SB Nation - Nathan Palmer

The Algebraic Wide Receiver Situation

Mike Breese — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 07:04:40 -0000

Landon Cox wonders if you got your tickets to the GUN SHOW (via www.huskiewire.com)

I know what you're saying. We're so good at rushing the ball, why in the world do we need to worry about our receiving corps? Well that's all nice and swell, but sometime we're going to run in to an opponent that will stack the box and force us to throw it down the field. Toledo, perhaps? Forward passing: It's something that we're ranked 110th in the nation in, but that's mostly because of preference. Let's take a glance at the stats so far on the season for this under-appreciated position:

Name	Receptions	Receiving Yards	TD'
Skarb,Kyle	6	121	0
Cox,Landon	13	107	1
Lewis,Marcus	8	92	0
Clark,Willie	7	83	1
Spann,Chad	5	82	1
Moore,Martel	7	78	0
Brown,Meco	6	66	0
Beckner,Bryan	4	64	0
Palmer,Nathan	4	58	1
Cunningham,Reed	2	37	1
Ashford,Perez	3	21	0
Marks,Jack	1	5	0
Schepler,Jason	1	4	1
Team Totals	67	818	6
Opponents	93	1058	4

Yes, you're reading that correctly. Fullback Kyle Skarb leads the team in receiving yards. He's become almost an H-Back, sneaking in to the secondary whenever he can. But we're not here to talk about the fullbacks.

Landon Cox seems to be the rock in the passing game. He's had more catches and yds than any of the wide receivers. He also has started every game other than Purdue. But that's just because we ran a double-TE set on the first play of the game.

Marcus Lewis, Willie Clark & Martel Moore seem to be in the 2nd tier, as they all have 7-8 catches for 80-90 yds. You have a couple RBs and then a couple TEs mixed in with the 3rd tier of Nathan Palmer and Perez Ashford.

Let's break this down game-by-game. BTW, I have no idea what the X, V & Z positions each mean.

Wisconsin

Depth Chart

X - Willie Clark

V - Nathan Palmer

Z - Landon Cox

Actual Starters

Nathan Palmer

Martel Moore

Perez Ashford

Top Performers

Willie Clark: 3 catches for 11 yds

Marcus Lewis: 2 catches for 19 yds

What a confusing way to start the season! Instead of Clark & Cox starting, 2 freshmen in Moore & Ashford take their spots. None of these players have exceptional games and we end up losing to the badgers.

Western Illinois

Willie Clark
Nathan Palmer

Landon Cox

Top Performers

Willie Clark: 2 catches for 52 yds

Martel Moore: 2 catches for 36 yds

This makes a little more sense as the depth chart holds true and Clark has a great game.

Purdue

Nathan Palmer

Preston Williams

Top Performers

Marcus Lewis: 4 catches for 49 yds

Landon Cox & Nathan Palmer: 2 catches for 17 yds

This marks the 1st of 2 games where Preston Williams starts a game. Very confusing, but I guess the senior comes in on certain packages where we add a fullback or an extra TE. Marcus Lewis, another senior, comes out of nowhere to have a great game.

Idaho

Preston Williams

Landon Cox

Top Performer

Landon Cox: 5 catches for 53 yds and a TD

Martel Moore: 3 catches for 23 yds

Willie Clark: 2 catches for 20 yds and a TD

This was the most important game for our WR corps as we couldn't run the ball early on against the Vandals. Cox stepped up huge and showed why he is the most solid player at this position. Willie Clark also played up to his position and scored a TD as well. Nathan Palmer missed this game because of a thumb injury.

Western Michigan

Depth Chart

X - Willie Clark

V - Preston Williams

Z - Landon Cox

Actual Starters

Marcus Lewis

Landon Cox

Top Performers

Nathan Palmer: 2 catches for 41 yds and a TD

Landon Cox: 3 catches for 14 yds

Palmer made a triumphant return from his thumb injury, as he caught the ball for an early TD to set the tone. It's strange that NaPalm got the majority of his yds from this game coming off the bench, when he started the first 3 games. I guess the theme here is you have no idea who is going to start at WR when our first play puts only 2 players on the field. Kill is big on packages. Willie Clark missed this game because of a back injury. Preston Williams didn't do anything but drop a pass.

