{"id":42298,"date":"2018-08-19T15:01:52","date_gmt":"2018-08-19T20:01:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=42298"},"modified":"2018-08-19T15:01:52","modified_gmt":"2018-08-19T20:01:52","slug":"2018-northwestern-wildcats-college-football-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/2018-northwestern-wildcats-college-football-preview-42298\/","title":{"rendered":"2018 Northwestern Wildcats College Football Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Justin Jackson graduated, but Northwestern has talent ready to fill his role.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

2018 Northwestern Wildcats College Football Preview<\/h1>\n

Head Coach: Pat Fitzgerald<\/strong>
\n2017 Record: 10-3; 7-2 Big Ten<\/strong>
\n2017 Bowl: Music City Bowl, 24-23 win over Kentucky<\/strong>
\nOdds to win Big 10: +6000<\/strong>
\nOdds to win Big 10 West: +1200<\/strong>
\nOdds to win National Title: +70000<\/strong><\/p>\n

Offense<\/h2>\n

Clayton Thorson\u2019s fate hangs in the balance after he tore his ACL in Northwestern\u2019s Bowl appearance last year. Should Thorson prove unable to go, the snaps will likely go to sophomore walk-on TJ Green, sophomore Aiden Smith, or even possibly redshirt freshman Andrew Marty. Obviously, Northwestern hopes for Thorson, since none of those three have any experience to speak of.<\/p>\n

However, while Thorson\u2019s health remains questionable, the backfield does not have many questions to be answered. Sophomore Jeremy Larkin rushed for 503 yards and five TDs last year serving as Justin Jackson (the beast)\u2019s \u201cunderstudy.\u201d Jackson is the all-time leading rusher and leaves massive cleats to fill, but Larkin should be at least very good.<\/p>\n

The OL returns four starters and only features one newcomer (center Jared Thomas). At WR, Cameron Green was sensational last season with 20 catches and two TDs as Northwestern\u2019s super back. Solomon Vault also returns at WR with Flynn Nagel serving as the team\u2019s best slot, as well. Bennet Skowronek is an interesting and tall receiver who should be able to climb the latter for some major catches.<\/p>\n

Obviously, none of this will matter if Thorson is replaced by sheer mediocrity, so we can say Northwestern is a \u201cwait and see\u201d case, at best, with regards to its Big Ten contention possibilities.<\/p>\n

Defense<\/h2>\n

Northwestern has a tough run defense once again, but it did lose some key starters from its defense. Senior DL Jordan Thompson is quick and powerful at tackle. Alex Miller will start next to him, most likely. DE is strong with Joe Gaziano\u00a0who led the Big Ten with nine sacks last year. Samdup Miller, his younger sibling, was also outstanding last year as a true freshman.<\/p>\n

The defense\u2019s leader is MLB Paddy Fisher, who also led the team in tackles with 113 last year. He had two games with 18 or more tackles. The secondary will have Montre Hartage and Trae Williams for pass coverage, and safety is another strength with plenty of experience there. JR Pace also looked like a major playmaker in his freshman season. Northwestern held opponents to 20.1 points per game last year (No. 20) and its rush defense was a top-10 unit nationally, allowing just 107.7 yards per game.<\/p>\n

Special Teams<\/h2>\n

Solomon Vault will be a big improvement for the returns. He has already set a school record with four TD returns. Charlie Kuhbander hit 13 of 16 field goals last year, but he lacks range (best was a 40-yarder).<\/p>\n

Senior walk-on Daniel Kubiuk has just two punts in his career but he will be the full-time starter after Hunter Niswander graduated last year.<\/p>\n

Final Word<\/h2>\n

Northwestern has plenty of talent on both its offense and defense. Quarterback remains the issue, and that means Thorson has to be healthy\u2014simply and plainly put. If he\u2019s good to go, the team could match last year\u2019s 10-wins. If he\u2019s not, the season might be a sheer disaster. Fun, is it not?<\/p>\n

Prediction: With Thorson- 10 wins; Without Thorson- 6 wins<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2018 Northwestern Wildcats College Football Preview Head Coach: Pat Fitzgerald 2017 Record: 10-3; 7-2 Big Ten 2017 Bowl: Music City Bowl, 24-23 win over Kentucky Odds to win Big 10: +6000 Odds to win Big 10 West: +1200 Odds to win National Title: +70000 Offense Clayton Thorson\u2019s fate hangs in the balance after he tore […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40250,"featured_media":37795,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[200,1444],"tags":[10078,10076,5213,10077,9546,3119],"class_list":["post-42298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-college-football","category-headlines","tag-2018-futures-betting-college-football","tag-big-ten-college-football-previews","tag-college-football-previews","tag-ncaa-football-2018-championship-odds","tag-ncaa-football-season-previews","tag-northwestern-wildcats"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40250"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42298"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42298\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42299,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42298\/revisions\/42299"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}