GAME 2

TCU (0-0, 9/2 vs. Cincinnati) at NORTHWESTERN (0-1)

Date/Time: Saturday, Sept. 7, 2002/Noon CDT
Site: Ryan Field, Evanston, Ill.
Capacity/Surface: 47,130/Natural Grass
Television: None locally (ESPN Gameplan)
Radio: WGN 720 AM (Dave Eanet, play-by-play; Ted Albrecht, analyst) (also on wgnradio.com); WNUR 89.3 FM

The Game
After opening its season on the road at Air Force, Northwestern returns to Evanston this week for its home opener against Conference USA foe TCU. Kickoff is set for noon Saturday, Sept. 7. There is no local TV coverage of the game, but ESPN Plus is televising the contest to the Dallas-Fort Worth market. It is also part of ESPN's Gameplan package. Dave Weekley and Newly Scruggs are calling the action for ESPN. TCU, which is returning 13 offensive and defensive starters from last year's 6-6 bowl team, has an ambitious week, playing its opener at Cincinnati on Monday, Sept. 2 (3:30 p.m. CT, ESPN) before visiting Ryan Field this weekend. The Horned Frogs have made a school-record four consecutive bowl appearances and are optimistic that a fifth postseason game could be in the offing. Overall, the Frogs have 48 of 61 letterwinners returning. All but four letterwinners are back on offense from a unit that averaged 25.5 points per game. Despite the positive offensive outlook, TCU's defense is expected to be the strength of this year's club. Three all-league selections are back, along with a pair of starters (Bo Schobel and Josh Goolsby) who missed the entire 2001 season with injuries.

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For (Home) Openers
For the second straight season, Northwestern is opening its home season after beginning the year on the road. Last year, due to the Sept. 11 national tragedy, NU played its first home game on Sept. 29. Since 1905, the Wildcats have posted a 53-37-5 mark (58.4 percent) in home-opening contests. In the last nine years, Northwestern is 6-2-1 in home lid lifters. Interestingly, both losses in that stretch came at the hands of Miami University, with one of those Miami wins (1995) directed by current NU Head Coach Randy Walker.

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The Series with TCU
Series Record: 1-1, series tied
At Fort Worth: 0-1
At Evanston: 1-0
Last Result: 41-14, TCU (2000)
Series Streak: 1, TCU
Series Notes: Both teams have won a game in this all-time series, with each club posting a victory on its home turf ... This is the second of a "home-and-home" series with TCU. The Wildcats play the return game on Sept. 4, 2004 in Fort Worth ... NU's 41-14 loss to the Horned Frogs in the 2000 season came one week before its thrilling 47-44 double-overtime at Wisconsin. NU went on to claim a share of the Big Ten crown that year ... NU's 1999 win over TCU on Sept. 11 was the first NU coaching victory for Randy Walker.

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Saturday's home opener is "Heroes' Day" at Northwestern. All uniformed policemen, firefighters and military personnel, along with their immediate families, will be admitted free to the game. Uniformed personnel, who will enter through Gate J with their families that day, may be asked to present official identification from their organization upon admission. It is also "Wildcat Kids' Club Day."

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The NU-Air Force Recap

Aug. 31, 2002-Opening its 115th football season, Northwestern never found its rhythm against Air Force and fell to the Falcons 52-3. Air Force scored on its first five possessions and built a 31-0 lead midway through the second quarter. The Falcons took advantage of some outstanding field position throughout the game, starting just two of their eight scoring drives behind their own 45-yard line. After moving 25 yards on its first offensive possession, Northwestern fumbled the snap and Air Force recovered. That set up the Falcons' second touchdown. Following their first offensive drive, the Wildcats could never get in sync, unable to sustain a drive for more than 15 yards until the second half.

