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Gophers Game Preview: Minnesota Looks to Get Back on Track at Northwestern
By Grant Erickson & Travis Erickson
http://www.gopherhole.com/news_article/show/300404?referrer_id=388419
Minnesota (4-2 overall, 0-2 Big Ten) at Northwestern (4-2 overall, 0-2 Big Ten)
Evanston, Illinois – Ryan Field (47,330)
Saturday 11:00 a.m. CT – ESPN2
Spread: Northwestern -12
PREGAME NOTES
Series History
Although they have struggled recently against their Big Ten foe, the Golden Gophers still hold a commanding 55-13-5 advantage over Northwestern in the all-time series. The Wildcats have begun to close the gap, winning five of the last six meetings, including the last three matchups. The good news for Minnesota is that their last win against Northwestern took place while playing in Evanston during the 2009 season.
Last Meeting
Northwestern topped Minnesota, 21-13, at TFC Bank Stadium on October 13, 2012. The Wildcats were propelled to victory by running back Venric Mark, who rushed for 182 yards and two touchdowns. The loss was overshadowed when news broke that head coach Jerry Kill suffered a seizure after his postgame press conference and was taken to a local hospital.
Last Time Out
Coming off a nail-biting loss to Ohio State, the Wildcats stumbled last weekend at Wisconsin. The Badgers rolled to a 35-6 victory behind a combined 283 rushing yards by the duo of Melvin Gordon and James White. Northwestern was banged up, with offensive stars Venric Mark and Kain Colter each getting just a handful of snaps. The Gophers know they could see a much-improved Northwestern team from last week.
“Then injuries hurt them; when Colter got hurt and Mark got hurt, it just got them out of sync,” said acting head coach Tracy Claeys. “Then they turn into one dimensional, throwing it all over without two of their better athletes. We haven’t spent a lot of time on the Wisconsin game and won’t. That’s not them. They only ran the ball like 16 times and they’d rather be much more balanced than that. If you look at their games over the last three years, that’s very atypical of them to get away from running the football.”
The Wildcats will look to put the Wisconsin game behind them as they try for their first Big Ten win.
“I think we just didn’t play very well a week ago,” said Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald. “I attribute that, first and foremost, to us as a staff. We’ve got to get our guys to execute more cleanly and more consistently and we obviously didn’t do that on Saturday and that’s disappointing. Each week is a one-game season and when things don’t go the way you expect them to go you analyze why, you talk about it, you work with the team and you create solutions…They’ll come back and play well. I promise you that.”
Coaching Preview
At just 38 years old, Pat Fitzgerald is already one of the longest serving head coaches in the conference. During his tenure, the former Northwestern linebacker has compiled an impressive 54-41 mark including a ten-win season in 2012. Last year, the Wildcats took down Mississippi State in the Gator Bowl to finish with double digit wins and a No. 17 ranking at the end of the season. Having coached at Northern Illinois while Fitzgerald led Northwestern, Minnesota’s coaches are very familiar with the Wildcat staff.
“We had a pretty good open-door policy with them and went over to visit them about special teams, [watching] practices, that type of deal,” said Claeys. “Pat’s always been very good to our staff. Coach Limegrover was there as a graduate assistant when Pat was playing so we’ve always had the type of relationship. He’s a good football coach and has his system in place.”
Scouting the Wildcats
With Minnesota coming off a much-needed bye week, the Gophers have had a chance to rest and get a good look at Northwestern. Both teams will enter the game as losers of two straight and in search of their first conference victory.
“We come off an open week and I think we’ve got about everybody back,” said Claeys. “I think most of our players will be available for the game. It’ll be a tough game on the road in Chicago at Northwestern. Pat’s done a great job there. They’re very balanced on offense with the fast tempo stuff. They’ve been very sound on defense. They’ve forced a lot of turnovers. It’ll be a tough challenge for us. We’ve got to make sure we take care of the ball.”
With athletic playmakers and a frantic pace, the Wildcats will give the Gophers the fastest offense the Maroon and Gold have faced all season.
“When we played in the bowl game, Texas Tech was just a little bit faster but as far as in the regular season, they move faster than anybody else we’ve played,” said Claeys.
Northwestern’s Plan
In order to erase the memories from last week, the Wildcats will look to use their athletic defense to dominate the Gophers physically.
