Sept. 28, 2009
NU Football Game Notes (vs. Purdue) 
For Openers
Northwestern plays its first Big Ten Conference road game this Saturday, Oct. 3, traveling to West Lafayette, Ind., to take on Purdue. Kickoff is set for 11 a.m. CT. The game, which is homecoming for the Boilermakers, is being televised by the Big Ten Network.
Northwestern and Purdue both held fourth-quarter leads in their respective games this past Saturday only to see the opponent come from behind and post a victory. The Wildcats carried a 24-21 lead into the fourth quarter of their game with Minnesota, but the Golden Gophers scored the go-ahead TD with 8:35 to play. With just under two minutes to play, Minnesota sealed the victory with a touchdown that was set up by a Northwestern fumble deep in Wildcat territory. The Boilermakers, entertaining their local in-state rival Notre Dame, fell behind 17-7 in the first half, but battled back to take a 21-17 lead with 3:41 left in the game. Notre Dame, however, went 72 yards on the ensuing play and scored a TD on a fourth-and-goal from the 2-yard line to hand the Boilers their third straight setback.
For the second consecutive game, senior quarterback Mike Kafka threw for more than 300 yards, completing 32-of-47 passes for 309 yards and tossing a pair of TD's against Minnesota. Kafka was coming off a career-best 390-yard performance at Syracuse where he completed a school-record 83.3 percent (35-of-42) of his passes.
Northwestern is getting balanced production from a number of wide receivers and superbacks. After suffering heavy graduation losses at the wide receiver position, a number of players have stepped up this fall, led by former walk-on Zeke Markshausen, who leads the Wildcats with 19 receptions (224 yards). Three other players have caught 15 or more passes thus far: Drake Dunsmore (17 for 190, 1 TD), Demetrius Fields (16 for 137, 1 TD) and Andrew Brewer (15 for 280, 3 TD's). After four games, 13 different players have caught at least one pass this season.
Under the direction of first-year coach Danny Hope (Purdue is Northwestern's fourth opponent in five games with a new head coach), the Boilermakers are 1-3, but three losses have come by two points (38-26 at Oregon), seven points (28-21 to Northern Illinois) and three points (24-21 to Notre Dame). Northwestern's defense will face a big test from the Purdue offense, which is averaging 421.0 yards per game. That figure is the fourth-best in the Big Ten and the 32nd-best nationally. Northwestern is fifth in the Big Ten and 36th nationally with its 416.8 yards of total offense per game.
Purdue's rushing attack has been led by sophomore running back Ralph Bolden, who leads the Big Ten in rushing with a per-game average of 122.0 ypg. He ranks seventh nationally among all rushers. Bolden, who ran for a career-best 234 yards in the 52-31 season-opening win over Toledo, was held to a season-low 64 yards by Northern Illinois and 67 by Notre Dame. Quarterback Joey Elliott is averaging 240.8 passing yards per game and has thrown seven TD passes this year. Keith Smith leads Purdue with 28 receptions for 358 yards.
The Broadcasts
Radio -- Saturday's game will be heard on wgnradio.com and 92.7 FM (north Chicagoland), 92.5 FM (west) and 99.9 FM (south) with the broadcast beginning 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. The game can also be heard on Sirius (channel 122) and XM (channel 198) satellite radio.
Television -- The Big Ten Network is televising the game nationally. Ari Wolfe (play-by-play), Anthony Herron (analyst) and Tony McGee (sideline) will call the game.
(For a complete set of notes, download the PDF above.)