Good morning. Welcome to the Inside NUsletter dedicated to making sure you’re up-to-date on everything heading into the 2020 Northwestern football season.
What’s inside this special edition? Well, we’ve conveniently compiled all of our summer/preseason content in one place, so that’s a start. We’ve also included all of our game week coverage to date, where you can read up on Maryland and other information about Northwestern’s plans for the 2020 season.
Finally, we’ve run a couple cool stories this week. Claire Kuwana wrote about TJ Green’s return from injury as a sixth-year senior, and editor-in-chief Eli Karp took a deep dive into what’s made head coach Pat Fitzgerald a success story in Evanston. That story doesn’t go live until later this morning, but since you subscribe to the Inside NUsletter, you get a sneak peek at a portion of it.
Catch yourself up
For a long time, we weren’t sure if we’d get here. The Big Ten announced the postponement of the fall sports season on August 11, and a month of rumors and reports surfaced before the conferenced eventually reversed course and announced the resumption of the football season on September 19 with an eight-game, conference-only slate.
There’s no guarantee this all works, especially with no bye weeks built into the schedule, but the Big Ten is giving it their best shot. For that we are grateful.
Not brushed up on who will be taking the field for the ‘Cats on Saturday evening? No worries, we’ve got a full thread of position previews. This thread also includes our staffers’ opinions on Northwestern’s best and worst position groups, as well as the position battles to watch this season.
Some notable position battles include defensive end, where Earnest Brown IV, Eku Leota, and Adetomiwa Adebawore will seek to fill the voids left by Joe Gaziano and Samdup Miller. On the offensive side of the ball, Peyton Ramsey won the quarterback competition, while graduate transfer John Raine battled a number of competitors for the tight end (not superback) role.
We counted down Northwestern’s roster from 99 (Earnest Brown IV) to 0 (Raine) with a quick player preview for each member of the 2020 iteration of the Wildcats.
Staffers also ranked their ten most important players for the upcoming season. Here’s the composite list along with a thread of comprehensive previews for each player:
Quarterback (Peyton Ramsey)
Paddy Fisher
Rashawn Slater (opted out)
Isaiah Bowser
Greg Newsome II
Samdup Miller (opted out)
Riley Lees
Kyric McGowan
Blake Gallagher/J.R. Pace
Earnest Brown IV
(Here’s a quick read into how the defense may look without Miller and safety Travis Whillock, who also opted out).
With so many newcomers and a global pandemic presenting plenty of obstacles and intrigue for the ‘Cats, here are the five biggest questions facing Pat Fitzgerald’s squad this upcoming season. No. 1, of course, is “How will COVID impact this season?”
Shifting away from Northwestern, our staffers wrote a whole set of articles covering each of the Wildcats’ adversaries in the annual Know Your Opponent series.
Our staffers also ranked each opponent by winnability. Unsurprisingly, they ranked the likes of Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa low on the scale while at a consensus putting this week’s opponent Maryland at number eight.
Eli Karp and Jacob Brown each provided us with three reasons to be optimistic and pessimistic, respectively, about NU this season.
Finally, we reach the roundtables. Staffers discussed what constitutes a successful season, which player will break out this season (Malik Washington and Eku Leota were two popular picks), what the biggest concern for the ‘Cats will be this season, which Northwestern uniform is the best (the Gothics, obviously), among others.
We can’t forget our season predictions, either. Staffers projected records from 2-6 to 6-2, but the majority fell in the 4-4/5-3 range. Want to dream of winning big cash during this most unpredictable season? Resident betting analyst Avery Zimmerman analyzes some season-long odds for NU, as well as a bonus bet for Week One.
Game week coverage
Here’s everything we’ve done this week leading up to gameday. There’s plenty more to come today and tomorrow, but this is a good starting point.
On Monday, Fitz released the Week 1 depth chart right before his weekly press conference. Here were the key takeaways
Peyton Ramsey is, not shockingly, QB1 (no OR)
True freshman Peter Skoronski will start at left tackle. The hype for the fourth-best recruit in program history is real.
Redshirt freshman Brandon Joseph earned the second starting safety spot next to JR Pace following last week’s announcement that Travis Whillock was opting out. There was some thought that junior Bryce Jackson, who’s seen some playing time before, might get the nod. But that could change throughout the season.
We then wrote three things you need to know about Maryland, as well as three matchups to watch.
