Get ready for the red invasion at wrigley.

I don’t expect NU to match up with OSU RBs and S making millions of dollars. But they fail with two basic snaps back to back? That’s tough to swallow.

Check out @lou v's column from Northwestern's 31-7 loss to Ohio State.

I was thinking about this today when someone mentioned Roper at the end of the ND bench, but are there any transfers who have gotten better after leaving NU? Sure, some have gone to better team situations, like going to North Carolina or Duke (though you can argue that NU did better in those years than UNC or Duke did after Nance/Young left), but did any become better? I mentioned on another thread that I hate that other schools get the best years of a player that NU develops, but then I couldn't think of any good examples. We really do a good job of holding onto our stars and rarely have to have the pain of watching them excel elsewhere.

Going back to the 1990s, we had Geno Carlisle and Rex Walters, but am I forgetting anyone since then? Has there been a player this century who did so well at his new school that we really really wished he were still in purple?

Umm, something buckeyes
Yada yada Wrigley Field
Anyhoo Go Cats

1) Lausch looked the best he ever has
2) DB Fussel can play
3) DB Smith is pretty good
4) Uhlien improving
5) OL decent against one of the best defenses in the country

*Carsello not good

Check out @lou v's column from Northwestern's 31-7 loss to Ohio State.

Here are my takeaways as the Cats escape with an OT win.

Despite the fact that the outcome may not be pretty, Northwestern has invited quite a few visitors to Wrigley Field on Saturday. This is the marquee game of the season, after all. It's No. 2 Ohio State at an iconic ballpark for Homecoming.

Unfortunately, sources haven't provided me with any recruiting intel in quite some time, but this is who we know are coming from social media. We can add to the list as they pop up.


2025

TE Blake Linsley (most likely a PWO)
He doesn't have a Rivals page, but here's his HUDL profile:
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2026

DT Elijah Berman
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DT King Liggins
Login to view embedded media Login to view embedded media WR story: https://northwestern.rivals.com/news/newly-offered-2026-dt-king-liggins-ready-for-wrigley-visit

ATH Tommy Thies
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ATH Santino "Bam" Whitehead
He doesn't have a Rivals page but here's his HUDL profile:
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2027

QB Bryce Backus
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This board is chirpchirp, chirpchirp.

I imagine OSU fans are very excited about their team.

Will the crowd be 90% red? 75?

Will there be extensive reports of Buckeys fans pissing on the street before the game? Or only starting after?


LET’S SHOCK THE WORLD, WILDCATS!

Four of the top five teams in the latest CFP rankings are BIG schools

1. Oregon
2. Ohio State
3. Texas
4. Penn State
5. Indiana

Amazing story. Such a great representative of NU. A star in the classroom as well.

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Any new information on the construction of the new stadium?

(And apologies if asked-answered elsewhere)

Is it staying up over the winter/spring early summer?

I just wondered if due to security/liability issues it would be prudent to dismantle some/all of it and reinstall in July/August.

I checked in with Chicago Brother Rice defensive tackle King Liggins about his recent offer from Northwestern, his ongoing recruitment and his upcoming visit to Wrigley Field.

@lou v and I log our picks for Northwestern’s matchup with Ohio State.

Northwestern secured its Class of 2025 as all five commits signed their athletic aid agreements this morning. Here's WildcatReport's breakdown of each player and the class overall.

Here are my takeaways as the Cats escape with an OT win.

Nice to have someone clutch at the end.

All times CENTRAL. Rankings come from the CFP poll. All games available nationally unless otherwise indicated.

First, the NU game:

Northwestern vs. #2 Ohio State @ Chicago, IL (Wrigley Field)
Saturday, November 16
11:00 AM, BTN
PxP: Jeff Levering
Color: Jake Butt

And the rest:

Friday, November 15

UCLA @ Washington
8:00 PM, FOX
PxP: Connor Onion
Color: Mark Helfrich

Saturday, November 16

Michigan State @ Illinois
1:30 PM, FS1
PxP: Alex Faust
Color: Robert Smith

#4 Penn State @ Purdue
2:30 PM, CBS
PxP: Brad Nessler
Color: Gary Danielson

Nebraska @ USC
3:00 PM, FOX
PxP: Jason Benetti
Color: Brock Huard

Rutgers @ Maryland
5:00 PM, FS1
PxP: Chris Myers
Color: Spencer Tillman

#1 Oregon @ Wisconsin
6:30 PM, NBC
PxP: Noah Eagle
Color: Todd Blackledge

#5 Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, and Minnesota are off this week.

