Both finished with 700+ receiving yards. Last time two wildcat receivers did that in the same season was 2009, Andy Brewer and Zeke Markshausen. It felt like this was the best WR duo we’ve had for a while and the stats back it up. I’m interested to see which young players step up in that room in 2024.

Discussion by Rittenberg about the injury to Dillon Johnson. I was questioning running the ball 3x due to risk of turnover or injury. However I agree most teams would run it and not take knees because they couldn’t completely run the clock out. Could also see not wanting to have a backup carry the ball (fumble risk) or run Penix into the line.

However I did think the clock was supposed to restart after the injury, at least picking up where the play clock left off (UW shouldn’t get another full play clock with the time running). It should, if that’s not a rule already.

Also an interesting point raised in the comments that injury stoppage could be an incentive for the defense to hurt someone.

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Will we have anyone drafted this year? Last year we lost a top first round pick, a guy who was AA this year and a few other guys that made the league - and that team sucked ass.

This year, nobody goes to the draft, doubt anyone of this years starters become AA next year. That’s the coaching difference.

Imagine if NU’s coaches had this much support from administration?

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The Vegas line's been destroyed
The bottom card's been dealt
No one knows like you know right now
How truly bad it felt

All Tuesday we wasted
On talkin’ up the game
Domask killed off our dream
and put the Cats away

Oh and if you think lovin' God
Will give our Cats some joy
You will not go to heaven,
You'll go to Champaign, Illinois

You will not go to heaven.
You’ll go to Champaign, Illinois

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Northwestern (10-2, 1-0 Big Ten) plays at No. 9 Illinois (10-2, 1-0 Big Ten) tonight at 8 pm CT at the State Farm Center.

The game will air on BTN. Illinois star Terrance Shannon Jr. remains indefinitely suspended and will not play.

well those were a couple of good games...what stood out to me was 3 of those teams were super creative on offense and Harbaugh is an illusionist. Harbaugh is a Native American trickster...master of disguise. But most of these teams were quicker and stronger at the receiver position, were able to send everyone out on pass plays (protect the qb with just 5 olineman), were able to use lots of motion sometime multiple motion on the same play, use receivers in motion as lead blockers , lots of pulling olineman on run plays and often employed a fullback (superback) who was versatile. I am sure this is stuff known to us but we dont employ because we dont have the players. Was fun to watch but I still like a muddled 13-10 West Division game (sayonara)
which reminds me ...snow coming next week.

Yikes. Here are @mshelton33's takeaways from a brutal night in Champaign.

Has it been published? If they play in Seattle I would attend. The last NU game that I attended was the one in Berkeley. That was kind of fun.

Okay, we’ve seen a fair amount out of this group. They’ve notched an epic signature win against #1 Purdue, and picked up a very nice win against Dayton. Everything else was more or less par for the course, minus the very bad CS loss. NU is 10-2 and 1-0 heading into the new year.

What do people expect the final record to be?

And what do people believe it would realistically need to be to punch our ticket for the program’s first ever back-to-back appearances in the NCAA tournament?

Happy New Year & Go ‘Cats!

OSU, PSU, Iowa and Wisconsin go down. Can Michigan save the conference some face? They actually look better than Alabama, but keep beating themselves.

Yikes. Here are @mshelton33's takeaways from a brutal night in Champaign.

I worked some sources and identified the following 2024 commits who will be enrolling early at Northwestern next week:

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Which is better?

Athan & Dino - 2021 QB and ATH out of Antioch commit to Minnesota. Athan was the higher rated of the two. NU never seems to be involved with either.

Posting for informational purposes only.

Since most teams have played 7 to 9 games at this point, it seems reasonable to look at how they've been doing and where NU stands...
I'm listing the teams ratings using KenPom, Bart Torvik, Evan Miya and my own proxy for Sagarin, who stopped publishing his NCAAM ratings when USA Today stopped paying him.
The Torvik200 (on the far right) uses only games where the opponent is ranked in Torvik's top 200, ignoring the cupcakes.


I am using data downloaded for free from Bart Torvik's website. That guy is providing a real service to anyone interested in statistical analysis of college basketball.

I'd say the conference is not looking too good so far. Against Torvik's top 200 teams, the conference record is 30-35.
If you remove the 9 conference games, the Big Ten is 21-26 against the Top 200. That is not good.

Things can change, of course. Izzo has a lot of highly-regarded freshmen to work with. Indiana is playing better and should be a tournament team.
Purdue still holds the top spot.
Wisconsin, Illinois and Ohio State look to be pretty good. NU and the Hoosiers probably fit with those teams.
The rest will have to improve to make the NCAA field.

Iowa scored zero points in last 2 games and had 61 points score against them. What a way to end the season. Very overrated.

This is the first Big Ten team to go from 0 or 1 wins to 8+ wins including a bowl win. Our preseason over/under was 2-3 wins and many in the media expected us to be either winless or to win a single game; we were picked last in the division and conference almost everywhere.

Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Illinois beat us by a combined 101 points last year; we beat all 3 this year. Nothing shows what a dramatic turnaround this was like those 3 game results on a year-over-year basis.

