With Historic Comeback, Northwestern Wins San Diego’s Holiday Bowl
- Updated: January 2, 2019
(Jared McGee of the Northwestern University Wildcats races 86 yards for a record-setting touchdown, after recovering a fumble at the 2018 San Diego County Credit Union Holiday Bowl. McGee’s TD highlighted an amazing second-half comeback victory for the Wildcats. Photo courtesy of ESPN.)
With a historic third-quarter comeback in which the Northwestern University Wildcats scored 28 unanswered points, after trailing at halftime, 20-3, the Big Ten Conference representative defeated the PAC-12’s University of Utah Utes in a thrilling 31-20 victory Monday at the 2018 San Diego County Credit Union Holiday Bowl held at the San Diego County Credit Union Stadium in guess where? San Diego. Boy, that is a mouthful.
Before we discuss the exciting action, my readers might wonder something else. They might question why CaliSports News reports on the Holiday Bowl, a college football consolation prize played between two schools located in distant states. That might puzzle me too, frankly. Except, I attended the game. So I am not the least bit puzzled.
That bowl is relevant to CSN, because CaliSports News is “All Cali, All the time”. Since the credit union game occurred in Southern California at that credit union place, in front of 47,007 fans who persevered through a torrential downpour, CSN is on top of it. Actually, this sportswriter has visited that credit union stadium on numerous occasions, but only when it was still named Jack Murphy Stadium. I attended San Diego Padres games played there during the early 1980’s. Yes sir. Back then, Ray Kroc of McDonald’s fame owned the team, and its home field was at the Murph. Go Padres!
But why drive the 150 miles each way from Los Angeles, much of which through the rain, to watch a second-tier bowl when CSN does not even cover college football played in LA between top-tier locals such as the UCLA Bruins and USC Trojans? Great question, huh?
Rabbi Rabbs’ bio published at the side of this web page provides the answer. I studied at Northwestern. That is the entire reason. Full stop. Go Wildcats! When his Cats play in SoCal, Rabbi Rabbs will show up, especially when I attend for free with a press pass that covers admission and parking. Yes sir. Thank you, Holiday Bowl media department.
Monday’s game I believe marked only the second time since I enrolled at Northwestern that its football team played in SoCal, whether during the regular season or in a bowl. Thankfully, I attended both contests. The Wildcats first visited when they played in the 1996 Rose Bowl. That. Was. Amazing.
(1996 Rose Bowl in Pasadena. PAC-10 champion University of Southern California Trojans vs. Big Ten champion Northwestern University Wildcats. Photo courtesy of Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images.)
Northwestern only appeared in the Rose Bowl once during my lifetime, and thankfully, I was on hand to witness the once-in-a-lifetime experience. My Cats lost that day, but many of NU’s alumni were happy just to be there. Please understand that when I attended that university, its football team was an absolute joke, and set an NCAA Division I record for losing 34 straight games. That record still holds today. Look it up. I mean, the team was so awful that Northwestern’s incoming freshmen feared that they would complete their four-year education, graduate, and the football team would still not have won a single game during that time. Craziness.
In those years, NU needed to drop out from the Big Ten. The other schools in that conference were large public universities with tens of thousands of students enrolled on campus. Those institutions sponsored big time football programs that offered maximum athletic scholarships with low academic requirements to its standout football recruits. Meanwhile, Northwestern was a tiny private school with high academic requirements for all of its applicants, and seemingly could not care less if prospective admission candidates played sports or not. Northwestern enforced the same high-level academic requirements on every high school student that applied. Thus, true scholars comprised that school’s entire student body, and as far as this former student knows, NU made no exceptions for star athletes. Hence, its football team in actuality became only one step higher than an intramural squad composed of geeky physics majors.
When the Cats played against big football powerhouses such as the Ohio State University Buckeyes, the teams ran onto the field through their respective tunnels. Our guys were tall, the biggest dudes on campus. But then Northwestern’s fans looked across the field and discovered that Ohio State’s players were even taller. Those guys dwarfed our dudes. And the next thing you know, the scores were like 60-0. We didn’t merely lose. Comedians told jokes about us, and people often referred to our team as the Mildcats.
But, we gave ourselves the last laugh. Whenever the scores became lopsided, which happened quite often, Northwestern fans pointed toward opposing fans, and chanted our famous cheer. The words were: “That’s alright, that’s okay. You’re going to work for us someday!!!”
