SAN ANTONIO — Northwestern vs. Missouri. We’ve been talking about it for a few weeks now, with all sorts of analysis and opinions flying around. With game time growing ever closer, let’s boil it all down to the five most crucial things to watch for from the Alamo Bowl.

1. Will C.J. Bachér make his final game a memorable one? NU’s senior quarterback has one more chance to put his stamp on Wildats football and solidify his status as one of the premiere signal-callers in school history. He has a fantastic opportunity to do just that against a Tigers pass defense that ranks 117th of 119 FBS teams, giving up 340.4 yards per game through the air.

Bachér has had his ups and downs throughout his career. His bugaboo? Interceptions. In the past two seasons, Bachér has thrown 33 of them, to go with his 33 touchdowns. When he limits his mistakes, NU is a much better team. The Cats are 6-0 this year when he throws less than two picks and 2-2 when he throws two or more. With the NU defense facing an electric MIzzou offense that can light up the scoreboard, it is imperative that Bachér is able to impose his will on the TIgers’ defense and at least come close to matching Chase Daniel. He’s capable of doing so. One possibly relevant stat to keep in mind: The last time he played in a dome, against Eastern Michigan last season, Bachér completed 25 of 42 passes for 361 yards and a touchdown.

2. Can NU keep the Missouri defense/special teams off the board? The Cats have their hands full against Mizzou’s offense. Chase Daniel and the rest of the O will put up their fair share of points, which means NU absolutely cannot afford to allow the Tigers’ defense or special teams to make any big plays. No turnovers or big returns that give Daniel and company a short field. This was a big problem for NU in losses to Michigan State and Ohio State. Meanwhile, the Tigers are dangerous in both regards. They have returned five interceptions for touchdowns, and Jeremy Maclin is one of the most dangerous return men in the game, averaging 9.9 yards on punt returns and 24.1 on kick returns, including a 99-yard touchdown. The Cats have struggled on kick coverage and with turnovers at times this year. They cannot today.

3. What will Mizzou’s attitude be? NU has every reason to be fired up. The Cats have a lot to prove and they want to be the first NU team in 60 years to win a bowl game. They are happy to be in San Antonio. On the other hand, the Tigers have fallen short of their lofty goals this season, after being ranked as high as second in the USA Today Coaches’ Poll. This game has to be something of a letdown for them. But if Mizzou comes out with passion and plays up to their potential, it will be difficult for NU to prevail.

4. Which running game will be most effective? Mizzou’s passing game gets all of the attention, but tailback Derrick Washington has been extremely effective this season. Benefiting from defenses spread out by the Tigers’ passing game, he has run for more than six yards per carry and scored 17 touchdowns. Can the Cats contain him while focusing on Daniel? For NU, Tyrell Sutton returns today after missing the past four games with a broken wrist. When he played this season, Sutton was effective, rushing for almost 100 yards per game. He’s also a weapon as a receiver. However, he has not played in a long time and is wearing a cast on his left forearm today. You have to wonder if that will make him more fumble-prone or decrease his effectiveness as a receiver. Whoever has the advantage here will get a big boost.

5. Can Pat Fitzgerald match Gary Pinkel? This is Fitzgerald’s first bowl game. He has improved his decision-making this season but is still learning on the job. On the other hand, Pinkel has coached in bowl games in four of the past five seasons and will not be flustered by anything that happens. If the game comes down to a big decision by one of the coaches, the Tigers could have an advantage.

By Matt Forman and Jake Simpson

SAN ANTONIO — A brief look at the 2008 Alamo Bowl.

Player you know
From his first game at Northwestern, Tyrell Sutton has been the focal point of the Wildcats’ offense. The senior running back first made his mark in 2005, rushing for a program-record 244 yards against Wisconsin. Sutton surpassed 1,000 yards in each of his first two seasons, relying on a mix of agility and breakaway speed, but he has struggled to stay healthy ever since. He missed six games in his junior season with a high ankle sprain. Continue reading »

Behind Northwestern’s defensive resurgence this season is coordinator Mike Hankwitz’s one-word mantra: attack.

Now, the Wildcats must prepare for an offense that thinks the exact same way.

Led by an undersized quarterback from Texas and one of the nation’s best wide receivers, Missouri brings a blitzkrieg offense that averaged 497.5 yards per game this season into the Alamo Bowl.
 
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After two seasons at Northwestern, defensive tackle Keegan Kennedy had not made the kind of impact he wanted. So he decided to switch sides.

Literally.

Kennedy moved to the offensive side of the ball, where he quickly rose up the depth chart. This season, the senior left guard has anchored NU’s offensive line, leading an inexperienced but determined unit that has exceeded all expectations. Continue reading »

A season ago, C.J. Bachér and the Northwestern offense put up 97 points in back-to-back wins against Michigan State and Minnesota on the way to a standout season. The Wildcats have spent most of this year struggling to recapture that spark.

