Southern Illinois at Northwestern Post-Game Notes

Sept. 13, 2008

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Northwestern Post-Game Notes

Southern Illinois won the toss and deferred. It was the first time this season that NU did not win the coin toss.

The entire game was played in rainy conditions, with the rain heavy at numerous periods during the contest.

With the victory, Northwestern improved to 3-0, its first 3-0 start since 2001 when NU was ranked nationally (No. 14 after its third win) and opened with wins over UNLV, Duke and Michigan State. This is the fourth consecutive year that Northwestern has posted a .500 or better record against its non-conference opposition.

Northwestern upped its record versus Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) teams to 3-1 with the win over perennial FCS power Southern Illinois. SIU entered the game ranked 11th and 13th in a pair of FCS national polls. SIU is seeking its sixth straight NCAA postseason appearance in 2008. The Salukis had beaten their two previous BCS foes (Indiana in 2006 and Northern Illinois in 2007).

Northwestern's 27-point margin of victory equaled its 27-point win (27-0) over FCS school Northeastern in 2007.

For the second straight game, Northwestern did not commit a turnover. Although Southern Illinois did not have a turnover, NU did come up with a specials teams "takeaway" for the second straight game, with RB Jacob Schmidt blocking a punt in the second half. Last week at Duke, Northwestern capitalized on a muffed punt. Schmidt's blocked punt was NU's first since LB Malcolm Arrington blocked a punt at Michigan State in 2007.

RB Tyrell Sutton notched his 14th career 100-yard rushing performance, totaling a game-high 101 yards on 17 carries (5.9 ypc). He also scored three rushing TD's, for his eighth career multiple-TD game. Sutton now has 35 career TD's (30 rushing) and 210 career points. He has tied Jason Wright (2000-03) for fourth place on NU's all-time scoring list. He also remains fourth on NU's career rushing TD list with 30. Sutton's three rushing TD's were the most in a game since he had three against Wisconsin in 2005.

Sutton increased his career rushing yardage total to 3,307 yards and third place on NU's all-time list. He remains the Big Ten's active leading rusher. Sutton also upped his career all-purpose yardage to 4,311, which is third on NU's all-time list. (Damien Anderson holds NU's career all-purpose mark with 5,271.)

Sutton totaled 16 receiving yards on five receptions and now needs just four receiving yards to become just the second player in NU history to record 1,000 career yards rushing and 1,000 career yards receiving. His five receptions give him 123 for his career, which moves him into 10th place on NU's all-time list (one ahead of Scott Yelvington who has 122). He is only the second running back in NU history (Ricky Edwards the other) to rank in the top-10 for career receptions.

QB C.J. Bachér moved into fifth place on NU's career list for total offense with 205 yards (184 passing, 21 rushing) today. He now has 5,589 career yards and passed Sandy Schwab and Steve Schnur today. Bachér remains seventh on NU's career passing yardage list with 5,512 yards.

For just the second time in Bachér's 20 career starts, he did not throw for over 200 yards. Bachér is 11-9 in his career as NU's starting quarterback.

Senior WR Ross Lane led NU in receiving with five receptions for 49 yards. He moved into 11th place on NU's career receiving yardage list and now has 1,563 all-time yards. Lane needs 107 yards to move into 10th place. WR Eric Peterman led all players with a game-high 53 receiving yards (four receptions).

NU, which prior to the game ranked 15th nationally in fewest sacks allowed (0.5 per game), did not give up a sack today (now 0.33 per game).

On the flip side, Northwestern rang up six pass sacks, its highest single-game total in seven years. Northwestern recorded seven sacks (for a loss of 43 yards) against Michigan State on Sept. 29, 2001. DE Corey Wootton led the NU defense with two sacks. That gives him a team-leading 3.5 sacks for the year. Northwestern also totaled 13 TFL's (including the six sacks) for a total loss of 70 yards.

Northwestern came into the game leading all Big Ten schools in opponent third-down percentage. NU's defense limited the Salukis to 4-of-14 on third down plays, giving the Wildcats a season defensive third-down percentage of .273 (12-of-44).

P Stefan Demos punted three times on the day with two of his three punts landing inside the 20-yard line. His first punt of the day went for a career-long 57 yards. Nine of Demos' 17 season punts have now landed inside the 20-yard line. He averaged 45.0 yards per punt today to up his season average to 38.1 ypp.

PK Amado Villarreal turned in a career day, booting four field goals (35, 33, 18 and 20 yards) on four attempts. He also converted three PAT kicks for a single-game career-best 15 points. Villarreal's four field goals were the most in an NU game since Joel Howells booted a school-record five field goals against Penn State in 2005.

S Brendan Smith led the Northwestern defense with seven tackles (all solo hits) and a career-best three pass deflections. As a unit, NU's secondary totaled six pass breakups. S Brad Phillips also had seven tackles (four solos) and 0.5 TFL.

LB Quentin Davie led the way with a career-best 3.5 TFL's for a loss of 21 yards. He also added six tackles.

DT John Gill has three tackles this year, two of which have gone for pass sacks.

Northwestern plays its final non-conference game of the season next Saturday vs. Ohio University at 11 a.m. at Ryan Field. Kickoff is set for 11 a.m. and the game is being televised by the Big Ten Network.

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