The Cats head west after a solid second half against Eastern Illinois. The defense continued to be solid, only allowing a touchdown on a short field. New QB Jack Lausch settled in for a sharp second half as the Cats pulled away. Encouraging on all fronts, but the team will now have to face B1G competition for the first time this season.

UW will also be facing B1G in-conference competition for the first time, too. There are some other (painfully) obvious similarities: Purple Cats v. Purple Dogs. Two teams with gorgeous lakeside stadia. But UW is also coming off a run to the national championship game, where it lost to Michigan. UW lost a lot of those personnel and is widely considered to be in a rebuilding year.

So, UW is rightly favored, but may be beatable if NU's defense continues to be solid and if the offense really has put the pieces together. Beating the Huskies would put the Cats back on track for at least bowl eligibility and make a statement after the bad after taste of a frustrating loss to Duke 2 weeks ago.

So, here's a prediction:

Purple Dogs 17
Purple Cats 20

Check out the picture I found online.

Ouch! Here’s a stinger for your Monday.
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Check out the picture I found online.

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2025 guard Keyshuan Tillery visited Northwestern for Homecoming yesterday. It's also a Dwyane Wade situation, I had to double check but that is the correct spelling of his name. He also holds offers from Washington and Georgia Tech.

damn, both teams look really good. Really good quarterback playing what a big change.

Granted, the woke jokes would have less of an impact in the states the Big Ten is in, but still.

I hope they can beat FSU to keep this going.

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thought this was the coach hicks’ son who committed to NIU, but its not.

NU is incredibly fortunate to have Jacob Schmidt and now Mark Jackson. Keep your fingers crossed that their message resonates with the “powers that be”.

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No word on Barnhizer.

I just took a look at the Washington board here on Rivals and it was shocking to see the big difference.

There are three sections: The Main Board, College Football Soundoff, and Football Transfer Portal.

The first, Main Board, requires membership so I couldn't read the posts, but the titles were all over place. Lots of political subjects that have been banned here, and virtually nothing about the football program.

Then on the second board, College Football Soundoff, that you can read, it is almost the same thing. A little more about football, but still plenty of political stuff.

And the third board, Football Transfer Portal, is filled with stories about transfers all over the county. Not really that much about Washington. Mostly about everywhere else.

It was amazing to see how little discussion there is about their own football program. And if you think Rivals has really banned political posts just look at the Washington forum.

Headed out to the upper left hand corner of the map. My understanding is that our 576 Lincoln alums plus the Lake the Posts visitors will put around 116 Cats fans in section 307.

TNT
ETS
LFG

Go Cats!’

Just a thought, if college kids can take NIL and still be eligible to play for colleges, can High School students?

Of course the dollars would generally be a lot less significant, but I can imagine some rich alum in Texas would love to see his high school win a state championship. If a state athletic association disallows it, I don't see why that couldn't be challenged the same way the NCAA was,

Of course high schools are generally based on where you live, but it is not always the case. Private schools can pick students from wherever, and at least where I live, we have school of choice where students can attend different districts.

Four Mountain West teams including San Diego State announce they will be leaving the MWC to join the previously depleted PAC12 which has only Oregon State and Washington State remaining as members. Evidently the PAC12 coffers are pretty substantial to help attract new members and to assist in paying off the MWC for the move. The PAC12 will be looking for an additional 2 members to reach the magic number of 8 to achieve FBS status. Here is a discussion about others who might be targets to join in the future. It’s a brave new world.

When is this coming out? If this is hard to figure out for men’s hoops, this 18 team B1G won’t last long.

Going off memory here, but wasn’t there something out there about a month ago that if the Cubs were mathematically eliminated by today (9/20), the Wisconsin game would move to Wrigley?

The Cubs are not making the playoffs, but are not mathematically eliminated yet - probably will be by the end of the weekend, if not tomorrow.

So, all this to say that if my memory on all of this correct, is the Wisconsin game officially in Evanston?

Brief take on game preview here: Login to view embedded media

I have no interest in relocating since my seats are great but my relocation time slot is this morning and I looked at what's available. Looks like we'll have a nice ticket base this year. Not much available in lower bowl with exception of upper few rows. Same goes for 200 level.

I have no access to see what's available in WC.

If you are a Northwestern fan and watching the game on TV (or streaming it), you are welcome to join us for a live Zoom discussion during the game. It's a great way to share the experience with others as you watch.

