College Football Rankings 2012: Notre Dame is No. 4, Northwestern in Top 25

The Fighting Irish hold steady at No. 4 in SBNation's Blogpoll after beating Pitt in triple overtime

Iowa vs. Northwestern 2012: Wildcat fans happy with Kain Colter

The Northwestern Wildcats notched a homecoming victory over the Iowa Hawkeyes on Saturday, and the performance of quarterback Kain Colter was a big reason for the win. Northwestern fans were happy to see Colter come up big, and make plays with his arm and feet.

Rodger Sherman of Northwestern blog Sippin' on Purple was excited about what he saw from Colter, and thought his big plays far outweighed any mistakes the junior signal-caller may have made:

Team Kain. Team Kain Team Kain Team Kain. Northwestern's offense was uninventive, but Iowa couldn't stop it, so it didn't really matter. Kain Colter absolutely murdered everything on the ground and although he had one pretty ugly overthrow that got picked, he showed that he could throw the ball downfield without the world ending, although the TD he tossed was kind of a duck. So that was nice. Only one pass for Trevor Siemian, and we could've done without it too. More of this, please.

Cain tallied 166 yards and three touchdowns on 26 carries. He also completed 6/9 passes for 80 yards and a score. The win was the seventh for the Wildcats against just two losses.

Northwestern has a chance for a statement win next Saturday when they visit the Michigan Wolverines. Michigan is 5-3 overall, but 3-1 in Big Ten conference play. The Wolverines are coming off a blowout loss to the Nebraska Cornhuskers, where starting quarterback Denard Robinson left with an injury.

Northwestern vs. Iowa final score: Wildcats hold off Hawkeyes, 28-17

From start to finish, Northwestern dominated Iowa, in a comfortable 28-17 win in Evanston. Quarterback Kain Colter led the Wildcats with four total touchdowns, as Northwestern improved to 7-2 on the season.

Northwestern vs. Iowa score: Northwestern ahead 28-10 after three quarters

After three quarters of play, Northwestern is in complete control, leading the Iowa Hawkeyes, 28-10.

For Northwestern, the difference truly has been quarterback Kain Culter. After rushing for two touchdowns in the first half, Culter has been arguably better after intermission, adding two more scores in the time since. The first came on a four-yard run (Culter’s third rushing touchdown of the afternoon) and the final one on a 47-yard pass to Christian Jones. Running back Venric Mark has added 110 yards on the ground as well.

The Hawkeyes did cut into the Northwestern lead right before the end of the third quarter however. James Vandenberg capped a 12-play, 59-yard drive with a one-yard quarterback keeper to cut into the Wildcats' lead. Running back Damon Bullock carried the bulk of the load on the drive with eight carries, and has 94 yards of total rushing on the afternoon.

Heading into the fourth quarter, it appears as though Northwestern will continue to control this series with Iowa, having won five of the last seven games between the two schools entering Saturday's game.

Northwestern vs. Iowa score: Wildcats comfortably ahead 14-3 at halftime

From the first snap of the game, Northwestern has controlled the line of scrimmage, giving them a comfortable 14-3 lead over Iowa heading into halftime.

For Northwestern, their rushing attack is firing on all cylinders.

Through two quarters of play, the Wildcats are averaging nine yards per carry thanks to the strong running of quarterback Kain Culter and running back Venric Mark. Culter has touchdown runs of five and two yards, with 66 total yards on the ground, while Mark has added 95 yards on just seven carries. His 72-yard run early in the second quarter set up the Wildcats’ second touchdown score.

As for the Hawkeyes, their offense has been able to move the ball, but has sputtered on third downs.

Quarterback James Vandenberg has completed 11 of 16 passes in the first half, and running back Damian Bullock has emerged on the ground for the Hawkeyes, with seven carries for 43 yards. Fullback Mark Weisman has 21 yards on the ground, but left late in the first half with an injury.

Despite all that, Iowa still has just three points on the scoreboard after a half of play.

Northwestern vs. Iowa score: Wildcats lead 7-3 after one quarter

With both teams still fighting to keep themselves alive in the Big Ten title race, Northwestern leads Iowa 7-3 after one quarter in Evanston.

The Wildcats started out the scoring on a successful opening possession. Quarterback Kain Culter carried the ball five times for 43 yards, finishing it with a five-yard touchdown run.

Still, Iowa quickly battled back, and quickly proved that they’re not ready to let history repeat itself, in a series where they’ve lost five of their last seven games to the Wildcats.

