2026 QB Owen Lansu was at Northwestern for its dramatic overtime win over Minnesota. I talked to Downers Grove North's sophomore signal caller about his visit, his future and where NU fits into his recruiting picture early on.

Two-star DE Braxton Strong was one of the players to visit Northwestern for the Minnesota game. @lou v talked to him about his visit, and the offer he picked up during his time in Evanston.

Two-star DE Braxton Strong was one of the players to visit Northwestern for the Minnesota game. @lou v talked to him about his visit, and the offer he picked up during his time in Evanston.

We kept telling him to run the touchdown play. He finally did it!

Right tackle Josh Thompson got his first snaps as a Wildcat in last week's second half against UTEP, and he made the most of them. I talked with Josh after practice on Tuesday about that experience, his journey to the offensive line rotation, and his role going forward.

Looks like he is commuting today. MSU or Ohio St?

Not a joke. This is brilliant marketing of those four players.

I hadn’t watched the first half live. We clearly outplayed Minny the entire first quarter. Porter was running better than Darius Taylor in 1Q. We had the turnover leading immediately to a TD and a string of penalties away from the Baal that negated some good drive sustaining plays. So really this was a game of 2 halves, (1+4 and 2+3) not just a fluky 4th Q comeback.

Can't describe how big this win feels. Feels like the biggest win in years.

What a rollercoaster this game was. I'm a believer in Braun and this team. Doesn't matter how much adversity, this team rose to the moment with a classic Cardiac Cats win.

Can't imagine this has any impact on the new stadium, but interesting to see.

All times CENTRAL, and all games played on Saturday, September 30. Rankings come from the AP poll. All games available nationally unless otherwise indicated. I will add announcers as they are assigned.

First, the NU game:

#6 Penn State @ Northwestern
11:00 AM, BTN*
PxP: Mark Followill
Color: Jake Butt

And the rest:

Louisiana @ Minnesota
11:00 AM, BTN*
PxP: Chris Vosters
Color: Brock Vereen

#2 Michigan @ Nebraska
2:30 PM, FOX
PxP: Jason Benetti
Color: Brock Huard

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

Wagner @ Rutgers
2:30 PM, BTN*
PxP: Lisa Byington
Color: Anthony Herron

Illinois @ Purdue
2:30 PM, Peacock (streaming only)
PxP: Brendan Burke
Color: Michael Robinson

Michigan State @ Iowa
6:30 PM, NBC
PxP: Noah Eagle
Color: Todd Blackledge

#4 Ohio State and Wisconsin are off this week.

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

Touchdown Trevor is back, baby. Will be interesting to see if he can jump Wilson in the pecking order.

Great win considering the situation. I would not discount him to get this program back on track.

Watching Penn State made me think of the Death Star in Star Wars: they are talented and efficient in every aspect of the game. While I liked what I saw of the Cats passing offense last Saturday, the PSU secondary will not get pantsed like Minnesota’s was, and the PSU edge rushers are really quick, capable of getting to the QB in a seeming blink of the eye. For the Cats to be competitive, they will need to play flawless football: any mistakes, like the gazillion they made in the first half against Minnesota, and they are toast.

Watching PSU, and using the Death Star analogy, if there is one slim possibility for the Cats to be successful on Saturday, it is that while the PSU DE’s are incredibly athletic, their long suit is quickness rather than strength. I have always thought a healthy Cam Porter was a player who is well above average relative to B1G running backs. He hits a hole quickly and with violence. While the Cats’ Oline has been poor at best so far this year, they have improved, and if NU builds its game plan on running at the ends, the NU tackles might give Porter enough of a crease to consistently get positive yardage on 1st and 2nd downs. If they could have modest success running, it would set up a few opportunities to take deep shots off play action. While the odds are steep, hit one or two and the Cats are in the game.

I honestly believe the only place the Cats can get a little leverage is by Porter, a strong downhill runner, challenging the edge of the PSU defense. If he does have the game of his life, Saturday will be less awful than I am afraid it will probably be.

Could you have imagined anyone ranking Northwestern above 14 anytime prior to this weekend?

Keeping this ranking at the end of year would be a successful season, as far as I'm concerned.

What if all the arguments for further lowering admission standards for football players are correct?
It won't hurt our rankings.
Players will still graduate at a very respectable rate.
It will widen our recruiting "net".
What if all of that won't actually help recruiting?
We have to recruit on what makes NU special. It's not our fan base. It's not our NIL offerings. It's not a sure path to the NFL. It's sure as hell not the weather.
Our appeal is that you will be playing next to smart guys who are committed to their education, and when the outside world sees that you were offered and had the good sense to accept a scholarship from NU, that's something special.
Without that, then we're just Minnesota or Indiana with a smaller fan base. Let's not sacrifice what makes us special, what (when we have the proper leadership) makes us competitive.

I thought I’d start a running list of any visitors we find on social media.

Here’s the first:

2026 QB Owen Lansu of Downers Grove South. Just a sophomore, he’s visited NU before.

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Offense had absolutely no rhythm for the first half, couldn’t get out of our own way. Defense was fine but not making any big plays either. Minnesota’s 4th and 1 that turned into a TD felt like a back breaker.

Then something clicked. Pass protection stiffened up a touch, Bryant hit a few passes, then the confidence grew. He made quite a few Big Boy throws while less than fully healthy (I thought Minnesota was taking some liberties on low and late hits, but nary a call). Of course got some help by the face mask, but let’s not overlook how vastly different the offense looked the last quarter and a half or so. Hell, even Bajakian pulled one out of the bag with the throwback call in OT.

Perhaps as interesting as anything, this team seems to have really embraced Braun. I stayed after the last whistle for quite a while (mostly trying to decide if that really happened) and a whole lot of guys genuinely seemed to connect with Braun. He might have cracked open the door for a permanent job just a touch tonight.

More thoughts to come tomorrow. For now, my brain hurts but in a very good way.

Right tackle Josh Thompson got his first snaps as a Wildcat in last week's second half against UTEP, and he made the most of them. I talked with Josh after practice on Tuesday about that experience, his journey to the offensive line rotation, and his role going forward.

Nice to see Anderson will be sticking around as well.

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Here's @mikefitz77's weekly feature.

Monster performances from Ben Bryant and Bryce Kirtz were key to Northwestern's comeback win over Minnesota. I spoke to each of them at media availability yesterday about the years of hard work that led to that moment, their thoughts throughout the game and their goals for the team moving forward.

Monster performances from Ben Bryant and Bryce Kirtz were key to Northwestern's comeback win over Minnesota. I spoke to each of them at media availability yesterday about the years of hard work that led to that moment, their thoughts throughout the game and their goals for the team moving forward.

Any report on his leg injury. He definitely seemed to be in some discomfort.