Toledo

Depth Chart

X - Marcus Lewis

V - Landon Cox

Z - Perez Ashford

Conclusion

Starts don't matter when you play Wide Receiver at Northern Illinois. If you're good, you'll get passes thrown your way. The depth chart from the game notes has only been correct one time. Stay healthy, otherwise you'll be "Wally Pipp'd" by either of the true freshmen in Perez Ashford or Martel Moore. It's finally nice to see Marcus Lewis get a bunch of playing time, being a 4th year senior.

The one constant in the whole mix of things: Landon Cox. He's a great run-blocker and is always a target with his 6'3" frame. He just needs to cut down on those holding penalties a little bit. Run-blocking is key in this type of offense. If you're patient enough, you'll get your glory.

My Two Cents: Idaho

NIU1981 — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:39:18 -0000

Congratulations to the Idaho Vandals on their great win over our Huskies this weekend. Rarely has a score been more misleading as the Vandals' domination was thorough. Much like last year's Central Michigan game the Huskies hung around and somehow, incredibly made it close. They even had a chance to win at the end but a great throw and catch by the Vandals put it away.

FULL SCREEN VERSION

How dominating were the Vandals on this day? Here's Idaho's drive chart:

9 plays, 45 yards, missed field goal.
8 plays, 80 yards, TOUCHDOWN
7 plays, 64 yards, TOUCHDOWN
7 plays, 92 yards, TOUCHDOWN
12 plays, 76 yards, TOUCHDOWN
9 plays, 59 yards, field goal (They were probably tired by this point)
4 plays, -2 yards, field goal
3 plays, 0 yards, punt
11 plays, 68 yards, game over

The only reason they didn't score more points is that their drives were so long and methodical. Our defense was completely beaten down by the end, as witnessed by Pat Schiller's embarrassing tackle attempt late in the game where the guy basically ran right over him. Not to pick on Schiller too much as he was far from the only one not tackling. Schiller is a good player but I think he's out of position at middle linebacker. He seems like more of a lateral pursuit guy who would do well on the outside.

This team doesn't really have a classic middle backer on the roster, a guy who can stand up to the pounding and be really stout against the run. It would be interesting to see them put Victor Jacques in the middle next year and move Schiller outside. That doesn't help this season as the coaches feel Jacques has a lot to learn about the position. Devon Butler looks good but he weighs 209. Phil Brown looks the part but the coaches don't seem to like him as he only plays special teams. I thought Zach Larsen did a great job there two years ago but he's another one these coaches didn't seem to care for and he moved on. Too bad. Cameron Bell would be an interesting option as he played linebacker at Iowa State and he has the stature at 6'2", 240 but it seems he's here to play running back.

This Idaho team is intriguing. They have an NFL caliber quarterback, a humongous offensive line, a great thunder and lightning combination at running back and some nice receivers including the 6'6" guy who did us in with the great diving catch at the end. It's easy to see why they've scored so many points this season. It will be tough for anyone to shut them down and they will be very, very difficult to beat at home in their dome. I don't know how this team stacks up in the WAC but if they were in the MAC they would be one of the favorites to win the title. I can definitely see this team being bowl eligible this year and I hope they make it as their fans have suffered for a long time.

The Vandals are now my third favorite team behind the Huskies and of course the Indiana State Sycamores. Here is a great story on the rebuilding effort going on at ISU. The story of their turf is astounding to say the least. There are some parallels between Indiana State and Idaho in that both are undergoing rebuilding efforts and both have historically been hard places to field a winning team. Kudos to the Idaho coach for the great job he's done so far.

Idaho sure gave the MAC teams a lesson on how to attack the Huskie defense, pounding away at its middle. Let's see, what MAC team can we think of that has a big, NFL caliber quarterback, runs a pro style offense behind an enormous offensive line and likes to control the clock with its running game? Oh, yeah, Western Michigan! Don't we play them soon? I don't think WMU will have to sweat too much to create their game plan for t his weekend. On offense they'll pound the center of the NIU defense and use the run to set up play action passes. On defense they'll attack the center of NIU's offensive line where we'll have either a gimpy Eddie Adamski or his rookie backup Scott Wedige at center, playing next to Joe Pawlak and his bad ankle. We saw the effects of Pawlak's ankle when the defensive tackle blew past him for a sack that almost killed Harnish. As my son put it "They won't like that one on film". Whatever ailed the Huskies against Idaho they need to correct it this week or it will be a repeat performance.

