Cats Corner is back for another episode, and the Gameday team is here to preview Northwestern’s conference home opener against No. 23 Indiana on Saturday. The ’Cats will be going up against Curt Cignetti, who the Gameday team believes could follow in David Braun’s footsteps and win Big Ten Coach of the Year in his first season at a Power Five school.
BLAKE McQUEARY: From The Daily Northwestern, I’m Blake McQueary.
JAKE MOZARSKY: And I’m Jake Mozarsky. This is Cats Corner, a podcast about all things sports and purple pride.
Today we’re talking about Northwestern’s home Big Ten opener against nationally-ranked Indiana. The Hoosiers are 23rd in the country and are 5-0 under first-year head coach Curt Cignetti. Blake, how we feeling about this game, dude?
BLAKE McQUEARY: Initial reaction: not the best. I like that we’re coming off a bye week; I think that will do a lot for Northwestern, especially that gut-wrenching, not-very-pleasing loss in Seattle against Washington. I think just the bye week gives the team a little bit of a refresh — like, they can reset, they can sit back, fall back, especially with the injuries that they’ve had. Hopefully, Cam Porter will be back healthy. I’ve seen a little bit of optimism so far, especially with what (David) Braun said in his presser. I think that’s the positive side, is — they’ve had a break. They’ve had an extra week to prepare, no game. So that is my initial reaction: not good, but you got to look on the bright side of the bye week, and you have to build on that. I think that’s something they definitely have to build on: getting healthy, getting back to progressions, just resetting everything, especially on offense. I think that’s what you look at positively.
JAKE MOZARSKY: Totally. Northwestern scored five points in Seattle against Washington, lost 24-5 to the Huskies, only gave up seven points in the second half. But specifically, the passing game around signal caller Jack Lausch is obviously a big deal. Lausch was 8-of-27 for 53 yards and two interceptions — obviously needs a better game than that. This Hoosiers defense has been better; they are top five in the Big Ten in both sacks and tackles for losses. Their secondary is fine enough, so hopefully the bye week will help get them to that stage, but who on Indiana do you think people should keep an eye on if they are new to this team?
BLAKE McQUEARY: Definitely need to keep an eye on the quarterback, Kurtis Rourke. He’s a MAC guy. I always rep the MAC, Eastern Michigan of course, but that is somebody that if you are new to watching Indiana, and you don’t know anything about this Hoosiers football team this year, you absolutely need to know who Kurtis Rourke is. 1,372 passing yards, 11 passing touchdowns, only has thrown two interceptions, so he’s taking care of the ball, and he’s shown that he can throw the ball. He’s super, super efficient, little to no mistakes. He’s a graduate student, so he’s got that experience. This is a guy who, especially if you hadn’t watched him at Ohio — he is somebody that is experienced at the position. That’s something you value in college football, especially at the quarterback position, is experience. And, you know, that 73% completion rating, 189 (quarterback rating) is just a testament to who he is as a quarterback. And he’s a tough quarterback, too. He’s going to sit in the pocket, he’s going to let the pocket develop and he’s going to get his completions, but he’s not too scared to run the ball when he has to and take those hits — like, he’s not afraid to do that. So I think offensively, you look at him, the leader of the offense, a guy who has just been astounding for this very potent and very scary Indiana offense here.
When I look at this Indiana team, it’s surprising enough, but it — who’s to say they can’t win the Big Ten?
JAKE MOZARSKY: Nobody.
BLAKE McQUEARY: They absolutely can, and I think it starts with Kurtis Rourke. So, just having him at quarterback is something that has been very, very efficient for that offense.
I think defensively for Indiana, you look at Aiden Fisher, linebacker, glue guy for them on defense, 50 total tackles so far. He’s had 1.5 sacks. He’s got a pass deflection. He’s a guy that is kind of the man in the middle for them. He is their rock. He is, you know, a tough, tough defender. He’s a smart linebacker. So I think those two guys (are) kind of, you know, those impact key stars for Indiana.
