O-H-I-O...

Once the circuitous chant of O - H began in Q4, my long-time 'Cat fan bud and I seated in section 129 stood and shouted:
F - U.
The "Cat faithful seated around us gave a hearty laugh at that improvisation. On the next go-around, a couple of the folks seated next to us picked-up the F - U response. More laughs and a few even applauded. On the 3rd cycle, we got about another 2 dozen intrepid 'Cat fans to join-in on the F - U reply. More laughs and a greater applause. This F - U reply lasted about another 4- 5 cycles then began to fade-out as expected after that.

I wonder if I should go on other message boards of Da Bucknuts' upcoming B1G opponents and make the suggestion of this alternative spelling to the O - H - I - O chant. I'm thinking that it might be the start of an ever-increasing trend in OSU opponents throughout the B1G, especially those hailing from Annie's Treehouse.

Good Idea or should I just let it fade? Your suggestions/responses are welcome...

A good friend of mine is a huge Buckeye fan and he writes a weekly email "blast" about the Buckeye's to his friends as a hobby.

He always finds some good nugget of information while researching. As an example - I had no idea about the grass at Ryan!

And the weather could, indeed, be a (big?) factor tomorrow.

Go Cats!


The games in November are the ones you remember, it is said, but the old scribbler thought October went out with a blast last weekend.

JT Tuimoloau's performance was a once in a lifetime thing, in your correspondent's opinion, and it reminded me of Trey Sermon's 331 yard rushing game the last time our favs took on Northwestern. That was December, 2020, in the B1G title game, and our Buckeyes were favored by about 16 or so. The Fitzcats led at the half, 10-6, but they kept feeding Sermon the ball and he kept running and running and running.

He had 29 carries for an OSU single game mark of 331 yards and two TDs as the Buckeyes won, 22-10.

The wise guys make OSU a 38-point favorite in tomorrow's tilt in Evanston, with an over/under of 55 1/2 points. The money line is familiar, OSU -10000, which implies a 99+% chance of a Buckeye victory. The felines have had a tough season. They beat Nebraska over in Dublin, Ireland, to start the season, but have now lost seven straight. A victory this weekend against all odds would be the biggest in Northwestern history.

ABC will televise the game with the kickoff shortly after noon, eastern. The OSU Alumni Club of the CSRA will host a watch party at The Carolina Ale House in Augusta, and all Buckeye fans are invited to join the festivities. You need not be a member.

The last time the scarlet and gray visited Ryan Field they walked away with a 52-3 win in 2019. Pat Fitzgerald, in his 17th year at the helm, has never beaten Ohio State, but he has some help on the way in the form of the weather.

As we go to press around midday Friday, the forecast is for gale warnings on Lake Michigan most of tomorrow. They are forecasting overnight rains that will soak the natural grass turf in Evanston, but the rain should abate about game time. The winds, though, will be something else. They may force the Buckeyes to run a lot more, and there are those who think we have problems running the rock. Beware. Miyan Williams should be back. The injury he sustained last week was to his hand, which apparently got caught in the yardage chains when he was tackled along the sideline.

Tre Henderson is ready, too. This could become a great opportunity for the O line to get into harness for a real snot knocker. JSN11 will not be there, but we've done fine without him. If the wind is howling, there won't be many long bombs attempted, and that's to Northwestern's advantage. Their DBs just can't stay with our WRs consistently, but CJ Stroud can opt for shorter routes.

Northwestern apparently has enough money to build beautiful new athletic facilities, but nothing for lawn mowers. The grass on the field is the longest in the nation and is kept that way for a reason. To slow down opponents.

Former Buckeye Josh Perry, now an analyst with BTN, says its the longest grass he ever played on, high school, college or pro.

The grass is so long that if was a golf course, we'd call it "heavy rough."

The Bucks will have to deal with the elements, but so will the Cats. If past is a forecaster, though, the crowd will be a decided edge for Ohio State. Your correspondent looked on line Thursday and there were plenty of ducats available for as low as $23. That means we'll see a large turnout of Buckeye fans.

The last time Northwestern beat our boys was in 2004 in Evanston. It was a night game and it went to OT and your reporter was there to see it all. The crowd was largely scarlet and gray and overwhelmed the facilities. All the concession stands were out of stuff to sell by halftime, and there were long, long lines at for the "facilities."

A note of interest: Buckeye OC Kevin Wilson was the OC at Northwestern from 99-01. He was with the late Randy Walker when he went from our Miami to Northwestern. Together, they put together a team that was B1G co- champs in 2000.