Much credit goes to the Idaho team but it also seemed clear the Huskies played without the passion we saw the previous week against Purdue, probably due to several factors including being beaten up, reading their press clippings and hearing how great they are all week prior to the game. Also, Reed Cunningham missed the game with the flu and you have to wonder if the flu didn't contribute to the lethargy in others. The small and listless crowd didn't help either. I noticed Nathan Palmer didn't play. It would be nice to see us throw downfield once in a while and the new guys should be able to get down there even if Palmer is not available. Just taking a shot once in a while would keep the defense honest. I thought they were going to do more of that this year.

The upcoming Western Michigan game is a key to the rest of this season. When we beat Purdue I felt this team could achieve an 8-4 record or even 9-3 but now this game will make or break us. If you look at the schedule it seems like the Huskies have a good chance to win the rest of their home games (Akron, Eastern Michigan, Ball State) besides WMU. Doing so would give them 5 wins. On their road slate I count Toledo and Central Michigan as almost sure losses as our record against accomplished spread offense teams is abysmal. Miami is a probable win and Ohio could go either way. Miami would give us 6 wins. Some combination of wins against WMU and Ohio gives us 7 or 8 wins. Eight wins would be great because even with that many they still could be number three in the West which puts them at number four in the bowl pecking order, i.e. hoping for an opening in a non-MAC bowl. Coming into the season I was hoping for 2-2 nonconference and 6-2 in the MAC and that's still my hope but this next game is critical.

A quick comment on the craziness at the end of the first half where the Huskies were allowed to spike the ball with less than a second left on the clock and ended up getting a field goal. The NCAA would be wise to create a rule similar to the NBA where they are not allowed to take a shot under a certain time threshold. I don't remember exactly what the threshold is (.3 seconds maybe?) but once the clock is stopped at that threshold the offensive team can only tip the ball in. You may recall that rule was enacted after a Knicks-Bulls game where there was .1 second left and the Knicks inbounded into the corner and the guy turned around and drained a three pointer. The rule eliminates inconsistencies in clock management and the NCAA should do the same. As much as I liked the Huskies getting the field goal on Saturday there's no way, starting with .9 seconds on the clock, the clock can start with the snap, the official signals the end of the play and the clock can stop before time expires. The NCAA should say that if there are under 1.5 seconds left on the clock you only get one more play. That would eliminate any inconsistencies in clock management. As it is you'll have one team upset either way.

Finally, I want to wish Western Illinois football coach Don Patterson good luck in his recovery from cancer treatment. By all accounts he's a class act and we wish him, his family and the WIU team all the best.

The NIU Huskies Football Depth Chart is out

Mike Breese — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 00:46:22 -0000

The depth chart just got released per John Sahly's Huskie Wire. A lot of differences from the vague chart from the media guide. Youth is served to say the least for Northern Illinois with 8 freshmen (4 true) and 16 sophomores listed under the two-deeps. 15 juniors and 9 seniors make up the upperclassmen. Here is the breakdown by position:

The Offense

WR (X) 10 Willie Clark ...................................... 6-1, 196, So.-R
11 Marcus Lewis .......................................6-3, 210, Sr.
OR 1 Martel Moore ....................................... 6-2, 168, Fr.

WR (V) 81 Nathan Palmer .............................5-11, 190, So.-R
82 Preston Williams ...........................5-11, 180, Sr.-R
OR 80 Landon Cox ...........................................6-3, 213, Jr.

WR (Z) 80 Landon Cox ...........................................6-3, 213, Jr.
7 Perez Ashford ....................................5-10, 168, Fr.
OR 81 Nathan Palmer .............................5-11, 190, So.-R

I'm not an expert on NIU's current offensive system, so I can only assume that the X is on the left, V is the slot and Z is on the right. Realistically, guys can be switched all over the field so who knows. I bet you the ladies that went to Football 101 could probably explain this to me. Moving on, we always knew that the main three (Clark, Palmer & Cox) were the top guys coming in. We just didn't know where they were going to fit. Lewis & Williams look to fit in nicely as veteran reserve role-players. True freshmen Ashford & Moore look to creep in to the lineup as deep threats.

