Oct. 17, 2009
Recap | Box Score
• Today's contest marked the 50th meeting between Michigan State and Northwestern.
• Northwestern was aiming to win its third straight game at Spartan Stadium, something it had never done before. The visiting team had won the previous four meetings in this series.
• NU had its three-game Big Ten road winning streak snapped today. Northwestern also had won four of its last five Big Ten road games.
• Northwestern safety and co-captain Brendan Smith (38 career starts) sat out the game with a hand injury. Midway through the first half, NU lost its other starting safety, Brad Phillips, with an upper-body injury. DE Corey Wootton (43 career starts) played sparingly in the game, but did not start for a second straight week.
• QB Mike Kafka began the day leading the Big Ten in fewest interceptions thrown (1.92 percent of his 208 attempts) and completion percentage. He went 17-of-22 for 154 yards, one TD and no interceptions in the first half. He finished the game 34-of-47 for 291 yards. Kafka also totaled 42 rushing yards, giving 333 yards of total offense for the game.
• WR Andrew Brewer caught his team-leading fourth TD of the season, a 15-yard strike from Mike Kafka in the second quarter. Brewer finished the game with eight catches for 104 yards.
• Northwestern's defense recorded two more scoreless quarters (first and second quarters), giving it seven shutout quarters in its last eight. When Michigan State scored early in the third quarter, those seven points were the most allowed by Northwestern in its last 136 minutes and 44 seconds of action (dating to early in the second quarter of the Purdue game). Northwestern allowed just six points during that stretch (six points to Miami).
• Michigan State reached the red zone twice in the first half, and both times came away with no points (MSU turned it over on downs and lost a fumble). That marked the fourth straight trip by an opponent inside the red zone where they came away with no points (dating to the last drive of the game by Purdue). That streak came to an end when Michigan State converted a 28-yard field goal with no time remaining in the third quarter.
• WR Zeke Markshausen, who came into today's game having caught 30 passes in his previous four games, caught a career-high 16 passes for 111 yards. He also caught his first career TD pass, a 1-yarder early in the fourth quarter. In conference games only, Markshausen entered today's game ranked first in receptions with 8.0 per game.
• Markshausen's 16 catches marked the second-best single-game reception performance in school history. (Jon Harvey, 17 vs. Michigan, 1982). The total is also the fourth most in a game in Big Ten history.
• Northwestern, ranked sixth nationally in turnovers gained, notched one takeaway today.