2-a-Days: Northwestern and Southern Illinois

Northwestern Wildcats



This is Pat Fitzgerald's team. He's spent the last few seasons trying to carry on what Randy Walker was producing and now after a few year's worth of rebuilding, this team could be ready to take the next step and go to the first bowl game in the Fitzgerald era. Is 2008 the season?


THE OFFENSE: The offense was definitely not the problem. The passing game certainly put this team on its back and should do so again. C.J. Bacher is back and while he's not the best decision maker, he does get offensive results running the spread offense. Bacher has to cut down on his INT totals though; he threw as many as he did touchdowns. The running game mysteriously tanked early and often and Omar Conteh didn't really pick up the slack when Tyrell Sutton went down with an injury. Sutton is one of the best backs in the Big 10 when given the opportunity to make plays in space, but he was bottled up far too often last season. Eric Peterman, Andrew Brewer, Rasheed Ward, and Ross Lane come back, so the good news is that all of the main weapons are coming back in the WR corps. The offensive line presents a massive question mark with all of the new guys, and last year's line didn't exactly perform up to standards. It ranked 97th in sacks allowed and now Adam Crum and Trevor Rees are gone from the picture. Dylan Thiry is gone as well, but thankfully Al Netter stood out in practice and solidified a starting role at LT. Mick McCall may very well improve an already somewhat potent offense at Northwestern. He's coming in from Bowling Green and this side of the ball might improve.


THE DEFENSE: Northwestern's defense wasn't nearly good enough down the stretch and it showed in a number of games (Minnesota, Michigan State, Ohio State, Nevada, Iowa, Purdue, Illinois). They got trounced and while this is Fitzgerald's specialty, it didn't perform. Giving up 31 points per game is a difficult task to recover from, but this unit does return seven guys and has hope for improvement. Mike Hankwitz is coming in from Wisconsin to try his best to get this situation fixed. He'll try to disguise a lot of blitzing using a mixture of zone blitzes and the like to confuse defenses. Northwestern hasn't been hauling in the best defensive recruits on the planet over the years, so anything to mask their deficiencies adds to the benefit of the team. Corey Wootton at DE has been decent, but he has been sort of disappointing. There's a lot of potential in his game, but it hasn't been maxed out. John Gill is a good player as well at DT, and there's a lot of hope that the front four will get better as a group to help stop the run more often. The LBs will be missing Adam Kadela, but Malcom Arrington is a solid player who should do more than just fill in his role. Sherrick McManis is recovering from an injury and Brendan Smith returns at S, but there's a lot of competition in the secondary. That could be good or bad news, we'll find out when the season comes around.


THE SCHEDULE:

Aug. 30 Syracuse
Sept. 6 at Duke
Sept. 13 Southern Illinois
Sept. 20 Ohio
Sept. 27 at Iowa
Oct. 11 Michigan State
Oct. 18 Purdue
Oct. 25 at Indiana
Nov. 1 at Minnesota
Nov. 8 Ohio State
Nov. 15 at Michigan
Nov. 22 Illinois

A 4-0 start is almost a must. These are all pretty winnable games for a Northwestern team that lost to Duke at home last year. A second straight loss to the Blue Devils would really be damaging to Northwestern's hope of making a bowl game. The Big 10 schedule isn't bad, but it isn't easy. There are road games to Iowa, Indiana, Minnesota, and Michigan.

Don't Even Think About It: Ohio State
Ehhhhh.....Maybe....: Purdue, @ Michigan, Illinois
Good/Probable Shot At It: Syracuse, @ Duke, Southern Illinois, Ohio, @ Iowa, Michigan State, @ Indiana, @ Minnesota


THE OUTLOOK: Northwestern should make a bowl game because the schedule isn't that difficult, but they won't. We're probably looking at another 6-6 season due to the easy non-conference slate, but there are a lot of intraconference tossups that Northwestern will be slight underdogs. Personally, I think Minnesota will get drastically better, so I'm not sure they'll beat them on the road, same for Iowa. They have a solid shot, but leaky line play and poor defense will keep Fitzgerald from reaching his first bowl game. The offense will still put up numbers and they might get into one of the lower-tier Big 10 bowl games, but that's about it.