TE (Y) 87 Jason Schepler ...................................6-3, 255, So.
83 Reed Cunningham .......................... 6-5, 255, Sr.-R

TE (H) 96 Bryan Beckner .................................. 6-4, 240, Jr.-R
97 Jack Marks ...................................... 6-6, 232, So.-R

More algebra numbers that confuse me. Schepler & Beckner beat out Cunningham in an epic battle throughout all of the off-season. As our offense evolves, all of these players will see extensive playing time. Marks is the 4th guy in and surprised not to see Nick Groeniger anywhere.

LT 62 Trevor Olson .................................... 6-6, 294, So.-R
68 Keith Otis ........................................ 6-4, 314, So.-R

The only line position that has not changed since the Spring. A good sign, because left tackle is one of the most important positions on the field.

LG 65 Jason Onyebuagu ................................6-2, 307, Sr.
60 Ed Jackson ........................................ 6-3, 297, Jr.-R

I'm extremely excited that Ed Jackson is able to claim a backup job on the offensive side of the ball after becoming too big to play on the D-Line.

C 50 Eddie Adamski ................................. 6-3, 284, Sr.-R
71 Scott Wedige................................... 6-4, 296, So.-R
OR 77 Jared Volk ............................................6-3, 302, Fr.

Wedige had mono throughout camp, so Volk saw a ton of snaps. Hope we don't have to see them, because Adamski is one of the better linemen in the conference.

RG 72 Joe Pawlak ...................................... 6-5, 281, So.-R
70 Logan Pegram ................................. 6-3, 293, Fr.-R

Pawlak moves up to the starting spot, because of Kevin Skatrud's season-ending knee injury and Tense's switch to RT. Pegram switched over to the right side from the left.

RT 61 Panan Tense .....................................6-4, 300, Jr.-R
OR 74 Adam Kiel ........................................ 6-5, 305, So-R

Tense has good size, so he switched from starting RG to the starting RT as stated above. The coaching staff was high on Tense to have a spot starting on the right side even before Skatrud got hurt.

QB 12 Chandler Harnish ........................... 6-2, 213, So.-R
3 DeMarcus Grady............................. 6-1, 202, So.-R
OR 15 Ryan Morris ..................................... 6-3, 196, Sr.-R

Pretty much expected. Looks like we'll be redshirting all our freshmen QBs. Is the OR necessary or simply a formality for the 5th year senior in Morris?

FB 34 Kyle Skarb ............................................ 6-2, 226, Jr.
47 Connor Flahive ................................. 6-0, 240, Jr.-R
88 Nick Groeniger ......................................6-5, 242, Jr.

Top-2 were expected. Hey, I found him! Groeniger will play an H-Back role shifting and lining up in the backfield and all over the field.

TB 8 Me’co Brown .......................................5-7, 185, So.
OR 28 Chad Spann ..........................................5-9, 197, Jr.
21 Justin Anderson ............................... 6-0, 234, Sr.-R

Nice to see Anderson as the 3rd guy in again. Ricky Crider is struggling with a hamstring right now, but should be OK for Saturday.

The Defense

LE 56 Brandon Bice ................................... 6-4, 250, Sr.-R
90 Alan Baxter .......................................... 6-0, 241, Fr.
OR 44 Darnell Bolding ................................. 6-2, 224, Jr.-R

Pretty much expected if you've followed the epic rise of freshman Baxter. Both Bice and him provide huge bodies capable of stopping the run and stopping the QB. Bolding looks to be a situational pass-rusher.

NG 92 Brian Lawson ....................................6-3, 272, Fr.-R
93 Adam Coleman ...................................6-3, 266, So.
99 Nabal Jefferson .................................5-11, 270, Fr.

Lawson is starting as a freshman now due to Mike Krause's condition. Coleman provides tremendous depth as well. Marist grad Nabal Jefferson is the surprise winner of the true freshman most likely to see action in the middle of the line. Noseguard is just the defensive tackle left of the defensive tackle, if that makes any sense.

DT 98 D.J. Pirkle ............................................. 6-0, 285, Jr.
89 Ron Newcomb ................................ 6-3, 265, So.-R

Pirkle is the man and Newcomb jumps up to the backup spot as Coleman heads over to NG.

