{"id":3647,"date":"2025-11-14T18:49:04","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T18:49:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/11\/14\/behind-enemy-lines-northwestern\/"},"modified":"2025-11-14T18:49:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T18:49:08","slug":"behind-enemy-lines-northwestern","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/11\/14\/behind-enemy-lines-northwestern\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind Enemy Lines: Northwestern"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><em>The No. 18 Michigan football team is done with its second bye week and heading into what Wolverines coach Sherrone Moore calls the \u2018third quarter\u2019 of the season, with the optimistic expectation that Michigan will continue playing into the College Football Playoff.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>To make the playoff, the Wolverines need to win their remaining three regular season matchups \u2014 that starts with Northwestern at Wrigley Field. The Wildcats are also playing with heightened stakes; at 5-4, they\u2019re one win away from qualifying for a bowl game.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Ahead of Saturday\u2019s matchup, The Michigan Daily spoke with Anna Watson, <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/dailynorthwestern.com\/\"><em>The Daily Northwestern\u2019s<\/em><\/a><em> Gameday Editor.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1    \">\n<style><![CDATA[@media ( min-width: 300px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-1{min-height: 250px;}}@media ( min-width: 728px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-1{min-height: 90px;}}]]><\/style>\n<\/aside>\n<p><strong>Evaluate Preston Stone through nine games. What does he do well, what does he do poorly?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>So pros, he has that veteran mindset, that veteran leadership. He brought SMU to the summit. He was just one game away after breaking his leg, he had to go watch Kevin Jennings do it. So it\u2019s there, the pieces are there.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But he\u2019s struggled to put it together at times. At times he\u2019ll miss throws and they result in interceptions. He throws into places he shouldn\u2019t really be throwing into, and that\u2019s when Northwestern gets into trouble, when he throws multiple interceptions in a game that\u2019s when Northwestern loses. Every game except USC, where he\u2019s thrown multiple interceptions, Northwestern has lost. So the big thing for Michigan is going to be creating turnovers, and for Northwestern, it\u2019s going to be, how do we limit turnovers for Stone.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What goes into Northwestern\u2019s tackling troubles, and how are the Wildcats addressing that?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>They haven\u2019t really said anything about how they\u2019re addressing it. They had 16 missed tackles against USC and 17 against Nebraska, and that\u2019s a problem. We saw those problems earlier in the season, and when Northwestern found its groove and was getting to that five-win mark and the wheels were churning, the defense got strong. And it\u2019s easy to say that in that stretch, Northwestern didn\u2019t play the highest caliber of opponents.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-2    \">\n<style><![CDATA[@media ( min-width: 300px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-2{min-height: 250px;}}@media ( min-width: 728px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-2{min-height: 90px;}}]]><\/style>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Specifically against USC, just a ton of talent in the quarterback position with quarterback Jayden Maiava, the wide receiver position with Makai Lemon and Ja\u2019Kobi Lane. That just caught them off guard. There were a lot of times against Nebraska where we struggled to make tackles, that would\u2019ve had plays stop with short gains but they turned into bigger plays. That was more of just like, \u2018Come on, what are we doing?\u2019 Against USC, it was having these open-field opportunities against these super athletes that, quite frankly, Northwestern, doesn\u2019t bring in talent like that quite often. That\u2019s a big reason why that\u2019s happening.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A part of it is also that that defense has been banged up, especially that secondary, pieces coming in and out. Every week it\u2019s like, \u2018Who\u2019s going to play?\u2019 So that also plays a role in it.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Running back Cam Porter goes down early in the season and Caleb Komolafe steps up, what does he do well as a rusher?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s fun to watch. He\u2019s super smart. That big run he broke against Nebraska, you see him just be super patient behind the line, wait for the hole to open up and then just take off. That explosiveness is super helpful. And another thing is, I feel like there hasn\u2019t been a game, at least that I can think of this season, where I\u2019ve been like, \u2018Man, Komolafe has been off, or Komolafe isn\u2019t having a good day.\u2019 He\u2019s just been super consistent when the passing offense hasn\u2019t been consistent, he\u2019s been someone that they can really rely on.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s also had a great partnership with Joseph Himon, who didn\u2019t see the field against USC. He was dealing with a little injury, coach David Braun said he was hopeful that he\u2019d go Saturday, but that\u2019s been a really nice partnership as well, and Northwestern\u2019s really been missing that explosive, strong and smart running back. Porter\u2019s obviously got a wealth of experience, but I don\u2019t know if he\u2019s ever been as explosive as I\u2019ve seen Komolafe be.