Oct. 23, 2006
NU Game Notes (vs. Michigan)
Download Free Acrobat Reader
The Game
Northwestern begins the second half of this year's Big Ten season with its two final road games of 2006. The Wildcats travel to Ann Arbor this Saturday to take on the unbeaten Michigan Wolverines, who are ranked second (Associated Press, Harris Interactive) and third (USA Today Coaches) in the three major national polls. Michigan is also positioned second in the latest BCS standing. NU then plays at Iowa next week (Nov. 4) before returning home for its final two games of the year.
Michigan touts one of the nation's most balanced teams, but the strength of its club rests with its defense, and in particular, its defensive line. The Wolverines, who rank fifth nationally in total defense (240.9 ypg) and lead the Big Ten in that department, have the country's top run-stopping unit. Michigan is allowing just 33.6 yards per game on the ground and an eye-popping 1.4 yards per opponent rush. Only two Michigan opponents (Minnesota and Michigan State) have rushed for more than 50 yards against the Wolverines. Michigan limited Notre Dame to 4 rushing yards and Penn State to -14 yards.
Offensively, the Wolverines return veteran experience at every position, led by veteran quarterback Chad Henne. Henne has completed 118-of-192 passes (61.5 percent) for 1,502 yards, 14 TD's and 5 INT's. Running back Mike Hart has returned from an injury-riddled sophomore season and is the nation's seventh-ranked rusher with an average of 129.0 ypg. He is averaging 4.8 ypc and has scored eight TD's.
The Wolverines are currently without top receiver Mario Manningham (24 rec. for 527 yards, 9 TD's), but still have a talented corps of wideouts, led by Steve Breaston (35 for 350 yds.) and Adrian Arrington (25 for 357 yds., 4 TD's).
On special teams, Breaston is one of the Big Ten's best returners (24.8 yards per kickoff return, 9.7 yards per punt return), and Garrett Rivas is nearly perfect (12-of-14) on field goal attempts.
For Northwestern, the silver lining in Saturday's stinging 41-38 loss to Michigan State was the play of its offense. Led by redshirt sophomore quarterback C.J. Bachér, the Wildcats scored a season-best 38 points and totaled 440 yards of offense, which included 245 passing yards by Bachér. Northwestern tossed four touchdown passes against MSU after having just one TD reception all year, and that came seven games earlier at Miami (Ohio).
Besides the heartbreaking defeat, the Wildcats suffered a major blow to their defense with the loss of senior linebacker and team co-captain Nick Roach. Roach broke his right leg early in the third quarter and with him sidelined, NU's defense was unable to slow down the Spartans, who rallied from a 38-3 deficit.
The Broadcasts
Radio -- WGN will carry the game live on 720 AM. The broadcast also can be heard live via the internet at wgnradio.com. The pregame show begins at 10:30 a.m. Dave Eanet (play-by-play) and Ted Albrecht (analyst) call the action. WNUR (89.3), NU's student radio station, also will carry the game live. The contest is also available on the XM Satellite Radio network. (Channels 197-199).
Television -- ESPN is televising the game to a national cable audience. Sean McDonough (play-by-play), Chris Spielman (analyst) and Rob Stone (sideline) call the action.
Kickoff Announced for Nov. 4 Game at Iowa
Northwestern and Iowa will kick off at 11 a.m. CT on Nov. 4 in Iowa City. The game is being televised by ESPN Plus (Ch. 2, WBBM-TV in Chicago).
(For a complete set of game notes, download the PDF above.)