Northwestern’s defense is good, very good…
The 2020 Northwestern defense allowed 2 2nd half touchdowns in 7 B1G games. One was a garbage time TD vs Illinois. Holy Sh*t. #GoCats
— 🎩(6-1) B1G NU Fan 🎩 (@NUCatFan23) December 14, 2020
Watching the Northwestern defense was a little scary, to be honest. The defensive strength comes from being opportunistic and creating turnovers. The Wildcats have 12 interceptions and six fumbles this year, and it has created opportunities for short fields. The secondary is outstanding, and it starts with a strong pass rush up front designed to create mistakes by opposing quarterbacks. The defense is aggressive in pursuit, coverage and getting off the ball.
However, that aggressive nature can get the defense into trouble. It will look for a big hit instead of simply wrapping up a receiver, or it can overpursue on misdirection. The tackling is sufficient but has lapses. The defense has solid gap discipline most of the time, however, the linebackers will sometimes get out of position and fall into no man’s land.