Iowa walks into Saturday night’s game in suburban Chicago with a clear problem to solve: Northwestern can move the ball.
That’s not a sentence many people would have expected to hear about the Wildcats, but here they are. Under first-year offensive coordinator Chip Kelly, Northwestern has become one of the Big Ten’s most productive offenses, and the transformation has been fast.
The Wildcats are second in the conference in scoring at 33.6 points per game, second in offense at 438.1 yards per game and second in rushing at 200.9 yards per game. They also rank second in FBS in explosive plays of 10 yards or more. Michigan State transfer Aidan Chiles ranks fourth in the league in total offense, though he is expected to miss Saturday’s game with an injury.
Kelly’s arrival last winter was one of the more surprising moves of the offseason. After spending just 11 months as offensive coordinator of the Las Vegas Raiders, he landed at Northwestern, where the fit seemed unusual on the surface and intriguing underneath.
“Through conversations and really getting to know him as a person and as a football mind, it was very evident to me that an opportunity to bring him on board and have him be a part of Northwestern football was something that could be an absolute game changer for this program, specifically our offense here at Northwestern,” Northwestern head coach David Braun said.
Kelly, for his part, said the conversations about the school’s direction mattered.
“We're all fortunate that you get to coach college football or in professional football at the NFL level,” Kelly said at his introductory press conference. “It's the greatest job in the world, so any time you're working, that's a good thing.
I'm just really excited to be working. … Getting a chance to have real good conversations about what (the school’s) vision was for this program and kind of where they see it headed, that intrigued me.”
What Northwestern has put on tape since then has looked like a coach with a deep bag of answers. Kelly has used a wide range of formations, including the old Wing-T.
Last week at Oregon, Northwestern lined up with Chiles behind center and three players stacked behind the right tackle and next to each other in an I formation. The play turned into a long touchdown pass.
Kelly explained his approach in a recent ESPN story.
"I don't think of coaching as being creative," Kelly said. "As a coach, your job is to be a problem solver. What's the problem that's presented to you, and how do you solve the problem? That's it.
"You have to have an inventory wide enough to bring out the skill sets in the players you have.”
Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz has noticed.
“I probably could talk for like an hour about him,” Ferentz said this week. “Just tremendous respect, let me start there.
I've gotten to know him a little bit over the last several years. I think he’s a really good person, just a brilliant football coach.
“If you look at his career, what he's done in his career, the multitude of things and going back to Oregon, time in the NFL, UCLA, he's done a lot of different things in a lot of different ways. You have to be adaptable to be good at anything you do, and he certainly is that. He's got a great football mind.”
Both teams enter the matchup at 6-2. Iowa is coming off a 30-0 win over Wisconsin after a disappointing loss at Minnesota two weeks ago. Northwestern’s two defeats have come by six points at Indiana and by eight at Oregon, where the Wildcats led 20-6 at one point.
Northwestern running back Caleb Komolafe said the focus now is simple.
“We’ll put our head down and go back to work,” Komolafe said. “We understand it’s a new week, it’s a next-day mentality, it’s onto the next.
Win or lose, we’re always onto the next. That Oregon game is in the past, we’re onto Iowa.
We’re focused on going out there and getting a win.”
Braun echoed that message after the loss to Oregon.
“The lesson that we learned Saturday was we’ve got work to do,” Braun said. “We have not reached our ceiling. There's a lot of improvement to be had, and we’re excited to get back get back to work.”
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