Northwestern-Michigan State Post-Game Notes

Oct. 6, 2007

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2007 Northwestern Football
Northwestern vs. Michigan State
Spartan Stadium
Oct. 6, 2007

Northwestern improved to 3-3 overall, 1-2 in the Big Ten. The Wildcats return home next week, hosting Minnesota at 11 a.m. CT (Big Ten Network).

Northwestern has now won three of its last four games at Spartan Stadium (wins in 2000, 2005 and 2007) and defeated Michigan State five of its last nine overall meetings.

Northwestern scored 13 points in the first quarter, the most in an opening frame this season. The last time NU scored 13 or more points in the opening quarter was Sept. 9, 2006 vs. New Hampshire. Northwestern finished with 48 points, its highest single-game point total since scoring 49 against Michigan State two years ago (Oct. 22, 2005).

In its last three meetings vs. Michigan State, Northwestern's offense has scored 49, 38 and 48 points for an average of 45.0 ppg.

Northwestern is 6-0 in program history in overtime games against Big Ten opponents. The Wildcats are 7-1 overall in overtime games.

QB C.J. Bachér became just the fourth different player in NU history to surpass the 400-yard mark for passing yardage. His 520 yards passing broke the previous school record of 513 set by Brett Basanez against TCU in 2004, and was the fifth-best total in Big Ten history. He also set career highs for completions with 38, which tied Basanez for the third-best total in school history and the 10th-best total in conference history. His five touchdown passes tied Mitch Anderson's 1973 school record set against Minnesota.

C.J. Bachér finished the game with 525 yards of total offense, the third-best single-game figure in NU history (548 is NU's single-game record).

QB C.J. Bachér completed 17-of-20 passes for 177 yards and a TD in the opening 30 minutes. The TD pass, a 9-yard strike to WR Ross Lane with 13 seconds left in the second quarter, was the first by Bachér since he hit Lane for the game-winning TD with 21 seconds remaining vs. Nevada on Sept. 8.

LB Malcolm Arrington notched a career-high nine tackles. He recorded seven tackles in the first half. He also notched a blocked punt with 5:19 to go in the fourth quarter. It was NU's first blocked punt since the New Hampshire game on Sept. 9, 2006.

Bachér's first pass completion of the second half, a 78-yard touchdown strike to WR Jeff Yarbrough, was the longest pass play for both players. Yarbrough, who caught a team-best seven receptions for 68 yards in the opener vs. Northeastern, had missed the last two games with a leg injury. Yarbrough finished with a career-best 104 receiving yards.

One of the keys to Northwestern's victory was its tremendous third-down conversion success. The Wildcats completed a season-best 13-of-19 (68.4 percent) third downs on Saturday.
WR Eric Peterman caught a career-high nine passes for a career-best 141 yards. His 70-yard TD catch in the fourth quarter was the longest of his career.

For the fourth straight game, Northwestern's fifth all-time leading rusher, RB Tyrell Sutton, sat out the contest due to an ankle injury. Sutton played in his first 26 career games before being sidelined with his latest injury.

RB Omar Conteh made his third straight start, in place of the injured Sutton. Conteh, who finished with 70 yards on 19 carries, scored two rushing TD's in the first quarter. The last NU player to score two rushing TD's in a game was Brett Basanez (vs. Illinois) on Nov. 19, 2005. The last NU player to score two rushing TD's in a quarter was Tyrell Sutton (vs. Wisconsin) on Oct. 8, 2005. Sutton scored two rushing TD's in the fourth quarter vs. Wisconsin.

Omar Conteh scored the game-winning TD with his second TD reception of the season in overtime, a 12-yard grab. That score gave Conteh three TD's for the game, the most by an NU player since Sutton's 4-TD game against Wisconsin on Oct. 8, 2005.

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