After the Baltimore Ravens defeated the San Francisco 49ers in Superbowl XLVII, Ravens head coach John Harbaugh summed up his team’s win with an adage that was simple yet expressive: “It’s never pretty. It’s never perfect. But it was us,” he said.
Such a phrase can be applied to a Big Ten football game every week. For instance, this past weekend, another team that wears purple, the Northwestern Wildcats, defeated the Purdue Boilermakers in a sloppy 21-14 game. After the game sophomore running back Justin Jackson described the win in a Harbaugh-esque manner.
“It’s a Big Ten game,” the Wildcats running back said. “It’s gonna be tough.”
It’s not an understatement to say the Wildcats go as Jackson goes. In Northwestern’s wins, Jackson is averaging just over 122 yards on the ground, whereas in Northwestern’s losses, Jackson is averaging a mere 27.5. The sophomore running back is also quickly making a name for himself in Northwestern history. With 116 yards last weekend against Purdue, Jackson now has 2,200 in his Northwestern career, which is good enough for eighth in Wildcat history.
Jackson’s importance has been augmented thanks to the Wildcats’ inconsistent quarterback play. Redshirt freshman Clayton Thorson has seen the bulk of the snaps for the Wildcats, yet in the past two weeks, Thorson has left the game either due to injury or poor play, allowing senior Zack Oliver to take over.
Against Purdue, Thorson was pulled midway through the third quarter. But after two uneventful series from Oliver, Thorson was reinserted into the game. Last week Thorson was a dreadful 3-of-8 in the first half, tallying only 19 total yards. He went 28 minutes of game time without completing a pass, a statistic normally reserved for Wisconsin offenses.
Nevertheless, the Wildcats (4-2 Big Ten, 8-2 overall) are visiting Madison in the midst of their best season in three years.
Head coach Pat Fitzgerald, in his 10th season in Evanston, is the second longest tenured coach in the Big Ten. And after five straight bowl games between 2008-’12, the Wildcats finished around the bottom of the Big Ten in both 2013 and 2014. Thanks to an improved running game and defense, the Wildcats are all but guaranteed a bowl game appearance this winter.
The Northwestern defense has been inconsistent this season, but of late has seen improvement on both their defensive line and linebackers. Fitzgerald himself was a hall of fame linebacker for the Wildcats and, not surprisingly, takes great pride in the Wildcats’ linebacker play.
One of the strengths of the Wildcats defense is their red zone defense. The Wildcats have only allowed one red zone passing touchdown this season. And while that would be irrelevant when facing a Wisconsin team that seemingly never throws the football, the 2015 rendition of the Badgers are the most pass-happy Wisconsin team in the past decade.
The Badgers are returning from their bye week after a hard-fought game against Maryland. Two weeks ago, the Badgers leading rusher was senior linebacker Joe Schobert and redshirt junior quarterback Joel Stave had a mere 188 passing yards with an interception. The Badgers, though, benefited from a 98-yard kick return touchdown and fake punt en route to their 31-24 win.
Much like the Badgers, the Wildcats have played well on special teams. Kick returner Solomon Vault has two kickoff return touchdowns and punt returner Miles Shuler is in the top 30 of the NCAA in average punt return yards.
It’s very likely that in the Badgers’ final home game of the season, the game will be decided in the trenches. And if that’s the case then it won’t be pretty, it won’t be perfect, but it will be the Big Ten.
NUSports.com contributed to this report.
