Northwestern starting quarterback Ben Bryant’s college career has been quite the rollercoaster.
The La Grange, Illinois native originally committed to Paul Chryst and the Wisconsin Badgers during his recruiting process in 2018, before reversing course and signing with Luke Fickell and Cincinnati. A colliding of worlds four years in advance.
Bryant then went on to redshirt in 2018, play at Cincinnati in 2019 and 2020, transfer to Eastern Michigan to play in 2021, transfer back to Cincinnati to play and start in 2022 and finally transfer to Northwestern this offseason for his final season of eligibility.
A lot is currently going wrong for the 2023 Wildcats, from a 4-20 record the last two seasons to unforeseen coaching turnover immediately before the start of 2023. It entered Saturday’s contest with Minnesota with a 1-2 record and not much hope for the rest of the year.
Related: Big Ten Power Rankings after Week 4: The Big Ten West is really, really, bad
On paper, Minnesota was supposed to enter Evanston and take care of business easily. Luckily, the games aren’t played on paper and on Las Vegas computers.
Former Wisconsin commit Ben Bryant played probably the best game of his long collegiate career — 33/49 passing, 396 yards and 4 touchdowns — while the Wildcats erased a 21-0 deficit to win 37-34 in overtime.
Here are some of Bryant’s best highlights:
6 years, 3x in transfer portal, and a lot of adversity helped prepare me for this amazing night. Thankful to my OL and entire team/coaches… we’re just getting started! #GoCats @NUFBFamily @BigTenNetwork @CFBONFOX @ESPNCFB @B1Gfootball pic.twitter.com/tfkrkDOh0M
— Ben Bryant (@benbryant_6) September 24, 2023
It was truly a terrible loss for Minnesota and P.J. Fleck, who yet again project to finish the season without a trip to Indianapolis.