That’s why they play the game.
Despite facing the No. 23 team in the country, Northwestern came into historic Yankee Stadium and shut down the dominate Pitt Panthers’ offense, leaving New York with a 31-24 victory and only its third bowl win ever.
The story of the day was Northwestern running back Justin Jackson who came a yard short of the Pinstripe Bowl rushing record with 226 yards on 33 carries. For Pitt, star running back James Conner only had 32 yards on 8 carries after getting hurt early on in the game.
Pittsburgh also had to play most of the fourth quarter with its backup quarterback Ben DiNucci after Nathan Peterman was knocked out of the game on a controversial hit by Xavier Washington.