Northwestern Wildcats (0-2) 2-3 at IOWA

Pat Fitzgerald and co. will look to slow down Kirk Ferentz’s high-powered offense this Saturday when they travel to Iowa City to take on the Hawkeyes.

Mike Hankwitz, the defensive coordinator for the Wildcats, is up for a tough challenge, though. Iowa is extremely talented with their skill position players and is looking to get back on track against Northwestern.

“From a talent standpoint, they’ve got playmakers on offense all over the place,” Fitzgerald notes.

Marcus Coker, the starting running back is an obvious point of focus for Fitzgerald if Northwestern wants to come out victorious.

“[Marcus] Coker, you look at how physical he is, and he runs behinds one of the best offensive lines in our conference,” Fitzgerald said.

It doesn’t have to stop with him however, as the receiving core is a well-polished group with some veteran presence, according to coach.

“I’m finally glad to see that Marvin McNutt is a senior, he’s been a dynamic playmaker in this league for a number of years.  I’m really impressed by Keenan Davis on the other side,” Fitzgerald said.

It doesn’t hurt that these guys have quarterback James Vandenberg throwing to them, as he is “executing at a high level,” according to Fitzgerald.

The Iowa defense isn’t any slouch either.

“They execute extremely well, they are fundamentally outstanding,” Fitzgerald said. “Their linebackers fit, [they know] where they’re supposed to be, when they’re supposed to be there,” Fitzgerald goes on to say.

Some strong words from Coach Fitzgerald, a former linebacker himself for the Wildcats.

He received Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year honors twice, while winning the Bronko Nagurski Trophy, as well as being honored with the Chuck Bednarik award.

On senior Iowa corner, Shaun Prater, Fitzgerald mentioned that he is “arguably one of the best corners in this conference.”

Do not count out the man opposite him, Micah Hyde, who had an interception returned for a touchdown last year against Mizzou in the Insight Bowl, and who is starting to receive valuable mentions from the coaching staff.

The safeties, although young, are working their way up to a high level, as well.

“Two new safeties back there, but they understand their scheme extremely well.”

With all of these defensive playmakers, it will be quite the task for Junior Wildcat quarterback Dan Persa, who is looking to build off of his last weekends performance against Michigan, where he was shut down in the second half.

Overall, it looks to be a good matchup, and it sure has Fitz pumped, who had some exciting thoughts.

“It’s ‘gonna be rockin’.”

Michigan (2-0) 6-0 at Michigan State

First year head coach Brady Hoke has his squad in good position thus far in the season, but he notes that it does not stop here. There must be improvements for the Wolverines, particularly on the defensive side of the ball.

“Every week it gets a little tougher,” Hoke said..  “We can’t play the first half of football like we did a week ago, obviously, when you turn the ball over, and your defense gives up some big plays.”

However, Coach Hoke seems to be just as concerned with Michigan State’s defense, as he is his own. A defensive line coach by trade, Hoke is very impressed with what he seen in them. Hoke talked about how talented they really are.

Raving about them, Hoke noted, “The way they attack the line of scrimmage, the way they get off blocks, their fundamentals and techniques.”

“I just think they’ve got a lot of depth there,” Hoke goes on to say.  “They’ve got guys who are play makers and can really be disruptive”

However, Coach Hoke wants to keep an eye on his star quarterback, Denard Robinson, who had yet another spectacular day on the ground last week against Northwestern, rushing for 117 yards on 25 carries, while scoring on two of them.

It is vital for Robinson, who has taken a few hits this season, to stay healthy if the Wolverines want to keep winning.

“You are always concerned on a daily basis.  The way we practice he’s going to get bumped around a bit,” Hoke said.  However, coach did not question his guy’s toughness.

“He’s a pretty tough guy, he’s got a great mentality about the game of football.

Robinson will look to rebound against his poor passing performance, particularly in the first half as he threw three less than pretty interceptions that almost cost them the game.

Nebraska (1-1) 5-1 BYE

With a bye week scheduled for the Cornhuskers, coach Bo Pelini isn’t complaining, coming off a 34-27 win against Big Ten rival, Ohio State.

“Were getting a little bit of rest, getting some extra work in [to get ready for Minnesota],” he said.

While a win against a team like Ohio State is always nice, what was particularly impressive was how Nebraska played during those final two quarters of that game to get their first Big Ten win.

The Cornhuskers scored 28 points in 21 minutes to overcome the Buckeyes. Although impressive, coach Pelini says that they need to do more.

