The ball is in the air and receiver and defensive back make a play. Too often that not, that situation has resulted in a big gain for Northwestern opponents this season, especially against Syracuse in the season opener and again versus Indiana. 

Coach Pat Fitzgerald has come up with a simple solution.

"There's kind of an old philosophy out there in secondary coverage and wide receiver routes: He who jumps first usually catches the ball," Fitzgerald said. "In all those routes we jumped second. So we'll try to jump first this week. It's not a whole lot more complicated than that."