Offense Game Notes Senior running back Justin Jackson
OFFENSIVE STARTERS POS
No.
Name
Career Start
QB
#18
Clayton Thorson
37
RB
#21
Justin Jackson
42
SB
#9
Garrett Dickerson
23
WR
#15
Macan Wilson
9
WR
#2
Flynn Nagel
21
WR
#88
Bennett Skowronek
9
LT
#72
Blake Hance
33
LG
#59
J.B. Butler
15
C
#69
Brad North
28
RG
#71
Tommy Doles
24
RT
#70
Rashawn Slater
10
DEFENSIVE STARTERS
POS
No.
Name
Career Start
DE
#97
Joe Gaziano
11
DT
#67
Tyler Lancaster
37
DT
#99
Jordan Thompson
22
DE
#91
Samdup Miller
11
WLB
#10
Brett Walsh
16
MLB
#42
Paddy Fisher
10
SLB
#32
Nate Hall
23
CB
#7
Marcus McShepard
5
S
#21
Kyle Queiro
23
S
#16
Godwin Igwebuike
41
CB
#24
Montre Hartage
22
Offense Game Notes ● Senior running back Justin Jackson finished with 31 carries for 166 yards, surpassing 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 for 1,000 yards in fourstraight seasons. He is just the ninth player in FBS history to reach the milestone. ○ Jackson is the sixth player in Big Ten history and 23rd in FBS history to rush for 5,000 yards. ○ Today marks Jackson’s 25th career game with at least 100 rushing yards. He has accomplished the feat in 18 Big Ten contests. ○ 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. ○ 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. ○ Jackson carried the ball 10 times for 76 yards in the first quarter a week after 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 Maryland ○ His 41yard run in the first quarter was a season long. ○ Jackson carried the ball 24 times in the first half while the Minnesota offense had just 21 plays total. ○ Moved past Mike Hart (5,040; Michigan) for fourth in Big Ten history with 5,139 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.
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. Dickerson caught an 18yard touchdown in the second quarter to mark his first career multitouchdown game. Dickerson is the first Wildcat with two touchdowns receiving since Bennett Skowronek versus Bowling Green Sept. 16. He is the first superback to do so since Dan Vitale versus Ball State in 2015. The senior is the only Wildcat since at least 2000 whose only two receptions went for a score. Redshirt firstyear running back Jeremy Larkin scored a fiveyard touchdown in the second quarter to give the Wildcats’ a 70 lead. The touchdown was Larkin’s fourth of the season. Junior wide receiver Jelani Roberts scored the first touchdown of his career with a 12yard run in the second quarter. Senior running back Corey Acker went untouched for a 24yard touchdown in the fourth quarter, the first of his career. Acker became the seventh Wildcat to score a rushing touchdown this season. The last time the Wildcats had seven different players score at least one 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. FOOTBALL GAME NOTES: NORTHWESTERN at Nebraska (Nov. 4, 2017)
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Attendance: 30,014
FOOTBALL GAME NOTES: NORTHWESTERN at Nebraska (Nov. 4, 2017)
