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Duke Football: Scouting the Northwestern Wildcats

By Kevin Connelly

WEST LAFAYETTE, IN - AUGUST 30: Clayton Thorson #18 of the Northwestern Wildcats celebrates with his teammates after a game against the Purdue Boilermakers at Ross-Ade Stadium on August 30, 2018 in West Lafayette, Indiana. Northwestern won 31-27. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
WEST LAFAYETTE, IN - AUGUST 30: Clayton Thorson #18 of the Northwestern Wildcats celebrates with his teammates after a game against the Purdue Boilermakers at Ross-Ade Stadium on August 30, 2018 in West Lafayette, Indiana. Northwestern won 31-27. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
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As Week 2 of the college football season gets closer, it’s time to get to know the next opponent Duke Football will face in the Northwestern Wildcats.

It’s time for Duke Football to start its road schedule and it starts with the Northwestern Wildcats on Saturday afternoon.

The Wildcats are coming off of a major win against Big Ten Conference foe Purdue on the road on Friday night and Northwestern punched Purdue in the mouth from the opening kickoff.

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Northwestern took a 31-17 lead into halftime and despite not scoring in the second half, the Wildcats hung onto defeat the Boilermakers 31-27.

In fact, Northwestern has won nine straight games dating back to last season.

Going into the Northwestern game, Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald had a decision to make about who is starting quarterback would be and he opted to star Clayton Thorson, while still playing T.J. Green, the son of former NFL quarterback Trent Green.

Both players performed well in the victory as Thorson completed 16 of his 26 passes for 172 yards and Green completed seven of his 11 throws for 63 yards as well as rushing for a touchdown.

As Thorson saw most of the action in the second half for Northwestern, it’s safe to assume that he will receive most of the reps on Saturday afternoon for Northwestern against Duke.

The biggest weapons on the outside for the Northwestern quarterbacks were wide receivers Flynn Nagel and Cameron Green.

Nagel caught five passes for 85 yards while Green also hauled in five passes for 50 yards.

However, the biggest threat of the Northwestern offense came out of the backfield in running back Jeremy Larkin who carried the ball 26 times for 143 yards and two touchdowns.

With a tough defense to go along with their offense, Pat Fitzgerald has a very good team up in Illinois and the Blue Devils will have their hands full on Saturday.

Stay tuned to Ball Durham for more coverage on Saturday afternoon’s game between Duke and Northwestern. 

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