Northwestern Wildcats 2010 Season Preview/Prediction
The College Football season may be 6-7 weeks away but our man Kyle Hunter has been deep in study and will provide his take and 2010 College Football Predictions on as many NCAA teams as he can before the 2010/11 season kicks off.
We start from the top and move our way down so keep checking in for more college football previews for the 2010-2011 NCAA Football Season!
2010 NCAA Football Predictions – Teams | Analysis | Previews Online
Big Ten 2010-2011 Football Previews: Northwestern Wildcats
Coach: Pat Fitzgerald
2009 Record: 8-5
Northwestern Gambling Odds from Sportsbook.com to win BCS: +10,000
The Northwestern Wildcats have quietly turned their program around nicely over the last few years. Pat Fitzgerald was a great linebacker in his days as a Wildcat, and now he is proving his worth as a head coach for Northwestern.
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The spread offense has been executed a little better each year that the Wildcats have run it, and the rest of the Big Ten is still trying to figure out how to stop it. The rest of the conference won’t be surprised by Northwestern as much as it used to be, so it will be up to the Wildcats to continue to improve in all areas of the game.
Mike Kafka led the Big Ten in total offense and passing yards last year, but he is gone. 
The Wildcats will turn to a new starting quarterback, likely Dan Persa, to continue running their spread offense. Persa is a nice running threat and you can expect to see the 2010 Wildcats run more often than last year’s team.
Team Strengths:
The Wildcats return all of their offensive starters except for Kafka and their two starting wide receivers. The line should be much better and I would expect to see this team be much more effective running the football. Persa should fare well as a spread quarterback and wide receiver Jeremy Ebert has stepped up in spring practices on the outside.
The front seven of the Wildcat defense should be extremely athletic and tough to keep out of the backfield this year. They have two senior linebackers in Quentin Davie and Nate Williams who are all over the field and are good against both the run and the pass. The front four should be able to put quite a bit of pressure on the quarterback by themselves, which will keep the pressure off the secondary.
Team Weaknesses:
While Persa should handle the spread offense well and the running game will be improved, the passing game will go from a strength to a weakness. Persa likely won’t provide much of a deep ball threat and the wide receivers will need to prove themselves.
The secondary took a hard hit with the loss of Sherrick McManis at the corner spot, and both starting safeties from a year ago. The Wildcats secondary could be susceptible against both the run and the pass this year.
2010-2011 Northwestern Football Prediction: 7-6
The Wildcats are fortunate enough to avoid Ohio State this year, but the schedule is still far from simple. The key game could well be the first Big Ten game of the year at Minnesota. If the Wildcats are going to go bowling again this year, they need to beat a team like Minnesota. The defense will need to step up this year, since the offense isn’t likely to roll up the yardage it did a year ago.
I expect this team to finish somewhere in the middle of the pack in the Big Ten.
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