Northwestern got on the scoreboard late in the third quarter when senior David Wasielewski (Odessa, Fla./ Tampa Jesuit) booted a career-long 51-yard field goal. The Wildcats also put together a 75-yard drive in the fourth quarter, but came up empty when a fourth-and-one pass play fell short. Air Force finished with 523 yards in total offense-476 on the ground-to 221 for NU. The Wildcats finished with 180 yards passing and 41 yards rushing. Northwestern was whistled for just one penalty and had one turnover (fumble) to go with one blocked punt. Air Force had no turnovers on the day.

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The Last Meeting With TCU
Sept. 16, 2000-Led by All-America running back LaDainian Tomlinson, the Horned Frogs posted a 41-14 victory at Amon G. Carter Stadium. Tomlinson ran for 243 yards on 39 carries and helped TCU total 387 yards on the ground. He scored two touchdowns in the second half that helped the Frogs pull away from the Wildcats. In fact, with 6:55 to play in the fourth quarter, the Wildcats trailed just 24-14 and had possession of the football. But three turnovers-a pair of interceptions sandwiched around a fumble-proved costly for the 'Cats. Those three mistakes resulted in 17 TCU points and turned a competitive game into a lopsided affair. Damien Anderson led NU with 90 rushing yards, and in the process, eclipsed the 2,000-yard mark for his career. Kunle Patrick led NU's receivers with four catches.

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Northwestern Head Coach Randy Walker
Randy Walker is in his fourth season at Northwestern after spending the previous nine years (1990-98) at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. In just his second year with the Wildcats, Walker directed a stunning turnaround. After a 3-8 season in 1999, he engineered a complete overhaul of the Wildcat offense and the result was an 8-4 record, an Alamo Bowl berth and a share of the 2000 Big Ten championship.

Walker was recognized for his 2000 efforts by both his peers and the media, as he was named Dave McClain Big Ten Coach of the Year and the Region 3 Coach of the Year by the AFCA. Walker owns a 74-55-5 career record in 13 seasons and a 15-20 mark at Northwestern. Prior to gaining his first head coaching job at Miami in 1990, Walker spent one year as an assistant at Miami (1977), 10 years as an assistant at North Carolina (1978-87) and two years as an assistant at Northwestern (1988-89). Walker came to Evanston with an impressive coaching resume already intact. The 48-year-old Walker departed Oxford as the winningest head coach in school history. His mark at Miami of 59-35-5 (.621) is even more impressive when you consider the coaching greats that Miami has produced: Paul Brown, Woody Hayes, Ara Parseghian, Bo Schembechler ... and the list goes on.

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Injuries of Note
Despite suffering a disappointing setback on the scoreboard on Saturday, Northwestern also was handed a major blow when senior co-captain and middle linebacker Pat Durr (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles) suffered a right knee injury on Air Force's opening drive of the game. Durr left the contest and did not play the remainder of the day. He underwent an MRI on Sunday, Sept. 1 and the tests revealed damage to all three ligaments, including the MCL. He is expected to miss at least six weeks. After Durr's departure, sophomore Ryan Peterson (Cardiff, Calif./LaCosta Canyon) and senior Vincent Cartaya (Miami, Fla./Belen Jesuit) handled the duties at middle linebacker. Northwestern plans to move outside linebacker John Pickens (Franklin Lakes, N.J./Ramapo) to starting middle linebacker and elevate Doug Szymul (Des Plaines, Ill./Maine West), a former walk-on, to the starting will linebacker position. Senior cornerback Raheem Covington (Pine Hill, N.J./ Overbrook), who left the Air Force game in the first quarter with a concussion, is likely to play this week.

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NU-TCU Connections
With seven players on its roster from Texas, it is no surprise that a pair of Northwestern players hail from the same high schools as some TCU players. Defensive tackle Colby Clark (Austin, Texas/Westlake) attended the same school as TCU's Brad Kline, while receiver Jonathan Fields (Sweeny, Texas/Sweeny) was a classmate of TCU's DeJuan Williams. Off the field, NU and TCU have some connections as well. Several of TCU's administrators, Athletics Director Eric Hyman, Associate Athletics Director Kevin O'Connell, Director of Broadcasting Brian Estridge and TCU's ESPN Regional General Manager Brian Florko, worked with Randy Walker and several of Walker's assistant coaches at Miami University. Hyman was the director of athletics at Miami for three football seasons (1995-97).

