For starters, it is Senior Day. This college tradition has given the Cats a lot of good fortune over the last seven years as NU has not lost a Senior Day matchup since 2003. The Cats have also won its last two games against Iowa on Senior Day. The Trib does a nice piece on the NU Seniors and their successes in Evanston. Skip also focuses on the fond memories of Ryan Field for the 12 graduating NU Seniors.
The Sun Times has a good story on the “other number 7”, Hunter Bates and preparation for the Iowa game. Hunter has really come on to have a nice season and plays well as a rover in the defensive backfield. His sack and forced fumble of Robert Bolden was a key play in NU gaining the early lead against Penn State last week – and Bolden’s inability to pick up the shifty Bates was a primary reason that he was lifted from the game. Bates is one of the few DBs that NU uses that can play a cover safety and blitz the QB. And while his punt return attempts will continue to be replaced by Venric Mark, he provides a nice alternative in that game as well.
But for all of the “flush it out” talk coming from the team, leave it to the student paper to be absolutely direct. The Daily Northwestern blames the Cats three losses on three critical quarters, and focuses on NU’s ability, especially on defense, to play for an entire 60 minutes. In the three quarters highlighted in this piece (4th vs. Purdue; 4th vs. MSU; 3rd v. PSU), NU has been outscored 49-3. NU had combined leads of 45 points against these teams. Just makes you want to poop.
In order to win Saturday, the Cats need to do more than flush out the bad blood from the three losses. They need to focus for an entire 60 minutes, which is something that this team has not done yet this year. There are many things that this team has done well – in all aspects of the game. But in addition to the three quarters mentioned above, there is a quarter in every other game where the Cats were absolutely flat. Fitz will need to dig deep in his motivational bag of tricks to get off this limp horse and continue the run of Senior Day magic.
Big Ten Power Rankings and Bowl Projections
Note that the rankings are based on performance thus far to date; while bowl projections are based on where I think the team will be at the end of the season.
1 Wisconsin: Still has the two best wins of any team in the conference; and no major challenges along the way. (Rose)
2 Ohio State: Has not won a game where it has been tested, but has had two weeks to gear up for the final stretch. (Capital One)
3 Iowa: Should be 4 based on on-field performance, but hard to put them below MSU. (Gator)
4 Michigan State: Could very well finish 11-1 and out of the BCS – probably does not belong there anyway. (Outback)
5 Penn State: The forgotten team is suddenly on a 3-game streak and riding a wave of emotion. (Insight)
6 Northwestern: Will finish middle of the pack with a win over Illinois. But best bet to upset either Iowa or Wisconsin. (Dallas Classic)
7 Michigan: Will not finish strong, losing their last two games – which will mean they lost 5 of their last 7. But the Michigan name will give them the nod over NU (Texas)
8 Illinois: This is the mystery team in the mix. Not sure if they are good, bad, lucky, or just poorly coached. (Pizza)
9 Indiana: Has shown some life over the last three weeks after a handful of big losses. Still needs to upset either Wisconsin or Penn State to make a bowl game.
10 Purdue: I guess the win at Northwestern was an upset after all.
11 Minnesota: Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot you were here. You may go now.
Go Cats!
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