NU will likely need 9 more regular season wins to make the dance. Looking at the schedule, NU's road to get there is not easy. They get Purdue, Illinois, and MSU twice, only get a slumping Michigan once, and face a surging Minnesota and Nebraska twice. The home games against OSU and Iowa are going to be massive.

The Wildcats moved to 12-3 (3-1 Big Ten) with a tough win at Penn State. Here are our takeaways from their first Big Ten win on the road.

nfm

given that Football season being over, finally, with a B1G team as national champ (even though it is Michigan), and the FCS championship determined in favor of SDSU, that we would hear what is transpiring at NU. I thought it would be last week, or Monday, but now with all determined, what are they wating for?

Will need to make the 36 hole cut after two rounds at nearby Champions Retreat to compete in Sunday's final round (fairly sure this is a schedule change, used to be final on Saturday) at Augusta, but I'm confident in Lauryn. The athletic department's brief article says 1 NU golfer competed each in the '19, 21 and 22 editions, but no mention of how they did.
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Not watching, but I kind of want Purdue to keep winning so that their only loss(es) are to Northwestern. Is Nebraska going to ruin that, or is Purdue going to come back?

Wow, the Giants offense is really sputtering. They haven’t scored a TD for awhile. The Giants qb called an audible at the end of the first half and handed off to Barkley who was stopped short of the goal line as the clock ran out. I wonder if Kafka’s OC job is on the line now. You won’t win NFL games with only 3 fg’s. The Bills didn’t have that much punch either on offense but they managed 2 td’s which was enough to win. The Giants are now 1-5.

With all the kvetching about who posted what where, I figured I’d consolidate what we know vs. think vs. don’t know before an absolutely huge monstrous week for the future of NU football. If @CoralSpringsCat @mshelton33 @lou v @stpaulcat or whoever want to add on, please feel free

What We Know

1) We have a General Manager — Luke Walerius is “X/Twitter”-official as GM of Roster Development and Retention, a newly-created position. Hopefully more recruiting staff additions/changes to come.

2) Zach Lujan is our future OC — not officially-official just yet, but it’s coming from well-placed/sourced guys like Thamel and confirmed by local reporting.

3) Tim McGarigle is our future DC — again not officially-official, but was discussed on-air during our bowl game and now reported by the same well-placed/sourced guys like Thamel. I suspect Braun will still play a big role in the defense, though it looked to me like McGarigle had the defensive call sheet against both Illinois and Utah.

EDITED TO UPDATE: https://www.espn.com/college-footba...dinator-hire-zach-lujan-offensive-coordinator

What We Think

1) We will have a new OL coach — Anderson seems on his way out based on what I’ve heard. Have also heard a name with high certainty, though I’m not really at liberty to share. Not a guy I had on my radar, don’t even really know enough about him to render a full opinion besides he is a veteran coach and Braun could have decided that was necessary with his young staff.

What We Don’t Know

1) TE coach — I haven’t heard a thing about Genyk’s replacement. Tyler Roehl as TE/Run Game Coordinator would be a dream scenario.

2) If that’s the extent of the on-field football staff changes — we don’t know for certain if other coaches will be let go; MacPherson and Vokolek would be the two most likely in my mind, MacPherson given his longtime Fitz ties and hazing allegations, Vokolek because his tenure could have always been a one-year bridge situation. Had heard previously that Braun preferred to keep Binns and Foster, but situations like this are always fluid.

3) Strength Coach — this is a big one, both in setting overall team culture and because the offseason program starts pretty much now. Hopefully we get clarity on that position ASAP.

Either way it sounds and feels like we should get a public announcement soon. Scheduling Harvard OL Rizy for an official visit this coming weekend makes me think Braun is highly confident that at least most of the full-time staff will be in place pretty quickly. Fingers crossed.

4) Future QB — I’ve been stumping for Gronowski from SDSU for a while now, Lujan as OC seems to make that even more plausible. The broadcast crew at the end of the FCS title game was mentioning a newly-formed SDSU collective trying to put together a NIL package to get him to stay, so a potential departure is at least on their minds. The kid also seemed to slough off a question from the sideline reporter about one more year chants (uh… GO JACKS!), so we shall see. There’s a 5-day post-title game window for transfers, so we will at least know by the end of this week if he intends to look around. If he enters the portal with a no-contact tag, I think we could be pretty confident that he’s headed to NU after finishing up his Mechanical Engineering degree at SDSU in May.

This is a big week for NU football, let’s all hang on for the ride!

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Now get Gronowski!

With the hiring cycle in full swing, we broke down Northwestern's existing staff and recent hiring trends.

Cole Freeman to Columbia (if anyone interested )

But I am searching for something official on it and all I see is speculation. This is on both Rock and Florida alum boards. Am I missing something? Would have thought there would be something definitive.

