Former USC QB Ryan Hilinski leads Northwestern over Nebraska in game played in Ireland

Ryan Hilinski had a breakout performance in Northwestern football’s season opener on Saturday.

The former South Carolina quarterback and Wildcats starter was 27-of-38 for 314 yards and two touchdowns in the 31-28 win over Nebraska in a game played in Dublin, Ireland.

Northwestern trailed 28-17 in the third quarter.

““We didn’t flinch,” Hilinski told reporters after the game. And tonight, I looked at a scoreboard, I saw 14-3 and I was like ‘this is great, we’re gonna be just fine’. And before you know it, (I) hit Ray on that big ball, he caught it, scored and then we just kept going from there.”

The 314 yards were the most for Hilinski since he threw for 325 at South Carolina in 2019 against Appalachian State. He was the first Wildcat quarterback to throw for more than 300 yards in a game since Clayton Thorson had 455 in 2018 against Nebraska.

Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald didn’t name a starting quarterback in the days before Saturday’s opener and told reporters this week, “I’m not going to tell you anything.” It was between Hilinski and redshirt freshman Brendan Sullivan.

Northwestern revealed via Twitter on Saturday that Hilinski would start. He took all the snaps for the Wildcats on Saturday.

Northwestern entered the game as 11-point underdogs, according to Caesars Sportsbook.

Hilinski signed with Will Muschamp and South Carolina as a four-star quarterback in the 2019 recruiting class. After senior starter Jake Bentley was injured in the season opener, Hilinski started 11 games for the Gamecocks as a true freshman in 2019. In 2020, he lost a quarterback competition with graduate transfer Collin Hill and ended up only throwing six passes all year.

In January of 2021, Hilinski announced he was transferring to Northwestern. He played in nine games, five starts and led the team with 978 yards passing last season.

Box score: Northwestern 31, Nebraska 28

Nebraska ..... 7-7-14-0—28

Northwestern ..... 3-14-7-7—31

—First Quarter—

NEB—Garcia-Castaneda 32 pass from C.Thompson (Bleekrode kick), 12:41.

NW—FG Stage 35, 2:13.

—Second Quarter—

NEB—C.Thompson 1 run (Bleekrode kick), 11:59.

NW—Niro 41 pass from Hilinski (Stage kick), 10:58.

NW—Navarro 6 pass from Hilinski (Stage kick), :25.

—Third Quarter—

NEB—Grant 3 run (Bleekrode kick), 9:37.

NEB—Grant 46 run (Bleekrode kick), 9:09.

NW—Porter 3 run (Stage kick), 7:53.

—Fourth Quarter—

NW—Hull 4 run (Stage kick), 11:34.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Nebraska, Grant 19-101, Palmer 2-8, Allen 3-8, Smothers 1-7, Yant 3-5, C.Thompson 3-(minus 18). Northwestern, Hull 22-119, Porter 19-94, Clair 1-6, Hilinski 2-3, (Team) 3-(minus 8).

PASSING—Nebraska, C.Thompson 25-42-2-355. Northwestern, Hilinski 27-38-0-314.

RECEIVING—Nebraska, Palmer 8-68, Vokolek 5-63, Garcia-Castaneda 4-120, A.Brown 3-32, Belt 2-29, Washington 2-27, Grant 1-16. Northwestern, Washington 8-97, Hull 5-54, Navarro 4-29, Kirtz 4-12, Gordon 2-39, Niro 1-41, Tyus 1-34, Porter 1-5, Gill 1-2.

MISSED FIELD GOALS—Nebraska, Franke 56. Northwestern, Stage 36.