Yesterday, we got into our typical Wednesday coverage, which will feature Big Ten football power rankings every week as well as Where are we Wednesday, a piece that makes sense of where NU is in the season.
Eli, of course, wrote a piece Monday about how NU has been managing COVID from an operations standpoint. It gives some insight about the consideration going into planning road trips as well as practice and game logistics. A couple select details about Saturday’s game:
The Wildcats will do most of their pregame routine at Ryan Fieldhouse/Walter Athletics Center and arrive at Ryan Field about 65 minutes prior to kick, as opposed to 2.5 hours.
Half of the team will dress in the locker room, while the other half will use the Welsh-Ryan Arena lobby as a locker room. It should make for an interesting halftime speech from Fitz should he need to give one.
Finally, we talked to sister SB Nation blog Testudo Times to learn about the Terps from a home perspective, and then we wrote about the reasons NU either will or won’t beat Maryland.
Features!
It’s the first game week, which means it’s feature time.
TJ Green played an integral part of Northwestern’s offense at the beginning of 2018 when Clayton Thorson was finishing his recovery from a torn ACL. He nearly won the starting job last year before suffering a season-ending foot injury at Stanford as NU tried to mount a scoring drive. Now, he’s back for a sixth year, knowing he could be called upon at any moment.
Now with TJ being the one on the field, his family remains a big part of his football career. Trent also struggled with injuries. In 1999, he suffered a season-ending knee injury in a preseason game with Washington and then had two severe concussions later in his career. TJ said that experience has allowed his dad to provide advice and reassurance throughout the recovery process – he warned him there would be days where he felt great, but also days where he wanted to give up.
“I broke down a couple times,” Green said. “It happens. It’s a really tough thing to go through recovering from something like this. Thankfully, it was around people that I loved… [my dad] was there to help me through that process and talk me through it. He’s always been in my corner and had my back. And he knows how hard I’ve worked to get a scholarship and then through this whole rehab process.”
Not only has his father Trent been a big part of his recovery, but Green’s brother Derek has helped as well by training with him during the early part of the pandemic. The three of them, all quarterbacks, practiced in a park behind their home in Kansas City so they could continue to run drills even when all the public fields were closed. Being home and training together again meant the two brothers got to do again what they do best: compete.
“We compete in everything we do. It was few and far between when I would get the upper hand on anything, but when I did, TJ didn’t enjoy it. And I never enjoyed listening to him either. So it just really forced us both to always be on our A-game,” said Derek, who plays at SMU.
Here’s a look at part of Eli’s feature on Fitz as he approaches his 100th win. He interviewed an all-star cast of Northwestern football sources, from the head coach himself to Green Bay Packers defensive end Dean Lowry to ESPN personality Mike Greenberg. The full story drops later this morning.
Listening may be what helps him connect with his players and form trust, but it’s also a critical part of his teaching, former players say. It’s helped him maximize talent into production and execute his vision, which is a program that personifies the same doggedness, physicality and smarts he showed as a player. At the center of it all, unsurprisingly, are the linebackers.
Some of the best players to come through Evanston under Fitzgerald have been in the center of the defense. Indianapolis Colts linebacker Anthony Walker Jr. said he used to have one-on-one meetings with Fitz all the time, just trying to learn the game from someone who he aspired to be. In Walker’s final two seasons, he recorded over 225 tackles (including 29 tackles for loss), six sacks, seven forced fumbles, two interceptions and nine passes defended, earning two selections to All-Big Ten teams and third-team All-America honors in 2015.
Former quarterback Dan Persa said Fitz has that credibility that’s paramount to the player-coach relationship from his two Big Ten titles, two Defensive Player of the Year awards and two consensus All-America honors.
“There’s no better teacher out there,” said senior linebacker Paddy Fisher. “The wisdom and the golden nuggets he has to offer to linebackers especially is second to none. I really enjoy picking his brain and seeing what he has to offer.”
Fisher himself has been compared to his coach at times during his career in Evanston. The tackling machine earned All-America and All-Big Ten honors in both 2017 and 2018, racking up 229 takedowns and forcing eight fumbles.
“The thing with many coaches who were great players is they have a hard time explaining to a player how to do something,” said Bates, who is now the defensive coordinator at Pittsburgh. “They more or less tell them to do it. I believe Coach Fitzgerald has a great ability to verbalize and explain himself so that a person can understand it and get a clear explanation for what he’s talking about.”
