Alright folks, Anderson has had four years to get our OL better. Aside from a few bright spots, we’re as bad as we’ve ever been. The Nebraska performance had me as fooled as anyone.

So if Fitz fires Bajakian and Anderson after next season as most of us expect, who should be our next OL coach?

I think Tripodi from Wyoming would be a nice replacement if he’s interested.

Also their head coach wouldn’t be a bad replacement for Fitz all things considered.

Who else does The ROCK got in mind? Should we pay a mint for a real NFL coach or to poach an SEC staff? Or keep Anderson for a sixth year of futility?

Quick plug: Wyoming should beat Ohio in the Arizona Bowl if you need a team to cheer for today.

They are athletes with basketball skills! And play with alot of intensity and effort. Go small except for Matt. Boo, Chase, Roper, Barnhizer, and Matt. Let it fly!!!

With the winter storms that have followed a stormy season on the gridiron, the New Year can't come soon enough. Even here in Hawaii snow has capped the volcanos.

Wishing all a Happy New Year!

Hilo's Rainbow Fallsfrom this week hopefully symbolizing a pot of gold ahead for the Wildcats:



And as seen by a local artist:

It was also a White Christmas as snow capped the volanic peaks of both Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa (which just a month ago was spewing hot lava):




This model shows the positioning of The Big Island's volcanoes including the dormant Mauna Kea as pictured in the above two volcano photos. The two lower volcano photos picture the snow capped active Mauna Loa as it looms above Hilo

Added views include a mushroom cloud that loomed over Hilo, a GEICO spokesgeko, and the duplicate King Kamehameha Statue that was fished out of the ocean and erected on the North Shore of The Big Island:

Release: LINK

Login to view embedded media

Watching all these bowl games and considering all the prize packs provided to players over the years, I’m wondering: has NIL allowed the bowl sponsors to provide better goodie packages to the players or even provide blanket sponsorship dollars to the players? Ie, everybody gets a couple grand and some of you are going to appear in some social media for the company? Probably can’t do MVP winner gets a car, but could probably let the MVP get more social media hits.

Anybody know if NIL has caused a changed in bowl goodie caps or increased the value the players are getting?

Watched game. Really entertaining.

The game confirmed how far behind we are. I think only Peter would start. There could be more, but I doubt it. I understand the constraints, but we should at least be able to have a decent offensive line.

Oh well, now to watch Texas v Wash. should be entertaining. That’s all I want for Christmas with the Cats,

Some solid options still out there. Is NU’s guy on this list?

Connor Bazelak (Missouri)
Braxton Burmeister (Va Tech)
Zach Calzada (Texas AM)
Peter Costelli (Utah)
Jaxson Dart (USC)
Chubba Purdy (FSU)
Casey Thompson (Texas)
Cameron Ward (Incarnate Word)
Levi Williams (Wyoming)

Watching these playoff games reinforces how you can’t compete at a really high level without being able to win a shootout. Georgia has a bunch of NFL players on defense and they are going to need to score 35 plus to win.

Nfm

Did Hunger attend the game? I may have missed him watching on TV but didn’t see him on the bench.

#1 player in transfer portal signs with Eastern Michigan?

A new era in NU Athletics

If any team needs immediate help from the portal it’s the Cats! Everyone else in the BigTen is active in the portal and getting better while Cats are frozen stiff. No new coaches or players. Does anyone over there realize it’s difficult to land good defensive players with no Coordinator. Hard to pitch a system when you don’t have one. Most of the top tier talent will be gone is Cats don’t get going. Signing a few 2nd and 3rd level transfers from the Ivy League or MAC isn’t gonna going to cut it anymore. Cats need help at just about every position NOW.

Let’s Go Cats!

We've had a lot of discussion here about Fitz failing to adjust to the new world of NIL and the transfer portal. We've even talked about NU's ability to remain competitive in this new environment. But while there is definitely a correlation between the NIL/Portal and our fall from 2 division championships to our current clusterf@ck, I am not convinced there is any causation. NIL money being thrown around could hurt us by damaging our high school recruiting, but our last two classes have been as highly rated, or even higher rated, than our classes prior to the NIL era. We fear that the portal and NIL could lead to a mass exodus, but by the numbers we haven't lost more players that an average B1G team, and other than some grad transfers, whom we might have lost under the old rules anyway, we haven't lost more than a handful of proven contributors.

NU football is in crisis right now, and it's easy to blame the portal and NIL because the timing matches up, but I think that misses the real causes of the problems. What are the real causes? I wish I knew, but we have to get those straightened out or all the NIL money in the world won't help.

Good 👍 luck 🍀!

Big Ten still unbeaten at 3-0 after Maryland edges North Carolina State today. SEC starts out the bowl season struggling again at 1-4 after South Carolina just lost to Notre Dame. SEC only got one team in the College Football Playoff, so let's see if Georgia is able to salvage the SEC's bowl season with another national title like last year. The Big 12 is also struggling at 1-5.

No way should NU have been blown out by Pitt but they are now 3-0 in the ACC and 10-4 overall.

Cat's need to find a a way to split these next two at home.

FWIW, that Illinois loss to Mizzou is not looking as bad either. Mizzou handled Kentucky the other day.

AD's and HFBC's need to always have short list of the best available. I'm in possession of my own list because of my great concern for the direction of NU football.
My OC candidates:
JaMarkus Shepard Univ of Washington
Billy Fessler Akron
John David Baker Ole Miss
Christian Robinson Auburn
My DCs:
Kurt Maddox San Diego St
Matt- loyal NU asst.
Brandon Bailey Buffalo
Mike Tressel Cincinnat
HAVE AT IT!!!

Despite our many diverse beliefs and backgrounds, the love we share for those Purple-suited "young men" who give their all on Saturday's to entertain us unites as a singular community. This holiday season similarly brings a commonality of shared sentiment.

Earlier this past week as I listened to the remarks of those celebrating the life of Football Coach Mike Leach I was impressed to learn of how his Faith helped him to meet the challenges he faced. A friend shared how this "most interesting man in college football" (as he has been described in the press) had just the week before shared with him the importance of a Bible verse he had read. Subsequently I found this reporting, "Leach went on to say that he reads 10 pages of the King James version before games, It. brings 'a relaxation, a calmness and clarity' to his thoughts, along with a big-picture life perspective, Leach said."

Later in the week I was being interviewed for a podcast with regard to my recollections of the 1964 Great Alaska Earthquake, an event that for me, even as a teen-ager, provided a "big-picture life perspective." My teen-age interviewer caught me by surprise when she asked, "What effect did the earthquake have upon you?" I offered that it made me feel how small and insignificant we are, sort of like how one feels when looking up into the night sky and ponders the multitude of stars."

On this Christmas Eve as I reflect upon how the Spirit of Christmas unites all of us, regardless of Faith, and adds a measure of meaning to our mortal existence I sense a partial answer to the Psalmist's question from Psalm 8:4, "What is man that You are mindful of him?"

May I join in wishing a Merry Christmas to all, or as they say here in Hawaii where I find myself today, "Mele Kalikimaka."