RE 54 Jake Coffman....................................6-5, 255, Jr.-R
95 Sean Progar ..................................... 6-3, 255, Fr.-R

Solid as a rock on Larry English's old position.

SLB 37 Alex Kube .......................................... 6-0, 212, Jr.-R
36 Tyrone Clark .......................................5-11, 202, Fr.
OR 27 Spencer Williamson ........................ 6-4, 218, Sr.-R

True freshman (I'm sensing a theme here) Clark frog-jumps Williamson to be the backup to the most-feared player on the defense.

MLB 53 Pat Schiller...................................... 6-2, 229, So.-R
9 Devon Butler ......................................5-11, 209, Fr.
OR 52 Phil Brown ........................................ 6-0, 225, Sr.-R

A shock here. Where the heck did Victor Jacques go? He went from Schiller's backup to not even making the top-3. Something is definitely awry here. Phil Brown continues to be in Kill's doghouse.

WLB 26 Cory Hanson .................................... 6-2, 220, Sr.-R
42 John Tranchitella .................................6-1, 236, Sr.
29 Jordan Delegal ....................................6-1, 203, So.

Two solid veterans anchor the weakside with potential speed-rushing specialist Delegal to probably see some time.

LCB 33 Patrick George ................................... 5-11, 190, Jr.
20 Tommy Davis ................................. 5-11, 190, Fr.-R
OR 2 Sean Evans ........................................5-11, 167, Fr.

Davis to play nickelback, but it looks like the smallish Evans is pushing him.

SS 25 Tracy Wilson .................................... 6-2, 204, So.-R
39 Garrett Barnas ..................................... 6-1, 205, Jr.

Nice to see Barnas get that 4th safety spot. Wilson has been a terror since the end of last season, beating out incumbent Mike Sobol.

FS 4 David Bryant .................................. 5-11, 210, Sr.-R
38 Mike Sobol ........................................6-0, 198, Jr.-R

Sobol switches over to free safety to provide depth because Jody Van Laanen has been banged up this off-season and just returned to practice.

RCB 23 Kiaree Daniels ................................... 5-10, 193, Jr.
5 Chris Smith ........................................ 5-10, 185, Jr.

Finally looking at the depth chart has me a little more comfortable with our depth chart depth as long as Smith and the rest of these guys stay healthy.

Specialists

K 16 Mike Salerno ................................. 5-11, 170, Sr.-R
3 Ryan Fillingim .......................................6-0, 191, Jr.

P 49 Josh Wilber ........................................ 5-11, 235, Jr.
OR 6 Ryan Neir ..........................................6-3, 195, Fr.-R

DS 55 Nolan Owen ....................................... 5-10, 203, Jr.
93 Adam Coleman ...................................6-3, 266, So.

HO 15 Ryan Morris ..................................... 6-3, 196, Sr.-R
38 Mike Sobol ........................................6-0, 198, Jr.-R

The usual suspects here. Walk-on Fillingim is emergency backup. Nice spot for Morris to see more time on the field.

PR 20 Tommy Davis ................................. 5-11, 190, Fr.-R
OR 8 Me’co Brown .......................................5-7, 185, So.

KOR 20 Tommy Davis ................................. 5-11, 190, Fr.-R
AND 4 David Bryant .................................. 5-11, 210, Sr.-R

Well it looks like we'll be seeing a lot of Tommy Davis! Me'co will probably only field punts in critical situations. Don't know about using our best player on defense on kickoff returns in Bryant. Should be interesting to see how that works out. These spots will be open all year.

Fan Day Scrimmage a success, O-Line Shuffles

Mike Breese — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 22:48:10 -0000

Harumph harumph

Finally made my way to Dekalb for Fan Day and the scrimmage this morning. Sorry for the late report, my internet transformed into a less than 56k modem somehow.

Practice started at 9:50 and it was HOT out there under the sun. Luckily there was a nice breeze and some spots where you could get some shade right under the stands. I picked up a schedule poster as I left, which I am really excited about hanging in my room. They also had "Experience it Live" yard signs, which I thought about taking a bunch and randomly placing in peoples yards. But I decided against that plan.

Met up with some message board lurkers and I apparently I'm famous because Huskie beat writer John Sahly said hi as well before I got the chance to introduce myself to the true celebrity. He told me he loves his job and plans on doing a podcast in the near future (awesome). Sahly went double duty today posting both scrimmage stats AND a report on the scrimmage.

