hadn't been able to do much against the point-scoring, yard-churning machine that both offenses resembled in the second half.
Besides, the Wildcats were 7-0 under head coach Randy Walker in games decided by seven points or less, and 11-0 in games in which they led at halftime, as they did Saturday.
Sure enough, Kustok completed his first pass to Jon Schweighardt for a first down into Lion territory, and the 'Cats were rolling.
But then, two plays later, the offense stalled, as wideout Kunle Patrick failed to get out of bounds after catching a desperate, cross-field heave from Kustok. The quarterback's four touchdowns and 413 total yards of offense, the third best performance in school history, wound up going for naught.
"We've danced around the fire a couple of times before," said Northwestern head coach Randy Walker, whose team also pulled out a narrow win against Minnesota. "I warned the players a couple of weeks ago that if we danced around the fire long enough, we were going to get burned."
Northwestern may have gone ahead too quickly on the Lions, leaving Matt Senneca, Zack Mills and company two minutes to orchestrate the game-winning, 69-yard scoring drive. After all, as the Wildcats have proven time and again this season, it doesn't take long to put points on the board at Ryan Field.
"I have always been of the opinion that you take 'em when you can get 'em," Walker said. "You score as much and as fast as you can. Our tempo is such that that's how we play, and we didn't score enough today."
And so the Lions emerged from the late-October dusk as victors. But it very easily could have gone the other way.
