Don’t see Mike Wright as the answer at QB. especially when conference play starts. Not accurate and throws a funky wobbly ball. At least give Lausch a look.

According to this article we have a cash register for a football stadium...

Greenspan brings in 7 newcomers via the transfer portal. Two from Wake, and one each from Vandy, LSU, Michigan (Craig Counsell’s son), WPI and Niagara.

I can’t speak as to this website’s veracity or standards, but the name makes some sense based on her career trajectory.

This was posted Wednesday (28 Aug) morning, so the speculation is a decision (not necessarily an announcement) could be done today.

If I were at Pitt, I’d be doing anything to launch an escape pod.

Is there much of a difference? I mean in result (not style/scheme). Very, very disappointing given we were led to believe this would be an upgrade.

On the flip side, D looks solid.

Get this guy tf out of here. Jesus this is embarrassing.

Check out how Northwestern's next generation played last week in high school football with the Recruit Roundup.

@mikefitz77 has three things we learned, two questions we're asking and one bold prediction heading into Eastern Illinois this week after the double-overtime loss to Duke.

will it become as famous as the Cubs Black Cat?

Bears win! Here is my analysis of the PFF snap count stats from Friday's double-overtime loss to Duke.

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I hate to see my team lose, but losing a really winnable game really hurts. Let’s assume the Saka sack fumble call is 50/50. Let’s assume if Porter gets the call on third down there is a better than even chance the Cats score, and at least a better than even combined chance that they either convert the 2 points or win a succeeding OT. Put together, they win the game more often than not. Unfortunately, they did not win.

The real point of this post, though, is the failures by the offense and its coordinator and whether the offense can grow to become effective if not excellent. I think before jumping to conclusions, it's important to factor in 3 things that contributed to the Friday night debacle. The most important of these is the style of defense that Manny Diaz’s teams employ: it is a chaos defense predicated on pressuring offenses by using multiple rush/cover schemes the utilize quick defenders. It is very disruptive. The second factor that worked into the night was the weather conditions, that created a degree of difficulty and uncertainty in countering the attacking mode of the Duke defense. The third factor was the inexperience of the offensive unit, and particularly of the QB and OC working together in game conditions to make adjustments as needed. In short, playing a Manny Diaz team in lousy conditions with a new OC/QB combo was an unfortunate draw. There were some hopeful things, to me. Postgame, Braun admitted he and Lujan made a bad call on 3rd down in the 2nd OT. Admitting error is a welcome event from the NU brain trust. Secondly, I thought the O Line, which I thought would be a weakness entering the season, more than held its own on average, and the left side was creating a lot of room for Porter. Porter looked the best he has since 2020. In retrospect, I am sure the coaches wish they had used the ability to get consistent gains on power runs. I imagine they will work on having Wright look for open tight ends over the middle earlier in his reads, and for the wide receivers to read and use the middle of the field when the defense vacates it like Duke did. Finally, Wright clearly is not a Heisman candidate, but he does have a set of talents that can be tamed and put to good use, I hope, even if they weren’t on Friday.

The net of all this is that NU does have some pieces to make the offense work: a decent power game and speed at key positions. The OC and QB were not ready for what was thrown at them Friday, but there is still a good chance for growth and some success.

@mikefitz77 has three things we learned, two questions we're asking and one bold prediction heading into Eastern Illinois this week after the double-overtime loss to Duke.

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When you back up and just look at how so many of the drives went against Duke (not just the 2nd to last play call in OT), it just felt like a lot of those plays were called for a different set of personnel..., not what we have.

Why was Porter featured so little during the game: after Porter ripped off 46 yards on the first 2 plays of the first drive, why did he only get 8 more carries and 3 receptions in the rest of regulation. This game felt like it should have been a feature game for him with so little else working: I'm reminded of Isaiah Bowser's game against Rutgers where he rushed 24 times against Rutgers and felt like the only thing that worked at times, so we just kept feeding him the ball. Feels like Porter should've touched the ball at least 20-25 times in regulation as the only play that had high odds of generating yardage.

Joe Himon II gave some big runs towards the end, but Komolafe's didn't go anywhere and included a fumble.

Also felt like we just didn't even use Wright's attributes well, should've been on the ground running more; decision making wasn't there and 4 or 5 of his throws were straight at Duke players (could've been much worse than just the 1 INT they brought down).

Trying to use Henning with screen passes/short plays worked at times, but beyond that I'm really pressed to come up with anything that worked well in that game. Hard to get the ball to Kirtz or Gordon or anyone else since threading those passes isn't Wright's game. Can't really win many games if the offense is going 3-5 plays and out nearly every drive (even in/near Duke territory) without using much clock due to 15-20 incompletions.

Again the whole game just felt like an offense that was called for players that this offense doesn't have. In subsequent years, Lujan has to find the personnel that work, but for now, the offense needs to be something that works for the players that we have.

Defense was great all night (punt team made huge plays as well); the fact that we held Duke to basically 1 FG on something like 10-12 drives outside of a TD that they got off a turnover was incredible. But if the defense is going to have to do that much work, you're not going to win games if the offense can't take much advantage of any of the opportunities that it got from the defense/punt team.

I'm not a big believer that one play call loses the game although that 3rd and 1 play call from the Duke 3 yard line in 2OT was a disaster when Porter had already given you 6 big runs in OT including a TD. Just feed him 2 more times and live with the result. If you lose because you can't get 1 yard in 2 rushes, then it is what it is. At least you gave yourself a chance to win instead of taking an 8 yard loss there and running a 4th and 9 play that had way lower odds.