We were 4-20 over the past 2 seasons. Doubled that win total this year and finished 2nd in the division. Also worth noting that this bowl win is our 5th straight bowl win and 6th bowl win in our past 7 appearances since 2012.


Compare that to our conference mates:
Nebraska is on its 7th straight losing season without a bowl appearance.

Indiana's last bowl win was 1991; 3 straight losing seasons and on a 6 bowl game losing streak. They have just one 8 win season since 1993.

Illinois' last bowl win was 2011. Illinois has one 8 win season since 2007.

Purdue has had two 8-9 win seasons since 2007.

Rutgers' last bowl win and 8 win season was 2014.

Maryland has had one 8 win season since 2010.

It's hard to win football games. A half of the programs even in our conference have struggled in recent history. It's extremely difficult to exceed expectations in the way this group has accomplished. Only the 1995 season was a bigger shock than what this team accomplished, and the way the team improved across the season was remarkable. Huge credit to the players and Braun and the staff for what they pulled off with this turnaround.

Northwestern hits the road for their first game of 2024 to try and earn Chris Collins his first win in Champaign. @lou v has the preview and I’ll be at the game tonight in person.

Northwestern hits the road for their first game of 2024 to try and earn Chris Collins his first win in Champaign. @lou v has the preview and I’ll be at the game tonight in person.

All times CENTRAL. All games available nationally unless otherwise indicated. Rankings come from the CFP poll. Best wishes for a happy and healthy bowl season for all.

First, the NU game:

Las Vegas Bowl
Northwestern vs. Utah @ Las Vegas, NV
Saturday, December 23
6:30 PM, ABC
PxP: Sean McDonough
Color: Greg McElroy

And the rest:

Tuesday, December 26

Quick Lane Bowl
Minnesota vs. Bowling Green @ Detroit, MI
1:00 PM, ESPN
PxP: Connor Onion
Color: Dustin Fox

Thursday, December 28

Pinstripe Bowl
Rutgers vs. Miami (FL) @ Bronx, NY
1:15 PM, ESPN
PxP: Drew Carter
Color: Rod Gilmore

Friday, December 29

Cotton Bowl
#7 Ohio State vs. #9 Missouri @ Arlington, TX
7:00 PM, ESPN
PxP: Dave Pasch
Color: Dusty Dvoracek

Saturday, December 30

Peach Bowl
#10 Penn State vs. #11 Mississippi @ Atlanta, GA
11:00 AM, ESPN
PxP: Mark Jones
Color: Louis Riddick

Music City Bowl
Maryland vs. Auburn @ Nashville, TN
1:00 PM, ABC
PxP: Taylor Zarzour
Color: Matt Stinchcomb

Monday, January 1

ReliaQuest Bowl
Wisconsin vs. #13 LSU @ Tampa, FL
11:00 AM, ESPN2
PxP: Brian Custer
Color: Rod Gilmore

Citrus Bowl
#17 Iowa vs. #21 Tennessee @ Orlando, FL
12:00 PM, ABC
PxP: Dave Flemming
Color: Brock Osweiler

Rose Bowl
#1 Michigan vs. #4 Alabama @ Pasadena, CA (ESPN College GameDay)
4:00 PM, ESPN
PxP: Chris Fowler
Color: Kirk Herbstreit

Monday, January 8

CFP National Championship
#1 Michigan vs. #2 Washington @ Houston, TX (ESPN College GameDay)
6:30 PM, ESPN
PxP: Chris Fowler
Color: Kirk Herbstreit

Illinois, Indiana, Michigan State, Nebraska, and Purdue did not qualify for bowl games.

New Years Day's Sunset from Oahu's Magic Island:

I traded DMs with four-star 2022 QB Steve Angeli, the Oradell (NJ) Bergen Catholic QB whom NU offered back on June 26. Here are some notes before I post a story:

- He goes way back with NU OC Mike Bajakian. Coach Jake started recruiting him last fall, when he was still coaching at BC.

- The Bergen Catholic connection is strong between Angeli and Bajakian, who also played QB at Bergen. "Me and Coach Bajakian had built a great relationship when he was at Boston College and it makes it easier to build a relationship with him when he knows where I come from and how we have similar high school football backgrounds."

- Angeli is also well aware of the Queiro and Dickerson brothers, who all played at NU, calling them "legends for us." He said, "It meant a ton because they played different positions but it definitely plays some what of a factor that guys from my school and area with the same goals and work ethic have had success at Northwestern."

- How does Coach Jake see Angeli fitting into his offense at NU: "He said that I’m a great fit for what he wants at the QB position. I can make throws in the pocket as well as make off platform throws and create plays with my legs. He also said that how I am as a person is really great for what he wants to coach."

- What is Angeli looking for in a college program: "A place that feels like home for me and my family. Great relationships with the coaches, an offensive scheme that will help me succeed, great academics, and a place that can help me reach my goals like winning a National Championship."

- Angeli did no list NU as one of the schools recruiting him the hardest, however. "LSU, WVU, MSU, Rutgers, PSU have been recruiting me pretty hard right now."

Big game Friday vs. archrival Iowa. Currently We are ranked 3rd and Iowa is #1.