Similarities there for quarterbacks

EVANSTON – It seemed Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald was talking about the same player as he analyzed first his own quarterback, Mike Kafka, and then the one the Wildcats must contain Saturday – No. 17 Wisconsin’s Scott Tolzien.

“He’s very accurate,” Fitzgerald said of Tolzien, who cut up Michigan with four TD passes last week. “He puts the ball where it belongs. He doesn’t make a lot of bad decisions and he’s done a really good job.”

Kafka? He had his fourth 300-yard passing game of the season in a victory over Illinois a week ago. Fitzgerald offered this assessment of his quarterback.

“He makes everyone around him that much better,” Fitzgerald said. “He’s done a tremendous job taking care of the ball, leading our offense and making the plays he’s capable of without doing too much.”

Which QB plays better might decide Saturday’s game between the Badgers (8-2, 5-2 Big Ten) and the Wildcats (7-4, 4-3) in the schools’ first meeting since 2006.

Then again, it could boil down to Northwestern’s defense – led by coordinator Mike Hankwitz, who held the same position at Wisconsin from 2006-07 before he was not retained by coach Bret Bielema – against the Big Ten’s best running attack and leading rusher in John Clay.

The Badgers are averaging 208 yards per game rushing and Northwestern’s defense, behind linebackers Quentin Davie and Nate Williams, is giving up only 125 yards per game on the ground. Wisconsin’s been even stingier against the run, yielding just under 100 yards per game.

“I think in this league, even though the spread [offense] is the pretty thing to do, if you’re able to run the football effectively, and if you’re able to stop the run, you’re going to have a good chance to win football games,” Bielema said. “That’s what we’ve been able to do.”