Led by a quartet of seniors, the offense finally clicked against Illinois.

Bachér and wide receivers Eric Peterman, Ross Lane, and Rasheed Ward led a rejuvenated NU attack that dictated the tempo of the game from start to finish, powering the Cats to an easy 27-10 victory.

The offense put up its second-highest point total of the year in a Big Ten game in its final regular-season contest. Afterwards, Lane said the unit was gelling at the best possible time.

“People always say you want to play your best football at the end of the season,” he said. “Tonight we played a really good game.”

From the outset, NU (9-3, 5-3 Big Ten) wore down the Illini defense with a patient game plan and a slow but steady passing attack. Bachér led the offense deep into Illinois territory on its first three drives, coming away with two touchdowns and staking the Cats to a 13-0 lead.

The key to NU’s success was its willingness to stick with what Bachér called a “dinking and dunking” philosophy. While the senior signal-caller passed for 162 yards in the first half, he completed just one pass for more than 20 yards, a 22-yard strike off his back foot to Peterman. The rest of Bachér’s completions were underneath the Illinois secondary, as the Cats moved steadily up the field a few yards at a time.

Bachér credited offensive coordinator Mick McCall’s scheme for the early scores.

“We had a great game plan going in,” Bachér said. “I know that the offense really bought into it, and we stuck to it the entire game.”

While running back Stephen Simmons had his most productive game of the season (68 yards rushing and a touchdown), the Cats did most of their damage through the air. Bachér finished with 220 yards passing, 14 of which came on the offense’s biggest play.

Midway through the second quarter, the Cats faced a third-and-seven at the 14-yard line of the Illini (5-7, 3-5). Bachér was flushed from the pocket and scrambled to his right. Weeks ago, Fitzgerald commented on a different Bachér interception: “I’ve been playing football since the second grade, and you don’t throw across your body.” On Saturday, the senior quarterback ignored his coach’s words, lobbing a throw across his body to a wide-open Lane in the back of the end zone.

The ball got to Lane a split second before the Illini defenders did, and the senior receiver hung on to the ball as he was tackled into the goal post.

“After Ross caught that touchdown, he goes: ‘That was fun,’” Fitzgerald said. “And that’s Ross Lane. He’s a very gregarious young man.”

After failing to score in the third quarter, the offense capitalized on junior Brendan Smith’s 52-yard punt return, which gave NU the ball at the Illinois 20. Two plays later, Peterman broke free on a corner post, and Bachér hit him at the goal line for a game-clinching 18-yard touchdown.

The senior gunslinger had ample time to complete his two touchdown passes, as NU’s offensive line kept the Illinois front four away from Bachér all day. The performance of the “Big Uglies” was a fitting end to a stellar regular season for the linemen.

“It’s been a recurring theme in all of our wins this season,” Bachér said. “Our O-line has just been great, and that’s the reason, in my mind, that we have nine wins.”

Bachér used his time in the pocket to find his three senior receivers. Lane, Peterman, and Ward combined for 19 catches, 212 yards, and two touchdowns in their final regular-season game, as they walked off Ryan Field victorious.

“It looked like Ross and Rasheed and Eric probably played their best game collectively of the season,” Fitzgerald said.

james-simpson@northwestern.edu

According to the Gospel of Pat Fitzgerald, football is 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you respond.

For once, I think Fitzgerald has not taken one of his mantras far enough. Northwestern’s 9-3 season has been 100 percent about response.

By winning nine games, this team has achieved something only four others in school history have. To do it, the Cats had to overcome more obstacles than a reporter trying to get Fitzgerald to admit to his team’s overall record.

First, there have been the injuries. Every team has them, but NU has had more than its fair share of serious ones. Since summer practice, the Cats have lost five starters plus two regular contributors for the season. On top of that, quarterback C.J. Bachér missed two games.

If those setbacks bothered the Cats, they did not show it.

Jordan Mabin stepped in at cornerback for Justan Vaughn and leads the team with three interceptions. Nate Williams stepped in at middle linebacker for Malcolm Arrington and has played well, culminating in a 10-tackle performance in the regular season finale. Stephen Simmons has scored a pair of touchdowns and shown some improvement since replacing Tyrell Sutton and Omar Conteh. Mike Kafka took over at quarterback for Bachér and led the team to a crucial victory at Minnesota with a record-setting rushing performance.

The list goes on.

“The team embraced responding,” Bachér said. “I don’t know if it was anything the coaches said as much as just having a lot of character and a lot of guys that have invested so much in this program, and when their number was called, they were able to step up.”

Bachér went on to say that the tough times he and his teammates have been through over the past few years are part of the reason the team has been able to react to adversity so well this season. He’s probably right about that.

This program had to fight through the tragic death of coach Randy Walker. And while everything else pales in comparison to that unfortunate situation, NU also had to swallow a bitter pill last season, when a 1-3 finish left them 6-6 and one win shy of a bowl berth.