BOWL GAME?: Nope.











Southern Illinois Salukis



Southern Illinois is used to being atop the FCS ranks. Now, there's a major overhaul in Carbondale and fans are anxiously anticipating how it will all turn out. The FCS power loses a ton of talent all over the board, and not to mention their head coach, Jerry Kill. Dale Lennon will come in from North Dakota to give his best shot at keeping this program at the level it's been, and he doesn't want to hear that it's rebuilding. Does he have what it takes this year?


THE OFFENSE: Nick Hill is gone. The glue to the offense for a team that runs most of the time is missing. He was an extremely efficient passer, but he was also a dual-threat QB. Who is going to replace him? Well, we might have to wait until the season opener unless Lennon names a starter. Joe Allaria figures to have the best combination of athleticism and passing ability, but you never know. Trevor Beasley is coming in as a freshman and he could take the Saluki world by storm. Chris Dieker was okay this spring and figures to be just as much in the mix as anybody else, apparently out of camp he has the edge. Allaria might be more suited to Lennon's offense, though. The RB situation is also a bit of a mystery with John Randle graduating, but Larry Warner will step in and be the next big SIU running back to do great things at that position. There's been a coaching switch, but SIU will stick to running the football and have success with it. The WR corps is a bit depleted; Justin Allen? Gone. Alan Turner? Gone. Phil Goforth? Gone. Ryan Kernes had a nice year at TE and he should be one of the team's top threats. Jeff Evans didn't play everyday, but he should be in the rotation this season more often as a sophomore. The offensive line looks to be in okay shape after having an okay season last year.


THE DEFENSE: James Cloud comes back on the defensive line. He's a solid athlete with a decent-sized frame who could even have a bigger year as a senior. Devon Reese will also come back and assist him at DE while this tandem should have a good year together. Trevor Moe may be gone from the linebackers, but there is a solid core returning with Chauncey Mixon, Stephen Franklin, Matt Speed, and Brandin Jordan all one year older. Clayton Johnson comes back at safety while Brandon Williams joins him at DB. The secondary ranked 63rd in pass defense last year and should be solid again. The Salukis normally have highly-ranked defenses and this year's unit didn't get hammered with graduation the way that the offense did. Look for this side of the ball to get better. They did rank 10th in scoring defense last season.


THE SCHEDULE:

Sep. 6 Hampton
Sep. 13 at Northwestern
Sep. 27 Northern Iowa
Oct. 4 at North Dakota State
Oct. 11 Indiana State
Oct. 18 at Youngstown State
Oct. 25 at Missouri State
Nov. 1 North Dakota
Nov. 8 Western Illinois
Nov. 15 South Dakota State
Nov. 22 at Illinois State

The year opens up......In not easy fashion. Hampton is no creampuff who should challenge the Salukis and then there's a road game versus Northwestern sandwiched in between there. Northern Iowa is only the defending conference champion and there's a road game against the Bison of North Dakota State after that. Western Illinois and Youngstown State figure to field competitive teams this year. There's no question: The Missouri Valley Football Conference is the toughest there is.

Don't Even Think About It:
Ehhhhh.....Maybe....: @ Northwestern, Northern Iowa, @ North Dakota State
Good/Probable Shot At It: Hampton, Indiana State, @ Youngstown State, @ Missouri State, North Dakota, Western Illinois, South Dakota State, @ Illinois State


THE OUTLOOK: Southern Illinois will be good once again. Whether or not they'll be as good as last year's team is yet to be decided, but the MVFC is so stacked from top to bottom it will be tough to find a playoff spot, much less win it, with the kind of depth it has plus the losses all over the board for this team. They'll win a majority of their games, but miss out on the playoffs. The strength of this conference might cause them to miss out on a few playoff bids.


FBS UPSET?: Oh yeah, they have a puncher's chance. You'd have to like SIU later in the year, but with the offensive inexperience, I'm not so sure they'll take out Northwestern in Week 2. But it's more than possible. They're not a longshot to pull that win off.