Sept. 27, 2005
EVANSTON, Ill. - After earning Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week honors for his five field goals vs. Penn State, Northwestern place-kicker Joel Howells (Sycamore, Ill./Sycamore) was named to the Lou Groza Stars for the Week list for Sept. 27.
Howells joins Mason Crosby (Colorado) and Kyle Schlicher (Iowa) as this week's featured place-kickers.
Check out Lou Groza Award Stars of the Week to read up on all of this week's winners.
Howells booted a school-record five field goals (out of six attempts), breaking Northwestern's previous mark (four), which was held by three players -- Tim Long (2000 vs. Michigan), Brian Gowins (1998 vs. Hawaii) and Sam Valenzisi (1993 vs. Minnesota and 1995 vs. Michigan).
Howells converted kicks from distances of 20, 25, 42, 46 and 25 yards. The 46-yarder equaled a career long. His school-record fifth kick -- the 25-yarder -- with 2:10 left to play in the game had given the Wildcats a 29-27 lead over Penn State.
Howells also equaled Northwestern's single-game scoring record for a place-kicker with 17 points.
Howells now ranks 16th nationally in field goals per game with a 1.75 per game average.
Crosby nailed a 58-yarder in Colorado's 23-3 loss to Miami (Fla.) and Schlicher scored the only points of the game for Iowa in Ohio State's 31-6 win over the Hawkeyes. Schlicher hit field goals of 52 and 37 yards.
The Northwestern football team is back in action Oct. 8 when they host Wisconsin at Ryan Field. Game time is set for 11 a.m., and will be televised on either ESPN or ESPN2.