EVANSTON, Ill. -- After not qualifying for a bowl game last season, the Northwestern Wildcats began to stew about it the second their final game ended last year.

Their anger simmered over the winter. It became a bubbling fervor of discontent through the spring and summer and finally boiled over Saturday afternoon, when the unranked Wildcats upset No. 21 Stanford 16-6 in a season-opening slugfest at Ryan Field.

"I felt like defensively, overall, we unleashed a caged bull today," said Northwestern senior defensive end Dean Lowry, who had one tackle for loss among his four tackles. "It's been a long offseason. It's been a long time since (last) November, so we definitely had an unmatched work ethic this offseason. I think it showed today, but it's just a start."

Led by an attacking, aggressive defense, the Wildcats dominated the physical aspect of the game against a brutish team that has developed a reputation the past few years by pounding opponents into submission.

This time, the Cardinal (0-1) found itself on the business end of such a taxing contest. Northwestern (1-0) churned out 225 yards rushing on 54 attempts and held Stanford to 85 yards on 27 carries.

The Wildcats outgained the Cardinal 330 yards to 240 and frustrated fifth-year senior quarterback Kevin Hogan, who completed 20 of 35 passes for 155 yards and threw an interception with 57 seconds left to seal the outcome.

Hogan's numbers suffered, in part, because of a couple of key dropped passes.

"We didn't give ourselves a chance to win," Stanford coach David Shaw said. "We thought we were well prepared, and it didn't show. We can't give up big plays -- big runs or big passes -- and we gave up both."

Stanford held the ball for 8:33 on a 12-play drive that resulted in a field goal on its first possession, but the Cardinal struggled to move the ball again until the waning moments of the game.

Sophomore safety Kyle Queiro sealed the victory with his interception of Hogan's pass in the end zone.

It was a reward for the Wildcats, who outslugged the Cardinal on a sweltering hot day.

Northwestern got three field goals by kicker Jack Mitchell and a long touchdown run by quarterback Clayton Thorson, a redshirt freshman making his first start.

Thorson completed 12 of 24 passes for 105 yards, and the 6-foot-4, 220-pounder rushed for 68 yards on eight carries, including a 42-yard touchdown in the second quarter that made it 10-3.

Sophomore running back Justin Jackson rushed the ball 28 times for 134 yards to lead the Wildcats' ground game, while Stanford running back Christian McCaffery carried 12 times for 66 yards and fumbled once.

"I thought there was a dominant performance by our defensive line," Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald said. "It looked like we controlled the line of scrimmage on every single play (defensively). Our offensive line did some positive things and obviously, for us, you look at our ability to run the ball for 225 yards and hold them to 85 ... that was a dominant performance by us on the line of scrimmage."

Leading by a touchdown to start the fourth, Northwestern extended its lead to 13-3 on a 19-yard field goal by Mitchell, who also hit from 49 and 31 yards and missed from 48 in the first half.

Stanford responded with its own field goal by Conrad Ukropina to make it 13-6, but Mitchell drilled his 49-yarder on Northwestern's next possession to re-establish a 10-point cushion.

"They're subtly versatile in what they do," Shaw said of Northwestern's defense. "They have a lot of line movements, (and) they have some blitzes. We prepared the best we thought we could for those. Bottom line for us is we have to be efficient on first down. We can't have penalties. We can't have dropped passes. We can't have missed blocks."

NOTES: Northwestern played without WR Cameron Dickerson, who was a late scratch with a lower-body injury. ... Wildcats S Jared McGee left the game in the second quarter with an undisclosed injury. ... The Cardinal haven't won a road season opener since beating Oregon on Sept. 6, 1980. ... Stanford coach David Shaw was a Stanford receiver the last time the Cardinal faced Northwestern, in 1994, also in Evanston, Ill. Shaw caught two passes for 20 yards in the 41-41 tie. ... Stanford senior RG Johnny Caspers went to Glenbard West High School in Glen Ellyn, Ill., just 35 miles from Northwestern's campus.