The Cats seem determined not to repeat their mistakes of a year ago by not allowing losses to snowball into losing streaks.

When NU suffered its first defeat of the season by getting blown out in the first half by Michigan State, it came back the next week and waxed Purdue. When the Cats dropped a potentially devastating road contest to lowly Indiana, they went on the road the next week and eked out a win against a hot Minnesota squad. And after a third-straight blowout loss to Ohio State three weeks ago, they returned in the following game and earned a rare victory in the Big House against Michigan.

It’s all due to that one word: respond.

“This season, we’ve faced a lot of adversity — losing Tyrell, Omar and Malcolm — but guys have stepped up in their place, and each time we’ve lost a game, we’ve come back strong the next game and been able to pull out a victory, so that’s been a huge theme for us,” Bachér said.

But Saturday against Illinois, the Cats accomplished something they had not accomplished in a while, responding to a win with an even better win.

NU had not won consecutive games since beating Ohio and then following that with a victory over Iowa in the Big Ten opener. But after topping the Wolverines last week, the Cats came out Saturday and put together their best, most complete performance of the season to defeat their in-state rivals.

Now we just have to see how the bowl representatives respond to that performance in choosing who goes where for the holidays.

a-simon@u.northwestern.edu

At tuesday’s practice, defensive tackle John Gill put stopping Juice Williams into these terms.

“You can’t stop him,” Gill said. “You can only hope to contain him.”

In the third quarter, NU struggled to contain the Illini quarterback. After an erratic first half, Williams completed all three passes he threw in the third quarter, for 44 yards. He also ran 10 times for 85 yards.

With their quarterback clicking, the rest of the Illini followed. With NU facing first and goal from the Illinois 10, the defense made three big stops to force a 21-yard field goal by Amado Villarreal. That kept the game at a one-possession differential.

In NU’s dominant first half, it was clear that the Wildcats had more emotion to come out and attack the Illini as well as they did. But in the third quarter, Illinois’ desperation began to surface. With fifteen minutes left, which of those two factors will win out?

Of note: NU is 18-4 in its last 22 games decided by seven points or less.

In 30 minutes of first half football, the Illini had 86 yards of total offense.

That all changed on their first drive out of the locker room.

The force behind that change? Juice Williams setting the tone for his team. Williams spent most of the first half running ragged from the NU defense. He had nine carries for four yards and was sacked four times.

The Illini came out weakly on special teams, with A.J. Jenkins stumbling in the end zone for a touchback. Williams took matters into his own hands, rushing for five yards up the gut. He then found tight end Michael Hoomanawanui for 10 yards and a first down.

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Here are  the keys to today’s tilt between Northwestern and Illinois at Ryan Field.

1. Turnovers — It is not difficult to figure out the biggest indicator of each team’s success. NU is 6-0 when it wins or ties the turnover battle and 2-3 when it loses. Illinois is 4-1 when it wins or ties and 1-5 when it loses. Both teams have talented quarterbacks who struggle with turnovers; C.J. Bacher and Juice Williams have combined to throw 28 interceptions. Whichever team is better able to hold onto the ball today almost certainly will win.

Final verdict: NU won the turnover battle, 2-1. Not surprisingly, the Cats won the  game as well.

2. NU defense limiting big pass plays — When the Cats faced Ohio State and Terrelle Pryor two weeks ago, Pryor and his receivers burned the NU secondary for several big plays through the air. This week, NU faces a similar quarterback in Juice Williams, who can make plays with his legs and has a cannon for an arm. The Illini offense also features wide receiver Arrelious Benn, who has more than 1,000 yards receiving this season. Illinois has produced 42 pass plays of at least 20 yards, so NU’s secondary will have a tough task in trying to limit big plays. If the Cats can pull it off, they will give themselves a great chance to win.

Final verdict: Illinois managed only two plays of 20 yards or more, both in the third quarter. That was a big reason why NU allowed just 10 points.

3. Which Illinois team shows up? — The Illini have the talent to match up with almost anyone in the country, but they also have been extremely inconsistent this season. They have lost to Western Michigan and barely beat Louisiana Lafayette, but beat Iowa and hung with Missouri and Penn State. If Illnois comes out fired up today with its season on the line and plays up to its potential, NU will have a tough day. But if the Illini once again struggle to harness their talent, it’s anyone’s game.

Final verdict: Illinois did not look like a team that had to win to extend its season. The Illini played sloppy and could not find consistency on offense or defense. NU took advantage.

Final thoughts — This was the most complete game NU has played all season. The Cats executed on offense, defense and special teams and played well in both the first and second halves. This was a statement game for the Cats. And what statement was that? We deserve to go to a premiere bowl game.

After Saturday’s victory at Michigan, Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald was asked about the character of his senior class

“I couldn’t be more proud of the seniors,” he said. “We’re where we’re at right now because of them.”

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