Gotta love that chant. For me, it reached realization in 1995. That is when I needed my teeth straightened, so I hired an Ohio State graduate to work for me as my orthodontist. In all honestly, I fail to comprehend the chant. Maybe one of my fellow NU alumni members will please explain how an orthodontist walking off with my two grand gives me reason to cheer. Because I don’t get it. If I could choose any particular alum to chime in, I would hereby respectfully invite her royal majesty, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, with the honor of kindly providing an answer to myself and my readers. That is right, folks, just as did Rabbi Rabbs, Great Britain’s royal newlywed grew up in Los Angeles and attended Northwestern. Yep, there are a few of us Angeleños that have done both. Surprise, surprise!
(Rabbi Rabbs rocks his Northwestern University cap and banner. Go Cats! Photo courtesy of Rabbi Rabbs.)
Getting back on topic, the Big Ten needed to kick us out, especially when it added the Pennsylvania State University Nittany Lions as the 11th team. How does anyone take the name Big Ten seriously when the conference contains 11 teams? Can’t you count? Are the Big Ten schools so inferior academically that no one attending them realizes 10 does not equal 11? What an embarrassment for everyone connected to that conference.
But, the Big Ten powers-that-be kept Northwestern in that otherwise highly-competitive athletic conference. Perhaps, the other schools enjoyed having NU remain among them as the Wildcats provided assured victories for everyone else. We served as the Midwest’s punching bag. Furthermore, the NCAA needed to boot us from its Division I. The Cats earned the unquestionable distinction of being the worst Division I football team in the entire country.
However, Northwestern achieved the complete opposite academically. When I attended, virtually everybody ranked that campus among the nation’s top 10 universities scholastically. In particular, the experts rated NU’s prestigious journalism school which I attended as no. 1. That pinpointed the only reason I moved to the freezing cold Chicago suburb of Evanston, IL. Northwestern remains among the nation’s academic elite. In US News‘ 2019 edition of Best Colleges, NU is still ranked in the top 10. However, in 2013, NewsPro magazine rated journalism programs, and Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism dropped to no. 2 behind the University of Missouri.
That news failed to surprise me, only because when I was probably still 14 years old, back in the mid-1970’s, a high school journalism teacher told me that Northwestern and Missouri shared the spotlight as to which university offered the top journalism program. Thus, I followed her advice and applied for admission to both schools. Just to brag for a moment, Mizzou also offered to Rabbi Rabbs enrollment as a journalism major.
Netflix’s show Ozark put a big smile on my face when one of its teenage characters with aspirations to write professionally applied and gained admission to Mizzou. Rabbi Rabbs held a similar such goal when he was a teen. I dreamed of pursuing a career in sports journalism. And, 40-plus years later, I write for CaliSports News about the Anaheim Ducks, youth baseball, and second-tier football games.
(Character Wyatt Langmore depicted in a scene from Netflix’s Ozark. In that show, the University of Missouri granted Langmore admission in large part due to his writing abilities. Photo courtesy of Netflix.)
Speaking of 1995, that is when everything changed overnight for our football team. That happened in one game. The Wildcats played their first match of the season at the University of Notre Dame, another perennial football powerhouse. The Fighting Irish were highly-favored to wipe out Northwestern, just as they had done the prior year in Evanston, 42-15. But somehow, some way, the same outcome did not happen that day. Instead, NU pulled off perhaps the greatest upset in its history, defeating the Irish, 17-15.
Then, the Cats soared on an unbelievable streak, beating almost everyone in their way, and won the Big Ten with an undefeated 8-0 conference record, while finishing 10-1 overall. That sent us to the Rose Bowl. Unreal. So of course I had to attend that event.
I do not care that we lost. We were in the Rose Bowl. Us. The worst team in college sports. The butt of every joke. We were funny no more. We were not only smart, but now we could do the jock thing, too. See? Stanford University students and alumni were no longer the only folks that could make such a wild claim. That 2019 top 10 Best Colleges list also includes Stanford. You know what? I would love to see a Rose Bowl featuring Stanford vs. Northwestern. The ultimate duel between two teams composed of both brains and brawn. If we cannot make that Rose Bowl happen, then move the match-up to the credit union consolation game instead. But, it needs to happen somewhere sometime soon. Do it!