“Offensively, they’ve really involved the quarterbacks in the run game and they put a lot of pressure on you from that standpoint,” said Fitzgerald. “When you decide to load the box, Matt Limegrover does a nice job with the play-action pass, getting the ball to fast wide receivers down the field. Their offensive line is another typical big, big, big, athletic offensive line in the Big Ten. We need to be more physical and play much better than we did last Saturday if we expect to compete to win.”
Matchup to Watch
One area that could be a turning point for each team in the game will be on third downs. Both teams enter the game in the bottom half of the conference in third down conversion percentage and opponent’s third down conversion percentage. Minnesota struggled mightily last game against the Wolverines, allowing Michigan to convert 10 of their 13 third-down attempts. Whichever team can overcome their woes on later downs could potentially take control of the game.
“We harped on third downs and worked a lot with the defensive line on pass rush,” said Claeys. “That’s the two things that we’ve got to do on defense. On offense it’s taking care of the football and making good decisions on third down. We have to get back to playing well on third down to get an opportunity to win.”
Players to Watch
#24 Ibraheim Campbell – The 5-foot-11, 205-pound Campbell is an impact player on the back-end of the Northwester defense. Against Wisconsin, the junior stuffed the stat sheet with nine tackles, a fumble recovery, a sack and an interception. The ball-hawking safety intercepted a pass in five consecutive games between Nov. 24, 2012 and Sept. 14, 2013. Campbell ranks fifth in the nation in inceptions per game.
“At the highs, he’s been really, really spectacular,” said Fitzgerald. “There’s still a lot of things that he needs to improve on and he knows that and he’s working his tail off to do that. He’s a big-time playmaker. He’s got a really strong grasp of what we’re trying to accomplish defensively.”
#27 Matthew Harris – Joining Campbell in the NU secondary is true-freshman cornerback Matthew Harris. The 5-foot-11, 185 pounder is a talented defender and an explosive kick returner for Northwestern. Harris is averaging nearly 25 yards per return and is a threat to score if he gets a seam.
“[In high school] he was dynamic with the ball in his hands,” said Fitzgerald. “As we went through the spring evaluation period of his junior year we had to watch his athleticism from a football perspective. When you watch his senior video, you just knew he was going to be an instant impact guy.”
Background
Location: Evanston, Illinois
Enrollment: 8,367
Conference: Big Ten
Mascot: Wildcats
Colors: White and Purple
Coach: Pat Fitzgerald (8th Season)
By Grant Erickson & Travis Erickson
http://www.gopherhole.com/news_article/show/300404?referrer_id=388419
Minnesota (4-2 overall, 0-2 Big Ten) at Northwestern (4-2 overall, 0-2 Big Ten)
Evanston, Illinois – Ryan Field (47,330)
Saturday 11:00 a.m. CT – ESPN2
Spread: Northwestern -12
PREGAME NOTES
Series History
Although they have struggled recently against their Big Ten foe, the Golden Gophers still hold a commanding 55-13-5 advantage over Northwestern in the all-time series. The Wildcats have begun to close the gap, winning five of the last six meetings, including the last three matchups. The good news for Minnesota is that their last win against Northwestern took place while playing in Evanston during the 2009 season.
Last Meeting
Northwestern topped Minnesota, 21-13, at TFC Bank Stadium on October 13, 2012. The Wildcats were propelled to victory by running back Venric Mark, who rushed for 182 yards and two touchdowns. The loss was overshadowed when news broke that head coach Jerry Kill suffered a seizure after his postgame press conference and was taken to a local hospital.
Last Time Out
Coming off a nail-biting loss to Ohio State, the Wildcats stumbled last weekend at Wisconsin. The Badgers rolled to a 35-6 victory behind a combined 283 rushing yards by the duo of Melvin Gordon and James White. Northwestern was banged up, with offensive stars Venric Mark and Kain Colter each getting just a handful of snaps. The Gophers know they could see a much-improved Northwestern team from last week.
“Then injuries hurt them; when Colter got hurt and Mark got hurt, it just got them out of sync,” said acting head coach Tracy Claeys. “Then they turn into one dimensional, throwing it all over without two of their better athletes. We haven’t spent a lot of time on the Wisconsin game and won’t. That’s not them. They only ran the ball like 16 times and they’d rather be much more balanced than that. If you look at their games over the last three years, that’s very atypical of them to get away from running the football.”
The Wildcats will look to put the Wisconsin game behind them as they try for their first Big Ten win.
