Football team prepares for 1st conference road game against No. 22 Northwestern

Each week, there's a new buzz in the world of Big Ten football. Last week, it was the conference office admitting the referees missed some crucial calls in Michigan's victory against Illinois. Two weeks ago, the buzz was Penn State's unlikely1-4 start.\nThis week, it's No. 22 Northwestern's surprising start, and at 11 a.m. Saturday at Ryan Field in Evanston, Ill., IU (2-2, 1-0 Big Ten) gets to experience what the new hype is all about.\nNorthwestern (4-1, 2-0) comes off consecutive road wins at Michigan State and Wisconsin. Both the Badgers and Spartans were ranked in the top 20 when the Wildcats pulled of their two upsets. \nThe Wildcats defeated the then-No. 7 Badgers 47-44 in double-overtime. Northwestern recorded 544 yards -- its highest total in 15 years -- against Wisconsin's defense. \nAfter two weeks of Big Ten play, the Wildcats' two conference victories are twice as many as they had last season. Northwestern has already surpassed last season's overall win total. The Wildcats finished with just three wins in 1999.\n"They're a good football team," sophomore left tackle A.C. Myler said. "It's obvious from the Michigan State game and how they beat Wisconsin." \nThe Wildcats are a difficult opponent to matchup with because of the no-huddle, spread offense they implement. A theme of IU's defense in practice this week has been geared toward countering the no-huddle.\n"We've played no-huddle offenses before," junior linebacker Justin Smith said. "That's definitely going to go into our game plan as far as defense goes. We study game film on that to see how they lineup and when they try to make calls."\nNorthwestern's offense is led by a pair of juniors, quarterback Zak Kustok and running back Damien Anderson. \nKustok, who started seven games last season, is averaging 221 yards per game in total offense, ranking him third in the conference behind Purdue senior quarterback Drew Brees and junior quarterback Antwaan Randle El. Coach Cam Cameron said Kustok's play is a reason for Northwestern's success.\n"You go find a quarterback to go with a nice football team and you become a lot better in a hurry, and that's what they did," Cameron said. "They've found an excellent quarterback and running back."\nThe running back Cameron refers to is Anderson, who is coming off a career-high rushing performance against the Spartans, recording 219 yards on 25 carries. For his efforts, Anderson received Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week honors. Anderson has already scored nine touchdowns on the ground this season and he ranks fifth nationally, averaging 151.6 rushing yards per game.\n"It's the combination of the no-huddle, the hard play action, the traps and the hard running game that makes it so tough to defend," Michigan State coach Bobby Williams said of Northwestern's offense. \nWhile the Wildcats' offense grabs most of the attention, their defense features one of the Big Ten's top linebacker trios. Juniors Billy Silva, Napoleon Harris and Kevin Bentley are among the league leaders in tacklers. Silva currently leads the Big Ten, averaging 11.2 tackles per game.\nNorthwestern's defense held Michigan State sophomore running back T.J. Duckett to a season-low 71 rushing yards.\n"I'm impressed with Northwestern," Cameron said. "It should be a heck of a ball game"