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Some kinda rough news: Defensive tackle Sean McEvilly won't play against Minnesota, which could put the Wildcats in some serious trouble as they face a Golden Gophers squad that will run the ball, and run it a lot.
The injury news you've been waiting to hear is with regards to Kain Colter and Venric Mark, whose absence for the majority of the game against Wisconsin made the offense seem terrible. They're both considered "questionable," which says pretty much nothing about their actual status for the game.
But I'm not overly concerned about them. Venric Mark hasn't been fully healthy for any of Northwestern's six games, and the Wildcats won four of them and nearly a sixth, and Trevor Siemian looked very good in five of six games as well. He fell off a damn cliff against Wisconsin, but so did many people. Northwestern should be able to move the ball with Siemian against a bad Minnesota secondary, they're in trouble regardless -- although I did say the same thing last week.
McEvilly, though... he's been out for three games. Maine looked surprisingly spry on the ground. Ohio State beat Northwestern with Carlos Hyde on the ground. And Wisconsin eviscerated NU with Melvin Gordon and James White. Minnesota loves the power run, and has three rushers with more than 300 yards on the ground as opposed to 701 total passing yards. Neither Chance Carter nor Will Hampton has stepped up much in McEvilly's absence, and I'm worried about that against Minnesota.
The Wildcats are double-digit favorites. I shouldn't be this worried, right?