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Northwestern aims to continue recent dominance of Indiana

Oct 25, 2008 - 10:37 AM (24) Northwestern (6-1) at Indiana (2-5), 12:00 pm EDT

BLOOMINGTON, Indiana (Ticker) -- Northwestern is not used to having a great start. But the Wildcats are starting to get used to beating up on Indiana.

The 24th-ranked Wildcats hope to continue their surprising start Saturday when they shoot for their fifth straight victory over the Big Ten Conference rival Hoosiers.

Northwestern is off to a 6-1 start for just the sixth time since the post-World War II era, joining the 1949, 1959, 1962, 1995 and 1996 squads.

The Wildcats have beaten Indiana in each of their previous four meetings, but the contests have been close with each being decided by only one score.

Since the Hoosiers (2-5, 0-4 Big Ten) won nine straight in this series from 1985-93, they have lost eight of the last 10 meetings with Northwestern (6-1, 2-1).

C.J. Bacher threw three touchdowns and ran for another last week as Northwestern crushed Purdue, 48-26, to rebound from its first loss of the season.

Bacher completed 20-of-33 attempts for 230 yards while Tyrell Sutton ran for 96 yards for the Wildcats, who lost to Michigan State the previous week.

Indiana was pounded for 563 total yards, including 292 on the ground, during last Saturday's 55-13 loss to Illinois.

The Hoosiers were without starting quarterback Kellen Lewis, who was sidelined by a high ankle sprain.