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-3    \">\n<style><![CDATA[@media ( min-width: 300px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-3{min-height: 250px;}}@media ( min-width: 728px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-3{min-height: 90px;}}]]><\/style>\n<\/aside>\n<p><strong>Northwestern has a really solid, balanced offensive line. Who stands out on that line, and why?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s been a lot of stars on that line. Caleb Tiernan, the left tackle, is probably the flashiest piece. There\u2019s been lots of buzz around him. He\u2019s expected to be that leader that has been around for a while, and he\u2019s just really solid.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But our center, Jackson Carsello, has probably made one of the most impressive jumps on this line. He\u2019s been one of the best centers around, definitely in the Big Ten, maybe in the nation. This whole season, he\u2019s gotten lots of national recognition. He\u2019s very balanced in his game, in the run blocking and the pass blocking game. He doesn\u2019t let Preston Stone get hit a lot. And I really don\u2019t think people expected Carsello to come out and make this big of an impact, and he\u2019s really been one of these stronger pieces on the line.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Offensively, how do you expect Northwestern to approach this game?<\/strong><strong\/><\/p>\n<p>I know Michigan has got a good run defense, but I still think everything Northwestern is going to do is about establishing the run, especially when you have a guy like Komolafe, who\u2019s really been the engine of the offense. They\u2019re gonna try to get Griffin Wilde more involved, he\u2019s really their strongest piece in the wide receiver room.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-4    \">\n<style><![CDATA[@media ( min-width: 300px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-4{min-height: 250px;}}]]><\/style>\n<\/aside>\n<p>But it\u2019s gonna start with Komolafe, and then it\u2019s gonna be like, \u2018Okay, can we get Stone going? Can we get some of these short completions going?\u2019 We saw a lot of screen passes to receiver Drew Wagner against USC, \u2018Can we get Stone to get comfortable? Can we get them to get these short yardages?\u2019 And then we\u2019ll start opening it up. We\u2019ll start maybe seeing if we can move Wilde around, and then if they stick to Wilde like glue, see what wide receiver Hayden Eligon is doing. So that\u2019s kind of the order of operations Northwestern is going to have to go through.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The game\u2019s at Wrigley Field. Is that exciting to Northwestern coaches or players? Are they talking about that? What do you expect the fan turnout and distribution to be?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I asked Braun about this on Monday. He downplayed it, so they\u2019re trying to downplay it because they\u2019ve played there the past few seasons and they\u2019ve experienced playing there. But in terms of fan turnout, Braun was like, \u2018This is just like any home game for us, this is like any home game.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In reality, it\u2019s really going to be more like a Michigan home game. I would expect to see more blue and yellow in the stands than purple. It\u2019s going to be loud for the Michigan fans. It\u2019s gonna be tricky for Northwestern in that environment. But there\u2019s a good amount of students who will come out, but it\u2019s obviously hard for students to get tickets to this kind of game. I\u2019d expect a good Michigan turnout and some loud Michigan cheers when Northwestern\u2019s on the field.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Finally, do you have a score prediction?<\/strong><\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-5    \">\n<style><![CDATA[@media ( min-width: 300px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-5{min-height: 250px;}}]]><\/style>\n<\/aside>\n<p>24-14, Michigan.<\/p>\n<aside>\n<div class=\"newspack-popup-container newspack-popup hidden  newspack-inline-popup      \" role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" style=\"background-color:#FFFFFF;color:#000\" id=\"id_162162\" data-segments=\"\" data-frequency=\"0,0,0,month\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Please consider donating to The Michigan Daily<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p><h3 class=\"jp-relatedposts-headline\"><em>Related articles<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The No. 18 Michigan football team is done with its second bye week and heading into what Wolverines coach Sherrone Moore calls the \u2018third quarter\u2019 of the season, with the optimistic expectation that Michigan will continue playing into the College Football Playoff.\u00a0 To make the playoff, the Wolverines need to win their remaining three regular [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3648,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[2802,2803,3643],"class_list":{"0":"post-3647","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-enemy","9":"tag-lines","10":"tag-northwestern"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3647"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3647\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3649,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3647\/revisions\/3649"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}