northwestern football northwestern football Game 3 // Northwestern vs. Akron // Saturday, Sept. 15, 2018 KICKOFF NORTHWESTERN WILDCATS AKRON ZIPS evanston, ill. 2018 Record 1-1, 1-0 Big Ten 2018 Record 1-0, 0-0 MAC Rankings n/a Rankings n/a 6:30 pm ct Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald Head Coach Terry Bowden ryan field Record at NU (Yrs.) 88-66 (13th) Record at Akron (Yrs.) 32-44 (7th) Home Record 48-34 (.585) Away Record 13-25 (.342) big ten network Non-Conf Record 39-16 (.709) Non-Conf Record 11-16 (.407) vs. Akron First Meeting vs. Northwestern First Meeting espn 1000 Offensive Coordinator Mick McCall Offensive Coordinator A.J. Milwee nusports.com Defensive Coordinator Mike Hankwitz Defensive Coordinator Todd Stroud A NORTHWESTERN WIN WOULD... ON THE AIR …Mark head coach Pat Fitzgerald's 89th career victory. BTN pbp: lisa byington …Improve the Wildcats record in September under Fitzgerald to 32-10 since 2010. color: dan persa …Mark the fourth-straight non-conference win under the lights at Ryan Field. ESPN 1000 …Give the ’Cats at least one win versus 58 of the current 128 FBS teams. pbp: dave eanet color: ted albrecht …Be win No. 242 at Ryan Field for the Wildcats. sideline: adam hoge 2018 SCHEDULE & RESULTS @ Purdue* Duke Akron Michigan* @ MSU* Nebraska* @ Rutgers* Wisconsin* Notre Dame @ Iowa* @ Minnesota* Illinois* Aug. 30 Sept. 8 Sept. 15 Sept. 29 Oct. 6 Oct. 13 Oct. 20 Oct. 27 Nov. 3 Nov. 10 Nov. 17 Nov. 24 ESPN ESPNU BTN TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD W, 31-27 L, 21-7 6:30 PM TBD 11 AM 11 AM 11 AM TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD THE OPENING DRIVE INSIDE THE NUMBERS UNDER THE LIGHTS -- Northwestern continues its three-game homestand Saturday night under the lights of Ryan Field versus the Akron Zips (1-0). The Wildcats have won each of their last three non-conference night games, including a 49-7 Northwestern had nine tackles for victory over Bowling Green last season. This will be the first meeting between NU and Akron, with the ’Cats holding a 9 loss versus Duke 19-11-1 record versus current members of the Mid-American Conference. RIGHT THE SHIP -- Dan and Susan Jones Family Head Football Coach Pat Fitzgerald is 21-6 versus non Power-5 members during non-conference play. In addition to the victory over BGSU last season, the Wildcats also defeated Junior Joe Gaziano matched his Nevada, 31-20. career high with two sacks versus the 2 Blue Devils. MR. RELIABLE -- Senior quarterback Clayton Thorson started his 41st-consecutive game behind center to keep pace with Washington's Jake Browning for the longest streak in the country. Thorson is the only NU quarterback to start four- Clayton Thorson started his 41st- straight season openers and holds the program record for wins by a quarterback with 28. straight game at quarterback in the 41 season opener. He is tied for the FLEX ON ’EM FLYNN -- Senior wide receiver Flynn Nagel posted career highs with 12 catches and 133 yards versus the longest stretch in FBS. Blue Devils, becoming the first ’Cat with 10-plus catches since Austin Carr had 12 versus Wisconsin on Nov. 5, 2016. See page 2 for more notes on Nagel's career day. With a 24-23 win over Kentucky in the 2017 Music City Bowl, the ’Cats won OUR OWN MEAN JOE -- Junior defensive end Joe Gaziano, the 2017 Big Ten leader in sacks, had a pair of sacks and four 2 consecutive bowl games for the first tackles for loss in total last week. Gaziano moved past former defensive end and current Graduate Assistant Deonte time in school history. Gibson into eighth in program history with 15.5 career sacks. Senior Flynn Nagel had a career-high DOUBLE TROUBLE -- The sophomore linebacking duo of captain Paddy Fisher and Blake Gallagher combined to make 25 12 receptions last week. He is the first tackles versus Duke. Gallagher set a career-high with a team-high 13 stops, while Fisher posted 12 for the fifth double- Wildcat with 10-plus catches since digit tackling performance of his career. 