Big 10 Preview: Northwestern Wildcats
August 24th, 2008 by Louis Papa
If you have read my entire analysis of the Big Ten Conference and some of its star players, I am pleased to announce that the boredom that is Iowa, Michigan and to a smaller degree Michigan State is officially over! The Wildcats are NCAAF version of the NBA’s Western Conference on the offensive side of the football. Northwestern returns 13 starters from last year’s 6-6 squad. Additionally, they return more skill players than any other Big 10 team. New offensive coordinator Mick McCall will use a ton of no-huddle packages to get the best talent on the field against the most favorable matchups. So let’s get excited about drafting a team full of Northwestern Wildcats. And yes, that sounds strange to me as well.
At quarterback, the team will be led by C.J. Bacher, the Big 10 leader in total offense last season. If it were not for his extraordinarily high TD/INT ratio then from a fantasy perspective, he could be one of the top 10 quarterbacks in NCAAF. In 2007, all Bacher did was complete 318 of his 521 throws for an astounding 3,656 yards. However only 19 went for touchdowns and another 19 were intercepted. Bacher also ran for 4 scores. We will see who improves more this year, CJ or Juice Williams (Illinois) for #2 behind Boeckman in the Big 10.
For the running back position, senior Tyrell Sutton has 2,996 career rushing yards with 29 total touchdowns. He also owns a 4.8 yard per carry average. Expect him to carry the rock and cross your fingers that he can avoid injury this year.If he is able to do that, he will be a top 25 fantasy RB.
Moving onto the wide receivers, the team will go with two more seniors, Eric Peterman (66/744 and 3 scores) and Ross Lane (49/649 and 7 scores). With time to get a feel for this offense, those numbers are expected to improve. Can you say wide open offense?
If you have to use the Wildcats defense for your fantasy draft, then something went tremendously wrong. The 2007 team gave up 40 or more points 4 times, including 58 against the Buckeyes. That being said, the first 3 match-ups this year could be slightly favorable (Syracuse, at Duke, Southern Illinois). From the kicker position, the team will put Amado Villarreal on the field. Expect lots of extra points but just remember 12/18 in field goals last year, going a hideous 1 for 5 beyond 30 yards. Not worth mentioning in this otherwise glowing article on offense.
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