Bowser's second TD run rallies Northwestern past Rutgers

PISCATAWAY, N.J. -- With a game for first place in the Big Ten West on the horizon against No. 23 Wisconsin, Northwestern almost got caught looking past lowly Rutgers. Isaiah Bowser scored on a 5-yard run with 8:12 to play and Northwestern avoided a major letdown by converting two fourth-downs plays on the game-winning drive in a much-harder-than-expected 18-15 win on Saturday. "We had confidence in them the whole game," Wildcats defensive end Joe Gaziano said of his offense. "We knew that they could put the points up (we) needed to score and needed to win the game, so I think in the fourth quarter we kind of looked at each other and said, `let's do this." The Wildcats (4-3, 4-1) did, just barely, scoring the final 11 points and limiting Rutgers (1-7, 0-5) to a field goal in the second half. The win set up a showdown at home Saturday against Wisconsin, which beat Illinois 49-20.