After bye week, the Cats host the #2 Buckeyes at Wrigley Field. The Cats beat Purdue two weeks ago to keep bowl hopes alive, but OSU is not likely to help them on that path. OSU is favored by ~28. While that great a spread is possible, Wrigley games have been more often been lower scoring affairs, at least in part due to field conditions.

That said, the Cats' best path to the post-season runs through Ann Arbor and back at the Friendly Confines after Thanksgiving, not this game.

Prediction:

Ara P. 13
Woody H. 35

I hope I'm wrong.

Have a couple of friends coming into town for homecoming who have not yet experienced a NU game at the new WRA. Would love to experience the Wilson club, but only see 2 tix on sale on the resale website - any chance there's anyone who's willing to part with their tix? Seeing as how empty the WCB was for the Lehigh game, we'd love to boost up the energy in there

Mountain Hawks lead Georgetown 39-36 late in the first half.

The fall NLI signing window is just one week from today. Will be interesting to see if a 5 commits sign then.

With the game back on a normal channel last night, I got a chance to see our Cats and now offer these thoughts

1. Nick Martinelli has become a complete basketball player. Another big scoring night from Nick, except now he's doing it from all three levels. Yes, he still has the goofy flip shot near the rim working, but now he can hit the three and even now has the pull up mid-range shot. On top of that, he still rebounds, but he's added passing and ballhandling. That cross court pass from under the hoop out to Berry for the open 3 was probably his prettiest play of the night. He is also bringing the ball up the court to help break the press (though he makes me a little nervous when he is forced to dribble up with his right hand... fortunately no future opponents will realize he's left handed).

2. There was discussion by the broadcast team last night whether Nick will be able to keep this up when Brooks returns or will there be confusion about roles on this team. I believe they will become a two-headed monster. I compare it to Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown for my Boston Celtics. They will just take turns being great. It sounds like we may begin to find out Friday night as the broadcast kept speculating Brooks will be back for the next game.

3. I have it on good authority (ok... out of my butt) that Jaylen Leach's girlfriend texted him at half time that if he didn't pull himself together and start playing better, she was leaving him. Boy, did that work. He was a different player in the second half. He played with more confidence that also translated into hitting his shots. The pull up mid range shots were particularly exciting as that shot should always be there for him. Teams will respect his ability to hit the three pointer, which means they will close out on him hard, giving him the opening to drive to the basket. If help defenders stay back to protect against the lob to Big Matt, then that elbow jumper will be open.

4. Speaking of Big Matt, I don't know how many times now he's opened up the game with a lob dunk and I say to myself... that will be there all night. Maybe this is the game where Matt has a big scoring night. And then it doesn't happen. I don't know if teams adjust and he has no second act, or what. That said, he does what he does, which is to be a big body in the middle that clogs the lane on defense and makes the opposing defenders have to respect the lob threat, which circles you back to point #3 above.

5. Justin Mullins showed some sparks last night. He took it to the basket aggressively a couple times leading to 5 points. But it was the other areas where he stuffed the stat sheet. 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals. Not bad for coming off the bench. As he gains confidence, his ability to contribute should grow.

6. Tough night for the frosh. This was a bit of step back for them. KJ missed all of his shots and just looked like he was rushing things. He did finish with 5 assists and 2 steals, so it wasn't all bad, but he just didn't look as comfortable last night. Poor Jello had an even rougher night. He just couldn't seem to stay on the floor as he kept making mistakes, mostly on defense. There was one sequence where he checked in at a time out, promptly grabbed the UIC player on the inbounds play to draw the foul, and promptly got yanked back out for a Chris Collins' tongue lashing. Those are the growing pains of being a freshman. He'll keep improving.

7. The defense continues to impress. They held a UIC team who had scored 91 in each of their first two games to 74 points and forced 20 turnovers. Again, I am so impressed with the way our guys move and communicate on defense. The hedging, the switching, the recovering... all signs of a very well coached team who believes in spending the effort to defend well. That will continue to keep us in games all year as we figure out who is going to score that night besides Nick.

8. I don't know whether to dwell more on the fact that we took 33 free throws last night or the fact that we missed 11. Equally, one could be upset that Nick missed 5 free throws... but I'm more impressed that he got to the line 10 times. That is star quality stuff (the 10 attempts.... not the 5 misses). Something tells me Nick stayed late last night shooting 500 extra free throws after the game.

Still too early to really know what this all means. How we will compete when BIG play rolls around is still a little unclear to me. Will our guys continue to lean into the moment as the lights get brighter? I sure hope so. I think the signs are there of a good team, but they have to keep improving.