The Preview in Review: Part 2

We'll start this one off with the Lion's most recently vanquished opponent: Michigan State.

We just realized that there’s a glaring lack of jokes in this preview. That’s because there will most likely be a glaring lack of crappy football being played in East Lansing this year. Unlike their counterparts in Ann Arbor, the Spartans should strike some fear into the hearts of Nittany Lion fans this year. We play them in the last game of the regular season, and the winner of that match up could be in line for a great conference finish and a big-time bowl game.

Our prediction for Michigan State this season: 9-3 (5-3 Big11Ten).

Well, we got the overall record right, but the Spartans ended up 6-2 in the conference, having lost only to PSU and Ohio State. They opened the season with a 38-31 loss at Cal.

Michigan State is pretty much who we thought they were. No, we won't post the video.

They beat the teams you might have expected them to beat and they challenged for the conference title. Had they beat PSU, they would have won it. During our preview we said that this would be the year of Javon, and it was, as he rushed for 1500+ yards and that the big question mark would be the defense.

The defense ended up being good enough as Michigan State cruised through the majority of their schedule, but their less their stellar play was exposed when they met quality opponents like PSU and Ohio State. Overall, MSU was rather ordinary when you look at the statistics, but they were able to take that squad and turn it into a 9-3 record. Consider where this team was just a couple years ago, and 9-3 is pretty good.

Speaking of where they were:

and

We think it's great that MSU had a great season because, as we keep saying, we need the whole Big11Ten to do well. We also need the two teams we play every year to be good, for the sake of a rivalry. We also think it's great that that coach of theirs may have been trying to mix things up by calling those later timeouts in the season finale.


Moving on to the Northwestern Wildcats!

The Wildcats better start strong though, because they finish their season against Ohio State, Michigan and Illinois. We think Northwestern will bomb their opponents enough early to have a respectable finish and get to a low-level bowl game.

Our prediction for Northwestern this season: 7-5 (3-5 Big11Ten)

This one is kind of a surprise. We picked them to go 7-5 but the 'Cats showed us up and finished the season 9-3(5-3). They'll get themselves a decent bowl game and we hope the represent the conference well.

This season the Wildcats beat the teams they should have beat, beat the teams you thought they could beat and lost to the teams they were expect to lose to. Of course, there was one glaring exception: a 21-19 loss to Indiana.

On a more positive note, one of the most notable games of the season has to be Northwestern's game in Minnesota. Mike Kafka filled in at quarterback and rushed for 217 yards which as you might imagine, set a school record. Minnesota was looking to prove they are the real deal but Northwestern took the win via a last minute (12 seconds left actually) interception that was returned for a TD.

Statistically, Northwestern was middle of the pack. The Cats were fourth in scoring defense, eighth in scoring defense, fifth in total defense and sixth in total offense.

Record-wise is a pretty successful season for Northwestern -- better than a lot of people, including ourselves, probably expected. But if the Wildcats want to go anywhere they're going to have solidify themselves in all phases of the game before they can hang with the big teams. It's pretty easy to get to 6-2 or 5-3 in the Big11Ten, but it takes a lot of work to get that 7-1 or 8-0 mark.

2008 Preview: Northwestern

2007: 6-6 (3-5), No bowl bid given.

As we researched the usually forgettable Northwestern Wildcats, we found some pretty interesting stuff. For one thing, over the last 13 years, only 4 Big11Ten teams (Penn State, Ohio State, Purdue and Michigan) have winning records against Northwestern. We were surprised by this until we remembered that Northwestern is in the Big11Ten, and they’ve had to contend with the likes of Minnesota and Indiana the last 13 years.

Also, Northwestern had the fantastic distinction of being 10th in the conference in both scoring offense and scoring defense last year. Normally that would be a recipe for disaster, but they managed to finish 6-6, even though they didn’t get a bowl bid. What does this all mean? We don’t really know.

What we do know is that Northwestern is known for its academics far more than for its football prowess. To illustrate, check out some of its rowdy fans:

NU fans prepare for the upcoming game.

Despite this, we feel Northwestern still has the pieces to put together a decent team. On the offensive side, 3rd year coach Pat Fitzgerald loves to chuck the ball around, and 5th year senior quarterback C.J. Bacher complied with his coach’s wishes last year, to the tune of 304 yards passing per game. So while we were running the draw for a two-yard gain, Bacher quietly led the conference in passing and was 10th in the nation.

As if that weren’t enough, Bacher has a host of weapons this year as well. Five of the team’s six leading receivers from last year are back, including senior Eric Peterman who, despite his unfortunate last name, led the team with 66 receptions for 744 yards. Ross Lane returns as the big play man (13.2 yards per catch, 7 touchdowns) and Rasheed Ward should make an impact as well.

At running back, Tyrell Sutton returns for his senior season, after missing 5 games last year with a leg injury. Sutton is the Big11Ten’s active leading rusher with 2,996 yards, and he’s also a receiving threat, as he caught 30 balls last year in only 7 games. Omar Conteh had 479 yards as the backup last year, and he’ll need to be ready to go again if Sutton goes down.

As far as the offensive line goes, things look a little bleak. The line returns only two starters, Senior guard Joel Belding and junior tackle Kurt Mattes and will have to make due with younger players at center, left guard and left tackle. The line could be among the weakest in the conference and is the one thing that could stop the offense from being incredibly potent.

Things are much better on the defensive line, however, as the Wildcats return all four starters from last year’s squad, led by senior tackle John Gill. However, the line combined for only 18 sacks last year and must make more plays this year for the team to make noise in the Big11Ten. Senior linebacker Prince Kwateng and junior safeties Brad Phillips and Brad Smith are the other returning starters on defense for the Wildcats.

Northwestern doesn’t quite have all the pieces in place for a run at the Big11Ten title, but they will be able to shoot it out with a lot of teams this year. Their schedule may be their biggest ally, as they face such powerhouse teams such as Duke, Southern Illinois and Ohio before they open conference play against the hapless Iowa Hawkeyes. And of course, those rowdy fans are already scrambling for tickets to the home opener against Syracuse:

Fans line up outside the Northwestern ticket office.

The Wildcats better start strong though, because they finish their season against Ohio State, Michigan and Illinois. We think Northwestern will bomb their opponents enough early to have a respectable finish and get to a low-level bowl game.

Our prediction for Northwestern this season: 7-5 (3-5 Big11Ten).