With shoulder pads and helmets stowed in their lockers, the No. 23 Wildcats adorned ice packs and ace bandages during the bye week, recuperating for Saturday’s battle at Minnesota.
While the Golden Gophers slugged it out in a loss to Indiana, Northwestern used the week off to relax and recharge its batteries for the Big Ten home stretch. After games in seven consecutive weeks, the Cats enjoyed fewer and shorter practices, with many players sitting out contact drills.
“By this stage of the game they’ve played 500 snaps of football, and 500 snaps in the Big Ten takes its toll,” coach Randy Walker said. “So we were able to give some guys a little time away from contact and getting banged around and get their bumps and bruises taken care of.”
NU’s injury report coming out of the bye week is mostly optimistic, as wide receiver Sam Simmons and offensive tackle Jeff Roehl are expected to return Saturday. Simmons, who aggravated a stress fracture in his back Oct. 7 versus Indiana, practiced Sunday night and will likely be ready for game action. Though Simmons will play wideout, Walker said he will keep Derrick Thompson and Teddy Johnson on the Cats’ punt and kickoff returns.
Roehl left the Purdue game in the fourth quarter when teammate Derek Martinez crashed into his knee. Though he sprained his MCL, Roehl made a speedy recovery and participated in every practice last week.
“Our design was to have some pretty physical, get-after-you kind of practices, and Jeff went and he was fine,” Walker said. “Of course, Jeff will play in the parking lot next January if you want him to. You say, ‘Play football,’ and Jeff comes to play.”
The prognosis on free safety Rashad Morton was not as promising. Morton left the Purdue game with a back injury and was held out of practice last week. Trainers are still unsure as to the extent of the injury, and though Morton made progress last week, he will not play against Minnesota.
NO PLACE LIKE DOME: Saturday’s game will be the first trip home for Minnesota natives Javiar Collins and Conrad Emmerich. Both players know several Minnesota players and said they are looking forward to facing them on Saturday. Although both players are excited about returning to the Land of 1,000 Lakes, Collins and Emmerich are anything but homesick.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun,” said Emmerich, who hails from Foley, Minn. “I really don’t think it means as much now as it did back in the day, just because we’re so adjusted to being down here. I really don’t consider Minnesota all that much to be my home anymore.”
Agreed Collins, who grew up in St. Paul: “I think maybe if we were younger, we’d be in awe of coming back, but now we’re seniors and it’s just another game.”
PUMP UP THE VOLUME: Aside from its strong opposition, NU will have to contend with the indoor crowd noise and unusual playing environment at the Metrodome. This week, the Cats are practicing at Trienens Hall, an indoor facility with a 60-yard artificial turf field behind Ryan Field.
Simulating the conditions at the Metrodome will be tough, yet players do not seem concerned.
“The only time it gets real bad is when it’s a critical situation and everybody’s screaming and it’s kind of hard to hear the quarterback,” Roehl said. “But other than that, you almost don’t even notice the crowd out there, you just do your thing and play football.”
Saturday’s game will be the third indoor game of Walker’s coaching career. In 1988, Walker was NU’s running backs coach when the Cats and Gophers tied 28-28 at the Metrodome.
Walker’s first indoor game came while serving as North Carolina’s running backs coach, as the Tar Heels faced Texas in the 1980 Blue Bonnet Bowl held at the Astrodome in Houston.
INCHES TO GO: NU’s Nov. 4 game against Michigan has been scheduled for 2:30 p.m. and will be aired nationally on ABC. … The Cats moved up two spots in the Associated Press Poll to No. 23 and remain unranked in the USA Today/ESPN poll, topping the “others receiving votes” list.
