Northwestern Wildcats
2010 record: 7-6 overall, 3-5 conference
2010 Bowl Game: 45-38 loss to Texas Tech in TicketCity Bowl
2010 ATS: 4-9
2010 O/U: 9-4
Returning starters: 16 total (9 on offense, 7 on defense)
Over the month of August, our team of writers will be previewing the top teams heading into an exciting 2011 campaign. The college football handicappers at Maddux Sports are also preparing and have season-long packages readily available for clients. Let’s take a look at a Big Ten Conference squad that returns a school-record 56 letterwinners
Offense
Heisman Trophy candidate Dan Persa is back for his senior year at quarterback and was named the Big Ten’s first-team quarterback in 2010 despite missing the final two conference games with injury.
Persa led all signal callers nationally by completing 73.5 percent of his passes and his pass efficiency rating (159.04) ranked ninth in the country.
The offense will welcome back four of its five starters from last season back, as they have combined for 105 starts. When adding another experienced linemen to the mix, the amount of career starts goes up to 130.
Northwestern is returning 82.6 percent of its running game this year, as it was led by running back Mike Trumpy’s 530 yards, while closely followed by Persa’s 519 yards.
With such a potent passing game, the rushing attack simply needs to keep opponents honest, as it ranked 58th nationally in gaining 155.9 yards per game on the ground.
The wide receiving core has plenty of weapons returning, including senior Jeremy Ebert who led the Big Ten with 953 receiving yards. In total, Northwestern welcomes back 83 percent of its receiving yardage.
Defense
Defensive coordinator Mike Hankwitz welcomes back an experienced group from a unit that ranked 10th in total defense last year by allowing 426.6 yards per game. The main focus during camp has to be creating turnovers, as the team finished with just eight during conference play.
The defensive line is a senior-laden group and is led by fifth-year player Kevin Watt, who finished last season with seven sacks and 15.5 tackles for loss. Coaches are extremely excited to see sophomore Tyler Scott in regular season games, as he’s been a playmaker during spring practices and could be a difference maker.
The linebacking core should be one of the quickest to the ball in the country, led by junior David Nwabuisi, who spent most of last year playing the middle linebacker spot in nickel and dime sets.
A turnaround is expected in the secondary after allowing 241.2 yards per game through the air last year. Safety Brian Peters was named the team’s defensive player of the year after registering 107 tackles and grabbing three interceptions.
Special Teams
A battle is expected to take place between Jeff Budzien and Steve Flaherty to handle the place-kicking duties. They will have big shoes to fill in replacing second-team All-Big Ten honoree Stefan Demos.
Punting responsibilities should remain with Brandon Williams, as the Wildcats ranked 28th nationally in net punting.
The return game could be a major weapon for head coach Pat Fitzgerald, as sophomore Venric Mark was explosive at times, including 273 kick-return yards against Wisconsin.
Against the Spread
The lines maker caught up to the heist that found the Wildcats cover nine straight road games as an underdog during the 2008-09 seasons, as they went 1-2 ATS in that role last year.
Bet On
Hosting Michigan is likely to produce a profit for bettors on Oct. 8, covering three consecutive meetings.
Fade Away
The season finale needs to be watched closely on the college football lines page due to the team’s 0-7 ATS mark at home against Minnesota.