On their opening drive, Iowa was able to put their first points of the game on the board, thanks to a Mike Meyer 40-yard field goal. The series capped an efficient drive for Iowa quarterback James Vandenberg, who completed all five passes, to five different receivers.

The other big news for Iowa is that fullback Mark Weisman has looked sharp so far. The Hawkeyes' leading rusher injured his ankle two weeks ago against Michigan State, and was limited to just nine yards on five carries last week. This week he’s already rushed eight times for 20 yards.

Iowa Vs. Northwestern 2012: Game time, TV schedule, odds and more

Northwestern is favored by six at home versus Iowa

Nebraska vs. Northwestern 2012: Wildcats offense and defense falter in loss

The Northwestern Wildcats allowed two late touchdowns and surrendered a 12-point fourth quarter lead as they lost to the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Saturday, 29-28.

The Nebraska offense, led by quarterback Taylor Martinez, finished the day with 543 total yards. Martinez was 27-of-39 for 342 yards and three touchdowns, while running back Ameer Abdullah rushed 19 times for 101 yards.

SB Nation's Northwestern blog, Sippin' on Purple, writes that as porous as the defense was, the blame for Saturday's loss rests squarely on the offense:

Odd as it is to say after giving up 543 yards, I don't blame the defense much in this game. They dropped two potential interceptions in the final quarter, but they also held an offense scoring over 40 points per game under 30 and came up with a fumble recovery.

The offense, on the other hand, once again couldn't stay on the field. Northwestern went 3-and-out 10 times out of 17 drives, not counting the drives to end each half...I don't know what is going to happen against the Iowa and Michigan State defenses, but it probably won't be pretty.

Northwestern quarterback Trevor Siemian was only 15-of-35 passing for 116 yards, an average of 3.3 yards per pass attempt. Running back Venric Mark accounted for a large portion of the Wildcats offense as he rushed for 118 yards, but most of that production came on one play -- an 80-yard touchdown run early in the third quarter.

The loss drops Northwestern to 6-2 on the season and 2-2 in conference play. Their next contest comes next Saturday against the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Nebraska vs. Northwestern 2012 final score: Wildcats collapse in 29-28 loss

The Nebraska Cornhuskers significantly out-gained the Northwestern Wildcats on offense most of the game Saturday, but needed a late rally led by quarterback Taylor Martinez to win 29-28.

Martinez threw two of this three touchdown passes in the fourth quarter after Northwestern's Mike Trumpy scored on a touchdown run early in the quarter to put the Wildcats up 28-16. Martinez found Taariq Allen for an eight-yard touchdown with six minutes left and then connected with Ben Cotton on a seven-yard touchdown with 2:38 remaining to take the lead.

Northwestern had the ball back with a chance to drive for the winning score, but Jeff Budzien missed a 53-yard field goal attempt to give the ball back to Nebraska.

The Wildcats have had problems holding leads in the fourth quarter this season. They led the entire second half prior to Martinez's scoring drives. Venric Mark, who had 117 yards in the game, put Northwestern up 21-10 with an 80-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. Martinez answered with his own rushing touchdown.

Nebraska had the lead twice briefly in the first half, getting a 27-yard field goal from Brett Maher on their opening drive. After a fumbled punt return by Nebraska, Northwestern scored on a touchdown pass from Trevor Siemian to Dan Vitale.

Nebraska responded with a touchdown pass from Martinez to Kenny Bell to go up 10-7, but Siemian found Tony Jones for a 27-yard touchdown to give the Wildcats a 14-10 halftime lead.

Northwestern falls to 6-2 overall and 2-2 in the Big Ten. Nebraska is 5-2 and 2-1 in the Big Ten.

Box Score Hero: Martinez was 27-for-39 for 342 yards and three passing touchdowns. He also ran for 65 yards and a score. Nebraska had 542 yards of total offense to just 301 for Northwestern.

Rankings Ramifications: Northwestern was briefly ranked before losing a fourth quarter lead against Penn State Oct. 6 knocked them out of the rankings. Had they won today, they might've been a candidate to rejoin the Top 25. Nebraska probably won't get back in this week, but a win over Michigan next week could certainly put them back in consideration.

But Did They Cover? Nebraska was favored by seven, so they didn't cover.

For More On This Game: For more on Huskers football, visit Nebraska blog Corn Nation. For more on Wildcats football, visit Northwestern blog Sippin’ On Purple, plus Big Ten blog Off Tackle Empire and SB Nation Chicago.

Next Week's Schedule: Northwestern hosts Iowa at noon next week. Nebraska hosts Michigan at 8 p.m.

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This story originally appeared on SBNation.com.

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