Coming off an emotional win over Nebraska in Lincoln, the Indiana Hoosiers will return to the friendly confines of Memorial Stadium to take on the visiting Northwestern Wildcats. Sitting at 6-2 on the season, the Hoosiers have qualified for postseason play before the end of October for the first time since the 1993 season. Using Pro Football Focus, TheHoosier.com will look at Northwestern and give a breakdown on what to expect from the Wildcats.
Quarterback struggles
The major story line so far for the Wildcat’s disappointing season has been the poor performances from the quarterback position. After an injury to T.J. Green in the season opener, the Wildcats have turned to Clemson transfer Hunter Johnson and Aiden Smith with mediocre results. Johnson’s offensive rating puts him at the 21st highest among the Northwestern offense, with Smith coming in even lower at 28th overall. Both quarterbacks are completing less than 50% of their passes, with both players combining to throw just two touchdowns on the season in comparison to ten interceptions. The Northwestern quarterbacks have particularly struggled when pressured, as they have combined to complete just 6-of-21 passing attempts for 60 yards and a pair of interceptions when under pressure.
Northwestern receivers have their own issues
In addition to their struggles at quarterback, the Northwestern receivers have had their own struggles, coming in dead last in the Big Ten in receiving grades. To put the receiving struggles for the Wildcats into perspective, they have just one receiver with over 20 receptions on the season (Riley Lees - 23 receptions for 156 yards). Indiana on the other hand has five players with over 20 receptions led by Whop Philyor who has 57 receptions by himself on the season. To add onto that, the Wildcats have combined for 882 yards receiving on the year, while Philyor alone has totaled 737 receiving yards for the Hoosiers.
Wildcats boast a strong defense
Despite the struggles for Northwestern’s offense, it has been a completely different story on the defensive end. The Wildcats boast the 6th ranked defense in the Big Ten according to Pro Football Focus; their run defense in particular has been extremely stout, coming in at 4th in the conference. The Wildcats defense is led by their pair of defensive linemen in Joe Gaziano and Earnest Brown IV. The two have combined for nine sacks and 21 quarterback hurries on the season along with the two highest individual grades on the team.
Indiana must find a way to slow down Northwestern front seven
There’s no doubt Indiana will need to find a way to move the ball on a tough Northwestern defense, but the strong front seven for the Wildcats should prove to be the biggest challenge. The aforementioned pair of pass rushers should give Indiana’s offensive line all they can handle in pass protection, but the Wildcats also boast a strong group of run defenders. Northwestern has four different defenders who possess a run defense grade of 81 or better (Samdup Miller, Alex Miller, Joe Gaziano, and Travis Whillock), to put that into perspective, the Hoosiers have 0 defensive players who have earned a run defense grade above 80.
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