Buckeyes are on the verge of setting a couple of records, according to the folks at BTN. OSU has scored 20+ points in 69 straight games, tying a record set by Oklahoma. Oddly, the last time our boys were held under 20 points was the 30-16 loss to the Sooners in Ohio Stadium in 2017, and guess who was there for that one, too? Yep. This old scribe. The OK streak was stopped last season at WVU.

The Bucks also have scored 44+ points in seven straight games, tying a B1G record set by the stinkers 123 years ago. I wonder if Ryan Day cares? Who keeps upo with all these numbers?

This will be the 80th meeting between the two. Ohio State holds a strong advantage, 64-14-1. The largest margin of victory was in 81 when Earle's Buckeyes beat the Cats, 70-6.

Statwise this game pits Ohio State's B1G leader in scoring O against Northwestern, which has the worst scoring O in the loop. In scoring D, Ohio State ranks 5th in the conference, while Northwestern is ranked 12th.

The Cats gave Penn State a heck of a game five weeks ago during a monsoon that spun off Hurricane Ian, The final was 17-7, PSU, but it was a "comedy or tragedy" of turnovers. Penn State fumbled four times and had one pass picked, whilst Northwestern fumbled twice and also got intercepted.

The turnover margin between Saturday's foes is glaring: OSU +9, Northwestern -9.

Our pick: Ohio State 56, Northwestern 14.

In other B1G games this weekend:

Maryland visits Wisconsin (-4 1/2); Minnesota (-15 1/2) is at Nebraska; Iowa goes to Purdue (-3 1/2); Penn State (-13 1/2) is at Indiana; Sparty visits Illinois (-17 1/2) and the skunkbears (-25 1/2) go to Rutgers.

This weekend is void of MACtion, as they have moved to weeknights for television exposure, so we have those scores. Ball State upset Kent State, 27-20; Our OU is bidding for a division title with a 45-24 win over Buffalo; Central outhouse beat Northern Illinois, 35-22 and BG edged Western outhouse, 13-9.

National games of interest:

Top ranked Tennessee visits third ranked Georgia (-8 1/2); Bama (-13 1/2) plays Saturday night at LSU; Clemson (-3 1/2) is at Notre Dame; Oregon (-31.5) is at Colorado; Texas Tek visits TCU (-8 1/2); UCLA (-10 1/2) goes to AZ State; Cal is at SoCal (-21 1/2) and Navy is at Cincy (-18.5).

I just got off the Monday press conference Zoom call. Not a lot of exciting things to report from Fitz, who was more business-like and straightforward today (no jokes or one liners). Here are a few highlights:

- Awards for Ohio State game: Hull OPOW, Adebawore DPOW, Sullivan Off Big Playmaker, Heard Def Big Playmaker

- Minnesota is very physical up front on both sides of the ball. Their DBs are active and physical. They are particularly talented at RB and OL. They do a great job on third down efficiency, best in the nation. They have the No. 2 defense, too, so their TOP is big.

- The forecast is for cold weather in Minnesota, so this could be another "weather" game. "You have to embrace it, enjoy it," he said. Didn't think it affected his team vs. PSU or OSU in NU's two weather games this year.

- He talked about balancing trying to win games with "sprinkling in" new guys to get them experience. His goal is to get the roster older. "We're rolling with the guys we're rolling with." He's proud that they've continued to work hard. "We're going to sprinkle in guys where it fits, but we're going to do everything we can to win." Herzog, Petrucci and Fitzgerald all played in the kicking game for the first time this season on Saturday.

- In terms of changes (read: coaching staff), he said that he wouldn't do anything rash or anything quick. Read: there won't be any changes until after the season. "I've been doing this a long time," he said, and added that it's not their first disappointing season.

- I asked about Sully. He said that he's learning a lot every rep. He likes the way he stayed the course after not winning the job in camp. He's growing in his role every week. I asked whether he's shown enough to be "the guy" moving forward, he said that he has a good chance to but that he would have to earn it like everyone else. (I also asked Andrew Clair about Sully. He said that he's a special QB and that his ability to make plays with his feet really "opens the door and expands the playbook" because it makes defenses account for him.)

- Fitz talked about his team's inconsistency and penchant for one-man breakdowns again. They made critical errors on Stroud's two big runs in the second half. The lack of consistency is what's most disappointing about the season to him.

- He said that he takes the same approach with his team about social media as he does with his sons: educate them about the positives in building brand for NIL, for example, but also about the potential negatives. "There is little fact and lots of opinions." He said that it's a welcome distraction for players -- like Sega was in his day -- but it can become a distraction.

