Ricky Weina, Ron Zook, Chad Spann...

Before we start to dig into Northwestern’s 29-28 victory over Indiana _ the Wildcats set a school record by overcoming a 25-point _ I’m going to quote from the Northwestern media guide’s bio on redshirt sophomore Ricky Weina:

“Walk-on corner who contributes in the kicking game…As he gets stronger, will POTENTIALLY help in the secondary.”

That’s it. Then again, that’s about all a walk-on merits when he has appeared briefly in one college game. Next year’s media guide, on the other hand, will definitely have the word “potentially” removed from Weina’s bio. Against all odds, the Union Grove, Wis., native who didn’t have a single scholarship offer at any level of college football became one of many heroes during the Wildcats’ comeback.

When senior cornerback Sherrick McManis hurt an unidentified part of his body at the end of the first half (Northwestern went out of its way to be vague, which is fine…for now), Weina trotted out there to start the second half. Understand, he hadn’t played any corner since the waning minutes of the Towson blowout in the season opener.

But the 5-foot-11, 180-pound Weina’s results were just as good as McManis’ (I’m sure the coaches will see mistakes on the tape, but Indiana tried to take advantage of him and couldn’t). He posted 2 tackles. He broke up a bomb. He stayed stride-for-stride with his man on another bomb that wound up incomplete. And, by the way, he blocked a third-quarter punt that became a safety and cut Indiana’s lead to 28-19.

“The big punt block was key,” said NU coach Pat Fitzgerald. “Ricky’s really a guy, through injuries to some of our other corners, who’s been getting a ton of reps in practice. We just felt very comfortable with the job he’s been doing in practice…there was no hesitation to putting Ricky in the game. He’s got great speed. He’s got great feet…Ricky really stepped up when the opportunity presented itself.”

Weina was part of an injury-plagued defense that made a dramatic turnaround. In the first 18 minutes, Indiana rolled up 190 total yards, 8 first downs and 3 touchdowns. In the final 42 minutes, Indiana’s offense managed 115 yards, 5 first downs and no points.

Here were some of the injuries the defense dealt with:
1) David Arnold, who had started the last two games at strong-side linebacker, was a game-time scratch with a leg injury. Ben Johnson, who started the first five games but missed last week with an injury, stepped back into the job and contributed 6 tackles.

2) Senior S Brendan Smith missed his second game with a broken thumb. Fellow senior safety Brad Phillips didn’t start for the first time in 29 games (redshirt freshman Jared Carpenter started), but he shrugged off a painful shoulder injury to play enough to make 6 tackles. Sophomore safety Brian Peters started and played with a broken left hand that was in a cast.

3) DE Corey Wootton, who has been battling knee and ankle problems, started for the first time in three weeks. He earned his first sack of the year (coming in untouched on Ben Chappell in the first quarter), but didn’t play as much in the second half after having some scar tissue in his surgically repaired right knee go kablooey in the second quarter.

“My knee was just a little tight,” Wootton said. “Nothing wrong with it. Just some scar tissue breaking up. I got a little freaked out for a sec. Got a little scary. I felt a little something break up. They checked it at halftime and everything was fine with it.”

Sophomore RB Scott Concannon served as the offensive platoon’s version of Weina. He entered the season without a single college carry and probably the third- or fourth-string choice on the depth chart. He entered the game fifth on the team in carries (16) and yards (50), though he wasn’t available the last two weeks with a concussion. But with Stephen Simmons (ankle) and Jacob Schmidt (ankle) out and freshman starter Arby Fields ineffective against Indiana, Concannon jumped in after three series and rushed 16 times for 73 yards.

The 5-foot-10, 190-pounder with the massive neck bulled his way for tough yards when the Wildcats were backed up against the goal line. Then, to kick off their game-winning drive, Concannon showed a different side by bouncing outside for consecutive runs of 15, 11 and 6 yards. “He’s shifty,” said senior slot receiver Zeke Markshausen. “We call him ‘Cutcannon’ because he can make some cuts that are just insane.”

Concannon’s performance, which helped NU produce its highest rushing total (162 yards) in the last six weeks, makes him a viable alternative down the stretch. The Wildcats host Penn State next week before traveling to Iowa.

“Any one of us would prefer to be the feature tailback on the team,” he said. “We, as a running back group, are all open with each other. There is friendly competition. No one is ever down on anyone else. I would like to take this game and flush it and do better next week. But I’m sure when the others come back, there will be competition again.”

Elsewhere in the greater Chicago area…

--Illinois AD Ron Guenther held a brief halftime conference during Purdue’s 24-14 win to confirm that Ron Zook will return in 2010. Check out the Champaign News-Gazette’s transcript here: http://www.illinihq.com/news/football/2009/10/24/guenther_no_change_at_t...

I wonder if the Zooker explained after the game why he let redshirt freshman Jacob Charest lead his team all the way down the field just before halftime…only to bring Juice Williams back in to close out the (non-scoring) drive.

--Northern Illinois played without starting QB Chandler Harnish at Miami Ohio, but held on for a 27-22 victory as Chad Spann rushed for a career-high 156 yards and 2 scores while the defense stacked up 8 sacks. The Huskies (4-3, 2-1) now have three consecutive home games against Akron (1-6, 0-3), Eastern Michigan (0-7, 0-4) and Ball State (1-7, 1-3). If NIU sweeps, they all but clinch their second bowl bid in a row.

--Notre Dame just punted to BC’s 32. The Eagles need to go 68 yards in 3:22 in order to beat the Irish for the seventh time in a row. Boston College trails 20-16 thanks to 4 turnovers.

Oops...the Eagles just converted a fourth-and-16 with a 29-yard pass...and now there's a 25-yard pass interference penalty...Oh, Brian Smith just picked off a Dave Shinskie pass inside the 25. That makes it 5 TOs for BC...and win No. 5 for Notre Dame.

LW