One thing you should be aware of is that TV and streaming are not always in sync with real time. It is not unusual for some viewers to be 30 seconds ahead of others, which leads to an interesting dynamic during the game watch. You can often tell by the reactions of others if something good or bad is about to happen. To me, it just makes it more interesting.

I hope that you can join the fun via Zoom on Saturday @ 6:00 PM CT.

Topic: Live Game Discussion: NU @ Washington Saturday Sept 21 6:00 PM CT
Time: Sep 21, 2024 06:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

Meeting ID: 884 6301 0647
Passcode: 731849

Go 'Cats

- Astro

Hello, all.

I'm making the trip up next month with my brother and a couple friends and am pretty excited for the experience, seems like it will be quite unique.
However, as far as I can figure, the Northwestern athletics page doesn't really have parking information, at least not with any clarity on prices and policies.
I was wondering if you had any suggestions on reasonably convenient places to park and info on how much parking lots tend to cost to park in on game day.

It's June, which means it's visit season for college basketball recruiting.

Head coach Chris Collins and his staff were on the road in May, checking out prospects in AAU tournaments across the country during the Evaluation Period. Now that the Dead Period that prohibits recruiting contact ended on June 2, they will try to get their top Class of 2025 targets on campus this month.

The program will have to replace guards Ty Berry and Brooks Barnhizer, and big man Matt Nicholson, at a minimum, after the 2024-25 season.

These are the seven players -- five guards and two bigs -- that sources say are the program’s primary focus right now:


GUARDS

Mason Blackwood
Login to view embedded media Northwestern is one of eight programs to offer Blackwood since May 19 – Boston College, West Virginia, Rutgers, Penn State and Wake Forest are some of the others. A big guard/wing player with toughness and athleticism, Blackmon hails from New York but is playing a prep year at New Hampton (N.H.).

Jaden Forsythe
Login to view embedded media Forsythe has become a hot commodity after a strong showing for Team Final on the AAU circuit. He’s picked up recent offers from Northwestern, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest and Xavier and now has nine Power Five offers. A tough, athletic two guard, he has proven that he can score from anywhere.

Phoenix Gill
Login to view embedded media Gill’s famous father Kendall played at Illinois, but his mother is a Northwestern grad. The Cats offered Gill after a visit last July. The Chicago St. Ignatius product has also visited Illinois, Iowa State (multiple times) and Stanford, and he will likely choose from among those four.

Josiah Sanders
Login to view embedded media Northwestern’s offer on May 24 was one of five Power Five offers that Sanders received within five days. He said that NU’s guard play and the hostile home-court atmosphere at Welsh-Ryan Arena is why the program interests him. He now has 15 total offers, eight from the Power Five.

Simon Walker
Login to view embedded media Interest in Walker has skyrocketed after his impressive performances on the Under Armour circuit. He picked up eight offers at the end of May, including Northwestern on May 25. The versatile shooter from Huntsville, Ala., also drew tenders from Butler, Clemson, DePaul, Iowa, Tennessee, Virginia Tech and UAB.


BIGS

Cade Bennerman
Login to view embedded media Bennerman only has an offer from Tennessee State at this point, but he drew attention from big-time programs after his strong showing for Game Elite (Ga.) on the Adidas Three-Stripe Select circuit. Duke, Iowa, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Tennessee and Vanderbilt are among the schools to reach out.

Brady Koehler
Login to view embedded media Koehler added offers from Northwestern, Rutgers, Stanford, Virginia and West Virginia in the past month. Butler, Notre Dame, Wake Forest and a long list of mid-majors got on him over the winter, after he averaged 15.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game for Indianapolis Cathedral.

Deacon Schmitt out of Windsor HS in Windsor, CO picks up an NU offer.

6’5”, 305, 4.04 GPA and a great name for an OL.

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Kasmir Hicks out of Decatur Central picks up an NU offer. Hicks tags Hicks, so I’m assuming he’s being recruited as a CB.

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Jake West out of Penn Charter receives an NU offer. Looks like Coach McIntosh is heavily involved here. He’s visiting Coastal Carolina this weekend; I’d expect him to make his way to Evanston soon.

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Interesting approach from Tennessee. They’ve already been very aggressive with NIL since it became a thing, and now they are adding a 10% talent fee to all season tickets starting next year to support player revenue sharing.

I am not totally against it in this college football environment. Is this something NU should consider starting in 2026 at the new digs? Filling our stadium is already a challenge, BUT we have maintained a pretty good season ticket holder base (and that’s even with the Fitz debacle). It would take a shift in our NIL strategy, but with a new AD on board, that could be happening anyway.