- He reiterated that he is trying to get players to trust themselves. They've practiced hard all year but it hasn't translated to Saturdays. He said that confidence vs. experience is a chicken-and-egg thing in terms of what comes first. Players just need to settle down and do job and often try to do too much. They need to trust their preparation, not get too high or too low and stay even keeled.

I wasn't able to make it to the game tonight, so I was going to have to watch it on BTN+. But it looks like I may not be able to see it at all. I had to reset my password (it's been a long time) for BTN+, and I've been waiting for them to send a code to my email for more than a half-hour now. If they don't send it soon, I may be out of luck. I still have to enter all my payment info too.

It's not the end of the world. It's Chicago State. (If they lose to Chicago State, that would be the end of the world.) I'm depending on you guys to bring this one home.

It's been another nightmare season in Evanston. The defense is still the same dumpster fire like last year, while the offense continues to be one of the worst in the FBS. In fairness, the season-ending injuries to key players seem to be more than usual and probably is a factor in the poor play of the Cats. In the absence of any depth chart or injury reports (which other fan bases get to have), let's try to figure out who is out for the season.

On offense:

• Starting LG Priebe
• Starting RG Rowley (medically retired)
• Previously injured, maybe not recovered: RT Franks
• Previously injured, maybe not recovered: RG/RT Thompson
• TE Mangieri - don't think he's played a down yet
• TE Gordon - chronically injured shoulder, sadly might have to retire (my guess)
• Welcing? Albright? Newly converted DT to TE Olges got injured and was down for the count (noted that D'Antonio was dressed as TE)

On defense:

• Starting S Azema
• Starting NT Holmes
• DT Barndt?
• DT Johnson?

Who else? I know other members of our secondary missed multiple games due to injury, guys like Hampton, Jaheem Joseph, etc.

Hey Gang,

If any of you haven't listened, we had Doug Lesmerises on the pod this week (check it out!)

At one point, we got into a discussion about Fitz. Doug's opinion (no doubt shared by a ton of the outside world) is that Northwestern can only get results like those in recent history WITH Fitz and is thus tethered to him. This common opinion is no doubt traced back to those 19 seasons--1973-1991, Pont through Peay--that the outside world seems to want to use to define the 100 years of NU Football pre-Barnett to prop up this "NU should be horrible" fallacy.

We're not sure how many people on the boards are in the age bracket to speak on this, but our question is:

What changed circa 1970? Strotz came in as president right as Alex Agase was producing his best teams, and the previous 2 presidents had presided over Pappy Waldorf, Robert Voigts, and Ara Parseghian, who were all perfectly fine. Did the shift come with Strotz? Earlier in the Agase era? What happened?

Again, we're going WAY back here...but hopefully someone here can speak on this?

Thanks!
WLP

Disappointing in that he was supposedly leaning toward Northwestern but nor surprising that he went to a high profile program.

Will Sullivan be available?

Apparently the Vandy DB Coach came out in support of Kanye? How dumb can you be?? Looks like school might be wavering on his status a bit.

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Evan Hull will be playing in front of his home town crowd in the Twin Cities this weekend. This is his first visit to Minneapolis as a Cat. I am certain he has had this game marked on his calendar since he signed with NU. I can only hope that the coaches and his teammates give it their all to help Evan win this game. Evan has been a relentlessly positive player who has made the most of his skill set. This may be the last year we see him as an NU Wildcat. I can think of no better way to honor his commitment to the Northwestern Football Family than to help him win one in front of his family and friends in Minnesota. Go Cats!

It appears the team has been improving. What do you think about our last three games ? Can we win them all ?

Is his contract.

Fitz committed to NU for life and NU committed to Fitz for life after the Citrus Bowl. He (and his agent) wisely included adequate provisions in his contract that accounted for bad stretches of seasons, like this. I think that given NU’s history it was clearly the right move for the school (and for Fitz) and still is.

However, at 90%+ of other programs, any AD would be negligent if they did not seek a replacement for the head coach after a stretch of seasons like this. Because Fitz’s contract would painfully punish the school if the AD tried to fire him, it gets the AD off the hook for negligence in oversight of the football program.

But (absent any clauses that Fitz has in his contract expressly preventing the school from meddling in the football hiring practices, which if Fitz has, the program may very well be screwed) does not prevent the AD from meddling in the hiring of other football coaches. To do so competently, the AD is going to need to establish an objectively reasonable set of criteria and mandate that Fitz has to follow them to find a competent defensive coordinator. If Fitz doesn’t (again not privy to the contractual exclusions that may be baked in), then Fitz could be let go for cause (basically a “PIP”) - which likely would dramatically impact the buyout for Fitz.