12 Austin Carr in 2016. Rushing Passing Total Scoring Rushing Total Turnover Penalty FYI Yards/GM Yards/GM Offense Offense Defense Defense Margin Yards/GM Northwestern and Akron • Northwestern uses the term “first year” to refer to its new 132.5 258.5 391.0 19.0 149.5 386.5 +0.50 38.0 student-athletes, abbreviated by “Fy.” are meeting for the first • The correct abbreviation for Northwestern is 200.0 237.0 437.0 41.0 114.0 192.0 0.00 73.0 “NU,” not “NW” or “NWU” or the like. Rushing Passing Total Scoring Rushing Total Turnover Penalty Yards/GM Yards/GM Offense Offense Defense Defense Margin Yards/GM time in program history •The correct logo for Northwestern is the “Block N.” Please contact Kyle Kelley at kyle. [email protected] if you are in need. TWITTER & INSTAGRAM: @NUFBFAMILY /// FACEBOOK: /NUFOOTBALL 2018 game notes 1 northwestern football northwestern football FIRST DOWN WALK IN THE LARK -- Sophomore running back Jeremy Larkin eclipsed the century FISHER IN RARE COMPANY -- The first sophomore Sophomore Captains (FBS) mark for the third-straight game with 121 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries captain in the Fitzgerald era, linebacker versus Duke. Larkin also had career highs of seven receptions and 55 receiving Paddy Fisher is one of just seven sophomore PADDY FISHER, NORTHWESTERN LB yards to post a career-best 176 all-purpose yards. The redshirt sophomore is just the captains in FBS entering the regular season. Jawon Pass, Louisville QB fourth Wildcat since 2000 to rush for 100-plus yards in each of the first two games of Fisher is one of just four Power 5 sophomore Joshua Jackson, Virginia Tech QB the season (Damien Anderson, 2001; Jason Wright, 2003; Tyrell Sutton 2005). He is captains, including Louisville quarterback also just one of nine players in FBS to rush for over 100 yards in each of the first two Jawon Pass, Virginia Tech quarterback Joshua Armoni Rogers, UNLV QB games this season. Jackson and Ohio State linebacker Tuf Collin Hill, Colorado State QB Borland. AMONG THE NATION'S BEST -- Larkin ranks 12th in the country in rushing yards (264), Adam Prentice, Colorado State FB 11th in rushing yards per game (132.0) and all-purpose yards per game (169.5), 13th AND FOR GOOD REASON -- Fisher was named Tuf Bulford, Ohio State LB in rushing touchdowns (3) and is 49th in the country in receptions per game (5.5). a Freshman All-American by the Football His 5.5 catches per game are tied for fifth among FBS running backs. Writers Associate, earned Second-Team All-Big Ten honors and was the Big Ten Freshman of the Year by the Big Ten Network after leading all FBS first-year players TOP TARGET -- in tackles (113) and solo stops (65) last year. He was the only Power-5 player to post Senior wide receiver MOST RECEPTIONS THROUGH 3 GAMES (Northwestern) Flynn Nagel has hauled in 17 catches two games with at least 18 tackles. through two games — the most by Mark Philmore, 2004 25 a Wildcat since Mark Philmore had Tony Jones, 2013 24 QB1 -- Senior quarterback Clayton Thorson went 22-for-38 with 192 passing yards 18 in 2004. Nagel leads the Big Ten in week two, moving within 82 yards of becoming the second Wildcat in program and ranks seventh in the country in Shaun Herbert, 2005 21 history to reach 8,000 career passing yards. Thorson is fifth among active FBS players receptions per game (8.5). His 133 Demetrius Field, 2012 19 with 7,918 yards and is tied for 13th with 44 career touchdown passes. receiving yards versus Duke were the Austin Carr, 2016 18 most since Garrett Dickerson had 150 GREEN HORN -- Junior walk-on quarterback T.J. Green set career highs in passing Flynn Nagel, 2018* (Two games) 17 versus Bowling Green on Sept. 16, attempts (18), completions (11) and passing yards (86) versus Duke. Through two 2017. games, Green has completed 55.2 percent of his passes (16-for-29) for 147 yards in a backup role to Thorson. 2018 SCHEDULE AND RESULTS Aug. 30 at Purdue* West Lafayette, Ind. ESPN 7 p.m. CT W, 31-27 NU claimed its fifth-straight vic- Boilermakers (0-2) Rosse-Ade Stadium tory over Purdue Sept. 8 DUKE Evanston, Ill. ESPNU 11 a.m. CT L, 21-7 The Wildcats and Blue Devils Blue Devils (2-0) Ryan Field have split 20 meetings Sept. 15 AKRON Evanston, Ill. BTN 6:30 p.m. CT First NU is 19-11-1 all time versus Zips (1-0) Ryan Field Meeting current MAC programs Sept. 29 MICHIGAN* Evanston, Ill. TBD TBD 15-57-2 Three of last four meetings have Wolverines (1-1) Ryan Field gone to overtime Oct. 6 at Michigan State* East Lansing, Mich. TBD 11 a.m. CT 19-37-0 Wildcats have won back-to-back Spartans (1-1) Spartan Stadium meetings versus Spartans Oct. 13 NEBRASKA* Evanston, Ill. TBD 11 a.m. CT 4-7-0 ’Cats have won two of the last Cornhuskers (0-1) Ryan Field three meetings versus Nebraska Oct. 20 at Rutgers* Piscataway, N.J. TBD 11 a.m. CT 0-3-0 First meeting since 1991 Scarlet Knights (1-1) High Point Solution Stadium Oct. 27 WISCONSIN* Evanston, Ill. TBD TBD 35-59-5 NU and UW have split the last Badgers (2-0) Ryan Field four meetings Nov.