Effing Schmuckeyes. Can’t say I was rooting for them, but what an embarrassment to the conference, losing to an SEC team.

Actually I’m glad they lost, but still B1G pride and all. Any reason to crap on them is one I’ll take.

Dude left Elon head coaching gig for a ‘Special Assistant to the Head Coach’ gig at Duke. Martinelli was released from his Letter of Intent and fell into our lap.

And a dude who had originally committed to a 7-11 CAA Program is suddenly playing big minutes for a B1G Title Contender.

Martinelli is such a good player. Those ‘right place right time’ offensive boards don’t happen by accident.

I assume most other fan bases are really starting to hate him.

Dennys reported NU interest, though no offer, as a prospect. Rivals did not report any NU interest.

Good numbers for a nine-win UNLV team. Second-team MWC and MWC freshman of the year.

Went 5-for-7 in mop-up duty at Michigan, then made his first start and beat Vandy, leading two scoring drives in the last five minutes of the game.

I didn’t see their bowl game against Kansas, but he threw for 291 yards with three TDs and two picks.

Reporting:
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Stats:

Was Rivals 5.5/3-star. Would seem to be a really, really good fit. Go Cats.

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The portal kinda sucks, especially for non Power 4 programs. But it’s good when it benefits the Cats.

Seems surprising if our linebacker coach is being elevated to defensive coordinator that it wouldn't have been announced already. Similarly, if we're going to hire the North Dakota State offensive coordinator why hasn't that been announced since they stopped their season well over a week ago.

I’m scheduled to be in town and think it would be fun to fly up to the game. As a noon game, plan would be to fly up in the morning and back after the game. I’m based out of Gary airport. IFR rated so only no go would be icing conditions.

Anyone up for an adventure? I get to Madison in about 45 minutes.

As we move forward into a new era of NU football that we are all excited about, for whatever reason last night I was thinking about the last time we beat Utah in a bowl game, one of my favorite NU moments ever. “Hashtag go Cats man, I’m not going anywhere, this is home forever.” I still can hear the roar in my head at the Holiday bowl. Thanks to the guy that got us here, who hired Coach Braun, and set us up for success going forward. You’re the man coach Fitz. Go Cats.

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ESPN's Pete Thamel confirms that Tim McGarigle will be stepping up into the role of Northwestern's defensive coordinator.

Beat the Pats... most likely Belchicks last game. Like Wooten, Legend Killer 2!

8-20 for 70 yards... LOL. But a wins a win and he did not get injured!!!

After the blowout loss to Illinois last week, I thought the Cats' weaknesses were daunting and the immediate prospects dismal. It seemed, with upcoming road games against PSU and Wisconsin, that a loss yesterday would be the gateway to a 1-4 start to the conference season.

The weaknesses I saw were the inability to deal with double teams on Buie, the seemingly lost play of Nicholson, the slow rotations on the defensive perimeter, and the abandonment of the offensive boards in an attempt to avoid yielding transition points, among others.

I thought the team's prep for MSU was remarkable. The team recognized double teams, moved in reaction, and were rewarded with open looks the whole game, even though they missed the first 7. Hunger and Martinelli both provided interior offense that had been sadly lacking. The defense coordinated against high ball screens decisively, and reduced the number of breakdowns after double teams. The work on the offensive boards was focused and successful.

This team is different from last year and still faces a lot of challenges, but yesterday's game gave me some hope. MSU helped by playing dreadfully, but part of that was that NU changed course and played a different game than those they had played recently.

I just think this is something to remember when we talk about any and all college athletics and what the kids do and go through to get where they are.

I prefer our 2-1 record over 3-1 Indiana or Minnesota.

Beat Penn State.

All times CENTRAL. Rankings come from the CFP poll. All games available nationally unless otherwise indicated. This is the final week of the regular season.

First, the NU game:

Northwestern @ Illinois
Saturday, November 25
2:30 PM, BTN*
PxP: Cory Provus
Color: Jake Butt

And the rest:

Friday, November 24

#17 Iowa @ Nebraska
11:00 AM, CBS
PxP: Tom McCarthy
Color: Ross Tucker

#11 Penn State vs. Michigan State @ Detroit, MI
6:30 PM, NBC
PxP: Noah Eagle
Color: Todd Blackledge

Saturday, November 25

#2 Ohio State @ #3 Michigan (ESPN College GameDay)
11:00 AM, FOX
PxP: Gus Johnson
Color: Joel Klatt

Indiana @ Purdue
11:00 AM, BTN
PxP: Chris Vosters
Color: Brock Vereen

Maryland @ Rutgers
2:30 PM, BTN*
PxP: Connor Onion
Color: Matt Millen

Wisconsin @ Minnesota
2:30 PM, FS1
PxP: Jeff Levering
Color: Mark Helfrich

*These are regional telecasts; check your local listings or the BTN GameFinder.