Post-Game Notes, Northwestern vs. Ohio State

Nov. 8, 2008

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The game was a sellout (47,130), NU's first sellout since hosting Ohio State on Nov. 11, 2006.

Ohio State now leads the overall series 59-14-1 and has won four in a row in the series. The Wildcats will not meet the Buckeyes again until Nov. 5, 2011 in Columbus.

With two weeks remaining in the regular season, Northwestern sits in a fourth-place tie in the Big Ten at 3-3.

For the second straight game, junior Mike Kafka, the reigning Big Ten Co-Offensive Player of the Week, started at quarterback. He finished the game with 260 yards of total offense (177 passing, 83 rushing). At one point early in the fourth quarter, Kafka had 116 rushing yards, but back-to-back sacks (for a loss of 27 yards) dropped him under the 100-yard mark for the remainder of the game.

In his last two games, Kafka has totaled 300 rushing yards, the best back-to-back combined total in NU history. NU's single-season rushing record for a QB is 580, set by Zak Kustok in 2001. Kafka is now NU's second-leading rusher this season with 300 yards.

Kafka's 1-yard TD run in the first quarter was his first score of the year and the third rushing TD of his career.

LB Nate Williams led NU's defense with a career-best 12 tackles. Ten of those 12 tackles came in the first half. Williams, who has replaced the injured Malcolm Arrington at middle linebacker, has totaled 27 tackles in his first full three games as a starter. Williams was a team co-leader with 1.5 TFL's against the Buckeyes.

PK Amado Villarreal booted another field goal and upped his season conversion totals to 17-of-21 (.810). He is now three FG's shy of tying Northwestern's single-season field goals made record, which is held by Brian Gowins (1997). His 17 field goals are tied for third-most in a season (set by Gowins in 1998). His 80.1 conversion percentage is third-best for a single-season (for kickers with 12 or more made field goals). His .763 career percentage ranks first among all NU players with 20 or more made field goals.

Villarreal ran his string of games with at least one made field goal to nine, which ties the NU record (held by Brian Gowins) set in 1997.

With four receptions, WR Ross Lane passed RB Tyrell Sutton on NU's career receptions list. Lane now has 145 career catches, which ranks eighth on the Wildcats' all-time list.

With a game-high six receptions, WR Eric Peterman is now tied for 10th place on NU's career receptions list with 140. It marked the second time this season that Peterman led the 'Cats in receptions. He also had a team-best 78 receiving yards, which gives him 1,738 for his career and ninth place on NU's all-time receiving yardage list.

DE Corey Wootton added another pass sack to his team-leading total, which now stands at 7.5. He also upped his team-best TFL total to 13.5. Wootton's 7.5 season sacks is 4.5 shy of NU's single-season record (12 by Casey Dailey in 1997). Wootton is now in fourth place all alone with 13 career sacks.

RB Stephen Simmons made his first career start at running back (behind injured RB's Tyrell Sutton and Omar Conteh) and ran for 34 yards (2.4 ypc average) on 14 carries.

S Brad Phillips improved his team-leading tackle total to 85 after recording 10 tackles against the Buckeyes. He is averaging 9.7 tackles per game in Big Ten games this year.

P Stefan Demos had two of his four punts land inside the Ohio State 20-yard line, giving him 21 punts inside-the-20 for the year (21 of 45 season punts).

In Northwestern's three Big Ten losses, the Wildcats have suffered 11 turnovers while recording no takeaways. In its three wins, Northwestern owns a +6 (12 to 6) advantage in turnover margin.

Northwestern plays at Michigan (3-7) next Saturday (11 a.m. CT, ESPN or ESPN2) and then closes the 2008 regular season on Nov. 22 at Ryan Field against Illinois. Kickoff and TV plans were announced today with the game starting at 2:30 p.m. (Big Ten Network).

Northwestern University Athletics