OFFENSIVE STARTERS Offense Game Notes ● Senior running back Justin Jackson finished with 31 carries for 166 yards, surpassing POS No. Name Career Start 1,000 rushing yards this season and 5,000 rushing yards in his career. ○ Jackson joined Ron Dayne (Wisconsin) as the only other Big Ten player to rush QB #18 Clayton Thorson 37 for 1,000 yards in four­straight seasons. He is just the ninth player in FBS history RB #21 Justin Jackson 42 to reach the milestone. ○ Jackson is the sixth player in Big Ten history and 23rd in FBS history to rush for SB #9 Garrett Dickerson 23 5,000 yards. ○ Today marks Jackson’s 25th career game with at least 100 rushing yards. He has WR #15 Macan Wilson 9 accomplished the feat in 18 Big Ten contests. WR #2 Flynn Nagel 21 ○ Today marked the 10th game of Jackson’s career in which he rushed 30 or more times. The ’Cats are 18­0 in Jackson’s career when he has at least 25 carries. WR #88 Bennett Skowronek 9 ○ Northwestern is 21­4 in Jackson’s career when he surpasses 100 rushing yards. The ’Cats are 15­0 when he rushes for more than 131 yards. LT #72 Blake Hance 33 ○ Jackson carried the ball 10 times for 76 yards in the first quarter a week after LG #59 J.B. Butler 15 being held to just 46 versus Purdue. Jackson’s 76 rushing yards are his most in a quarter this season. His previous high was 75 in the fourth quarter versus C #69 Brad North 28 Maryland ○ His 41­yard run in the first quarter was a season long. RG #71 Tommy Doles 24 ○ Jackson carried the ball 24 times in the first half while the Minnesota offense had RT #70 Rashawn Slater 10 just 21 plays total. ○ Moved past Mike Hart (5,040; Michigan) for fourth in Big Ten history with 5,139 DEFENSIVE STARTERS career rushing yards. ○ Moved past Brandon Williams (5,852; Wisconsin) and Montee Ball (5,935; Wisconsin) into 8th in Big Ten history with 5,974 career all­purpose yards. POS No. Name Career Start ­ Senior superback Garrett Dickerson hauled in an 8­yard touchdown in the second quarter. It marked his second touchdown of the season and seventh of his career. DE #97 Joe Gaziano 11 ­ Dickerson caught an 18­yard touchdown in the second quarter to mark his first DT #67 Tyler Lancaster 37 career multi­touchdown game. ­ Dickerson is the first Wildcat with two touchdowns receiving since Bennett DT #99 Jordan Thompson 22 Skowronek versus Bowling Green Sept. 16. He is the first superback to do so since Dan Vitale versus Ball State in 2015. DE #91 Samdup Miller 11 ­ The senior is the only Wildcat since at least 2000 whose only two receptions went WLB #10 Brett Walsh 16 for a score. ­ Redshirt first­year running back Jeremy Larkin scored a five­yard touchdown in the MLB #42 Paddy Fisher 10 second quarter to give the Wildcats’ a 7­0 lead. The touchdown was Larkin’s fourth of the season. SLB #32 Nate Hall 23 ­ Junior wide receiver Jelani Roberts scored the first touchdown of his career with a CB #7 Marcus McShepard 5 12­yard run in the second quarter. ­ Senior running back Corey Acker went untouched for a 24­yard touchdown in the fourth S #21 Kyle Queiro 23 quarter, the first of his career. Acker became the seventh Wildcat to score a rushing touchdown this season. S #16 Godwin Igwebuike 41 ­ The last time the Wildcats had seven different players score at least one CB #24 Montre Hartage 22 touchdown during a season was 2011. ­ Junior quarterback Clayton Thorson w ent an efficient 9­for­13 with 86 passing yards and tied his career high for the eighth time with three passing touchdowns. ­ The Wildcats are 7­1 when Thorson has thrown three touchdown passes and 10­1 when he has thrown at least two. ­ Thorson moved past Zak Kustok (42; 1999­2001) and tied C.J. Bachér (43; 2005­08) for third in program history with 43 career passing touchdowns. Thorson needs just one more to tie Len Williams’ (1990­93) and Brett Basanez’s (2002­05) program record. FOOTBALL GAME NOTES: NORTHWESTERN at Nebraska (Nov. 4, 2017) ­ Thorson’s 14 passing touchdowns are the are the fourth­most in Northwestern single­season history. ­ Sophomore wide receiver Bennett Skowronek caught his fifth touchdown of the season in the third quarter to extend the Wildcats’ lead to 32­0. ­ This is the first time in Skowronek’s career he has a touchdown reception in back­to­back game. ­ Junior walk­on running back Alex Bousky appeared in his first career game for the Wildcats. He had one rush for six yards. ­ Redshirt first­year offensive lineman Jason Goosen and redshirt f irst­year quarterback Aidan Smith also appeared in their first career