My head was spinning trying to get a read on the depth chart and who wore what number on the field, so I live-blogged just some generic stuff. The offense looked good early on in the scrimmage:

Harnish and the No. 1 offense had no trouble moving the ball down the field on the first drive with a mix of runs and passes that resulted in a Chad Spann 7-yard touchdown run. Harnish led the offense to three scores in four drives on Saturday.

Harnish was efficient in his throws, completing 9 of 12 passes and didn't put himself or the offense in any danger. There were some issues with clock management in the two-minute drill, with the offense taking 20 seconds to get a play off at one point, but that was the only negative for the No. 1 offense today.

He's on the Lou Groza Award watch list for a reason. The most impressive thing I saw on the offense (don't know if this is good or bad) was that K Mike Salerno just has a ridiculous leg. He made all three of his field goals, including 47 and a 52 yarders. The 52 yd one hit the crossbar and bounced over. During kickoffs he was booting it so hard the returners barely had a chance to return the ball. Tryouts for that spot are still open with the depth chart seeming like Me'co Brown/Tommy Davis and then Martel Moore/Daniel Rodriguez/Perez Ashford/David Bryant.

Unheralded running backs. Me'co & Chad were their usual selves, didn't see Crider anywhere. Justin Anderson had some vintage runs. Apparently his problem were his shoes:

Running back Justin Anderson has been in-and-out of practice so far, but turned in a nice day complete with a touchdown run and he looked smoother on his footwork than he had been in previous practices. NIU coach Jerry Kill said Anderson has been dealing with toe issues and now has a wider shoe that should negate those troubles.

Antione Kirkland looked great in "Rookie Ball", rushing for 62 yds and a TD including a breakaway 33 yd run.

Wide Receivers stepping up. The word is that Nathan Palmer has an MCL strain that will keep him out for who knows how long. Taking his place admirably was Willie Clark, who had some nice grabs including a diving catch over the middle.

Daniel Rodriguez saw time with the first team, but didn't get too many looks. Perez Ashford saw a good amount of action as well.

O-Line mish-mash. This is where I spent most of my time figuring out who was who and what was happening where. C Eddie Adamski sat out this practice because of a concussion that he suffered last week, but should be back Monday. Preliminary reports are saying projected starting RT Adam Skatrud is out for the season with an ACL tear. Bad things come in threes, I guess. I saw him on the sidelines with crutches, so the O-Line had to mix it up in this practice with some guys at different positions. Kill talked about why he was doing this on Friday:

"We're creating some depth there because we're having people learn two or three positions which I think will be good for us in the long run," Kill said. "We haven't done that before but the NFL does it so we're doing some of that in camp."

I think these are right...lemme know if you have any changes

The first string entailed:

LT Trevor Olson LG Logan Pegram C Jason Onyebuagu RG Joe Pawlak RT Panan Tense

Second string was:

LT Keith Otis LG Ed Jackson C Jared Volk RG ? RT Adam Kiel

On the D. I saw that LE Alan Baxter was getting a ton of time out there. I predict that he'll see a good amount of playing time as a true freshman. WLB Cory Hanson made a good amount of plays out there tipping passes and making tackles. DB Tommy Smith looks like he will be the main nickelback on this team right now.

Overall I thought it was a pretty good practice. Our defense definitely kept our offense in check. I saw a lot of pressure on some of the quarterbacks, so our offensive line is going to have to step up big especially if Skat is out for the year. Didn't see too many downfield passes, which was a little disappointing. I'm happy they are giving a lot of the young guys some looks, because who knows when they will have to step in and play right away.

NIUHuskies.com has some video and an interview with Coach Kill:

Know thy Opponent 2009: Northern Illinois Huskies

BoilerTMill — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 02:17:43 -0000

We should really be afraid of our next opponent on the schedule. Northern Illinois is one of the better MAC teams, yet it is a critical game for our bowl chances in 2009. Going into the Northern Illinois game most people expect us to be 1-1. Anything less and we can forget a bowl game. It is a must-have game because we're expected to lose to Notre Dame the following week. We absolutely have to have at least a 2-2 finish in non-conference play to have any hope of a 6-6 finish and possible bowl bid.

