After a win that put Northwestern at 4-0, you would think Wildcat head coach Pat Fitzgerald would have nothing but good things to say about his club. That was not exactly the case following Northwestern's narrow 30-25 win over the Central Michigan Chippewas (2-2) in Evanston on Friday.

On a day where the Stanley Cup made a visit to Ryan Field, Northwestern did not finish the game like champions. They very nearly blew a 30-13 lead in the fourth. Central Michigan got within one score at the 1:11 mark but failed to recover an onside kick attempt to give Northwestern the victory.

"To win another game the rest of the year, we're going to have to execute a lot better," the head coach said. "We're going to have to play with more focus and discipline. When we do that, I think we'll be a team that's tough to beat."

The Wildcats scored first on a 24-yard touchdown pass from Dan Persa to Jeremy Ebert midway through the first. The Chippewas responded on the following drive when Cody Wilson got credited with a 31-yard touchdown run. Both teams had their PAT's blocked following the first quarter touchdowns.

The teams went into halftime tied 13-13 after the clubs traded touchdowns in the 2^nd quarter. Northwestern scored on a 1-yard run from Jacob Schmidt and Central Michigan replied with a 16-yard touchdown pass from Ryan Radcliff to Carl Volny.

Persa, who went 23-of-30, 230 yards, 2 touchdowns, 1 interception, threw his first interception of the season midway through the second inside the red zone. He took blame for it afterwards. "It was a bad throw, a bad decision and I don't want to do that again. I shouldn't have thrown it there anyway, as soon as I let it go, I knew it was going to be picked."

The 3^rd quarter was dominated by Northwestern. On four 3^rd quarter drives for Central Michigan, they had two 3-and-outs, one interception and a five play drive. The Wildcats scored 10 points in the third and their final drive in the quarter set up a touchdown early in the 4^th quarter. A field goal from Stefan Demos and Ebert's second touchdown reception, this one a 25-yard catch, gave Northwestern a 23-13 lead after three quarters.

Northwestern scored on the third play of the 4^th quarter when Schmidt took a handoff and raced down the left sideline for a 13-yard touchdown, his second of the game. At this point, Northwestern looked like it was in complete control.

The Chippewas would not go down that easily. Volny recorded his second touchdown, this one on a 2-yard run. The extra point was once again blocked, but with 7:36 remaining, Central Michigan had life down 30-19.

Central Michigan's defense came up big getting a defensive stop on the following Northwestern drive. The Chippewas took advantage of the momentum with an eight play, 64-yard touchdown drive capped off with Radcliff connecting with Kito Poblah for a 25-yard touchdown. Radcliff finished the game 29-of-43, 347 yards, 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.

On the onside kick attempt, Brett Hartmann's effort went straight to Northwestern wide receiver Drake Dunsmore and Ryan Field exhaled knowing they escaped barely.

Fitzgerald said after the game the team needs to play better during the conference season. "When we make plays, we execute, we stick together and we play with discipline, we're a pretty good football team," he said. "When we do anything the opposite, any team can beat us. We have to play much cleaner and much better to be a successful team moving forward."

Northwestern opens up Big Ten play next week at Minnesota.