game. ­ Ten different Wildcats combined to rush for 277 yards on 55 carries Saturday. The Wildcats’ 277 yards are their second most this season and mark the second time in the last three games they have topped 200 yards on the ground. Defensive/Special Teams Notes ● Junior linebacker Nate Hall finished with a team­high seven tackles, a career­high 2.5 sacks, an interception and a fumble recovery to lead the Wildcats to the shutout victory. ○ Today marked Hall’s first career multi­sack game. His 2.5 sacks are the most since Ifeadi Odenigbo had four at Iowa in 2016. ○ Hall’s 2.5 sacks are the fifth most in a game since at least 2005, along with Deonte Gibson (2.5, 2015) and Kevin Mims (2.5, 2008). ○ The junior intercepted his second pass of the season in the third quarter. ○ Hall’s fumble recovery was the first of his career. ­ Junior defensive lineman Ben Oxley forced his first career fumble and j unior cornerback Montre Hartage recovered his first career fumble in the second quarter. ­ Hartage intercepted his second pass of the season and seventh of his career in the second quarter. He is one interception shy of cracking NU’s top­10 list. ­ First­year defensive end Samdup Miller recorded his fifth sack of the season in the second quarter. Miller’s five sacks are the most by a NU rookie since Ifeadi Odenigbo had 5.5 in 2013. ­ Sophomore defensive lineman Alex Miller record his second sack of the season. ● Sophomore defensive end Joe Gaziano recorded his team­best seventh sack of the season. He has 11.5 in his career and is now just half a sack shy of cracking NU’s top­10 list all time. ○ With seven sacks this season, s ophomore defensive end Joe Gaziano is now tied with Vince Browne (2010), Thomas Homco (1991), Ismaeli Hudhaifa (1995) and Steve Shine (1993) for tenth place in season sacks (7). ● Senior safety Kyle Queiro intercepted his fourth pass of the season and seventh of his career. Queiro leads the Wildcats this season. He is just one interception shy of cracking NU’s top­10 list all time. ○ Queiro had a career­long 36­yard return on the interception. ● Redshirt first­year Paddy Fisher finished with five tackles, becoming the first Wildcat to reach 100 tackles this season. ○ Fisher forced his team­best fourth fumble of the season. ● The Wildcats had a season­high six sacks and forced a season­high five turnovers. The ’Cats finished with 11 tackles for a loss of 53 yards. ● After Minnesota quarterback Demry Croft completed his first two passes of the game, the Wildcats defense held the Gophers without a completion (0­for­9) and intercepted Croft three times. Career Highs ● LB Nate Hall: Sacks (2.5), Interception (1; tied), Fumble Recovery (1) ● LB Paddy Fisher: Fumble Recovery (1; tied) ● LB Warren Long: Tackles (4), Solo Tackles (3; tied) ● S Godwin Igwebuike: Pass Breakups (2; tied) ● DL Ben Oxley: Tackles (3), Assisted Tackles (2) ● DL Alex Miller: Sack (1; tied), TFL (1; tied) ● DE Samdup MIller: Sack (1; tied) ● DL Jordan Thompson: Quarterback Hurry (1; tied) ● CB Montre Hartage: Fumble Recovery (1) ● QB Clayton Thorson: Passing Touchdowns (3; tied) ● RB Jeremy Larkin: Rushing Touchdown (1; Tied) ● SB Garrett Dickerson: Receiving Touchdowns (2) ● RB Alex Bousky: Rushing Attempts (1), Rushing Yards (6), Long Run (6) ● WR Jelani Roberts: Rushing Touchdown (1) Team Notes ● Northwestern earned its sixth consecutive win, marking its longest winning streak since 1996. ● The Wildcats 39­0 win marked the Wildcats largin margin of victory in 93 all­time meetings versus Minnesota. ● NU has five eight­win seasons under head coach Pat Fitzgerald. ● In their eight wins this season, the Wildcats have allowed just 19 points in the fourth quarter and are outscoring opponents in the second half, 100­43. ● Northwestern held an opponent scoreless in the first quarter for the third time this year (Iowa, Oct. 21 and Purdue, Nov. 11) ● Last time NU held an opponent scoreless in the first quarter in consecutive games was last season against Duke and Nebraska (Sept. 17 and Sept. 24) ● Northwestern held Minnesota scoreless in the first half. This is the second consecutive game NU has held an opponent scoreless in the first half, first time since 2012 (South Dakota, Sept. 22 and Indiana, Sept. 29) ● In their last 8 quarters at Ryan Field, Northwestern has outscored Minnesota 66­0. ● The Wildcats earned their first shutout since a 27­0 victory over Minnesota on Oct. 3, 2015. This is the Wildcats’ fourth shutout under Dan and Susan Jones Family Head Football Coach Pat Fitzgerald.