Stopping Kellen Lewis, if he plays at all, will be the key to a ‘Cats victory. Photo by gwgoldin2645, licensed under Creative Commons

After a tough loss at home against the Michigan State Spartans on Oct. 11, the Wildcats roared back this past homecoming weekend with a convincing victory over the Purdue Boilermakers. They regained momentum and confidence which they can bring with them to Bloomington when they take on the Indiana Hoosiers this Saturday.

The biggest question on the minds of Hoosiers fans this weekend will be the health of multiple-threat quarterback Kellen Lewis, who is currently being categorized as questionable with a high ankle sprain by Indiana head coach Bill Lynch. Lewis sat out last week against Illinois, but he practiced Monday and is still uncertain for the Northwestern game. The potential loss of Lewis is an undeniably huge blow to the Indiana squad, who, after winning their first two match-ups of the season, have dropped their last five games, including posting a disappointing 0-4 mark in the conference.

Lewis has been used in more of a multipurpose role this year; he has completed over 60 percent of his passes and also leads the team in rushing yardage. Furthermore, Lewis has been lining up at multiple positions, and has even hauled in two receptions. The alternative to Lewis at quarterback is sophomore Ben Chappell. Chappell has completed less than half of his passes this year, also throwing 2 INT’s and posting a sub-100 quarterback rating. Even if Lewis does see action against Northwestern, the typically speedy, agile signal caller will be, as ESPN analyst and former Indiana head coach Lee Corso would say, “not so fast, my friend,” unless his ankle drastically improves.

The Wildcats themselves are not immune on the injury front, having lost starting middle linebacker Malcolm Arrington for the season after suffering ligament damage in his knee during the first half of the Purdue game. Arrington, who is third in the team in tackles, will be replaced by sophomore Nate Williams, who played the remainder of the contest against the Boilermakers after Arrington went down last Saturday. Williams, who has ten total tackles on the season, is probably a step slower than Arrington, but has been described by Pat Fitzgerald as a solid hitter and a hard-nosed player at the middle linebacker position. With relative quickness in Quentin Davie and Prince Kwateng on the outsides, though, the ‘Cats defense should still have solid sideline-to-sideline coverage from the linebacker position.

On offense, look for Tyrell Sutton to have a big game. Sutton’s performance last year against Indiana was his finest of the season, as he accounted for 213 all-purpose yards, his fourth highest total as a college player. Further speaking to Sutton’s threat as a multi-purpose weapon, the Cats tailback became the all-time leading pass catcher out of the backfield in school history with his performance against Purdue. Sutton needs only 367 more all-purpose to tie Damien Anderson’s all-time school record in that category, a mark which he will make a run out provided he stays healthy this season.

As was the case with Purdue, a few big defensive plays will be critical in achieving a solid win. Look for starting corners Jordan Mabin and Sherrick McManus, who both played solidly against Purdue, to sustain their high level of play against Indiana.

I think the defense will get these turnovers and help Northwestern control possession and momentum in a dominating 34-17 win. Lewis will play but will be platooned with Chappell. The result will be instability at the quarterback position and a general feeling of chaos among the Hoosiers, who will have to switch back and forth between two very different game plans. Meanwhile, CJ Bacher will build on last week’s strong performance and Sutton will post his best numbers in Big Ten play yet.