funkywolve

November 4th, 2012 at 10:56 PM ^

One of the biggest differences is on pass plays Devin will tuck and run or move out of the pocket and keep his eyes downfield.  Denard usually just stays in the pocket.  Either way though Fitzgerald tells his rushers that they have to maintain their lanes and keep the QB in the pocket.

tdcarl

November 4th, 2012 at 9:56 PM ^

It all comes down to how Gardner plays if Denard can't go/re-aggrivates his injury. I mean he played really well last week against Minnesota, but so did Sheridan...Does last week's Gardner show up on Saturday, or does the Gardner that struggled to move the ball against MSU last year show up?

UM2018

November 4th, 2012 at 10:22 PM ^

I know Northwestern has had some close games with good opponents but I just don't see them coming into the Big House and pulling off the upset, especially since we'll have some momentum from the Minnesota game.

MGoClimb

November 4th, 2012 at 11:08 PM ^

I think that Northwestern may give us some trouble early on, similar to last year.  I think we win, but a little tighter than what may be predicted.  Hope I'm wrong.  I hope we are surging by the time we go to Columbus.

Hannibal.

November 5th, 2012 at 9:48 AM ^

Earlier in the season, I would have expected us to cover this easily.  But with the way that our offensive line has been playing, I expect our scoring numbers to be low from here on out.  Add to that the fact that teams have scouted us and are shutting down some of the plays that worked earlier in the year, and the rest of the games aren't going to be pretty. 

Soulfire21

November 5th, 2012 at 9:49 AM ^

... is that Northwestern under Fitzgerald thrives in November.

He's 13-8 (okay, so, thrives by Northwestern standards), but includes several big wins.

For those who think Northwestern won't come in and take the upset, consider they went down to Lincoln last year and knocked off No. 9 Nebraska.

In 2010, they beat No. 13 Iowa at home.

In 2009 they went Kinnick and beat No. 6 Iowa, then knocked off No. 14 Wisconsin at home

In 2008, they went to No. 20 Minnesota and won.

All of these games happened in November.  So, don't take the Wildcats lightly.  With only 5-5 MSU and lowly Illinois ramining on the wildcats' schedule, this game has Northwestern's signature November victory written all over it.  We've got to show up to play.

markusr2007

November 5th, 2012 at 3:58 PM ^

= Victory.

That's pretty much it.

Northwestern is a horrible Big Ten passing team, like Michigan.

Except they've thrown like 5x fewer interceptions than the Wolverines have.