Our fans have become spoiled by facing the MAC, however. Sure, we've been tested by a very good central Michigan team and we got shocked at home by Bowling Green in 2003, but we're used to blowing out MAC team du jour. It may happen against Toledo, but it will not happen against Northern Illinois. As Mike said in last week's Q&A, this is a focused team that will be looking at us as a chance to grab a pelt for themselves from a BCS conference.

2008 Record: 6-7 (5-3 in MAC West)

Bowl result: Lost 17-10 to Louisiana Tech in Independence Bowl

Blog Representation: Red and Black Attack

Series with Purdue: First Meeting

Last season for the Huskies:

Last year was a bowl year for Northern Illinois, though it is most likely because of a glut of bowls on the calendar. The Huskies finished just 6-6 on the year, but grabbed a bid to play in the Independence Bowl against Louisiana Tech. They did well in what was a virtual home game for Tech, but lost 17-10 after both teams played a virtually scoreless second half. It was Tech's first bowl win since 1977.

That is not to say the Huskies were a bad team last year. They had plenty of moments that could have vastly improved their record. Four of the six regular season losses were by less than a touchdown. They were not against your typical run of the mill MAC opponents either. They led Minnesota with 30 seconds left before a late touchdown saved the Gophers. They lost by three the following week at a very good Western Michigan team that would later beat Illinois. They went into SEC country and played Tennessee to a 13-9 game without their starting quarterback. Finally, they had a 33-30 overtime loss to Central Michigan, which has been the most consistent MAC team in recent years. They may not have had a notable win, but they know how to play good teams tough.

As far as this year's schedule looks, they are not afraid to play BCS teams. The Huskies open the season in a night game at Wisconsin. In addition to coming to Purdue, they have non-conference home games against Western Illinois and Idaho. Toledo and Central Michigan make appearances later in the MAC schedule, as does Ball State.

Northern Illinois offense:

As Mike said, second year coach Jerry Kill likes to run a spread offense that is weighted towards running the football. This is where the game against Oregon should be an advantage. I am sure that Northern Illinois is good at this offense, but few teams in the country are better at running out of the spread than Oregon. If we're fortunate enough to beat the Ducks, or at least hold our own defensively against their offense, it should be a good sign for the Northern Illinois game.

Chandler Harnish is a dual threat quarterback in the mold of many others, but NIU would not mind him to be more like Dan Lefevour. We have seen enough of Lefevour

Quarterback Chandler Harnish will be returning to run the show. He was a redshirt freshman last season and performed admirably in ten starts. He didn't play in the Tennessee game, and was the starter from day 1 against Minnesota. In a way, we're probably lucky to be facing him now instead of in two years when he becomes the experienced senior MAC quarterback the NFL desperately wants. He threw for just over 1,500 yards with eight TD"s and nine interceptions during his rookie season. More importantly, he finished as the Huskies leading rusher with 539 yards and four touchdowns on the ground. He's not quite the dual threat that Oregon's Jeremiah Moseli is, but he is still good.

Joining him in the ground attack will be sophomore Me'co Brown (510 yards, 2 TD's) and junior Chad Spann (429 yards, 8 TD's). Spann is built a little bit like former Northern Illinois back Garrett Wolfe, who ran for more than 5,000 yards and is now on the Chicago Bears roster. Spann is the quicker of the two backs, but Brown is pretty quick as well. Look for Brown and Spann to run more as Northern Illinois tries to keep Chandler from running as much.

The Huskies didn't have a great passing attack last year, so they will need more of one in order to free up the running game. Marcus Perez was the leading receiver with only 34 catches for 480 yards and two TD's, but he was lost to graduation. The same is true for number two receiver Matt Simon (24-377-2). That leaves Reed Cunningham (22-252-3), a 6'5" target, as the team's top returning receiver. Nathan Palmer (12-278-2) should be a quality slot receiver for them, but he was injured for a good portion of last year. We also need to look out for Justin Anderson. Anderson was a 1,200 yard receiver with eight touchdowns in 2007, but a knee injury caused him to miss all of last season. Our secondary needs to take away the passing game and make the Huskies as one dimensional as possible. We should be able to do it with the experience we have versus their lack of experience.

