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Kuhbander is B1G Special Teams Player of the Week

lou v

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Congrats to Charlie! Here are this week's winners:

Following Big Ten football games on Oct. 23-24, the Co-Offensive, Co-Defensive and Special Teams Players of the Week and Freshman of the Week in the Big Ten were announced this morning. Below are this week's honorees:

Co-Offensive Player of the Week

David Bell, Purdue
So., WR, Indianapolis/Warren Central

  • Caught 13 passes for 121 yards and a career-high three touchdowns in a come-from-behind win against Iowa
  • Hauled in the game-winning touchdown with 2:15 remaining in the fourth quarter
  • Dating back to last season, it was his fourth straight game with more than 100 yards receiving and his seventh such game in 13 career contests
  • Collects his first career Offensive Player of the Week award
  • Last Purdue Offensive Player of the Week: Jack Plummer (Oct. 14, 2019)


Co-Offensive Player of the Week and Freshman of the Week

Graham Mertz, Wisconsin
Fr., QB, Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley North


  • Became the first Wisconsin freshman to start a season opener at quarterback since 1978, going 20-for-21 for 248 yards and five touchdowns
  • Broke the school record for single-game completion percentage (.952), while tying the school marks with five touchdown passes and 17 consecutive completions
  • Recorded the third-highest single-game passing yards by a Wisconsin freshman, trailing Darrell Bevell (274 vs. Northwestern in 1992) and Joel Stave (254 vs. Illinois in 2012)
  • Earns his first career Big Ten weekly awards
  • Last Wisconsin Offensive Player of the Week: Jonathan Taylor (Nov. 18, 2019)
  • Last Wisconsin Freshman of the Week: Jonathan Taylor (Nov. 27, 2017)


Co-Defensive Players of the Week

Jamar Johnson, Indiana
Jr., S, Sarasota, Fla./Riverview

  • Tallied a career-best 10 tackles, including a career-high seven solo stops, and his fourth-career interception in a victory over Penn State
  • Also recorded his second-career forced fumble, with his interception leading to three points and his forced fumble coming with Penn State at the Indiana 9-yard line
  • Has registered an interception in three straight games dating back to the 2019 season
  • Receives his first career Defensive Player of the Week honor
  • Last Indiana Defensive Player of the Week: Marcus Oliver (Oct. 31, 2016)


Olakunle Fatukasi, Rutgers
Sr., LB, Far Rockaway, N.Y./Grand Street Campus

  • Forced one fumble and recovered two fumbles in the Scarlet Knights’ win against Michigan State
  • Registered 10 total tackles, including three solo tackles
  • Ended the Spartans’ first drive of the second half by forcing and recovering a fumble
  • Claims his first career Defensive Player of the Week honor
  • Last Rutgers Defensive Player of the Week: Jonathan Aiken (Sept. 1, 2014)


Special Teams Player of the Week

Charlie Kuhbander, Northwestern
Sr., K, Springboro, Ohio/Springboro

  • Was a perfect 3-for-3 on field goals on a blustery night at Ryan Field against Maryland
  • Converted a pair of field goals from 43 yards, including one as time expired in the second quarter
  • Converted on all four PAT attempts to total 13 points on the night
  • Earns his second career Special Teams Player of the Week honor and first since Oct. 16, 2017
  • Last Northwestern Special Teams Player of the Week: Chris Bergin (Nov. 18, 2019)
 
This has largely gone unaddressed in the threads I've seen, but that was another big highlight of the night to see Charlie kick so well. Dare we dream that we have a reliable kicker again who can actually consistently make FGs? I was pumped when he nailed that first 43 yarder! Even the second shorter kick... I thought for sure Fitz was taking a delay of game penalty on purpose to back that kick up so the angle wasn't so severe. But he took a timeout and Charlie still nailed the tough sideways kick.
 
Agreed. 43-yarders are not gimmes in college, and certainly not something we can feel confident about as NU fans, but he looked good.
 
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We'll need Charlie to kick well for our B1G championship run this year. Congrats to Koobs!
 
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Congrats to Charlie! Here are this week's winners:

Following Big Ten football games on Oct. 23-24, the Co-Offensive, Co-Defensive and Special Teams Players of the Week and Freshman of the Week in the Big Ten were announced this morning. Below are this week's honorees:

Co-Offensive Player of the Week

David Bell, Purdue
So., WR, Indianapolis/Warren Central

  • Caught 13 passes for 121 yards and a career-high three touchdowns in a come-from-behind win against Iowa
  • Hauled in the game-winning touchdown with 2:15 remaining in the fourth quarter
  • Dating back to last season, it was his fourth straight game with more than 100 yards receiving and his seventh such game in 13 career contests
  • Collects his first career Offensive Player of the Week award
  • Last Purdue Offensive Player of the Week: Jack Plummer (Oct. 14, 2019)


