Northwestern fails to start or finish, falls 29-12 to Minnesota - Chicago Tribune

[Iceland12]

Northwestern came to TCF Bank Stadium needing one victory to become bowl eligible for the second consecutive season.

After yet another sluggish start Saturday, the Wildcats left without it.

For the fifth time in six games, the Wildcats fell behind by double digits in the first half and lost 29-12 to Minnesota on a cold, windy afternoon. Now the Wildcats (5-6, 4-4 in the Big Ten) must beat Illinois at Ryan Field next Saturday in their final regular-season game to extend their season.

"We came out slow in the first half, and then we didn't finish strong the second half," middle linebacker Anthony Walker said. "It's on us as captains and on me as middle linebacker. We've got to get that going."

Rodney Smith ran for a 5-yard touchdown on Minnesota's first drive, and Emmit Carpenter shook off a missed extra point to kick three field goals as the Gophers (8-3, 5-4) took a 15-0 lead.

Northwestern finally scored in the third quarter on Justin Jackson's 4-yard run, but Gophers quarterback Mitch Leidner ended the Wildcats' comeback hopes with a pair of touchdowns in the final 6 minutes, 46 seconds — a 9-yard touchdown pass to Drew Wolitarsky and a 12-yard run.

Clayton Thorson threw 9 yards to Flynn Nagel for the final Wildcats score with 2:46 left to make it 22-12. Northwestern went for two points after both touchdowns and failed.

Jackson ran for 90 yards on 22 carries, and Thorson threw for 276 yards. But the Wildcats allowed seven sacks and struggled for yardage in key situations all day, going 2-for-15 on third down and 1-for-4 on fourth..

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/college/ct-northwestern-minnesota-spt-1120-20161119-story.html

 

[bottlebass]

Rodney Smith ran for a 5-yard touchdown on Minnesota's first drive, and Emmit Carpenter shook off a missed extra point to kick three field goals as the Gophers (8-3, 5-4) took a 15-0 lead.

I don't know why it bothers me so much (because I'm not exactly grammatically correct all the time) but the amount of typos and mistakes in the news just is really unsettling. It really isn't that hard to proof read real quick and fix mistakes.