Cats look to bounce back at home in the Big Ten/ACC challenge following their first defeat of the season last Wednesday. NU last played the Panthers in the 2020 edition of the challenge, falling by one point.

That didn’t take long.

Given the fact that our 2023 schedule is about as easy as a Northwestern team is ever likely to see, anything less than six wins should be grounds for firing Pat Fitzgerald. They should be able to find six wins in a group of Rutgers, UTEP, Duke, Howard, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Purdue, Maryland, and Illinois. Am I wrong in expecting at least this much?

We have had discussions on here in the past about how Northwestern approaches the NIL topic with its athletes. Some here have criticized NU for having no real plan. Others have argued that, of course NU has a plan, we just don't know it. In that light, I found the email I received today about UConn student athletes very interesting. This email was public and went around to all supporters of UConn athletics. As a faculty member, I received it, but I think these kinds of emails go also to season ticket holders and anyone who at some point gave UConn athletics their email address. It is interesting because not only is there a pretty detailed plan, but also they released the plan for all to see. It's a long read, so feel free to skip or browse, but it was interesting to see how active and engaged the university is.



As the landscape of college athletics continues to change, UConn has embraced the Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) era with confidence. We consistently strive to support our student-athletes in this space with the primary goal of enhancing this support system inclusive of partnerships and resources. We believe this approach will provide a broad range of opportunities for our student athletes, subsequently displaying a track record that will maximize our competitiveness and recruiting efforts and allowing us to achieve at the highest levels.

Philosophically we believe in a holistic student-athlete experience, and we are focused on providing our student-athletes with the necessary knowledge and tools to succeed. Educational opportunities for student-athletes are being augmented by programming provided by the Peter J. Werth Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. The Werth Institute has established its Championship Labs subdivision to specifically support UConn students and student-athletes who are eager to learn more about innovative approaches to NIL. Championship Labs seeks to provide support in creating a personal branding plan, mentoring through brand development, early-stage business coaching, and assistance with financial planning.

Furthermore we have strategically built out an internal support structure to support our student-athletes in the fast-evolving NIL realm, led by Jason Butikofer who has more than 20 years of athletics administration experience. Since 2021, we have partnered with Opendorse to provide a platform for our student-athletes to understand, build, and monetize their personal brands in collaboration with our multimedia rights partner, Learfield. Most recently, UConn and The Brandr Group have established a group licensing agreement for all of our student-athletes, affording them the opportunity to combine their NIL with official UConn trademarks and logos in the realm of merchandising.

This ecosystem will only continue to grow, aided by collectives through which school supporters pool funds to help create NIL programs for student-athletes through a wide range of activities. UConn has been presented with two collectives that we believe strongly align with the best interests of student-athletes.

The first, the D'Amelio Huskies Collective formed by 1991 UConn alumnus Marc D'Amelio, will help provide opportunities for student-athletes while also lending his expertise in the personal branding landscape. Yesterday, a second collective, Bleeding Blue for Good, was launched as an additional opportunity for our student-athletes to grow their NIL. We could not be more thankful to have a trusted group of alumni step up to the plate to broaden the avenue of opportunities available to our student-athletes through these collectives.

We believe that through these aforementioned efforts, we are providing our student-athletes who choose to engage in NIL activities the means to do so at the highest level. Your support through any of these robust NIL initiatives is not only appreciated but critical to support our student-athletes and allow us to continue to pursue championships.

David Benedict
Director of Athletics

This seems like an intriguing OL with the potential to get into NU based on his Ivy offers. How come we haven’t offered? Too lean for now?

WTF?????

Today is the first day of open contact visits for coaches to recruits. Look for our coaches to be cross crossing the country to save our class and find the next Evan Hull. It appears as if Bryan Payton is on the road assuming one of the vacant coaches slots (saw that he was in California). Let the games begin.

Trevor Siemian will miss the rest of the season for the Bears . He needs surgery for an oblique injury.

I think Fitz knew bringing in a new OC would be difficult on the young QBs and would torpedo next season. This seems like a move to try and look slightly better than this year. Bajakian has had some good offensive players, but has he ever recruited and developed a quality college QB at any level?

