Must win for a bowl

There are two ways to look at IU's meeting with Northwestern tomorrow.\n• The Wildcats lost their last two games, proving the defending Big Ten champs are beatable.\n• Those two losses mean they'll be hungry for a victory.\nEither way you size it up, two teams with two-game losing streaks meet at Memorial Stadium Saturday, and both need to win.\nThe Wildcats, who just two weeks ago were ranked and tied for second in the Big Ten, have tumbled to 4-3 (2-3 Big Ten) after losses to Penn State and Purdue.\nThe Hoosiers (1-5, 1-3), meanwhile, have dropped two straight to Illinois and Iowa after walking all over Wisconsin.\nWhile the Hoosiers know Northwestern will be itching for a victory, tight end Kris Dielman said they aren't worried.\n"I still think it works to our advantage, because we're going to come out ready to play, regardless of who it is."\nThe Hoosiers can't be too ready for Northwestern, a team that thrives on the no-huddle and quick play-calling. The Wildcats often use their duo of running back Damien Anderson and quarterback Zak Kustok to beat defenses with quick snaps.\nAnderson, a finalist for the Walter Camp Player of the Year Award, is averaging just more than 100 yards and one touchdown per game, and Kustok has the fourth lowest interception percentage in the nation.\nAdd receivers Sam Simmons and Jon Schweighardt to that mix, and you've got an explosive combination -- one that ranks second in the conference in total offense.\n"It's almost in some cases the lesser of two evils," IU coach Cam Cameron said. "You're talking about Anderson, you're talking about Kustok, you're talking about Simmons, you're talking about Schweighardt.\nLinebacker Justin Smith said the Hoosiers might have found a formula to slow the Wildcats, using a bye week to prepare. The defense has made several personnel changes because of both injuries and schematic reasons.\n"A lot of the personnel that we've been using that they changed it to, in my opinion, have been working really well together," Smith said. "We've kind of changed a little bit of our defense just because Northwestern is a spread, so we're getting our fastest guys on the field.\n"We've got a really good scheme going into this week that I feel very confident about."\nNow Cameron wants to implement that scheme for a full 60 minutes.\nIt's become commonplace for the Hoosiers to play well for a half or three quarters, then fold late in the game. That trend might spell trouble against Northwestern, a team with a knack for winning down-to-the wire ballgames. The Wildcats already beat Michigan State this season on a last-second field goal.\n"It's really no different than the other games," Cameron said. "It's a 60-minute game. It's not a 30-minute game. It's not a 45-minute game. The game with Northwestern is never over until it's over"