Northwestern University Athletics

#18 Northwestern 21, Purdue 14 • Postgame Notes

21/24/24 Northwestern Postgame Notes
Purdue at Northwestern  • November 14, 2015
Ryan Field • Evanston, Ill.
Attendance:  30,003
 
Northwestern Team Notes
  • This was the 80th meeting between Northwestern and Purdue. The game marks just the second contest between Northwestern and Purdue in the last five years.
     
  • The Wildcats have won the series’ last two games and four of the last five.
     
  • NU is 6-4 on senior day under Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald has a 4-3 record against Purdue as coach and 2-0 as a Wildcat player.
     
  • NU has 13 eight-win seasons in its history, seven coming in the last 21 years and four of which have come under Coach Fitzgerald.
     
  • The Wildcats have the most victories since the 2012 Tax Slayer Gator Bowl-winning Wildcats won 10 contests.
     
  • The ‘Cats have won its last three games by a total 11 points, defeating Nebraska and Penn State each by two points.
     
  • The Wildcats outrushed Purdue, 250-73 today and are 8-0 this season when outgaining their opponents on the ground.
     
  • The Boilermakers are the fifth opponent NU has held under 100 yards rushing in 2015. Purdue had been averaging 135.1 yards per game going into the game.
     
  • Northwestern is 5-0 when holding opponents under 100 yards on the ground this season.
Northwestern Individual Notes
  • With 116 yards today, RB Justin Jackson has 12 100-yard games, six coming in 2015. Jackson has led NU in rushing 21 times in his 22-game Wildcat career.
    • Jackson passed the 1,000-yard rushing mark for the second consecutive season today. He currently has 1,033 in 2015. He gained 1,187 last year.
    • With 2,220 yards, Jackson ranks eighth in Wildcat career rushing yards, passing Kain Colter (2,180 yards from 2010-13) today. 
    • With his 116 rushing yards, Jackson added to his team-leading total of 1,179 season all-purpose yards today.  Jackson has led Northwestern in all-purpose yards in seven of the 10 2015 contests.
       
  • With a game-high two scores, RB Warren Long had his first career multiple touchdown game. Long has four touchdowns this season.
    • Long averaged 8.7 yards per carry, gaining 52 total rushing yards today.
       
  • QB Clayton Thorson added 48 yards on the ground, averaging 6.9 yards per carry.
     
  • RB Solomon Vault had the long reception of the day for the Wildcats, hauling in a 37-yarder from senior Zack Oliver. Vault led all Wildcats with 53 receiving yards.
    • Vault added 37 more yards on a kickoff return. Going into the game, Vault led the Big Ten with a 28.4-yards per return average. 
       
  • WR/PR Miles Shuler had a season-high two carries, including a career-long 26-yard run in the second quarter.
     
  • With a game-high 14 tackles today (his second-highest total this season), LB Anthony Walker Jr. recorded double-digit tackles for the third straight game and the fifth time this season. Walker leads the team with 91 total stops in 2015.
     
  • Walker also led all players with 10 solo stops and tied LB Drew Smith with a game-high two tackles for loss.
     
  • Smith’s two TFLs were a pair of quarterback sacks, each on the first play of a fourth-quarter Purdue drive. With Smith’s two sacks, NU matched its average of   two quarterback sacks a game this season.
     
  • LB Nate Hall added eight tackles. In the last two games, Hall has 18 stops. Before the Penn State game last week, Hall had but 14 tackles this season.
     
  • S Traveon Henry intercepted his second pass this season and his career third. In addition, Henry led the Wildcats a game-high two pass breakups.
     
  • DE Dean Lowry added five tackles, one for a loss and led NU with three quarterback hurries, along with DL Xavier Washington.
    • Lowry became just the 10th player in program history with 30 tackles for loss in his career. He currently ranks 10th in NU history with 30.5 TFLs.
       
  • Of P Hunter Niswander’s five punts, three landed inside Purdue’s 20-yard line. Niswander averaged 42.8 yards per boot, his best effort this season. His net today was 42.2 yards a punt.