Walker's plan keeps 'Cats ahead of curve

By Chris Duprey

Daily Sports Editor

For Michigan coach Lloyd Carr yesterday, the issue was evolution - namely, staying ahead of the competition.

In Carr's view, that's how Northwestern has made up for some of its roster shortcomings to become the Big Ten's biggest surprise.

"The one thing about this game (football) is, if you stay the same, you're going to regress," Carr said.

Northwestern coach Randy Walker took a look at his roster over the offseason. Skilled fullbacks and tight ends were scarce. Walker knew he needed to make a fundamental change in his offense, or go through another season like 1999, where the Wildcats finished 3-8.

Walker's philosophy changes have played out in making Northwestern a Rose Bowl contender with just three conference games to play.

From the no-huddle, the Wildcats seem to operate on just three plays offensively: Shotgun snap and handoff to Damien Anderson, who's averaging 167 yards per game; shotgun snap, fake handoff to Anderson and run by quarterback Zak Kustok, who averages 40 yards on the ground himself; or Kustok actually takes the shotgun snap and passes.

Anderson makes the majority of his yards outside the tackles. His instincts on when to run north-south and when to move laterally are solid. It's Anderson, along with Kustok, Carr said, that makes Northwestern's offense work.

"You watch the game, you think they're a passing team," Carr said. "But the run is really what's impressive about them."

Another concern for the Wolverines is the quantity of snaps Northwestern crams into the game. The Wildcats ran 97 plays this past Saturday against Minnesota. In Michigan's two losses, UCLA (80) and Purdue (88) ran high numbers of plays from scrimmage.

"The way you beat this team is three-and-out," Carr said. "That's the way you beat any team, I guess."

One question that can't be answered is whether Walker's offense will flourish beyond this season. Is it a gimmick or an offense? With an entire offseason of videotape to watch, will the other 10 coaches in the Big Ten be able to construct a defense that shuts down the spread?

Adjustments "may take a little bit longer because of the factor of the no-huddle," Carr said.

Shutting down the spread next year, or the year after, still might not knock the Wildcats back down to the conference cellar. If Walker's proven one thing, it's that he's a chameleon capable of changing his colors again if he has to.

JOE PASADENA?: It's weird, and it's a longshot, but Penn State still has a chance at the Rose Bowl. The Nittany Lions need a lot of help, but not much more than Michigan does.

Of course Penn State (3-2 Big Ten, 4-5 overall) would need to win out. Its two home games are winnable, against Iowa and Michigan State. The road game sandwiched in the middle, at Michigan, is a mammoth challenge.

Because the Nittany Lions beat Purdue on Sept. 30 - the only conference team to do so thus far - they would win the tiebreaker with the Boilermakers if Purdue were to lose one of its final two games. Penn State would also need Ohio State to lose once more and for Northwestern to lose two of its three games.

All right, so don't count on it. But it's still an interesting possibility.

"It's a different Penn State team than I saw earlier," Carr said. "That's what you expect from a Joe Paterno-coached team."

NORMAN NG/Daily

Michigan defensive end Dan Rumishek (92) and the rest of Michigan's pass rush will be a key to Saturday's game against Northwestern.