History vs. Michigan:
Michigan leads all-time series 1-0
Last meeting: 2005 at Michigan - 33-17 Michigan
This Season:
at Georgia Tech - W 22-21
vs Wyoming - L 43-50
Lombardi is 30/53 (56%) with 369 yards, 3 TDs and 3 INTs. He's had 10 rushes for 23 yards with a long of 9.
Running Backs: Harrison Waylee 5'10" 185 lbs (Fr.) & Clint Ratkovich 6'0" 229 lbs (RS Sr.)
While technically a Freshman, Waylee did carry the ball 107 times last year. Waylee has had 53 rushes for 323 yards (6.1ypc) with a long of 75 this season. He's also had 2 catches for 22 yards. Ratkovich has carried the ball 13 times for 76 yards (5.8ypc) with 3 TD and al ong of 52. He's added 3 receptions for 13 yards and a TD.
Wide Receivers: Tyrice Richie 5'11" 192 lbs (RS Sr.), Messiah Travis 5'10" 180 lbs (RS Fr.) & Trayvon Rudolph 5'10" 182 lbs (Fr.)
RIchie has 8 receptions for 110 yards and a long of 39 yards. Travis has had 2 catches for 41 yards with a long of 21. Rudolph has had 2 catches for 65 yards and a TD with a long of 40.
Tight End: Miles Joiner 6'4" 259 lbs (RS Jr.)
Joiner has totaled just 2 catches for 6 yards with a TD.
Left Tackle: Marques Cox 6'6" 306 lbs (RS So.)
8 career starts.
Left Guard: J.J. Lippe 6'5" 311 lbs (RS Fr.)
2 career starts.
Center: Brayden Patton 6'5" 309 lbs (RS Sr.)
28 career starts.
Right Guard: Logan Zchernitz 6'3" 311 lbs (RS Fr.)
8 career starts.
Right Tackle: Nolan Potter 6'6" 308 lbs (RS So.)
8 career starts.
Nose Tackle/Defensive Tackles: Devonte O'Malley 6'2" 273 lbs (Fr.), & James Ester 6'3" 286 lbs (RS Fr.)
NIU mixes up their defensive line a bit with 3-5 men on the line with 3 LB still in behind. O'Malley has 5 tackles with 1.5 behind the line of scrimmage and a forced fumble. Ester has had 5 tackles.
Defensive Ends: Raishein Thomas 6'4'' 281 lbs (Fr) & Michael Kennedy 6'1" 230 lbs (RS Jr.)
Thus far, Thomas has compiled 11 tackles with 1.5 for a loss, a half sack and a fumble recovery. Kennedy has 8 tackles with a blocked kick.
Outside Linebackers: Nick Rattin 6'2" 223 lbs (So.) & Daveren Rayner 6'3" 200 lbs (Fr.)
Rattin has totaled 16 tackles and a pass breakup. Rayner plays a rover position and has had a total of 13 tackles including 1 for a loss and a sack.
Inside Linebacker: Lance Deveaux Jr. 5'11 218 lbs (RS Sr.)
Deveaux Jr. is off to a busy start with 20 tackles.
Cornerbacks: Jordan Gandy 5'10" 180 lbs (So.) & Eric Rogers 6'2" 180 lbs (Fr.)
Gandy has started 2021 with 7 tackles and 3 pass breakups. Rogers has 14 tackles and 1 fumble recovery.
Safeties: CJ Brown 5'11" 192 lbs (Fr.) & Jordan Hansen 6'1" 188 lbs (Fr.)
Brown has 14 tackles on the season. Hansen has contributed with 7 tackles, 1 for a loss, a forced fumble and a pass breakup.
Punter and Kicker: Matt Ference 5'11" 190 lbs (Sr.) & John Richardson 5'11" 170 lbs (RS So.)
Ference has booted 9 punts with an average of 42.5 yards and a long of 52. 3 were fair caught and 2 were downed inside the 20 with no touchbacks. Richardson is 1/1 on the year from 46. He's 21/27 with a long of 51 on his career.
Returners: Cole Tucker 6'2" 206 lbs (RS Jr.) & Trayvon Rudolph 5'10" 182 lbs (Fr.)
Cole Tucker has yet to return a punt this season but has 33 returns in his career with an average of 4.1 yards. Rudolph has returned 4 kicks with an average of 22 yards.
Players to watch:
RB - Harrison Waylee
Prediction:RB - Harrison Waylee
The win against Georgia Tech is impressive by NIU terms on paper, however after watching the game, Georgia Tech should have won and should have won easily. On each of their first 3 possessions, QB Jeff Sims for GT missed plays that would have been TDs. I'm not talking about missed reads, just blatantly open receivers he missed passes on just 15-20 yards downfield. Instead of 21 points they settled for a punt and 2 field goal attempts, both of which missed, followed up by a fumbled option by Sims on the 4th possession in NIU territory that gave the ball back to NIU and knocked Sims out of the game.
The rest of the 3 and a half quarters saw GT with a backup QB outscore NIU 21-8 with NIU going for 2 to win the game near the end.. Not great but on pace to a type of win you may expect for GT to have over NIU. This game truly should have been around 42-21 in favor of Tech. GT actually should have adopted Michigan's approach against Washington. Despite gaining 5.3 yards per carry with massive holes early, the Yellow Jackets had 27 passes in the game, many of them drive killing attempts. Wyoming also had no issues running the ball (4.2ypc) against the Huskies and had all day to throw on the vast majority of non-blitz plays. Keep in mind the Cowboys only averaged 3.5 on the ground the week prior against FCS Montana State The defensive front for NIU is very subpar.
Overall the NIU defense is very young, especially in the secondary. The starting corners and safeties come into this game with a combined 20 starts among the 4 of them (8 of those going to CB Jordan Gandy). They might have some players worth while in the future but nothing that sticks out at this point. Given the first two games and especially last week, Michigan should have no issue running the ball with relative ease. If they do wish to travel like Neil Armstrong, that should be a viable option as well and the NIU secondary and lack of pass rush should allow both McNamara and the Ronnie-less receiving group to really show what they can do.
On offense, NIU has had some downfield connections that we've become too familiar with the last year but I don't foresee a persistent threat and Rocky Lombardi has a lot of misses in between, especially if under pressure which Michigan should be able to generate. The Huskies rushing attack with Waylee has actually been pretty impressive and Waylee can be dangerous if we focus too much on the pass. I don't think he will continue his 5+ yard per pop average against Michigan but I think the threat of a balanced attack may lead to at least a couple scoring drives for NIU. However, it will not be enough to make the game very interesting.
Michigan wins 45-16
This years predictions:
41-17 vs WMU (47-14 actual)
31-20 vs Washington (31-10 actual)
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