After the haze lifts
a Braun new day begining
Cat's against the world

Check out @KennyKChoo's story on Angelo Ciaravino's commitment to Northwestern.

72 hours till opening kickoff and here’s where I’m at:

These past eight weeks have been hell for NU fans. Many in my friend group are split between being disgusted at some of the reported behavior from a program that was held in high regard and feeling like Fitz was unfairly scapegoated, leaving NU without its longtime leader and severely damaging its brand.

But the fact of the matter is: NU will make changes internally to help prevent any of this stupidity to take hold again. NU is also — for now — in the coveted Big Ten Conference and will still be a desirable landing spot for many academically minded recruits.

So, for this year: JUST W.I.N. Tread water as a program. Erase that 11-game losing streak, show a fighting spirit and maybe surprise a team or two. Reel in a recruiting class that is at least on par with the lower tier of the Big Ten.

I do not know if Braun is the long-term solution as head coach. But hell, over the past two seasons, I wasn’t sure Fitz was either. Yes, he was as close to being “the program” as a coach can get, but at a certain point if you’re both boring and bad you cannot stay. His hires of Jake and JON were almost fireable offenses themselves, and has been discussed at length here, hindsight makes it look like Hank’s brilliance masked a lot of Fitz’s weaknesses.

I want to continue to root for Northwestern. It will be painful to do if we’re back in the Dark Ages — to say nothing of the risk that poses to being booted from the Big Ten.

So while I might not be wearing ~quite~ as much purple and boasting about how NU does things “the right way” this football season, I will definitely be quietly rooting for the team’s success. The future of the program could depend on it. 6-6 would be a minor miracle.

Indianapolis is having a total eclipse of the sun at 3 pm. I hope it coincides with my celeration of a Wildcat victory over Rutgers. Go 'Cats!!!

Jack Kennedy. Congrats!

Insert presidential jokes here:

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Jimmy Buffett has passed at age 76.

One of the great storytellers of or time.

RIP Jimmy.

New recruiting assistant for offense with some good ties to the league. He's the son of Duke Tobin (Director of Player Personnel/essentially GM for the Bengals) and grandson of Bill Tobin (former Bears/Colts GM).

This q is probably more for Louie and team.

Has anyone checked in with the coaches to see if there is a strategy to any potential Colorado transfers?

Are there any that we are looking at?

Colorado at least was playing a pac 12 schedule last year. Yes the team was bad, but there must be a few quality players in the mass exodus and at least some that could get into NU.

Is it an issue that most of the transfers have multiple years of eligibility?

Chicago's Big Ten team goes to the Big Apple to open the season this weekend...well, the Tri-State, at least.

There's always uncertainty with a new season. But this opener is almost impossible to predict with much confidence.

That said, given the circumstances and the low expectations for this season, Braun and Co. will be playing with house money.

Here's an optimistic take that the Cats surprise the Knights.

NU 24
RU 18

Hoosiers are hanging close to the Buckeyes 7-3 as the 1st half winds down. Nice kick return by the Hoosiers gives them a good start point for their offense to maybe score again before the half is over.

I'm really, really worried about having enough Big Ten-caliber players to reasonably compete for the next 3-5 years. We have a damaged brand and are hemorrhaging players right now which naturally has a ripple effect. So we're losing this year's class and have no one recruiting for next year who can talk with certainty about the program's future...and anyone good enough to play at NU who wants a great degree is also likely being recruited by other top-shelf academic schools.

I guess mayyyyybe the right coach could come in and spin things to find good talent who want to play right away, but that feels like wishful thinking at best. NU is known to be a tough place to recruit and I don't foresee the Dean of Admission loosening the leash even a little bit to help us with transfer portal options (which would be the lightning bolt solution for any other program) or to rebuild.

If someone wants to reply with a foundation for optimism...that would be nice.

Since Cal is my second team, I have been switching back and forth between Fresno State(Jeff Tedford)/Purdue and Colorado/ TCU ( (Sonny -ykes). I was reminded of almost 20 years of Cal football: Tedford knows how to win and -ykes will never pay attention to defense. Wish Tedford had paid some attention to whether his players ever went to class!

Thought this was a terrific post worthy of its own thread:

@Purple Pile Driver said:

“Interesting that when given the chance to hit the portal and get out of the cesspool called NU football that not ONE player that has been in the program for over a year left. NONE. All portal guys were incoming Freshman and players that are in the current recruiting class. We had one graduate transfer that was here one year. Now that is the truth.”

One of the best days of my life.
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Check out this week's recruit roundup, the first will all nine commits in play.

Alex finish second on the European Tour, and Matt takes second in Fed Ex playoffs. Matt shot a good final round, but Hovland shoots a course record to beat him.

crappin' the bed in the same fashion as the Golden Rodents & the BugEaters from last night. The ineptitude of Moo U.'s O is making the Chipmonk's D look like a classic immoveable object. Another snore-fest bug-tussle from an overrated B1G team that made their current HC, Mel Tucker, a millionaire in the off-season. Moo U. deserves every failure they're gonna get stuffed down their collective throats. And the Chipmonks are their first gag-inducing bolus.

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Looks like Jaheem Joseph started a new podcast. His first guests were Garnett Hollis and Cam Porter. Podcast picked up around the 26 minute mark with what surprised the players during camp.

My key takeaways:

-Garnett Hollis said the biggest surprise for him was how well the DL was doing with Coach Smith taking over. Specifically mentions how the DL is always in position and they are playing with great confidence which is way different than last year (Yikes coach Long). Also mentions that the 2nd year players have stepped up and have been making plays in practice.

-Joseph mentions that Coach Braun is really bRinging both sides of the ball together. He said it previously felt like they weren’t on the same team at times. Coach Braun has the players compliment each other after practice now.

-The new additions to the WR room and Coach Binns have impressed Cam Porter. Thinks their play will open things up for the run game.

-The overall vibe from the team seems like they have nothing to lose after last season and were not distracted by the whole hazing scandal.

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Check out the predictions for this Sunday's matchup against Rutgers from the WildcatReport staff.

Is there a meet up in NB before the game for purple fans?

A true Cat and devoted supporter of NU and all the people in our athletics programs. And most importantly, a wonderful human being. I wish he had been able to be involved these last several months. May he rest in peace.

When will Richardson face the music? Is he scheduled to speak in front of the media? When will his lawsuit be announced?