Sadly, the Cats have not won their conference title ever since that historic Rose Bowl 23 years ago. They came close this past season, though. In 2018, Northwestern again finished its regular season schedule undefeated in the Big Ten with an impressive 8-0 record. The Wildcats reached the Big Ten finals by winning that conference’s West Division title. I held out hope that the Cats would return to Pasadena by beating the East Division champs, Ohio State, in the conference championship game. In fact, I even contacted Rose Bowl officials to ask for press credentials just in case.
But, that turned out for naught because those dang Buckeyes won again. Of course they did. Ohio State has dominated Northwestern in football throughout my entire life in a way that probably no other team has dominated another during that time frame. Starting in 1964, the Wildcats have only beaten the Buckeyes twice! I am serious. Only twice in the past 54 years. A big upset in Evanston during 2004 marked Northwestern’s most recent victory over the Buckeyes. The other Wildcats’ win happened in 1971, and that remains Northwestern’s most recent road victory against Ohio State. Imagine that. The Cats only once in Columbus, OH, during those 54 seasons.
So, I cannot say NU’s loss in the Big Ten title game shocked me, although I certainly felt disappointed that my Cats would not come to Pasadena. But wait. The good news arrived the following day, when the NCAA announced that Northwestern would play in San Diego. Yay! Okay, it’s not the Rose Bowl, but it’s something, right? So that’s why I attended, and that’s why CaliSports News is writing about it.
(The sign reserving Rabbi Rabbs’ seat in the press box of the 2018 San Diego County Credit Union Holiday Bowl. Photo courtesy of Rabbi Rabbs.)
Northwestern entered the Holiday Bowl with an overall record of 8-5. Utah entered at 9-4, and had likewise lost its conference’s championship game. So call the credit union bowl the consolation derby for the schools that had lost to the Rose Bowl contestants. When I attended NU, the school should have changed its teams’ name to the Underdogs, as the football program was almost always a heavy favorite to lose. That was still the case at this year’s Big Ten title game, and was not different Monday, as Utah entered the contest favored to win. Utah also enjoyed the home crowd advantage, as its fans vastly outnumbered Northwestern’s fans in the stadium, perhaps by a ratio of 10-1.
The Utes and Cats squared off not as complete strangers. They had faced each other once before during my lifetime, back in 1981, during Northwestern’s epic losing streak. Yep, Utah contributed one of those 34 straight NU losses, when the Utes added their own 42-0 footprint on the Wildcats.
Monday’s game started pretty much as a continuation of that 1981 debacle, as the Utes jumped out to a decisive 20-3 halftime lead. The first half belonged entirely to Utah. Northwestern’s opponent dominated both sides of the line of scrimmage. The game turned ugly for the Evanston crowd, and to be honest, the halftime fireworks show was more entertaining than anything the Wildcats had done during the first half. At the conclusion of the fireworks, I gathered my belongings and prepared to go home early. Between the horribly lopsided bowl game, the cold night chill that permeated the open-air press box, rain falling, and the promise of another 150-mile trek complete with traffic exiting SDCCU’s parking lot, this crazy Wildcat had endured enough punishment for one day. True story.
By the way, Monday’s game shattered the myth that it never rains in Southern California. However, I must clarify that the showers hit San Diego County specifically. Meanwhile, nearby Los Angeles County has enjoyed clear blue skies the entire time, as witnessed by those that watched the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. Another myth busted was that LA and SD share the same weather. They most certainly do not.
(View of Northwestern’s end zone from the press box prior to kickoff at the 2018 San Diego County Credit Union Holiday Bowl. Soon after that photo was taken, rains started pounding the stadium. Photo courtesy of Rabbi Rabbs.)
As I was about to exit the press booth, and head for that gigantic rain-drenched parking lot, something unexpected happened. One of Northwestern’s several very friendly and helpful sports information folks who worked alongside the media told me to have faith that the Wildcats would engineer a comeback in the third quarter. That wonderful person reminded Rabbi Rabbs that when Northwestern lost to Ohio State during the Big Ten championship, the Cats came out strong after halftime, mounted a comeback, and made the game interesting heading into the fourth quarter.
So, I took their advice and stuck around for the start of the second half. My thinking was that if Utah added to its lead, I would head for the doors. But, if the Cats started a comeback, I would stay as long as it took. And, a third-quarter comeback was precisely what happened next.
