Ann Arbor, Mich. — Rich Rodriguez no longer has speedy West Virginia quarterback Pat White at his disposal for zone read runs.

Through one quarter of play, Nick Sheridan is proving to be a viable alternative.

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Ann Arbor, Mich. — An auspicious beginning for Northwestern quickly turned to favorable.

Three plays into the game, Michigan stood at the NU 8-yard line. Safety Stevie Brown had intercepted C.J. Bachér on a crossing route into double coverage, and the momentum was in the Wolverines’ hands.

The hand of Cats defensive end Corey Wootton gave that momentum right back to NU. Wootton blocked J.C. Lopata’s 22-yard field goal, negating the Wolverines’ chip-shot chance for an early lead.

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Apparently Terrelle Pryor is not the best running quarterback in this game. Pryor is dragged down from behind by Corey Wootton on third down for a big three and out form the Northwestern defense.

Kafka had 35 yards on 10 carries in the first drive of the game for the Wildcats, which ended in the game-tying score. But NU comes out with a few passing plays, including a quick swing to Andrew Brewer for a first down. Nothing down the field though.

On third down, Kafka throws over the middle for Ross Lane and defensive tackle Nader Abdallah nearly picks it off at the line. Expect some more runs from Kafka before NU tries to throw the ball again as the team punts it back to Ohio State.

Pryor tries the option for the first time and Kevin Mims meets him the backfield for a loss of seven yards. The Cats want to keep the ball in Pryor’s hands in this game. He is going to get some good runs because of his athletic ability. But with a couple of big losses already they could try and force him to throw. That did not work as he found a receiver deep for the Buckeyes’ only score in the first quarter.

Sit tight in this one.

The sell out crowd is mostly in red as the student section is not even full. The nearly freezing temperatures are definitely keeping some people away. There are plenty of seats left empty at kickoff.

Don’t underestimate the effect of the weather in this game. The wind knocked the ball off the tee on the opening kickoff and was blowing pretty strongly north before kickoff - a long field goal is definitely possible.

The Wildcats start the game off inauspiciously with a facemask penalty by Prince Kwateng on a run for no gain by Chris “Beanie” Wells.  Northwestern got torched by Wells last year with 100 yards on 12 rushes. After the Buckeyes picked up a first down, the Cats forced Wells in to a 10-yard loss with some good pressure in the backfield.

How well NU stops Wells and force freshman Terrell Pryor to throw the ball will be key. He is stepping up. He picked up a third-and-long and threw a 44-yard pass to Brian Hartline to the two yard line. It set up a touchdown by Wells.

The defense clearly has prepared for Wells, and they should want the ball in Pryor’s hands. The freshman is known for his work with his legs, but he has showed off his arm with two nice passes. The secondary cannot let Pryor have a big passing day if they want to win.

It looks like starting Mike Kafka was hte right call for coach Pat Fitzgerald. Kafka is showing the same running skills he showed last week at Minnesota. He has made the safe passes and is reading his running holes very well and even breaking some Ohio State tackles.

It looks like the safe play calling involving Kafka in the run is very effective even against a stout defense like the Buckeyes’. NU drives pretty easily inside the Ohio State 10-yard line with seemingly the same running play with Kafka running the ball.

The Buckeyes get called for their second late hit penalty of the game and the Cats get the a first and goal at the two. Two plays later Kafka spins his way into the endzone to put NU on the board.

If Ohio State cannot stop Kafka running the ball - like Minnesota couldn’t - why not keep doing it. Kafka rushed the last eight plays of the drive, all on designed runs.

MINNEAPOLIS — Positive play calls. Positive yardage. Positive results.

Any doubts of whether Mike Kafka was ready to run the Cats’ offense were put to rest quickly.

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Right when the offense looked good, the defense comes out an struggles.

The Wildcats got a break on a holding call, starting the Hoosiers inside their own 10. But eight plays later, Indiana is on the scoreboard.

Sophomore punter Chris Hagerup ran for 17-yards after struggling to corral the snap on fourth down, keeping Indiana’s drive alive. A play later, a fake reverse leaves Damarlo Belcher wide open for a 43-yard touchdown.

The Cats are hitting hard, but got fooled on the nice play.

But problems compounded for NU as the special teams continues to struggle. Stephen Simmons fumbles the football on the ensuing kickoff and a hot Indiana offense comes back onto the field with good field position.

The Cats defense makes a stand though. Nate Williams, who is replacing Malcolm Arrington, comes on the delayed blitz and forces Chappell out of the pocket where John Gill sacks him for a big loss on fourth down.

NU’s defense got beat on a great play for the touchdown, but the defense is hitting hard and keeping Indiana off the scoreboard. The Hoosiers have gone into the Cats’ territory three times and come up with only one score.

Good news for NU. The team has been outscored 33-3 in the first quarter of Big Ten games this season. Damage controlled, I guess.

It looked like the beginning of this game was going to be a repeat of the Michigan State game. Senior Marcus Thigpen took the opening kickoff to the 36-yard line and nearly broke it for longer. His first run of the game went 10 yards and you felt that “uh-oh” moment of Northwestern teams of old.

Good thing the game against the Spartans was flushed. After receiving the ball on their own three yard line, C.J. Bacher has moved the Wildcats well into Indiana territory. A couple of good third down throws helped keep the drive alive around the 20- and 30- yard lines.

But the real reason for the success is the strong rhythm of the offense. Bacher has had very good protection and Tryell Sutton has been running the ball effectively for 5- and 6-yard gains. The Hoosiers have not found a way to stop the Cats offense.

The red zone continues to be the struggle for NU. The Cats got inside the 10, handed the ball off to Sutton twice and threw an incompletion into the back of the endzone.

Amado Villareal hits the field goal and that is all NU gets out of the 90-yard drive.

Scary moment for Northwestern. Senior middle linebacker Malcolm Arrington is down on the field, grasping his left knee in intense pain. With Purdue facing 2nd and goal from the 10, Curtis Painter handed off to Kory Sheets on a counter run right. As Sheets cut back, Arrington fell to the ground in pain. He needed two attendants to walk him off the field.

More details on this injury as soon as they are available.

As it stands, Purdue is driving at the NU 10-yard line.

The Cats broke contain on Ricky Stanzi, falling asleep on the left side of the field. He picked up 20 yards, advancing Iowa to the 30-yard-line.

On 2nd and 10, Iowa receiver Derrell Johnson-Koulianos trips, allowing Sherrick McManis to pick off the ball. But McManis is guilty of a face-mask, advancing Iowa to their own 45-yard-line.

Iowa picks up another first down with their change of pace back, Jewel Hampton, setting up 1st and 10 in Cats territory at the 44.

Stanzi changes pace with the pass, completing to Brodell at the NU 31.

And that’s the end of the first quarter. Iowa leads 3-0.

The Wildcats took another stand into Hawkeyes territory. But on 2nd and 8 from the NU 45, Mitch King pressured Bachér into an incomplete pass. The Cats have been successful on the crossing routes but Omar Conteh drops the pass.

Punter Stefan Demos kicks a 35-yard punt, pinning the Hawkeyes at their own 10. The Cats are having success finding space over the middle of the field, but their timing is off.

Iowa 3, NU 0 - 2:53 left first quarter