Northwestern beats Boston College without Persa
By Tina Akouris takouris@suntimes.com September 3, 2011 2:28PM
CHESTNUT HILL, MA - SEPTEMBER 03: Kain Colter #2 of the Northwestern Wildcats looks to pass as Dillon Quinn#92 of the Boston College Eagles defends on September 3, 2011 at Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) R:\Merlin\Getty_Photos\123471115.jpg
Northwestern 3 7 7 7— 24
Boston College 3 7 0 7— 17
First Quarter
BC—FG Freese 19, 12:49. NU—FG Budzien 43, 7:01.
Second Quarter
BC—A. Williams 6 run (Freese kick), 8:03. NU—Colter 3 run (Budzien kick), :38.
Third Quarter
NU—Trumpy 5 run (Budzien kick), 11:53.
Fourth Quarter
NU—A. Smith 1 run (Budzien kick), 9:24. BC—A. Williams 1 run (Freese kick), 6:00.
A—37,561
TEAM STATISTICS NU BC
First downs 21 20
Rushes-yards 54-227 30-104
Passing 197 375
Comp-Att-Int 17-24-1 24-44-1
Return Yards 0 38
Punts-Avg. 5-45.0 4-34.8
Fumbles-Lost 1-0 0-0
Penalties-Yards 4-26 5-47
Time of Possession 28:58 31:02
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING—Northwestern, Trumpy 15-85, Colter 23-71, A. Smith 11-53, Schmidt 3-11, Ebert 1-4, Green 1-3. Boston College, A. Williams 22-114, Kimble 2-9, Team 1-(minus 1), Rettig 5-(minus 18).
PASSING—Northwestern, Colter 17-24-1-197. Boston College, Rettig 24-44-1-375.
RECEIVING—Northwestern, Ebert 4-54, Lawrence 3-31, C. Jones 2-39, Fields 2-27, Brown 2-26, Dunsmore 2-10, Schmidt 1-13, A. Smith 1-(minus 3). Boston College, Momah 8-157, Swigert 5-68, Larmond 4-84, Amidon 4-37, A. Williams 2-11, Pantale 1-18.
NORTHWESTERN (1-0)
Sept. 3 at Boston College W, 24-17
Sept. 10 Eastern Illinois 2:30 p.m.
Sept. 17 at Army 2:30 p.m.
Oct. 1 at Illinois 11 a.m.
Oct. 8 Michigan 6 p.m.
Oct. 15 at Iowa 6 p.m.
Oct. 22 Penn State 6 p.m.
Oct. 29 at Indiana 11 a.m.
Nov. 5 at Nebraska TBA
Nov. 12 Rice TBA
Nov. 19 Minnesota TBA
Nov. 26 Michigan State TBA
Updated: November 16, 2011 1:27AM
CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — No Dan Persa, no problem.
Northwestern won its season opener 24-17 at Boston College’s Alumni Stadium Saturday. The Wildcats were without starting quarterback Persa, who is still recovering from a ruptured Achilies tendon injury suffered last November. Persa gave way to backup Kain Colter, who threw for 197 yards on 17 of 24 passing and rushed for a touchdown.
Defensive lineman Vince Browne sacked Chase Rettig, the Boston College quarterback, in the game’s final seconds, killing the Eagles’ final drive. It appeared that Rettig injured his shoulder on the play.
Mike Trumpy’s five-yard touchdown run at 11:53 in the third quarter gave NU its first lead of the ballgame at 17-10, and Adonis Smith’s one-yard run at 9:24 in the fourth quarter upped NU’s lead to 24-10.
About two hours before game time, word started to trickle out that Persa wasn’t going to play — much less dress — for the season opener against the Eagles. It was confirmed by team personnel a short time later, with the sophomore Colter getting the nod for his first career start at quarterback. He made his first career college start in the TicketCity Bowl at slotback. Colter finished the first quarter with 60 yards on 5 of 8 passing, and eight carries for 52 yards rushing.
But Colter had a rough start to the second quarter when he dropped the snap on fourth-and-one from the 10-yard line and gave possession back to BC.
Colter, though, recovered from the miscue and scored the Wildcats’ first touchdown with 38 seconds to play in the first half on a three-yard run. Colter’s quick feet came in handy as he sidestepped a lunging Luke Kuechly — Boston College’s All-American linebacker — near the end zone. Colter’s run tied the score at 10 going into halftime.
The Wildcats rushed for over 200 yards on a Boston College defense that had not allowed that much yardage on the ground since Oct. 10, 2009 against Virginia Tech.
