Northwestern Wildcats 2017 Football Preview

An interesting fact about the Nebraska/Northwestern series: the visiting team has been leading on the scoreboard when the clock hit zero at the end of the fourth quarter. Nebraska has won all three games in Evanston, while Northwestern is 2-1 in Lincoln. Only the RK3-to-1 “Hail Mary” from Ron Kellogg to Jordan Westerkamp saved NU from a loss to the Wildcats in Lincoln. And there’s reason to think that this anomaly will continue this year at Memorial Stadium, as the Wildcats return 16 starters this season.

Junior Clayton Thorson (6’4” 200 lbs.) has started every game for Northwestern in his career; last season, he completed nearly 59% of his passes for 3,182 yards and 22 touchdowns with nine interceptions. A dual-threat quarterback, Thorson has had his most success on the ground against NU, with touchdown runs of 68 and 48 yards in 2015 and a 42 yard run last season. For the entire season, Thorson ran for 98 yards and five touchdowns. (Clearly, Bob Diaco can’t help but have a better plan for defending Thorson than Mark Banker had.) As last season went on, Thorson’s passing improved, which in turn improved the production of the NW offense. If Thorson goes down, there’s almost no experience on the bench. Senior Matt Alviti (6’0” 200 lbs.) has only thrown eight passes in his career, with redshirt freshman Aida Smith (6’2” 200 lbs.) also in the program.

Barring injury, senior running back Justin Jackson (5’11” 193 lbs.) should become Northwestern’s all time leading rusher in September this season. In his first three seasons, he’s rushed for 1,187, 1,418 and 1,524 yards, earning all-conference mentions every season. Jackson earns his yards the hard way: just carrying the ball over and over and over again. In 2015, his 312 carries were the third highest in college football. Last season, John Moten (6’0” 202 lbs.) came in to spell Jackson and rushed for 340 yards; most importantly, he topped the 100 yard mark mopping up against Purdue and Illinois. A fresher Jackson rushed for more yards last season, and a “less is more” strategy could mean more carries for Moten as a sophomore and more yards for Jackson.

Former walkon Austin Carr exploded last season and led the Big Ten in receiving with 1,247 yards. He’s gone, but Oregon junior transfer Jalen Brown (6’1” 200 lbs.) arrives as a graduate transfer. He had 19 catches for 318 yards and three touchdowns last season, good for fifth for the Ducks last season. Junior Flynn Nagel (5’11” 181 lbs.) leads the returning receivers with 40 catches for 447 yards and two touchdowns. Senior “Superback” (aka a tight end) Garrett Dickerson (6’3” 240 lbs.) caught 34 passes for 318 yards and five touchdowns last season.