“You got to get more consistent, I’ve been saying that all along,” Peleni said.  “It’s been a guy here, a guy there.”.

However, it isn’t just the other team that coach is worried about.

“We’ve been our own worst enemy at times,” he said.

Although receiving strong play from his quarterback, Taylor Martinez, who was named Big Ten Offensive Player of the week, it doesn’t have to stop there, Pelini noted.

“I think there is a lot more out there for this football team,” he said.

A win over Ohio State was a good start, but the team will need to build off of it on the 22^nd of this month, when they travel to Minnesota.

Michigan State (1-0) 4-1 vs Michigan

After a bye week, coach Mark Dantonio and his team are eager to get back on the field to face first-year head coach Brady Hoke and his Michigan Wolverines.

Coach Dantonio noted how the bye week did his team good, particularly his younger players.

“I think time spent, that we spend in any kind of practice is going to improve our football team, especially our young players,” coach said.  “It obviously has helped.”

Last year, the Spartans were able to do a good job containing impact Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson. However, with a new year, it’s just another challenge.

“He presents numerous problems for you,” Dantonio said.  “How do you stop him? You’ve got to tackle well in space, if he gets on the run you have to cover well down field.”

“This year’s a new year, so we’ve got to make sure we’ve got great attention to detail and that were responsibility oriented, in terms of everybody has to handle their job,” Dantonio goes on to say.”

It will be a tough task for Michigan State, as it is for any team to defend the electrifying quarterback.

The two teams are set to face off Saturday at noon in East Lansing.

Iowa (0-1) 3-2 vs. Northwestern

Coming off a conference loss last week against Penn State, coach Kirk Ferentz and his crew look to rebound this Saturday against Northwestern, but realize it won’t be an easy job.

“We had a tough game on Saturday, our first Big Ten game against Penn State,” coach said.  “[They] outplayed us, basically on all three areas, so were coming off a tough loss and got a lot of work to do getting ready for Northwestern this week, another tough task for us,” Ferentz said.

On the challenges his team will face this week taking on Northwestern, coach Ferentz spoke highly of what Pat Fitzgerald and his team have been able to do against Iowa in recent years.

“They’ve played very well on defense against us, through the years, last three years certainly,” coach said.

It does not stop there, however, as Mick McCall, the offensive coordinator for NU as well as quarterbacks coach, has done an excellent job assembling his squad, with senior Dan Persa leading the charge.

“Their offense is tough to prepare for, it’s a high tempo offense, they execute extremely well.  Dan Persa is one of the outstanding performers in our conference.  They present a lot of challenges for you.”

Persa, who has played in just two games thus far this season due to injury, already has racked up four touchdowns with just one interception and a completion percentage of 72.4.  These are numbers that defensive tackle Mike Daniels, and the rest of the Iowa defense will look to slow down come Saturday.

Minnesota (0-2) 1-5 BYE

Going into their bye week, Minnesota will look to take the next step in improving their youthful team, as Coach Jerry Kill acknowledges that it is going to be a learning process, and that there will be some growing pains.

“We are a young football team, and a football team that has got to continue to get better.  We’ve had our share of struggles, and in some ways knew we would have some of them,” Kill said.  “Right now, we make a lot of mistakes, don’t understand the basics of football.”

However, Kill does realize that all of the weight is not just on the players; it is on himself as well as the rest of his staff.

“We just got to do a better job coaching, that’s the bottom line.  We’ll move forward, the off week is probably good for us to get some things straightened out, and try to get better, and that’s all you can do from a week to week basis.”

Although this team is young and still learning, there are some bright spots giving fans a lot of hope for the future.

Macus Jones is one of those spots. Jones, who was originally going to play for Northern Illinois under Kill, is extremely versatile at the young age of 18, playing wide receiver as well as returning kicks.

When Kill took the head coaching job for Minnesota, Jones quickly followed, graduating early to enroll at Minnesota to participate in spring practice.  Don’t let his young age fool you, though.  This up and coming star also has a 3.6 GPA, and is the exact model that Kill and his staff are looking for.

“Not a big guy, 170, 175 pounds but he’s got a lot of speed, he’s a great competitor, and he’s learning,” Kill said.  “He’s got big play ability, and he’s learning each week.  He’s a bright spot in the program that were trying to build.  Those are the type of kids and athletic skill that we want,” Kill goes on to say.

Next week Marcus Jones will try to show off that athletic ability when Minnesota plays host to new Big Ten rival, Nebraska.