Utah Football

Archive for November, 2009

James Boyd asked:




The Northwestern Wildcats enter the 2010 college football season hoping to finish with a third straight winning season. Pat Fitzgerald has constructed a strong foundation at his alma-mater, which has led to his name being rumored for other high profile coaching positions. Northwestern is projected to finish towards the middle of the Big Ten this season, but will always come to play each Saturday expecting to win. The Wildcats are listed at +2000 to win the Big Ten title. View the full conference breakdown in our 2010 Big Ten football predictions article.

Offensive coordinator Mick McCall has installed his spread offense effectively at Northwestern. The Cats produced over 400 yards of offense per game in 2009. The majority of those yards were gained through the air. Mike Kafka threw for 3430 yards and 16 touchdowns against 12 interceptions. He suffered an injury towards the middle of the season last year and backup Dan Persa stepped in. Persa will take over the starting position after gaining some valuable game experience a year ago. His dual threat ability is a staple of Northwestern quarterbacks the past few years. I believe he will be an adequate replacement for Kafka. Running the ball was an issue for the Cats last season. They averaged only 118 yards on the ground/game and gained a measly 3 yards/carry. It will likely be running back by committee in 2010 with so much depth at this position. Arby Fields received most of the carries down the stretch, but Stephen Simmons was the starter at the beginning of last year. Scott Concannon offers a different type of running style than the other two and will be used also. Drake Dunsmore is the top returning receiver with 47 catches. He is more of a hybrid tight end that should play a much larger role in the offense this season. The offensive line returns five who have starting experience and need to improve their run blocking.

The defensive side of the ball has made tremendous strides under Fitzgerald. In 2005, the Cats gave up 480 yards/game and almost 34 points. This prompted Northwestern to bring in a coach with a defensive background. Last year, they gave up 350 yards on average and 24 points/game. The Wildcats do not have the most talented players in the Big Ten, but they play extremely hard for Fitzgerald. Linebackers Quentin Davie and Nate Williams return after finishing 1-2 in total tackles last year. The defensive front loses their best player (Corey Wootton) and two other full time starters. It will difficult to match the 129 rush yards allowed in 2009 with the new group coming in. The secondary lost two all conference performers and three starters in all. This is one of the most difficult area’s to lose that much talent and expect opponents to air it out early and often against the Cats.

Northwestern plays one of the easiest schedules in the country. They open with Vanderbilt on the road and end the non-conference slate with Central Michigan at home. A trip to Minnesota opens Big Ten play on October 2nd. Conference favorite Ohio State is not on the schedule. Two of their four conference road games are difficult tests at Penn State and at Wisconsin. I believe this team will end up in the middle of the Big 10 and win 7 games.