Chris Collins was interviewed on George Ofman's excellent podcast "Tell Me A Story I Don't Know".
Part 1 dropped the other day and can be heard at Login to view embedded media
Part 2 coming soon.

The podcast feed has other hosts and shows. George Ofman's interview are generally with Chicago sports media members, and some others. There's a good one with Sam Smith from last week.

That’s the right hire.

17 points and under 250 yards of total offense, kept it a one score game despite absolutely horrendous play by thee offense on all but a couple drives, and got the ball back for our O twice in like the last 5 minutes. The Cardiac Cats of old would have driven down for a tying score. Yet was anyone in doubt that our last drive would more than likely end in a sack. As I said in another thread, a pick six was the only hope we had of scoring a TD.

Some have, some don’t. Tyson Bagent has it. Poise, intelligence, accuracy, plenty of arm and mobility. Justin Fields will not be a Bear next season.

Who is your least favorite player in the Big Ten, and why is it Coleman Hawkins?

Seriously, who are the players in the Big Ten you love to hate?

And who are the players on NU you think other fans hate? I'm sure we'll hear stuff about Boo this year about how he's been at NU for 17 years or something, but I have a feeling Barnhizer is about to become hated by other fanbases, if he isn't already. I suppose it's a badge of honor he'd wear proudly, and it'll make us love him all the more.

Green received an offer from Northwestern on Oct. 29. I talked to him about the offer, his recruitment and what he thinks about Northwestern in this WildcatReport premium story.

The writer ranks Collins in the 5th tier, out of seven, of major college coaches. One source says given the difficulties coaching at NU, Collins probably can’t go any higher:


Perhaps the trickiest guy to figure out is Chris Collins. He jumped up a tier after taking Northwestern to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in program history. Sources laud his ability to do the darned near impossible in Evanston and his decision to surround himself with savvy coaches. More than one industry insider cited the addition of Chris Lowery to run the defense as a difference-maker for the Wildcats, who jumped from 73 to 22 in adjusted defense per KenPom with Lowery on the bench. But the question for Collins isn’t about what he has done, it’s about what more can he do.

“You were right to move him up one, but I don’t think he’ll ever go higher than this in that job,” the administrative source said. “It’s so hard. Think about it. He’s gotten Northwestern to the NCAA Tournament more than the rest of the planet.”

Just because, I need to process this whole situation, so hear me out. Now, for the baseball situation he should have been let go, no question due to the the details provided by the SCORE and Daily. Seems like that was totally swept under the rug...why???

With the second report of the athletic department being conducted by the former AG, will that highlight deficiencies in the department (aka baseball)? The University can use that as a basis of a yes/no decision and say this is the due diligence and basis for the decision.

I just can't fathom why there were no repercussions from the baseball situation.

Northwestern basketball held their first media availability of the 2023-24 season, check out our takeaways from what head coach Chris Collins had to say.

Northwestern basketball held their first media availability of the 2023-24 season, check out our takeaways from what head coach Chris Collins had to say.

We’re getting the best football stadium in the country!! And, if not the best, certainly the newest in 2026!

A PoW on defense. Nice. Congrats to Aidan!


Defensive Players of the Week
Aidan Hubbard, Northwestern
DL – Jr. – Cleveland, Ohio – St. Ignatius

• Posted 3.0 sacks, 3.0 tackles for loss and five total tackles in Northwestern’s 33-27 win against Maryland
• Hubbard’s 3.0 sacks are tied for the single-game high by a Big Ten player this year, which is tied for seventh-highest overall nationally
• His sacks are the second-most in a single-game in school history, and the most since the school record was set at 4.0 in 2016
• Earns the first Defensive Player of the Week accolade of his career
• Last Northwestern Defensive Player of the Week: Cameron Mitchell (Aug. 29, 2022)

In Davenport. (I guess Davenport is the midway point between the two schools? It's quite a trek from Ames.)

https://watchstadium.com/not-so-secret-list-of-2021-college-basketball-scrimmages-10-15-2021/

Better opponent than our real non-conference games.

I’m going to be in Chicago next weekend and need to find a game ticket. Does anyone know where the NU season ticket or student sections are? (I’m planning to buy from StubHub but if anyone has a single ticket to unload, feel free to let me know.) Thanks!

Here's @mshelton33's story on how No. 6 weathered adversity and bounced back with a career day vs. the Terps.

On Northwestern’s remaining schedule…I think Purdue is a likely win. We have to win one more to make a bowl. Which would be an amazing response to the ridiculousness of this season and the utter mismanagement of SchillGragg!

I think the likelihood of a win from most to least goes like this: Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin.

I estimate base completely upon opinion and no scientific data…a 45% chance of bowling. Meaning I really want to believe!!!!!

What do you think?

Here's @mshelton33's story on how No. 6 weathered adversity and bounced back with a career day vs. the Terps.

​

That game again felt just overall weird, but I’m floored that the offense came out firing today. Slowed to bit of a crawl in the second half (pretty sure we didn’t have a single first down in the third quarter despite putting 3 points on the field), but then did JJUUUSSSSSTTTTTTT enough to finish out the game.

Kudos to Sullivan. He was making some legitimately good throws, especially in the first half. The TD to Porter was the epitome of “doesn’t matter if it’s ugly” gamer play, as was the scramble pass to Henning when he stood in and took a shot to make a play. Started to see a bit too much of the skitterish/happy feet routine in the second half after Maryland adjusted, but kid stuck with it despite taking a few awkward shots (was clearly limping much of the second half). The kind of gritty effort we will need at this stage in his development as a passer. Kudos to him.

I also hate being this guy, but… this refs were awful. I understand that the game was somewhat chippy early, but the late hit call on Mueller (I think) near the sidelines was especially bad; it was quiet enough in the stadium that you could clearly hear no whistle blown, the WR was still half-standing and very plausibly could have rolled out of the tackle or been on top of the corner. Was also a huge miss to not even take a look at what looked like a hell of a TD catch by Henning. My only thought is that it didn’t look like they had a camera on the east side of the stadium so perhaps didn’t have an angle at it.

Besides that I could quibble with Braun leaving a huge numbers disadvantage to the boundary that Maryland found a couple times and DEFINITELY will quibble with Bajakian getting cute with the 3rd down call from the 1-foot line (as well as Braun kicking the FG afterwards, especially when another 4 points would have been quite helpful later in the game), but for now… wow, what an unexpected and welcome win. Braun is growing on me as HC, even if Bajakian and others would likely have to go.

Pre-season the gurus had our O/U for wins at 3.5. Today we hit the over! We can, based on sure belief and overdue luck grab one and hopefully two more to get bowl eligibility. And we have a bidding quarter back controversy. It's great to be a Cat fan today!

Good news for NU. Biss steps up. Final vote on November 13th.

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All 12 P6 autobids are guaranteed to host a game.

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Sorry, this is a bunch of BS. It actually pisses me off.

I don’t know who tracks this, but that’s the word on the street. Take the under.



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I’d rather give the Terps a long field and try to ice the game than go up 13, especially if you can’t kick the ball deep and punting isn’t capable. The Terps were struggling to finish drives. Make them go the distance.

Now the Cats aren’t in a good position with 3:32 left.

You could see this coming a mile away.

After a 33-27 upset win over Maryland, @mikefitz77 has three things we learned, two questions we're asking and one bold prediction heading into Week 10 of the 2023 season.