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All-America Watch List
The Football Writers' Association of America (FWAA) has announced its 2002 All-America Watch List and two Northwestern players are listed among the best at their position. Center Austin King (Cincinnati, Ohio/Purcell Marian) and offensive guard Jeff Roehl (Orland Park, Ill./Carl Sandburg), two of NU's returning honorable mention All-Big Ten players, made the list.

More Roehl and King
Senior Jeff Roehl has accepted an offer to play in the East-West Shrine Game, set for Jan. 11, 2003 in San Francisco's Pacific Bell Park. Roehl is slated to play for the East squad, which will be coached by Notre Dame's Tyrone Willingham. He was the second Big Ten player named to the East roster, joining Illinois' Walter Young. Roehl will be the 75th player to suit up for the Shrine Game, and the first since Eric Collier and KeJuan DuBose played in 1997. NU ranks fourth among Big Ten schools and 14th overall in all-time Shrine Game participation. Classmate Austin King has accepted an invite to the Hula Bowl Maui on Feb. 1, 2003. He has started 33 career games at center, including 29 in a row from 1999 to 2001. Last week, King was named to the Rimington Award Watch List. Established in 2000, the Rimington Trophy honors the top NCAA Division I-A center each season. Roehl and King also have been named to the Rotary Gridiron Classic initial watch list. The Rotary Gridiron Classic, a game that matches the top collegiate players from around the nation against those in Florida, will be played Jan. 25, 2003.

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Century Receivers
With seven more catches apiece, senior Jon Schweighardt (Wheaton, Ill./Wheaton-Warrenville South) and junior Kunle Patrick (Brooklyn, N.Y./Poly Prep Country Day) will become members of NU's "Century Club" for career receptions. Schweighardt and Patrick are tied for ninth place on NU's all-time list with 93 catches each. Sam Simmons, who graduated this past year, is eighth on the list with 105 receptions.

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Leading the Nation
After one week, redshirt sophomore punter Brian Huffman (Schaumburg, Ill./Schaumburg) owns the nation's best Division I-A punting average with a 48.9 yards per punt mark. Huffman, in his first game as the Wildcats' punter, registered seven boots, with one of punt traveling 71 yards. NU did have one of its punts blocked, but because of the poor snap, it was officially recorded as a "team" punt.

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QB Update
NU Coach Randy Walker plans to start redshirt freshman Brett Basanez (Arlington Heights, Ill./St. Viator) at quarterback this week against TCU. Basanez replaced Tony Stauss (Racine, Wis./Horlick) late in the second quarter and finished the game by completing 14 of 26 passes for 158 yards, no touchdowns and no interceptions. Stauss was 5-of-10 for 22 yards. Both quarterbacks were sacked once.

Up Next
Northwestern remains at Ryan Field, hosting Duke next Saturday, Sept. 14. Kickoff is set for noon CT.

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A Northwestern Win vs. TCU Will ...
* Give the Wildcats their third straight home-opening victory and improve their overall opening day record to 54- 37-5.
* Up the Wildcats' all-time series record vs. TCU to 2-1.
* Improve the Wildcats' all-time record vs. C-USA foes to 12-5.

'Cat Tails ...

* With the temporary loss of Pat Durr, only four seniors are in the Wildcats' starting lineup: three on offense (Jon Schweighardt, Austin King and Jeff Roehl) and one on defense (Raheem Covington). The rest of the lineup (offense and defense only) includes five juniors, seven sophomores and six freshmen.
* At NU, Coach Walker is 6-4 vs. nonconference opposition. The Wildcats have won at least two non-league games each year under Walker and at least a pair dating to the 1995 season.
* Sophomore defensive tackle Thomas Derricks (Garland, Texas/Jesuit Prep) has taken a personal leave of absence from the team. He is not expected to return this season.