After a bye week, Northwestern is back on the road today to face the Michigan State Spartans. Pat Fitzgerald’s team struggled out of the gates but then regained some momentum with a much-needed win against Iowa at Kinnick Stadium.

Here’s all you need to know about today’s matchup:

• The NU depth chart contained some shuffling.
• Pat Fitzgerald addressed the media at his weekly press conference to preview the game.
• We produced two profiles this week: star linebacker Anthony Walker and seniordefensive end Ifeadi Odenigbo.
• The Spartans have struggled against the run.
• They’ve also struggled to run it themselves, which Ian McCafferty broke down via film.
• We took a statistical look at the development of Clayton Thorson.
• Northwestern and the NLRB were back at it again, this time about team rules.
• Josh Burton produced our weekly big-picture look in Where are we Wednesday.
• These three matchups will determine the outcome today.
• We gave three reasons for a Wildcat victory and three more for a Wildcat loss.
• Tristan Jung and Will Ragatz debated whether or not this is a "must-win" for NU to reach the postseason.
• Connor Mahoney is doubtful and Xavier Washington is out today.
• The Wildcats will be rocking a new uniform combo and debuting a new helmet.
• And finally, our predictions for this week.

Broadcast Info

Game time: 2:30 p.m. CT

TV channel: Big Ten Network

Online streaming: BTN2go

Mobile: BTN2go

Radio: WGN 720, WNUR 89.3, Sirius 135, XM 195

Betting line: Michigan St. -6 1/2