Week 4 Preview: Northwestern

BIG ERN

BIG ERN

All-American
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Record: 1-2 Series: Neb leads 6-3

Points Per Game 17.3 l 43.3

Total Yards 334 l 461

Passing 235 l 242

Rushing 98 l 219

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Points Allowed Per Game 14.7 l 19.7

Yards Allowed 394 l 358

Passing 261 l 192

Rushing 133 l 166

Players to watch:

QB Clayton Thorson l 50-102 707 yards 4 TDs 2 INTs

RB Justin Jackson l 63 carries 260 yards 3 TDs

WR Austin Carr l 18 receptions 283 yards 2 TDs

LB Jaylen Prater l Avg. 10 tackles per game

Northwestern and Nebraska have had some very close games since the Huskers joined the B10, 4 out of the 5 games have been decided by 3 points or less. Right now the Wildcats are having a hard time getting the run game going with veteran running back Justin Jackson. The past two games NW has averaged 40 passes and QB Clayton Thorson hasn't been too accurate in those outings (43.7%). One bright spot for the Fighting Fitzgerald's is their red zone defense which is 14th in the nation at the moment. What hurt Nebraska last year was the running of Thorson who had 9 carries for 126 yards and a touchdown.

If last years game taught us something, it is that Fitzgerald is predicated to shutting the run game down. Nebraska only averaged 2.2 ypc and that made us air it out more with Armstrong who threw the ball 48 times. I can see Langsdorf keeping this vanilla in the first half with a good dose of running the football. Hopefully we can get some quick outs and bubble screens to get the WRs going. It should be noted that Cethan Carter led the team on Saturday with 5 receptions. To begin the season this was the one game I was worried about as I had us beating Oregon and didn't want us to drop the ball against an always game NW.

Areas we need to clean up:

  • Tackles for loss (T-90th)
  • Penalty yards per game (101st)
  • Opponents yards per rush (92nd)
Areas we need to keep up:

  • Turnover margin (T-5th)
  • Sacks allowed (T-25th)
  • Time of possession (24th)




Prediction: Nebraska 31 Northwestern 20

 
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If Tommy can get to a 300 yard Passing, 60 yard rushing stat line, with 1 turnover or less, I think we win by 3 scores. Good write up though!

 
On offense, we have so many different ways to move the chains. I'm hoping to keep seeing some of the misdirection throwing plays into the flats, and some more ways to get Alonzo Moore involved.

But mainly, I just want to see Ozigbo hit 100 yards and grind them down in the fourth quarter. It's actually kind of hilarious to me at this point with our fans saying "we don't have an offensive identity." Yes, we do - it's wearing the other team down and hitting them in the mouth with Tommy and our I-Backs in the fourth quarter in the running game.

 
Run a lot of OZ, and build on that with RPOs, particularly in the Zone Read game. Get NW to put 7-8 in the box and give Tommy the opportunity to keep making great reads in the passing game.

 
Stop Clayton Thorsen from running all over the place and Nebraska should win.

 
I still don't get how Pat Fitzgerald gets so much love at Northwestern. Yes, he has had good seasons on occasion there, but he hasn't had back-to-back winning seasons since 2010.

 
ColoradoHusk said:
I still don't get how Pat Fitzgerald gets so much love at Northwestern. Yes, he has had good seasons on occasion there, but he hasn't had back-to-back winning seasons since 2010.
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Yeah, he gets credit for doing more with less. But his "more" isn't much compared to others.

Basically they play like Iowa last year. Solid guys, don't beat themselves very much. So they take advantage of teams that beat themselves - which is the only reason any of our games with them have been close.

 
ColoradoHusk said:
I still don't get how Pat Fitzgerald gets so much love at Northwestern. Yes, he has had good seasons on occasion there, but he hasn't had back-to-back winning seasons since 2010.
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He isn't asked to be like Nebraska, Michigan, or Ohio State. Sure they want to win all their games but they have a different definition of success at Northwestern.

 
cornhuskers4ever said:
I have a feeling their stadium will be more then 1/2 full of Cornhusker fans. Gonna feel like a home game.
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Yep, the sea of red will invade Evanston, but blend in well with other red Cardinal fans at the Wrigley Cub game, and Kirkwood, before the night game at Ryan Field. Will be a tough one for NU to beat UNL who is on a roll after Oregon, maybe for the Western B10 title. But the Purple did beat the Red at year at Lincoln. We'll see.

 
rdg25 said:
cornhuskers4ever said:
I have a feeling their stadium will be more then 1/2 full of Cornhusker fans. Gonna feel like a home game.
Click to expand...
Yep, the sea of red will invade Evanston, but blend in well with other red Cardinal fans at the Wrigley Cub game, and Kirkwood, before the night game at Ryan Field. Will be a tough one for NU to beat UNL who is on a roll after Oregon, maybe for the Western B10 title. But the Purple did beat the Red at year at Lincoln. We'll see.
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There is only one NU and they wear RED

 
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