The offensive line is one of the best in MAC. Eddie Adamski was a third-team all-Mac selection last season at center and makes few mistakes. Left guard Jason Onyebuagu joined him on the third team last year and has Big Ten size at 6'2", 305 pounds. Trevor Olsen, Panan Tense, and Kevin Skatrund were all starters last year at one point, making this line incredibly experienced. They should give Harnish plenty of time to throw, but they are not particularly skilled at run blocking. Our defensive line will have to cause havoc in the running game at the same time our secondary is shutting down the receivers. If both things happen, the Northern Illinois offense will struggle.

You can't beat snow highlights of Harnish

Northern Illinois defense:

This was by far the strength of the team last year, but as Mike said, they lose seven starters. One of those starters was defensive end Larry English who was the 16^th overall pick in the NFL draft. English was a terror in the backfield with eight sacks and 16 tackles for loss, but he is the problem of the AFC West now with the Chargers. Brandon Bice was almost as good on the other end of the line with 6.5 sacks and 12 tackles for loss. He returns for his senior season as the top pass rusher and will attempt to replicate English's numbers. Mike Krause and D.J. Pirkle look to be the starting tackles, but they weren't especially good at getting into the backfield and disrupting offenses. If our offensive line can play well we should be able to create holes for the running game.

Pat Schiller, Alex Kube, and Cory Hanson are the starting linebackers that have a decent amount of experience. Kube was the team's leading tackler in 2007 with 111 and has moved all around the defense from safety to linebacker. He also had seven tackles for loss a season ago. Hanson had six tackles for loss as well, so they can get in the backfield if necessary.

The secondary is not one that caused turnovers, which is good for our inexperienced receivers. Last season Northern Illinois had only six interceptions, and only one of those came from a projected starter in the back four. Schiller and Hanson each had one as linebackers, while cornerback Patrick George had just one. The team did have 13 fumble recoveries, however, so we will need to hold on to the ball once we have it. Safety David Bryant led the team in tackles with 83 and has played all over the field on both sides of the ball in his career. He forced three of those fumbles and simply likes to hit people. This secondary is young and though they have talent, it will likely be the weakest secondary we face in the first half of the season.

Northern Illinois Special Teams:

Mike Salerno is one of the best kickers in the MAC and maybe in the country. The kid has range with a long of 52 last year and he hit on 18 of 24 total field goal attempts. He was also a perfect 34 of 34 on PAT's and had 16 touchbacks on kickoffs. This helped the Huskies to have a very good kick coverage team that allowed only 23 yards per return. Salerno may punt as well, as they must find a new punter. They gave up 10.7 yards per punt return last season and a touchdown with an experienced punter.

The return game will likely be handled by Me'co Brown on both sides. He averaged 21.4 yards on kick returns and 7.9 yards on punt returns a season ago.

Intangibles:

Northern Illinois is not going to be afraid of us. If anything, they are looking at this game as a chance to grab another win over a BCS program. They came agonizingly close in two games last year, and they will have already cut their teeth against Wisconsin. The Quad ranks them as 80^th overall, which is still ahead of us in that countdown. Their coach is in just his second season, but he has them believing they can beat anyone.

Still, this will be a young team especially on defense. It is another chance for our passing game to get going with our own inexperience issues. As a senior laden team last year they finished under .500 and lost three of there last four games.

Game Outlook:

This is a must win for us. I was a little scared of them at first, but I don't think their offense is strong enough to move the ball regularly against our experienced defense. Our secondary should dominate their receivers and shut down the passing game. If we can get into the backfield a few times my only fear is that Harnish can create something out of nothing with his legs. How many times have we struggled with that? Of course, with this game coming immediately after Oregon we should be used to their offensive style.

Defensively, I think this will be a very good team in time, but they are awfully young. It is a perfect chance for our offense to mature and show we can actually score this year. Let's face it, if we can't move the ball and score against Northern Illinois and an awful Toledo defense we're not going to suddenly figure it out in Big Ten play.

Prediction:

This is a must win game for us. If we lose to Toledo, it could be the only game standing between us and a winless season. As good as Northern Illinois is on paper they aren't as good as at least eight other teams in the Big Ten. Let them get their big upset at Wisconsin (thus improving our chances of winning in Madison). For now, I think we win a game that is close for a half, but we pull away in the end. Purdue 34, Northern Illinois 21