IOWA CITY - The "Fat Cats" missed the dinner bell.

Poised to make a run at their fifth consecutive January 1 bowl game, Iowa played like Garfield, waiting for the Outback Bowl or Capital One Bowl to deliver it its next postseason meal.

Instead, the Hawkeyes left to a chorus of boos from what was left of a 70,000-plus sellout crowd at Kinnick Stadium after being outplayed from start to finish by last-place Northwestern Saturday, 21-7.

Riding a six-game losing streak, including all five of its Big Ten games, the Wildcats (3-7, 1-5) looked much more like the team with a lot to play for than the overwhelmed Hawkeyes (6-4, 2-4).

"We played like fat cats. I thought we looked like fat cats, and they looked like a hungry team," said Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz. "That is my responsibility. That is certainly not the identity we're looking for as a football team."

Northwestern outgained Iowa (443 to 264), won the turnover battle (3 to 2) and left the Hawkeyes stunned and embarrassed.

Ferentz and his players heard exactly how Iowa's faithful felt about Saturday's performance.

"I heard one gentleman say, 'Thank God it is over," said Ferentz. "I wouldn't contest that statement. I can understand why he'd say that."

"We didn't give them anything to cheer about today," added running back Albert Young. "Booing is not something you want to get accustomed to at home, but we didn't give them much to cheer about today."

With two games left - Wisconsin at home and at Minnesota - and the Outback and Capital One Bowls now out of contention - Iowa hopes it can finish strong enough to possibly grab an Alamo Bowl or Champs Sports Bowl bid.

But before that, Ferentz says his squad will need to do serious soul searching.

"When you go out and play as hard as you can and lose, you can live with that," said Ferentz. "But we are searching for some answers right now. There are no magic cures for anything we are doing poorly right now. We have to do better, and it starts with our fundamentals and attitude."

C.J. Bacher, Northwestern's third-string quarterback at the start of the season, threw for 218 yards, 173 in the first half, and Tyrell Sutton rushed for 168 as the Wildcats halted their longest losing streak since they lost eight straight between 2001 and 2002 ( the final six of the '01 season and first two of 02).

Wildcat head coach Pat Fitzgerald said his team finally played to its abilities.

"This is the expectation of our football program," said Fitzgerald. "We've got a very good football team, and if we continue to play the way we did today, we're going to have a lot of fun here in the last few ballgames."

For the 10th time this season, Iowa failed to score on its opening drive, and Northwestern gave a preview of what was to come, going 80 yards in five plays to take a 7-0.

Highlighting the drive was a 43-yard pass from Bacher to former starting quarterback Andrew Brewer, who pulled in his first catch of the season.

The Wildcats took a 14-0 lead after Iowa quarterback Drew Tate fumbled after being blindsided by Northwestern defensive end Mark Koehn. Eddie Simpson picked it up for the Wildcats and rumbled all the way to the Iowa 6 before being dragged down from behind. It appeared Tate was going forward in a throwing motion when he was hit, but the officials immediately ruled it a fumble.

Ferentz called a timeout to see if replay officials would review the play, but soon chose not to challenge the play.

"I thought about using it," he said. "We took the timeout and, basically, I think the message is there if you don't get something done in that amount of time, they're already done reviewing the thing. So, we opted not to challenge."

It might have been a gun-shy moment for Ferentz, who is 0-3 on challenges this season. Two plays later, Bacher hit Eric Peterman on a fade route to give Northwestern a 14-0 lead.

It could've been worse.

After the Wildcats took their 7-0 lead, Iowa went three-and-out, and Northwestern proceeded to march from its 21 to the Iowa 5, but Joel Howells was wide left on a 22-yard field goal.

Iowa's best chance to score in the first half ended when Tate was picked off by Brendan Smith on the Wildcats' goal line after the Hawkeyes had started on the Northwestern 34 following a 22-yard punt.

"We got outplayed in all areas," said Tate. "It goes back to the interception I threw in the end zone. If I don't do that, the whole game is different."

Or would it have been?

With the lead, Northwestern unleashed Sutton, the Big Ten's Freshmen of the Year last fall, in the second half as the Wildcats chewed up 163 yards on 24 carries in the second half. Sutton had 142 yards on 18 carries after the break, and his backup, Terrel Jordan, added a game-clinching 34-yard touchdown run with 4:48 left in the third quarter.

"I thought our offensive line played their best game of the year," said Fitzgerald. "We felt we could run the ball the whole game, and we ran it extremely well today."

A Charles Godfrey interception at midfield set up the Hawkeyes' only score of the game. Iowa then moved 54 yards in seven plays, including an acrobatic, 24-yard reception by Dominique Douglas, to get to the Northwestern 3. Damian Sims punched it over on the next play to cut the margin to 14-7 with 3:46 left in the third quarter.

On its next possession, Iowa drove 43 yards to the Northwestern 37, but on third-and-8, Tate overthrew Herb Grigsby. Then, with 8:08 remaining, Ferentz chose to punt. The Wildcats responded with an 80-yard, seven-play drive that culminated in Jordan's touchdown run.

"We hadn't done a lot to have great confidence that we were going to pick that one up," said Ferentz when asked if he thought about going for it. "With 8 minutes left in the game … you play the percentages, play field position and (hope to) make a stop.

"In retrospect, I'd sure do it now."

Tate finished 18-of-27 for 147 yards and two interceptions a week after missing the Hawkeyes' 24-14 win over Northern Illinois and 11 days after having surgery on his left thumb to repair ligament damage.

Contact Jim Nelson at (319) 291-1521 or jim.nelson@wcfcourier.com