Co-Offensive Player of the Week and Freshman of the Week

Graham Mertz, Wisconsin
Fr., QB, Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley North


  • Became the first Wisconsin freshman to start a season opener at quarterback since 1978, going 20-for-21 for 248 yards and five touchdowns
  • Broke the school record for single-game completion percentage (.952), while tying the school marks with five touchdown passes and 17 consecutive completions
  • Recorded the third-highest single-game passing yards by a Wisconsin freshman, trailing Darrell Bevell (274 vs. Northwestern in 1992) and Joel Stave (254 vs. Illinois in 2012)
  • Earns his first career Big Ten weekly awards
  • Last Wisconsin Offensive Player of the Week: Jonathan Taylor (Nov. 18, 2019)
  • Last Wisconsin Freshman of the Week: Jonathan Taylor (Nov. 27, 2017)


Co-Defensive Players of the Week

Jamar Johnson, Indiana
Jr., S, Sarasota, Fla./Riverview

  • Tallied a career-best 10 tackles, including a career-high seven solo stops, and his fourth-career interception in a victory over Penn State
  • Also recorded his second-career forced fumble, with his interception leading to three points and his forced fumble coming with Penn State at the Indiana 9-yard line
  • Has registered an interception in three straight games dating back to the 2019 season
  • Receives his first career Defensive Player of the Week honor
  • Last Indiana Defensive Player of the Week: Marcus Oliver (Oct. 31, 2016)


Olakunle Fatukasi, Rutgers
Sr., LB, Far Rockaway, N.Y./Grand Street Campus

  • Forced one fumble and recovered two fumbles in the Scarlet Knights’ win against Michigan State
  • Registered 10 total tackles, including three solo tackles
  • Ended the Spartans’ first drive of the second half by forcing and recovering a fumble
  • Claims his first career Defensive Player of the Week honor
  • Last Rutgers Defensive Player of the Week: Jonathan Aiken (Sept. 1, 2014)


Special Teams Player of the Week

Charlie Kuhbander, Northwestern
Sr., K, Springboro, Ohio/Springboro

  • Was a perfect 3-for-3 on field goals on a blustery night at Ryan Field against Maryland
  • Converted a pair of field goals from 43 yards, including one as time expired in the second quarter
  • Converted on all four PAT attempts to total 13 points on the night
  • Earns his second career Special Teams Player of the Week honor and first since Oct. 16, 2017
  • Last Northwestern Special Teams Player of the Week: Chris Bergin (Nov. 18, 2019)
Well deserved! He looks amazing
 
Noteworthy that unlike all the other honorees, Kuhbander won his honor outright. (OK, although Mertz was a co for Offensive Player, he did not have to share the freshman honor.)

Nice recognition, but justice would have been served to triple up on the offensive and defensive players to add two additional Wildcats.
 
Charlie is probably the only B1G POTY who wasn't named his own team's POTW. Bryce Jackson was NU's Special Teams POTW.
 
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Noteworthy that unlike all the other honorees, Kuhbander won his honor outright. (OK, although Mertz was a co for Offensive Player, he did not have to share the freshman honor.)

Nice recognition, but justice would have been served to triple up on the offensive and defensive players to add two additional Wildcats.
So who would you add?
 
Ramsey on offense and Gallagher on defense.
Ramsey wasvery good for us but how does that compare with what Fields and Mertz did? Again Gallager did great for us but the guys that won did similarly well AND had turnovers. Not sure he makes it. By year end I expect to see us well represented but for now, not quite there
 
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Coach Bajakian. Can you do that?
Not sure how he qualifies as POW. Now if they have coordiator of the week. But again plenty of competition. (Rutgers DC, IND etc) We will have plenty of opportunities to win these awards outright going forward. Just this week while we saw a lot that was special for us, there were others out there that were more prominent. By the end of the year we will be well represented
 
Not sure how he qualifies as POW. Now if they have coordiator of the week. But again plenty of competition. (Rutgers DC, IND etc) We will have plenty of opportunities to win these awards outright going forward. Just this week while we saw a lot that was special for us, there were others out there that were more prominent. By the end of the year we will be well represented
It wasn't an entirely serious response. I agree with you that there was no single individual on either side of the ball with really stand-out numbers. It was an all-around successful team effort on both sides.
 
It wasn't an entirely serious response. I agree with you that there was no single individual on either side of the ball with really stand-out numbers. It was an all-around successful team effort on both sides.

Did any other Big Ten team hold its opponent to 3 points or less? Seems like even Illinois got 7 against Wisconsin.
 
It did come off of a fumble by Wisconsin's Jake Ferguson and may have been taken in for the score without the offense needing to get onto the field. The Illinois kicker added an extra point. The point differential also favors Northwestern as objectively having played a better game than Wisconsin.
 
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