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Ahead of a Top-20 game at home against Iowa, Northwestern football will try to beat one of the Big Ten's stingiest defenses without its best playmaker.
What they're saying:
According to ESPN, Northwestern quarterback Aidan Chiles will miss Saturday's game vs. No. 19 Iowa.
Chiles had been listed as questionable on the weekly Big Ten availability report. He will miss Saturday's game with a reported upper-body injury. This handicaps Northwestern's offense in a massive way.
In his first year wearing purple, Chiles has been a revelation for first-year offensive coordinator Chip Kelly. He has thrown for 1,898 yards and is responsible for 23 total touchdowns. He has 13 passing scores and 10 rushing scores against just one interception this season.
This has led the Wildcats to a 6-2 record where they popped into the top 25 before losing to Oregon on the road last week.
What's next:
In Chiles place, Northwestern will turn to veteran back-up Nicco Marchiol.
Marchiol will start for Northwestern. He's a transfer from West Virginia and came to Evanston as Chiles' backup. Marchiol played four years at West Virginia, and owns a 6-2 record as a starter in Morgantown. He’s played in 27 career games for WVU.
He's thrown for 1,462 passing yards and scored 14 total touchdowns.
Marchiol will go against Iowa's defense, which has allowed just 11 touchdowns in eight games and allows an average of 275.5 yards per game. Most notably, the Hawkeyes are allowing just 2.4 yards per carry to opposing ball carriers and have given up just two rushing touchdowns. The NU offense averages 200.9 rushing yards per game, averages 5.1 yards per carry and scored 18 rushing touchdowns.
It's on Kelly and Marchiol to team up and provide a dimension for the Wildcats against the Iowa defense.
The Source: Report on Northwestern's availability is from ESPN.