The game was lost when we didn't capitalize at all on all the opportunities (especially in the 2nd half) that we had to make it a 2 score game in regulation. Should have never come down to Duke having a chance for a FG to tie it at the end or OT.

Lujan has a lot of work to do because the offense has just not worked for 2 straight games, and we're likely to be going up against even tougher defenses later on in the year.

Final note: I expect to see Lausch at some point as QB just to see if there's anything he can do that works.

You have two tries to push it forward a foot, and then you get four tries from at worst the 2 yard line for the tying TD.

A low risk sneak and then four Porter runs, unlikely you don’t tie it with Porter gashing them. What on earth are you doing calling an outside run.

@lou v in the article earlier this week about the new AD you had mentioned you expect a organizational changes. Do you have any insight into what that might be and how the current structure is not effective?

It looks like there’s a reason Wright been at three schools in three years. Good athlete and runner, but throws an ugly ball and doesn’t feel like he has the QB “it factor”. He played a bad defense today and the fumbles aren’t good. Would’ve liked to see a couple of drives with Lausch.

P.S. stadium was better than I thought it would be.

I have not seen anything posted on the board about the post game press conference. Did Braun address the 3rd and short call or offensive struggles? Is that something we have to wait till Monday to hear Braun's thoughts?

I can’t find a clip but I’ve heard we got screwed. Thoughts?

Stream of consciousness style…

• Tyler Gant is a big dude but has a LOT of work to do, especially in the run game
• We have a lot of very interesting young DBs. They’re young and inconsistent, but do some good things. Primarily Fussell, Evan Smith, and Braeden Turner.
• Wright is a half-beat slow on a lot of his throws. Really hurts him when he tries to throw 1- or 2-balls into the hole shots. Seems to be playing a little tight, second-guessing himself. Hopefully some room for natural improvement as he gets more reps in the system. Not yet sound in his footwork.
• Murphy has a REALLY live arm
• Komolafe is going to be good
• Saka with another year in the weight room and another 10-ish pounds is gonna be fun
• Tiernan is still not nearly physical enough, especially in the run game. Disappointing.
• Not getting 7 off the blocked punt was an absolute killer. Getting 0 was an unmitigated disaster. That sequence decided the game. Had a chance to take full control of the game, handed it right back to Duke. Add in the pick immediately thereafter that we handed back via fumble… oof. The entire OL got blown up on that play, Komolafe had no shot.
• I think Henning needs to be involved even more. Good things happen when he touches the ball.
• Gotta love the Akers kicker tackle, even if wiped out by penalty
• I feel like we need to see more of Kenny Soares. Good things happen when he’s on the field.
• There were a lot of low snaps that seemed to throw off in-play rhythm
• Letting Duke wriggle out of 1st and 20 with about 7:00 minutes left was another huge missed opportunity
• I’m a complete homer, but the overturn of the Murphy fumble was 100% wrong. There’s no chance there’s enough on that film to overturn the call on the field. That feels like a “call stands.”
• Holy smokes Duke tried to pull the game tying FG wide left.
• The OT 3rd down playcall is actually worse in retrospect. Porter had consistently ripped off 4-5 yards every touch going back to the early 4th quarter. You know you have two shots at 3rd and 1 because you need a TD. Inexcusable.
• Duke figured out how to scheme some middle-of-the-field shots starting at the beginning of 4Q. Our safeties and slot corners gave up inside leverage WAAYYYY too easily. Particularly #9 Braden Turner.
• Despite all that, turning away Duke’s 2-point attempt still gave us a chance to win the ballgame.
• Yeah… the OT play call is just awful. There are 7 Duke players on that side of the ball. I don’t buy Braun’s claim that we had a leverage advantage. That play had no chance from inception.
• The failed 4th down afterwards was closer than I thought in person. Covey actually broke somewhat open, Wright was a bit off and the play didn’t work. Funny how the entire narrative today could have been different if that ball was thrown 6 inches further right.

I actually left the rewatch feeling better than leaving the game. The defense can/could/should keep us in most games, plus should only get better once our #2 and #3 DT are back on the field. Offensively we are clearly still trying to find our sea legs, hopefully a long week headed into EIU is a “get right” situation to clean up the offensive execution a bit (we aren’t really that far away from being at least consistently competitive, IMO). Washington on the road is clearly a test for a multitude of reasons, but then we have a bye before the real meat of the schedule.

Still a team that will have to fight for bowl eligibility, but not BAD.

2-2 after 4 games is about what I would have guessed. Now let’s see how Braun and his reworked staff can adjust (especially on offense). Fingers crossed.

Huge upset. NIU got screwed on field position on a 3rd down spot on their last drive but kicked the fg to take the lead late in the game. ND tried a 62yd fg with 5 seconds left that was blocked. Nice win for the underdog to take down the Irish.

I talked to Rivals 2026 Top 250 WR Connor Salmin about his offer from Northwestern and his recruitment.

I talked to Rivals 2026 Top 250 WR Connor Salmin about his offer from Northwestern and his recruitment.

Was there one or because the game ended so late they scrapped it?

Since the Fitzball thread went sideways, I would say that this didn't look like Fitzball other than the final score because:

• No rugby punts
• coverage teams covered well so we didn't loose the field position battle
• OL looked good in the first game; under two OL coordinators with Fitz, the O line usually started the season poorly (missed blocks, missed assignments) especially during the Thorson years
• While Hank's 4-3-4 has not been abandoned we do a lot of 4-2-5 and we tend to use schemes other than quarters, which Hank favored
• Fitz inherited the spread and eventually moved us to more of a pro-blocking scheme that was used at Tampa Bay, duo blocking; Lujan while not going back to the spread is going back to the zone running of the spread