“I think we just didn’t play very well a week ago,” said Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald. “I attribute that, first and foremost, to us as a staff. We’ve got to get our guys to execute more cleanly and more consistently and we obviously didn’t do that on Saturday and that’s disappointing. Each week is a one-game season and when things don’t go the way you expect them to go you analyze why, you talk about it, you work with the team and you create solutions…They’ll come back and play well. I promise you that.”
Coaching Preview
At just 38 years old, Pat Fitzgerald is already one of the longest serving head coaches in the conference. During his tenure, the former Northwestern linebacker has compiled an impressive 54-41 mark including a ten-win season in 2012. Last year, the Wildcats took down Mississippi State in the Gator Bowl to finish with double digit wins and a No. 17 ranking at the end of the season. Having coached at Northern Illinois while Fitzgerald led Northwestern, Minnesota’s coaches are very familiar with the Wildcat staff.
“We had a pretty good open-door policy with them and went over to visit them about special teams, [watching] practices, that type of deal,” said Claeys. “Pat’s always been very good to our staff. Coach Limegrover was there as a graduate assistant when Pat was playing so we’ve always had the type of relationship. He’s a good football coach and has his system in place.”
Scouting the Wildcats
With Minnesota coming off a much-needed bye week, the Gophers have had a chance to rest and get a good look at Northwestern. Both teams will enter the game as losers of two straight and in search of their first conference victory.
“We come off an open week and I think we’ve got about everybody back,” said Claeys. “I think most of our players will be available for the game. It’ll be a tough game on the road in Chicago at Northwestern. Pat’s done a great job there. They’re very balanced on offense with the fast tempo stuff. They’ve been very sound on defense. They’ve forced a lot of turnovers. It’ll be a tough challenge for us. We’ve got to make sure we take care of the ball.”
With athletic playmakers and a frantic pace, the Wildcats will give the Gophers the fastest offense the Maroon and Gold have faced all season.
“When we played in the bowl game, Texas Tech was just a little bit faster but as far as in the regular season, they move faster than anybody else we’ve played,” said Claeys.
Northwestern’s Plan
In order to erase the memories from last week, the Wildcats will look to use their athletic defense to dominate the Gophers physically.
“Offensively, they’ve really involved the quarterbacks in the run game and they put a lot of pressure on you from that standpoint,” said Fitzgerald. “When you decide to load the box, Matt Limegrover does a nice job with the play-action pass, getting the ball to fast wide receivers down the field. Their offensive line is another typical big, big, big, athletic offensive line in the Big Ten. We need to be more physical and play much better than we did last Saturday if we expect to compete to win.”
Matchup to Watch
One area that could be a turning point for each team in the game will be on third downs. Both teams enter the game in the bottom half of the conference in third down conversion percentage and opponent’s third down conversion percentage. Minnesota struggled mightily last game against the Wolverines, allowing Michigan to convert 10 of their 13 third-down attempts. Whichever team can overcome their woes on later downs could potentially take control of the game.
“We harped on third downs and worked a lot with the defensive line on pass rush,” said Claeys. “That’s the two things that we’ve got to do on defense. On offense it’s taking care of the football and making good decisions on third down. We have to get back to playing well on third down to get an opportunity to win.”
Players to Watch
#24 Ibraheim Campbell – The 5-foot-11, 205-pound Campbell is an impact player on the back-end of the Northwester defense. Against Wisconsin, the junior stuffed the stat sheet with nine tackles, a fumble recovery, a sack and an interception. The ball-hawking safety intercepted a pass in five consecutive games between Nov. 24, 2012 and Sept. 14, 2013. Campbell ranks fifth in the nation in inceptions per game.
“At the highs, he’s been really, really spectacular,” said Fitzgerald. “There’s still a lot of things that he needs to improve on and he knows that and he’s working his tail off to do that. He’s a big-time playmaker. He’s got a really strong grasp of what we’re trying to accomplish defensively.”
#27 Matthew Harris – Joining Campbell in the NU secondary is true-freshman cornerback Matthew Harris. The 5-foot-11, 185 pounder is a talented defender and an explosive kick returner for Northwestern. Harris is averaging nearly 25 yards per return and is a threat to score if he gets a seam.
“[In high school] he was dynamic with the ball in his hands,” said Fitzgerald. “As we went through the spring evaluation period of his junior year we had to watch his athleticism from a football perspective. When you watch his senior video, you just knew he was going to be an instant impact guy.”
Background
Location: Evanston, Illinois
Enrollment: 8,367
Conference: Big Ten
Mascot: Wildcats
Colors: White and Purple
Coach: Pat Fitzgerald (8th Season)
