This is a big game for both the Illinois football team and the Northwestern Wildcats on Saturday.
Northwestern wants to beat their biggest rival and get a win this season that doesn’t consist of UMass or UNLV. Illinois, on the other hand, has way more at stake than just the rivalry. The Illini are looking to win their seventh game, continue their positive momentum and make an even better bowl game.
Records aside, this game always seems to be fairly competitive. But what should we expect out of the Wildcats come kickoff? Let’s start with their interesting quarterback situation.
To begin the season, Hunter Johnson was supposed to be their savior at quarterback. He transferred in from Clemson and was highly touted. That hasn’t worked out, though. He has been wildly ineffective the entire year leading to a quarterback carousel.
Since Johnson went for 432 yards, 1 touchdown and 4 interceptions during his time on the field, Northwestern turned to Aidan Smith. He was arguably worse than Johnson going for 760 yards, 3 touchdowns and 9 interceptions this season. The Wildcats may have found some type of spark in the last game against Minnesota, though.
Northwestern decided to give Andrew Marty a try at quarterback. He wasn’t terrible against the Golden Gophers throwing for 95 yards and 1 touchdown. He also moved the ball well with his legs rushing 16 times for 52 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Marty is getting the start against Illinois. The big thing the Illini will need to keep an eye on is Marty’s running ability. That is the wildcard with this kid. Expect a lot of quarterback keepers on Saturday.
The rest of the Wildcats team is pretty easy to figure out. Their running game is about average, at best. Drake Anderson leads the way with 547 yards this season, but he is only averaging 4.2 yards per carry. I am not too worried about their rushing attack from the running backs.
Northwestern’s defense isn’t that scary either. Their rush defense gives up 148.6 yards per game, which ranks No. 54 in the nation. Their pass defense gives up 203.5 yards per game, which ranks No. 27 in the nation. Illinois probably won’t pass much today, so we will be leaning on the weakest part of the Wildcat’s defense. That is a good thing.
Overall, this isn’t a scary team. The only thing that worries me is the running ability and lack of film this Illinois defense has on Marty. Besides for that, I think we have a great game and move to 7-5.