JAKE MOZARSKY: I love that answer. Speaking of Rourke, second in the Big Ten in passing yards, only behind Billy Edwards Jr., whom he outperformed last Saturday against Maryland, where the Hoosiers won 42-28. And you’re talking about a conference that has good quarterbacks like Dillon Gabriel, Will Howard. If Rourke’s that good, Indiana could be that good.
My answer, while a little “depictical,” or whatever you want to call it — I just used a fake word, but I don’t even care — Curt Cignetti is the favorite to win Big Ten Coach of the Year. He has transformed this Indiana program that has only 38 returning (scholarship) players, which is the third least in Division I. Cignetti has transformed every phase of the ball, like David Braun said in his Monday presser. Offense, third in the country, almost 50 points a game. Defense, fifth in the Big Ten in so many categories or top five in the Big Ten. And with Cignetti, this program is only going to get better. And if they beat Northwestern on Saturday, they make a bowl game, and so I think that’s motivation on both sides, because you’re facing the reigning Big Ten Coach of the Year in David Braun, who just transformed a program that went 1-11 the year before, went through everything in the offseason, won eight games and won a bowl game. Cignetti is doing the exact same thing minus the entire hazing thing. Totally changed the culture of this Indiana football program, totally changed the winning culture at a school that’s known for basketball — I mean, you’re from the Midwest. I follow college basketball. We’ve talked about this: (Simon Skjodt) Assembly Hall in Indiana, that is the place to be, not that football stadium. Cignetti is changing that. And so, obviously, I’m going to point to Rourke, and I like the guys you pointed to on defense. Justice Ellison’s a good running back. This is Cignetti’s team, man, and he’s a damn good coach. And so they’re scary. They’re scary.
BLAKE McQUEARY: Absolutely, and if you look at what Cignetti did at James Madison — like, just imagine, now he’s at a Power Four school and in the Big Ten — like, it can get dangerous behind Cignetti. Like, it can seriously get dangerous in Indiana.
JAKE MOZARSKY: It could get dangerous. And now, like, I don’t even know what to say about this Indiana team, because there’s so much left to be unseen about them. They’ve only scratched the surface of what they could do. But speaking of what could happen on Saturday from a Northwestern standpoint, what do you think the ’Cats need to do? And we sort of mentioned this already, and I’m sure you are going to mention Cam Porter, because that’s a huge thing — what does Northwestern need to do to stifle this Indiana team on both sides of the ball?
BLAKE McQUEARY: So I think, since you brought up Cam Porter, absolutely need Porter back — like, that absolutely has to happen. I think, like I said, being in a bye week, having that break — he should be back, he should be healthy and that should do well for Northwestern’s run game. You gotta be efficient, and it starts with the run game — like, that is something that wears a defense down, that wears a team down, is having an efficient run game that you can lean on, especially when you’ve shown that you are struggling throwing the football.
And that brings me to my next point. Northwestern, absolutely, if there is one thing that they needed to do in that bye week, it is absolutely figuring out how to throw the football and how to throw it effectively. Honestly, at this point, I don’t care who’s at quarterback. I don’t care if it’s Mike Wright. I don’t care if it’s Jack Lausch. I don’t care — they absolutely need to throw the football, and I think Zach Lujan has to create the opportunities for whoever is at quarterback to be able to do that.
The reason why I don’t care who’s at quarterback (is) because you look at what Jack Lausch has done — especially the (Eastern) Illinois game, that second half, that’s great. (Football Championship Subdivision) team. In Washington, Big Ten team — this is who you’re playing now. It’s week five, week six — like, this is who you’re playing now. So Mike Wright, obviously, he got benched for making bad decisions, but he wasn’t scared to throw the football — like, he was not scared to throw the football. Jack Lausch cannot be scared to throw the football. And I think it starts with Lujan creating those opportunities as an offensive coordinator because he’s struggled. He has struggled big time. A lot of people are very, very mad at that decision to kick a field goal and not go for it on fourth down. They were in shotgun for what, three, four plays?
