Recapping: Northwestern

Devin Gardner did it again.

We were all counting on Denard Robinson to make his return to the field on Saturday against Northwestern, but that didn't turn out to be the case. Instead, we had to once again out our faith in backup Devin Gardner, making the second start at QB of his career.

This game had a little bit more pressure packed into it, though, as the Wildcats are a rising team in the Big Ten and were still breathing in the Legends Division race.  Still, Gardner went out and made his greatest contribution to the Wolverines in his 3 years of wearing a winged helmet. He threw for nearly 300 yards and 2 TDs, adding 47 yards on the ground with another 2 TDs.

Preview And Prediction: Northwestern

At the very beginning of the season, I pointed this contest out as a game that could possibly give Michigan a scare. After all, it really isn't a surprise that our Wolverines are in the hunt to play in the Big Ten Championship, and the Wildcats have been flying under everyone's radar.

Northwestern, under Pat Fitzgerald, has been steadily improving through the last couple of years, and he has his Wildcats on track to be a force in the Big Ten through the coming years. When these two teams met up last season, the first half was completely dominated by Northwestern. But as Michigan always does, they went into the locker room at half time, came out with some adjustments, and ran away with the win.

Here are the keys to the game.

Michigan

The Wolverines are fresh of a big victory on the road against Minnesota, where Devin Gardner filled in for the injured Denard Robinson and put on a show of his own. Most importantly, they kept themselves in striking distance of Nebraska for the driver's seat in the Legends Division.

Northwestern Players To Watch

There are 3 games left in the season, and with Michigan sitting at 6-3 (4-1 Big Ten) there is no time to let off the gas pedal.  No. 24 Northwestern has a 7-2 record (3-2 Big Ten) and they are right on the heels of the Wolverines. It's not implausible that the Wildcats could beat Michigan, and Nebraska then Illinois on their way to Indianapolis. They are after all in the BCS rankings for the first time in almost 4 years and want to stay that way.

Northwestern has the 13th ranked rushing offense in the nation behind Kain Colter and Venric Mark. Michigan in run defense is only 44th in the country, so expect some emphasis placed on the defensive line for the Wolverines this week. I'll write more about it in my weekly prediction post, but of a lot of the game will depend on who starts at quarterback for Michigan this week. Will Denard be better healed after missing his first college career start? Or will Devin Gardner be able to shine for the second week in a row? Either way it's going to be a slobber-knocker (Thanks Jim Ross). Here's a few Wildcats to be wary of:

Previewing Big Ten Football: Northwestern

One of the most consistent teams as of late have been the Northwestern Wildcats.  They've went to bowl games the last four seasons and have had at least one win over a ranked team every year during this tenure.  For a program that only has been to bowl games 10 times in its history, that's pretty substantial.  Pat Fitzgerald has taken a program that frankly, was a whipping post for years, evidenced by the program's .422 winning percentage, and turned them into a relatively respectable team.  The Wildcats aren't exactly rewriting the record books with 6-9 win seasons over the last four years, but for the Big Ten's most prestigious academic institution, it's a big step forward.


Northwestern began 2011 with high hopes, but they weren't able to capitalize on the preseason hype.  In fact, before the season began, Northwestern quarterback Dan Persa had been mentioned in the Heisman discussion.  However, he was injury plagued throughout the year, leading to a lot of playing time for Kain Colter.  Despite Persa's 519 rushing yards in 2010 and 164 carries, he only had 79 carries and 32 rushing yards in 2011.  This was the big change for Northwestern's offense in 2011, an immobile Dan Persa.  Kain Colter did help make up for this with 654 rushing yards, but it was still a major setback.