On further review, no big smiles for NU's Fitzgerald

According to records and power rankings and eyeballing, no Big Ten team has an easier start than Northwestern.

The Wildcats' first six opponents combined for a 22-51 record in 2008. That helps to explain why five of those six schools, including this week's visitor, Eastern Michigan, are led by new coaching staffs.

With this in mind, it's easy to understand why NU coach Pat Fitzgerald and his staff offered a relatively harsh review of the Wildcats' 47-14 whipping of Towson in Saturday's opener.

The coaches spent Monday morning's video review with their players critiquing the action as if it rivaled "Ishtar" or "Santa Clause 3."

Keep in mind, Northwestern led 30-0 after just 18 minutes against its overmatched FCS opponent.

"As the game went along I thought we played to the situation," Fitzgerald said. "We looked at the scoreboard instead of looking at what we needed to do for us to improve - we gave up a touchdown and had some pretty poor situational awareness in down and distance situations.

"There's nobody here with smiles ear to ear."

On the contrary, senior safety Brad Phillips wore a scowl that might've stretched ear to ear.

Someone suggested Towson quarterback Peter Athens made a heck of a play to ring up his team's second touchdown, but Phillips wasn't buying the possible alibi.

"It was a good play," Phillips allowed. "It was stoppable, though, before the snap even started. We didn't make the right (defensive) check on that play and left a guy open."

Eastern Michigan, which fell 27-14 at home to Army in its first game under former Michigan defensive coordinator Ron English, presents a more traditional challenge.

The Eagles have returned to more of a pro-style offense after running the spread for several years under former NU assistant Jeff Genyk.

In the final two games of Genyk's tenure, EMU senior quarterback Andy Schmitt threw 156 passes and piled up 1,000 yards with 8 touchdowns.

But in Saturday's opener against Army, Schmitt went 18 of 31 for 183 yards, 2 interceptions and 1 touchdown. The Cadets sacked him six times, too.

"When they got in the (shot)gun a little bit, it resembled the way that Andy threw the ball a year ago," Fitzgerald said. "It's going to be a little bit of growing pains, initially, for them as they go through kind of making the transition from being a four-wide and empty team to more of a traditional offense."

Cat naps: Pat Fitzgerald said sophomore running back Jeravin Matthews is "probably list him as probable" for the Eastern Michigan game.

Matthews had just 3 carries for 11 yards before injuring his left ankle against Towson. He's the biggest speed threat in NU's backfield, so his availability matters down the road.

• Senior defensive end Corey Wootton played just 14 snaps against Towson and didn't make any tackles before calling it a day, but there were no issues with his surgically repaired right knee.

"I thought he played well," Fitzgerald said. "He got off the ball well. I don't think he had any action at the point of attack, so there wasn't a lot of room for him to make plays."

• Despite not being drafted in April, former running back Tyrell Sutton and defensive tackle John Gill found gainful NFL employment over the weekend.

Sutton, cut by the Green Bay Packers despite rushing for 191 yards in the preseason (fifth most in the league), earned a spot on the Carolina Panthers' 53-man roster. Gill made the Indianapolis Colts' eight-man practice squad.