Northwestern Shorthanded

Difficult news for Wildcat fans to swallow as two key players are out for very different reasons.  Venric Mark, who missed almost all of last season due to injury has now decided to transfer.  Leading receiver Christian Jones went down to a knee injury.  While Northwestern has their entire offensive line back and Trevor Siemian is an experienced starting quarterback, those are two huge weapons suddenly gone merely weeks before the start of the season.

I was rather conservative with my Wildcat prediction, having them go just 3-5 in the league and 6-6 overall.  I think they can still achieve those modest marks thanks to playing Illinois, Purdue, Western Illinois, Northern Illinois and Cal but this puts even more pressure onto a defense that was not very good a season ago and shapes up to be a bottom-half defense again.

Injuries and departures are a part of the game but, especially for Mark, the timing of this is strange.  Very curious to see what was the reasoning once all the facts come in.  He can say he wants to play closer to home, but he was also suspended for the first two games, there’s a chance he couldn’t get out of Fitzgerald’s doghouse.  Whatever the explanation is, you know several western teams are glad they don’t have to face a kid with his talent now this year.