JAKE MOZARSKY: Four straight plays.
BLAKE McQUEARY: Four straight plays, and shotgun inside the five-yard line. Like, what? Why? Like, why? Why?
JAKE MOZARSKY: It was interesting. Lujan’s definitely — Zach Lujan, offensive coordinator — definitely on the hot seat. And it’s only going to get harder. They play a defense like Indiana, they play Iowa, who’s one of the best defenses in the country, Ohio State and Michigan — two of the top defenses in the Big Ten and nationally, and national championship contenders. You’ve got to design easy throws for your quarterback, Jack Lausch, because if you do see the vision of him being the starter, for not this year alone but for years to come, you have to get him acclimated to Big Ten play, because that is the slate for Northwestern. And so it starts with him.
And then second, I’m looking at Devin Turner, Braden Turner, Evan Smith, Theran Johnson, that entire secondary, because this Indiana air attack has been one of the best in the country without a doubt. And Northwestern has to play some man-on-man. Indiana is a really talented team, and defensive coordinator Tim McGarigle has not been afraid to play man-to-man so far. And I think that is a way to stifle this Indiana team a little because Northwestern does have some talent on the edges. And as the game went on against Washington, they figured it out. So I think that’s a big thing, and we’ll see what happens this Saturday.
And I think that leads us to our predictions. And I’ll let you start it off.
BLAKE McQUEARY: OK. You know, I really — I don’t love doing predictions until it’s like — until (Jake) Epstein’s texting my phone on Saturday morning, like, “Where are your forecasters at?”
JAKE MOZARSKY: Real.
BLAKE McQUEARY: I don’t love doing predictions, but obviously, you know, I have to do it for the pod. So I’m going to go Indiana 31, Northwestern — I’m going to go Northwestern 17. I’m going to go Northwestern 17. I think that Northwestern doesn’t necessarily figure it out on offense, but I think they get the ball rolling a little bit better than they have all year. Maybe not like they did in that second half against (Eastern) Illinois, but I think they get the ball rolling on offense. I think they utilize A.J. Henning. I think they utilize Bryce Kirtz. I think we could even see a little bit more of Calvin Johnson II. But, yeah, I’m going to go Indiana 31, Northwestern 17.
JAKE MOZARSKY: I like that. I think if Cam Porter’s back, Northwestern is going to be able to move the ball. My prediction is a bit more harsh. We’re going Indiana 38, Northwestern 14. I think Northwestern is going to be able to run the ball, whether it is Cam Porter, Joseph Himon II or Caleb Komolafe. Jack Lausch will start figuring things out or Mike Wright — no matter who’s in, whoever gives Northwestern the best chance to win ball games. But this Indiana team’s offense is way too good right now, and I think that is something to take into account. I think Northwestern is going to be able to stop them sometimes until Cignetti and the offense figures it out. But I think Northwestern takes a step forward in this game. I think they’re getting more acclimated to the Big Ten. The scoreline might not show that, but this Indiana team is a good team, and they are a Big Ten contender. They’re not the favorites, but they are a contender. And after this week, if they do beat the ’Cats, they’re going to clinch bowl eligibility, and I think Northwestern taking a step against them would be huge.
So yeah, and that is how we end it. So from The Daily Northwestern, I’m Jake Mozarsky. Thanks for listening (to) another episode of Cats Corner. This episode was reported by me and Blake McQueary. This episode was produced by Jacob Hare.
The Gameday editor of The Daily Northwestern is Jake Epstein. The audio editor is Edward Simon Cruz. The digital managing editors are Carlotta Angiolillo and Sasha Draeger-Mazer. The editor in chief is Jacob Wendler.
(Our theme music is “Take Your Shot” by Xennial, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License and provided by the Free Music Archive.)
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