Editors’ Picks
First, we’ve got a special guest picker who will be with us all season long. None other than the founder of Sippin’ On Purple (the site that became Inside NU) and current writer for The Ringer, Rodger Sherman.
Rodger’s Pick: Maryland 17, Northwestern 10
I actually am excited about this Northwestern football season! But am I more confident in Northwestern to cast off its Leftover McCall Energy, or in the Tagovailoa family to continue succeeding in every possible way? Tagovailoas, 100 percent of the time.
Lia Assimakopoulos: Northwestern 24, Maryland 17
If all goes as planned, the ‘Cats should start the season 1-0 with a win over the Terps. While both teams are facing uncertainty with new players stepping in due to some key departures or opt outs, Peyton Ramsey should be able to pick apart the depleted Maryland secondary while NU’s defense — which currently ranks sixth in SP+ — should shut down whoever starts under center even without Travis Whillock and Samdup Miller. While 11 points seems like an overly generous margin of victory, NU should start its season on a high note nonetheless.
Eli Karp: Northwestern 27, Maryland 19
I doubt it will be easy, because this is Northwestern we’re talking about, and it’s 2020. But who knows, maybe the weirdness of this year plus a new offense will prove me wrong. Anyway, NU should be able to run the ball without much resistance against an inexperienced front seven of Maryland, and I think that opens things up for Peyton Ramsey to have a solid, but not spectacular day — say 220 passing yards and 1 TD. I’m a little concerned about the talent of the Terrapins’ air attack, especially with reports of a Greg Newsome injury. This now-youthful defense will need to grow up quickly, but I think it’s up to the task and holds Maryland to enough field goals in the red zone.
Colin Kruse: Northwestern 14, Maryland 10
Most likely, both squads will come out of the gate sloppy, but the ‘Cats defense, despite the absences of Samdup Miller and Travis Whillock, will show up and stifle the Terps offense. I expect big days from the linebacking corps of Paddy Fisher, Blake Gallagher, and Chris Bergin. On the other side of the ball, Peyton Ramsey will do just enough to get Northwestern over the finish line. Graduate-transfer punter Derek Adams will have a big day and tilt the field position battle in the favor of Pat Fitzgerald’s squad. It might be raw, ugly, and unattractive, but the ‘Cats should have enough to get this one in the bag (emphasis on should).
Daniel Olinger: Northwestern 24, Maryland 20
Games early in the college football season get weird quite often if there isn’t a huge discrepancy in talent between the two squads facing off. Just take a look at how Maryland kicked off their 2019 season — smacking down Syracuse 63-20 only to fall to Temple 17-20 the next week. Heck, just look at the ‘Cats, whose 2018 Big Ten Championship (appearance) run included a 39-34 loss to Akron in week three. The zany nature of college football will only be exacerbated by getting into inter-conference play right off the bat, and thus, I’m predicting a tight, close win for the ‘Cats over a team that they should usually beat by two touchdowns.
Mac Stone: Northwestern 28, Maryland 21
What are the odds the ‘Cats put up 28 points in a new offensive system with a new QB in their season opener? Probably slim. However, I really like what both Mike Bajakian and Peyton Ramsey bring to the table. They’ve both said they work really well together. I’m excited to see it. Northwestern’s defense is, like always, extremely solid (sixth in S&P+ rankings, as Lia mentioned). However, I wouldn’t be surprised to see them come out a bit sloppy to begin the game, especially without the likes of Whillock and Miller. ‘Cats will take this one, but Maryland covers the spread.
Full staff picks: Northwestern-Maryland Predictions
Good Tweets
You’re getting a full dose of Big Ten football tweets to prime you for this weekend.
FINALLY, and the most important tweet of all, is from Northwestern safety JR Pace. It’s easy to forget about everything going on in our country when you turn on the TV to watch football, but Pace delivers a moving plea for racial equality and justice in his video titled “If You Cheer Us, Hear Us.” We can’t support Black athletes on the field and not support them off it.
Make sure you’re subscribed to the Inside NUsletter as we’ll have anything and everything Northwestern/Big Ten football covered in the coming months. Give us your questions, comments, suggestion, compliments, good Tweets and everything else by emailing us at insidenu@gmail.com. Have tips, article ideas and more? Hit us up.
See you next week.
Written by Colin Kruse and Eli Karp.