I hope it never comes to that. I hope that Fitz acts independently of any mandate to replace the lack of defensive leadership competence as soon as practicable. But I believe that Fitz’s loyalties will cloud objective judgment and action for what is right for the football program. Thus, the AD must proceed with something similar to the above because of Fitz’s contract.

The above cannot take place in a matter of days or weeks. It is likely that the AD has already started some similar process in preparation for imposing it on Fitz at the end of the season. There could be a “promotion from within,” but I just don’t believe that Fitz would fire a friend in the season. It has to happen at the end of the season, with the AD creating the “for cause” situation so Fitz doesn’t need to be the one to fire his friend.

It’s one official visitor down, and two to go for Northwestern basketball this month.

The Wildcats hosted Missouri point guard Cameron Carr last weekend for his official visit. This weekend, California point guard Parker Strauss will be in Evanston for his official. Then, next weekend, wing Blake Barkley from West Virginia will arrive for his OV.

By the end of the month, the Wildcats hope to have a class to join point guard Jordan Clayton, who committed to the program in August. The goal is to bring in three guards and a wing, so if NU can land all three visitors this month, their work will be done for the class.

At this point, it is not known whether guards Boo Buie and Chase Audige will return for their free COVID year next season. Either way, the Wildcats will be fine with numbers: there are only 10 scholarship players on the current roster.

That scholarship situation gives you an idea of where head coach Chris Collins and the Wildcats are as a program. He is trying to reboot after five straight losing seasons and getting a “win or else”-type of message from his athletic director after last year’s disappointing finish. You can just imagine how difficult that has made recruiting in this cycle.

Our attempts to reach Carr to get his thoughts on his official visit experience have been unsuccessful. But sources say that all went well and the NU staff feels pretty good about its chances to land the 6-foot-5 guard.

It looks like Kansas State will be the primary competition for Carr, who grew up in Manhattan, Kan. His father, former NBA player Chris Carr, was on the women’s basketball staff at K-State, and his sister, Chrissy, played for the Wildcats. But Chris is no longer with the program and Chrissy transferred to Syracuse, so the family ties to KSU are no longer there.

Northwestern has got to be the overwhelming favorite to land Strauss. He announced a Top 6 in early August of Northwestern, Fordham, Colorado State, Wyoming, Southern Utah and Lehigh. The Wildcats are the only Power Six program on the list, and also the best academic school. This will be Strauss’ first official visit.

Barkley, a 6-foot-8 wing who will play in the NEPSAC this season, is another prospect without another high-major offer. He will take an official visit to Akron this weekend before making the trip to Evanston at the end of the month.

Northwestern's staff feels like they've unearthed some "diamonds in the rough" in this class, sleepers who flew under the radar but will be valuable contributors for the Wildcats in the future. However, it's telling that of the 44 combined offers for their three remaining targets -- Carr has 12, Strauss 13 and Barkley 19 -- just one comes from a Power Six program.

Not even law school could keep @mikefitz77 away from WildcatReport! He wants to come back and write on a limited basis. I guess the guy is a glutton for punishment.

At least it's not painted Pink....

The Titans vs Chiefs game last night was a good example of what happens when a team with a one-dimensional and predictable offense -- even one with a decent defense and one of the best running backs ever to play the game -- collides with a team with an accurate and unpredictable passing attack (and at least a modest ability to run the ball). The Titans were fortunate even to make it to overtime.

Super inferior opponent so keep that in mind. Chicago state was athletic but really undisciplined.

Top two players easily are Audige and Buie. Don’t quite understand why there was debate about that on the basketball board.

Need to box out more. They were very bad about getting a body on someone in the 1st half.

Berry lost his man a few times leaving open 3’s

Audige and Buie penetrating then finding an open man seems to be the offense. Some nice passes by both as well as bad decisions by both. A few lazy passes where if they put some pace or did a bounce pass it would have made it there. Not too many bad shots by either. They seem to realize (at least against an inferior opponent) that they need to get their teammates involved and their looks will come.

It’ll be interesting to see how the 5’s do against better competition as both seemed to be in position defensively and make nice plays. Big Matt had some nice hands on few plays where as Verhoeven bobbled a pass down low which if got cleanly would have been a nice dunk.

Defensively this team isn’t that bad by B1G standards. Offensively leaves a lot to be desired. Team will go as far as Audige and Buie carry them. NU will need them both to play very well to win games a well as someone else to step up game to game.

Not gonna find too many positive takeaways as it’s hard to gauge from the level of competition. These games just win big and avoid negative takeaways.

