At Wednesday’s practice, quarterback Mike Kafka hit wide receiver Zeke Markshausen on bubble screen. Sophomore wideout Jeremy Ebert broke off his route and pancaked his defender. Ebert’s block allowed Markshausen to break free for a 15-yard gain and drew applause from his offensive teammates.
Ebert’s block exemplified the overarching theme of Northwestern’s practices this week. After blowing two fourth-quarter leads in consecutive weeks, coach Pat Fitzgerald emphasized “finishing” in this week’s practices.
“That’s kind of our problem now, finishing games,” sophomore linebacker Ben Johnson said. “We were in position to win, we gave ourselves a chance, and we just seem to not be able to get over that hump right now and I think as the season progresses we’ll be able to do that.”
While the Wildcats have lost two nailbiters this year, Fitzgerald noted some of the NU’s early season wins last year were just as hotly contested.
“We’re pretty much in an identical situation,” Fitzgerald said. “Now what are we going to do about it? I liked our response today, but I’m not surprised. Our guys have great character, and we just have to keep going and keep working this week.”
Fitzgerald said the team is looking to correct its fourth quarter problems this weekend against Purdue.
“When you’re position in the fourth quarter to win a ballgame, you got to go out and make the plays that winners make,” Captain Cat said. “You’ve got to get the job done if you want to go where you want to go. That would be the one area where I think we can definitely refocus our energy.”
Ralph runs rampant
At a school known for its gun-slinging quarterbacks, sometimes running backs have a hard time stepping up. This year, Ralph Bolden is proving it can be done at Purdue.
A true sophomore, Bolden is the Big Ten’s leading rusher, topping the league in total yards, touchdowns and yards per game. Bolden burst onto the scene in the Boilermakers’ first game against Toledo, running wild for 234 yards and two touchdowns.
“Ralph Bolden has had a great start to the year,” Fitzgerald said. “He’s a very dynamic runner with great feet and great vision. He’s extremely hard to take down in the open field.”
The Cats have struggled against the run for the majority of the season, allowing 463 combined yards on the ground in their last three games. NU’s inability to stop the run is a change for the veteran defense, which ranked fourth in the Big Ten last year by only allowing 126.4 rushing yards per game.
Returning to form
Purdue senior Aaron Valentin has torn up opponents on returns, averaging 20.6 yards per return on kickoffs and a league-leading 15.3 yards on punt returns. Last week the Cats were plagued by poor special teams coverage. Two of Minnesota’s four scoring drives were the result of long returns – the opening 37-yard kickoff return and a 22-yard punt return midway through the second quarter.
Fitzgerald noted the importance of discipline when defending a returner like Valentin.
“You’ve got to kick the ball where you want it,” he said. “You’ve got to play with great speed and then you’ve got to tackle. Yeah, you’ll do some things a little differently but if you all of a sudden start doing things so dramatic you don’t really know where you’re at, you give yourself the opportunity to give up a big play because you’re more worried about scheme than about speed.”
Johnson, who also plays special teams, said NU has to come out with a more aggressive mindset.
“We have to play more physical on special teams,” Johnson said. “We have to bring the fight to them, we have to attack the other team.”
The Cats’ special teams have also struggled to provide solid starting field position for their offense. NU ranks seventh in the conference with a 19.5 yard kickoff return average and tenth with a 4.1 yard punt return average. This weekend the unit will likely be without leading return man Stephen Simmons, whose 190 yards on kickoff returns account for almost half of the team’s total return yards.
Scream and shout
In order to help his team prepare for the raucous crowd at Ross-Ade stadium, Fitzgerald brought speakers to practice and blasted the Purdue fight song. But much to the team’s surprise, Fitzgerald wasn’t afraid to switch things up. In addition to the fight song, Fitzgerald played The Temptations tune “Shout.”
“It’s cool,” senior defensive end Corey Wotton said. “It definitely helps us get up. When we get in the grind of practice and we hear a song it definitely helps us get up a little bit…that’s a classic, it’ll always be a classic. Everybody, no matter how old you are, knows that song.”