Rivals has a new Transfer Portal page and Transfer Tracker this year. The Tracker posts all players in D1 that enter or announce their intent to enter the portal.


Here's the Transfer Portal front page.

Starting in 2024.

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I have read The Rock's rants and raves about assistant coaches since 2004. Some were legitimate and some were not. I think the point here is that change comes from the Head Coach in ALL programs!!! Duke's culture didn't change this year because of new assistants, it came from a new head coach!!! Illinois and all others as well. When a program fails, and we have, it is because of the head coach and his decisions. Our culture is broken and the voice and message that once worked extremely well has become a monotone!!! I want Fitz to be the man in control of many more great years in Evanston!!! But he has got to change: the culture, the voice, the offense, the defense, and special teams! Major structural changes need to be implemented in order for us to be competitive on Saturdays in the B1G. If Fitz doesn't gear up huge changes and direct and implement them with vigor NU will not be successful. Can't be anymore of the same old bs, the college football world has changed and Fitz must change accordingly or perish at the helm. l'm a Fitz guy and I want him to be highly respected and successful, but without major changes he isn't going to make it.

They were never really in it. Given the strength of the Big Ten it looks like a long year ahead. Mott was the only one who had a decent game. Hope they can turn it around.

Class of 2021, son of former NFL QB Jon Kitna decommits from Boston College, where coach Jake was one of his recruiters.

Unsure of the grades situation but assuming it might be an interesting play?

what y’all wanna talk about now?

What do you think?

CFP expanded to 12.

We’ve got 20 months to figure out that offense. And the defense. And the kicking game. And the return game.

Go Cats!

As the Cats roll Valpo. Big games for Walsh, Brown and Wood. Courtney Shaw DNP.

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Without knowing who maybe leaving and or coming...just with the known roster we have . who would seem to be the probable starters on the Oline and with Hull gone the lead running back..? It seems to me that the success of our qb next year be it Sullivan, Lausch or Hellinski will depend on the improvement of our offensive line.

I have to admit, I was not excited to go through the play by play for this one. I ignored the last 2:47 of garbage time.


Coming into the game, our most productive lineup had been Nicholson/Beran/Barnhizer/Audige/ anybody else.
Those 4 guys played a total of 29 seconds together against Pitt.

Also worth pointing out - the game was another rock fight for the first 11 minutes and the score was 13-13 when Collins shook things up and brought in Martinelli.
Martinelli showed some unorthodox potential, but 3 minutes later Pitt was ahead 21-16 and it was all downhill from there.
Notably, that 3 minute segment we had Martinelli out there with Verhoeven, Beran, Barnhizer and either Audige or Buie. One guard, 4 forwards.
Definitely something different for Collins, but in a troubling way. The game was tied midway through the first half and we went into "try anything" mode.
This may help to explain the confused look on everyone's faces.

I'm worried what comes next.

Guess it’s time to get this thread started as a couple of former NU recruits have landed in the portal.

Costelli was a 4-star recruit out of Cali that Bajakian was very high on. Seem to recall his parents having B1G ties to PSU. Would have 4 years of eligibility.

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In an effort to get out of the quagmire (and consolidate threads) - some of the younger guys that showed some promise

Devin Turner - Looks like he is going to continue the run of strong DBs
Mac Uihlein - looked much better after a pretty bad first game. Needs some weight room time but he can hit and move
Najee Story - Looks to be back to his old self pre-injury - see why OSU offered him early
Aiden Hubbard - Showed some pass rush ability

Joseph Himon - showed some quicks, better than I expected, in little playing time. Unfortunately looked like a separated shoulder at the end.
Jack Lausch - arm looked the part and definitely an athlete. Also looked like a freshman playing his first snaps (tucking and running too soon, missing an open receiver in the end zone to run), but hey - not too bad.


Bunch of guys got some PT but either not enough snaps or jury still out. - Def - Wallace, Johnson, Hollis Off - Gray, Johnson, Gill

Any other thoughts?