Utah started the second half with the ball just as the rainfall seemingly increased exponentially. Advantage Northwestern. The Wildcats play their home games in Evanston where terrible weather conditions are the norm. Trust me. I lived there. The more soaked the playing field, the more comfortable the Cats become. Wet footballs and slippery footing instantly turn into the enemy of Northwestern’s opponents.
Sure enough, in the pouring rain, the Cats’ defense forced the Utes to commit four extremely costly turnovers in the third quarter, including a miraculous fumble that the Wildcats recovered and returned for a record-breaking 86-yard touchdown. That turned the entire game around, as Utah’s offense had driven the length of the field and was very close to scoring yet another touchdown. But, instead, the Cats scored going the other way for a 14-point switch.
That marked the longest return from a turnover in Holiday Bowl history, and the fifth-longest Holiday Bowl TD, period. The 86 yards also tied Northwestern’s school record for its longest fumble return. Those stats were announced by the NU sports info people, and by the stadium’s public address announcer. Fox Sports which broadcast the event also cited that fumble return as being 86 yards.
However, I see that other media outlets such as ESPN credit that return as only being 82 yards. I think I may know the source of their information, too. After the third quarter, Holiday Bowl officials handed to each member of the press a recap of that quarter, and that recap lists the return as 82 yards. That might be a typo. How confusing.
Details matter.
So, take your pick. Either go with Fox Sports, Northwestern’s staff, and the PA announcer, or choose the Holiday Bowl handout and ESPN. Your call. I am terribly biased, but I choose to stick with my alma mater’s awesome employees.
In any event, by capitalizing on the Utes’ turnovers, the Wildcats roared back in the third quarter by scoring four unanswered touchdowns to take a surprising 31-20 lead. Unbelievable! Those 28 points the Cats produced set a school record for its most points scored in one quarter of a bowl game. For this NU fan, that was the greatest quarter ever. I am so thankful that I stayed to watch it in person. Big thank you to the Northwestern staff member that told me to keep the faith! You rock! What a great way to head into the new year. So glad they offered that advice.
After the game, Northwestern Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald summed up the historic comeback.
“It was like, here we go. You could just feel momentum shift,” Fitzgerald said. “Did I think we were going to be able to create that amount of turnovers? I love San Diego, but I love it when it rains on game day. That was sweet. It really played a big factor. Obviously, it was raining a little bit harder coming out of halftime than it was before the half. That played a role in the game.”
(Players from both teams congratulated each other at midfield immediately following the conclusion of the 2018 San Diego County Credit Union Holiday Bowl. Photo courtesy of Rabbi Rabbs.)
Northwestern played solid defense in the fourth quarter to maintain its lead, and cemented its second half shutout of the Utes. Amazing. What a game!
“We just beat the PAC-12 South [Division] champion, down three scores,” Fitzgerald said. “This is a big momentum builder for us. That’s a darn good football team we just beat.”
The contest marked the Wildcats’ third straight bowl victory. Momentum indeed. But, none of Northwestern’s other bowl wins during my lifetime lit a candle to Monday’s historic Holiday Bowl comeback. Fitzgerald has done amazing work for NU’s program, and this alumnus very much looks forward to seeing more of what Fitzgerald will bring. I would love to see the coach take my Cats to another Rose Bowl, and my ultimate college football dream would be to see Northwestern actually win a Rose Bowl game before I die. That would be fantastic. And if the Wildcats could defeat the Buckeyes along the way, even better.
Finally, I wish to mention that despite the inclement weather and disappointing first half of the game, I enjoyed sitting in the press box next to a pair of very friendly reporters that traveled from Utah to cover their home team. I realize the Holiday Bowl’s second half did not go the way they nor the tens of thousands of Utah’s faithful in attendance had hoped, and so I wish much success for the Utes and their dedicated fans next season. Here is to hoping for a Northwestern vs. Utah rematch to be held in the 2020 Rose Bowl. Until then, Go Cats !!
(Video courtesy of Ben McGallant Gallant.)
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2 Comments
About Rabbi Rabbs
Tim Chau
January 2, 2019 at 5:24 pm
Wonderful and beautiful article. One of the best I read so far about the Holiday Bowl.
Rabbi Rabbs
January 4, 2019 at 6:08 am
Thank you very much, Tim, for reading my article, and for the awesome compliments. So glad you like it.