Senior safety Frederic Tarver stepped in for the injured Brendan Smith on Saturday at Michigan State and is in line for playing time Saturday against Michigan. Smith has been declared out against the Wolverines with a knee injury suffered when he was tackled by quarterback Drew Stanton on an interception return.
“Frederic stepped in and came up big,” safety Herschel Henderson said. “They didn’t make any big plays after Brendan went down, so give credit to him.” . . .
Saturday’s victory was Randy Walker’s 35th as NU coach, tying Gary Barnett for fourth on the school’s all-time list. Walker is 35-43. Barnett was 35-45-1 before leaving after the 1998 season. . . .
Northwestern has scored at least 21 points in each of its first seven games for the first time in history. . . . Brett Basanez set an NU single-game completion percentage record (80 percent) by going 24 of 30 against MSU.
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Next: Saturday vs. Michigan, 6 p.m., ESPN or ESPN2