Northwestern Post-Game Notes

Oct. 11, 2008

Recap | Box Score | Quotes

Ryan Field - Evanston, Ill.

Michigan State won the toss and elected to receive. It was the fourth straight game that NU did not win the coin toss after winning it the opening two weeks.

For the fourth straight time in this series, the visiting team won the game. Since this series was renewed in 2005 following a two-year hiatus, Northwestern won road games in 2005 and 2007, and Michigan State won road games in 2006 and 2008. Overall, MSU now leads the all-time series 33-16, although Northwestern has won four of the last seven meetings with the Spartans.

With the loss, Northwestern falls to 5-1 overall and 1-1 in the Big Ten. Northwestern's 5-0 start was its best in 46 years, when the Wildcats went 6-0 to open the season. NU's 5-1 record matches its starts in 2000, 1996 and 1995-all Big Ten championship seasons.

Northwestern, which entered the game ranked 13th nationally in scoring defense, allowed a season-high 37 points to Michigan State. Northwestern was allowing 12.4 ppg at the start of the day.

After forcing nine takeaways in its last two games, Northwestern lost the turnover battle against Michigan State, suffering three miscues to none for MSU. NU entered the game with a +3 turnover margin.

Michigan State's average starting field position was the NU 49-yard line, while NU's average starting field position was its own 18-yard line. The Wildcats, who started the day ranked seventh nationally in kickoff coverage, allowed MSU 46.0 net yards per kickoff return (eight returns).

RB Tyrell Sutton led all players in both rushing (game-high 139 yards) and all-purpose yards (game-high 183 yards). His 183 all-purpose yards represented a season high. Sutton, who had a career-long 66-yard run in the second half, moved into second place on NU's career all-purpose yardage list and now has 4,746 total yards, just 525 shy of NU's all-time mark (held by Damien Anderson). Sutton averaged 6.0 yards per carry and caught six passes for 44 yards.

Sutton also moved closer to the No. 2 spot on NU's career rushing chart with his 139 yards. He now has 3,599 career rushing yards, just 194 yards shy of Darnell Autry (3,793 yards). His 100-yard game was the third of his season and the 14th of his career.

Sutton's six catches moved him to within two receptions of Ricky Edwards, who leads all NU running backs with 140 career catches.
QB C.J. Bachér completed 34 passes (career-most 61 attempts) for 283 yards and a TD. He now has 557 career completions, third all-time at NU, and has become just the third player in NU history to eclipse the 6,000 mark for career passing yardage (6,212). Bachér also took over sole possession of third place for career TD passes (33). His 61 attempts are the fourth-most in a single-game at NU.

For the 20th time in 23 career starts, Bachér threw for over 200 yards. Bachér is now 13-10 in his career as NU's starting quarterback.

Senior WR Ross Lane equaled a career high with nine receptions for 113 yards. The 113 yards are the third-most for Lane in a single game. (His career high is 136, set against UCLA in 2005). Lane moved within one reception of NU's top-10 list for career receptions (he now has 131). With his 113 yards, he did climb from 11th to eighth place on NU's career receiving yardage list (1,760 yards), just two yards shy of seventh place (Scott Yelvington, 1,762 yards).

WR Sidney Stewart, a Michigan native, caught a career-high seven passes for 49 yards today.

After missing his first field goal attempts (two) of the year against Iowa on Sept. 27, PK Amado Villarreal was successful on both FG attempts today (31 and 22 yards) to up his season totals to 11-of-13 (84.6 percent). He is now 24-of-32 for his career, an NU-best 75.0 percent (for kickers with 15 or more career made field goals). Villarreal now ranks sixth on NU's career field goals made list.

Senior WR Rasheed Ward followed up his career-best 10-reception performance against Iowa with seven catches for 45 yards and a TD. It was his second straight game with a receiving TD. Ward also became the fourth active NU player to top the 100-mark for career receptions (joining Eric Peterman, Ross Lane and Tyrell Sutton). Ward now has 104 career receptions for 1,023 career yards. He is also the fourth active NU player to go over the 1,000-yard mark for career receiving yardage and becomes the 29th player in NU history to accomplish the feat. Ward leads all NU players with 29 receptions this year.

Northwestern, which ranked first in the Big Ten and third nationally in sacks per game, added a pair today to up its season total to 19, one more than it had for the entire 2007 season. NU also totaled four TFL's for a loss of 18 yards, giving NU's defense 215 negative yards. Last year, NU totaled 216 negative yards for the season.

After totaling a career-most 11 tackles at Iowa, S Brad Phillips bettered that performance with 14 tackles today. LB Prince Kwateng equaled a career-best with 11 tackles, including a 0.5 pass sack. Kwateng now has surpassed the 100-mark for career tackles, becoming the eighth active player with 100 or more career tackles.

NU's offense allowed just its third sack of the season today. The Wildcats entered the game fifth in the nation with fewest sacks allowed.

NU now has outscored its first six opponents 56-24 in the second quarter and 30-10 in the fourth quarter.

NU scored on four of five red-zone trips, giving the Wildcat offense a 24-of-27 (.889) success rate for the season. NU ranked 19th nationally in that category at the start of the day.

Northwestern remains at home, entertaining Purdue (2-4, 0-2) next Saturday at 11 a.m. CT. It is homecoming for the Wildcats. The game is being televised by either ESPN or ESPN2 (announcement expected to be made Sunday or Monday, Oct. 12-13).

Northwestern University Athletics