How to Follow
Watch on BTN:
Action will be televised on BTN with Jeff Levering (play-by-play), Jake Butt (analyst) and Brooke Fletcher (sideline reporter) the call. Direct Link to Watch Online (Sign-In with TV Provider)Listen on WGN Radio 720: The Voice of the Wildcats, Dave Eanet, returns for his 35th season calling Northwestern Football. Eanet will be joined on the call by 31st-year analyst Ted Albrecht, along with Lauren Withrow on the sideline. The broadcast can also be heard on SiriusXM Channel 161/195.
Direct Link to Listen Online
Follow In-Game Updates (NUFBFamily): Stay tuned to Northwestern Football’s Twitter and Instagram channels for live highlights, photos, and reactions throughout Friday’s contest.
Five Things to Know
- Northwestern is .500 at the halfway mark of the season for the second straight year behind a defensive performance that limited Maryland to their fewest points in College Park since 2019. The Wildcats forced four turnovers (17 points off turnovers) and won the turnover margin 4-0, while scoring a season-high 37 points. DB Damon Walters intercepted a pass, while LB Mac Uihlein, LB Grayson Metz and DL Carmine Bastone forced a fumble. Bastone, a former walk-on and team captain who played in his first game of the season due to injury, recorded a strip-sack which resulted in a fumble returned for a touchdown by DL Aidan Hubbard.
- K/P Luke Akers was named Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week for the second time in his career as he went 3-for-3 on field goals, 4-for-4 on point after tries and averaged 49.2 yards per punt with a long of 58 yards and two downed inside the 20. He is the first kicker in the country since at least 1996 to convert 100% of FG attempts (min. 3 attempts), 100% of point after tries and average 49+ yards per punt while also attempting their first career field goal in the same game. He drilled a 43-yard field goal on his first career attempt, and later concerted two field goals of 38 yards.
“I’ve never seen anything like it.”
? Kickoffs
? Punting
? Field GoalsSpecial Teams Weapon: @LukeAkers1 pic.twitter.com/1yzen0zwLB
— Northwestern Football (@NUFBFamily) October 15, 2024
- QB Jack Lausch completed 10-of-18 passes for 203 yards, while rushing eight times for 24 yards and a rushing score in the win at Maryland. He is the first Northwestern QB to throw for 200+ yards on 10 or fewer completions since at least 1996, with the closest being Nick Kreinbrink on Sept. 11, 1999, when he completed 11 passes for 220 yards in a 17-7 win over TCU and RB LaDainian Tomlinson at Ryan Field.
- Graduate wide receiver Bryce Kirtz leads the team and ranks 11th in the Big Ten recording 391 receiving yards this season on 25 catches (15.6 ypc). Kirtz has recorded 100+ receiving yards in back-to-back games for the first time in his career, tying his career-high with 10 receptions for 128 yards against No. 23 Indiana (Oct. 5), and produced 123 yards on just three catches the next week in a win at Maryland (Oct. 11). He is the first Northwestern receiver to post back-to-back 100+ yard games since Stephan Robinson in 2021 (116 at Nebraska, 115 vs. Rutgers). Against Maryland, he became the first Northwestern receiver since at least 1996 to post 100+ receiving yards on three or fewer catches.
Big Play BK. pic.twitter.com/4eo6rlfl4Z
— Northwestern Football (@NUFBFamily) October 13, 2024 - Northwestern ranks ninth nationally in rushing yards allowed per game (87.5). The ‘Cats have allowed 525 total rushing yards this year, their fewest over the season’s first six games since at least 2000. Opponents are averaging just 2.9 yards per carry, Northwestern’s fewest over the season’s first six games since at least 2000.
Up Next: Northwestern begins a two-game road swing next weekend as it travels to Iowa for a 2:30 p.m. CT on Saturday, Oct. 26, which will air on BTN and WGN Radio 720.
