Dominant Floor Sport Leads ‘Cats Previous UCLA, 17-14

EVANSTON, Ill. — Fueled by 199 speeding yards, its most in a Big Ten recreation since 2022, Northwestern (2-2, 1-1 Big Ten) edged UCLA (0-4, 0-1 Big Ten) by a ultimate rating of 17-14 on Saturday afternoon at Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium.

“Excited about some of the improvements we’ve seen within our football team,” Dan and Susan Family Head Football Coach David Braun mentioned. “This is going to be an opportunity for us to celebrate a win, and also very clearly identify things we need to improve upon and get better at. We learned that our football team can withstand some adversity. We showed a great deal of toughness and togetherness.”

 

Caleb Komolafe set profession highs with 27 speeding makes an attempt and 119 speeding yards, whereas including a landing for the second consecutive week. He turned the primary Wildcat to register each 25-plus carries and 100-plus speeding yards since 2022, when Evan Hull did so. Joseph Himon II additionally added eight carries for 57 yards.

“Caleb just has continued to grow,” Braun mentioned. “A guy like Komo having 27 carries and over 100 yards, that fires me up. That’s something that’s going to have to show up throughout the season.”

 

Preston Stone accomplished 66.7% (12-18) of his passes, totaling 115 passing yards and a landing. He linked early and infrequently with Griffin Wilde, who completed the sport with seven catches for 98 receiving yards, highlighted by a 10-yard landing seize within the second quarter.

 

Robert Fitzgerald posted a team-high 9 tackles. Anto Saka tallied a sack, becoming a member of up with Braydon Brus for a cease on the Bruins’ ultimate drive to assist cement Northwestern’s victory.

 

The Wildcats instantly set the tone with the run recreation, shifting the ball to the UCLA 31-yard line by working the ball on seven of their first 12 performs. Facing a fourth-and-4 at that juncture, Stone linked with Wilde for a 20-yard achieve to maneuver into the pink zone.

 

Ultimately, Jack Olsen capped off the 17-play, 74-yard drive that spanned 9:09 with a 33-yard kick to place Northwestern on the board first, 3-0. On the drive, Komolafe took seven carries for 34 yards.

“I was just running the ball the best I could — just getting the ball and trying to get downhill and make the most of each carry,” Komolafe mentioned.

 

Following a UCLA three-and-out, the ‘Cats moved down the sphere with a 22-yard seize from Hunter Welcing and a 24-yard rush by Himon II. Komolafe then took a pitch 9 yards into the tip zone, propelling Northwestern to a 10-0 lead with 13:29 remaining within the second quarter.

 

After marching over midfield for the primary time, the Bruins went for it on fourth-and-3 from the 34-yard line, however a tandem sack by Aidan Hubbard and Michael Kilbane pressured a turnover on downs.

 

Taking the sphere as soon as once more, explosive performs continued for Northwestern. In fast succession, Himon had one other 20-yard sprint to cross midfield, adopted by a 25-yard reception by Wilde. Stone went on to attach with Wilde on a slant route in the long run zone from 10 yards out to place the Wildcats up, 17-0.

 

UCLA acquired within the scoring column as time expired within the first half, with a 28-yard Mateen Bhaghani area objective trimming the Northwestern result in 17-3.

 

Northwestern registered 212 first-half yards, with 104 coming by means of the air and 108 on the bottom, and transformed 12 first downs. Both Himon and Komolafe tallied over 50 speeding yards throughout the opening half-hour. The ‘Cats scored on all three of their first-half drives, conducting the feat for the primary time since a minimum of 2003.

 

Looking to grab momentum, UCLA put collectively a 12-play, 73-yard drive that spanned 6:12 within the third quarter. With the Bruins going through third-and-goal from the Northwestern seven-yard line, Ore Adeyi made a essential cross breakup in the long run zone to drive the guests to accept a 25-yard Bhaghani kick that made it a 17-6 affair late within the third quarter.

 

After blocking a Wildcat area objective, the Bruins engineered a four-play, 80-yard drive, capped off by 29-yard landing cross from Nico Iamaleava to Kwazi Gilmer.  The Bruins went on to transform on the following two-point conversion to tug inside three, 17-14, with 6:19 to play in regulation.

 

With UCLA going through second-and-10 from its personal 33-yard line with time winding down, Saka and Brus joined up for a backbreaking seven-yard sack, as Northwestern went on to shut out its first Big Ten win of 2025.

“The guys did just a really good job of staying the course and keeping poised,” Braun mentioned. “They didn’t flinch. They found a way to close out a football game.”

 

Northwestern concludes its season-long four-game homestand subsequent week when it hosts ULM at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, October 4. The annual Homecoming contest will air on Big Ten Network and WGN Radio 720.