Not even law school could keep @mikefitz77 away from WildcatReport! He wants to come back and write on a limited basis. I guess the guy is a glutton for punishment.

OK, here is my perspective from the distant Northland:

Playing, as the team did, on national TV with the coveted ABC midday time slot (OK morning for me here in Alaska) had to have had positive impact for the Wildcats.

I fully expected the programming to be an OSU love fest, however it was anything but. There were more clips of our Offensive Coordinator in the booth than that of the opposition's. Of course winning the time of possession partly accounted for that. The graphics of the new stadium being revealed to the world was priceless ad time for Northwestern's football program. Even our obligatory NU Commercial was well executed and complemented the play on the field.

Hull in particular came across as the stud of the game with OSU's Heisman hopeful an after thought.

Going by the texts I got during the game signaled that the whole College Football World was on upset alert and we were evidently the story of the day. Apparently across the nation viewers were tuning in to root for the Cats.

By Corey Schmidt
Pioneer Press
•
Nov 07, 2022 at 2:20 pm

Evanston residents expressed concern at a recent meeting hosted by City Councilmember Eleanor Revelle about how Northwestern’s new Ryan Field proposal could impact the area’s culture, saying it could resemble Chicago’s Wrigleyville neighborhood.

Wrigleyville is known for its Cubs games and bar scene and residents are concerned that by allowing more events and concerts at the field that the surrounding neighborhood will be disrupted.

A proposed text amendment is expected to expand the venue’s hosting privileges to 12 community and cultural events — including concerts, allow external event sponsors, and a 25,000-person capacity increase. Current policy allows the stadium to host a maximum of seven community events per year with a 10,000-person capacity, according to a Northwestern University presentation.

“Currently, we have a handful of football games a year that have 35,000 or more fans and you’re proposing to have (a total of 12 additional events) with 35,000 people. At some point, (there is) a point where a line is crossed and the neighborhood changes,” resident John Labbe said. “I mean Wrigley Field is a different type of stadium, different type of neighborhood.”

Northwestern’s Executive Director of Neighborhood and Community Relations Dave Davis said the project will not significantly impact the area’s culture because events will primarily be held during certain times of the year.

“It’s not going to be a dome, it is going to be a canopied facility and so (events won’t be held year-round, it will be) over about a seven-month time frame,” Davis said. “(At) 12 events, we’re looking at one or maybe two events per month.”

Despite Davis’ reassurance, residents are worried about how concerts could disturb nearby residents. Northwestern’s Project Manager Steven Himes, who also worked on the 2018 Welsh-Ryan Arena renovation, said the stadium’s design will help contain noise.

“The stadium would have partial facades that are partially enclosed on its vertical surfaces — not entirely but partially — and then there is a 360 degrees canopy extending from the perimeter over the seating bowl that will help reflect sound into the stadium to contain that sound,” Himes said.

Ryan Field currently has a 47,130-person capacity for all events. This new stadium would put it at 35,000 for all events, which is roughly 15,000 below the next smallest Big Ten Conference stadium.

The text amendment has various obstacles to navigate before gaining city approval. Northwestern will submit an application to city staff to be analyzed and get approved to appear before City Council by both the Land Use Commission and the Planning and Development Committee, according to a Northwestern University presentation. Once approved by those two bodies, it moves on to City Council.

Public comment will be available throughout the process at each step.

The text amendment process is expected to begin in winter 2022 and wrap up during 2023, according to Northwestern’s anticipated timeline.

Northwestern will submit a planned development application, the presentation showed. City staff will review the proposed plans to determine what city code variations will be required. After city analysis, a projected and design review will take place where city staff will provide further comments on the proposed project. It will then appear before the Land Use Commission and Planning and Development Committee before making it to City Council. The anticipated budget outlines this process beginning in winter 2022 to extend through summer 2023 with public input being heard by both committees and City Council.

Northwestern’s presentation said the university wants to enhance the event-going experience for its visitors through concessions and alcohol sales. This will require an updated liquor license request to be authorized by the city. The license will go through the Liquor Control Board, Administration and Public Works Committee and City Council with public input allowed by all three entities, according to the presentation.

“One of the areas we’re looking to improve is providing our guests with a better food and beverage and concessions experience,” Denee Barracato, deputy director of athletics at Northwestern, said. “Alcohol and the offering of alcohol in all of our spaces is an area we intend to improve not just for our premium ticket holders but really all fans in general admission seating.”

Revelle plans to hold a series of Ryan Field meetings that will be advertised in the 7th Ward newsletter.

Corey Schmidt is a freelance reporter with Pioneer Press.

Just squashed by Oregon. They scored 100!