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New rival needed?

Wisconsin.

The in-state rivalry will always be there. We need to continue to make hay with the Illini, regardless of their sad state, to own the conversation in Illinois.

But if we have an aspirational peer for NU, it should be Wisconsin. Barnett circled Iowa in red on the calendar, but I think Wisconsin is a better aspirational peer today. They are a very good school with an excellent football program. They recruit similar players, and develop them very well, sending many players from different positions to the League (think about all the WI linebackers, DLs, RBs, OL, and WRs in the League). Wisconsin players stay out of trouble.

I like Chryst. Seems like a very genuine guy who represents the program well. Most other B1G coaches have a fairly high buffoon quotient. Chryst does not. Just keeps quiet and has good teams.

Wisconsin has a great fan base. They travel well, fill Camp Randall, and are gracious guests. They respect Fitz and NU. They are like Nebraska fans without the whining.
 
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Hungry Jack said:
Wisconsin.

The in-state rivalry will always be there. We need to continue to make hay with the Illini, regardless of their sad state, to own the conversation in Illinois.

But if we have an aspirational peer for NU, it should be Wisconsin. Barnett circled Iowa in red on the calendar, but I think Wisconsin is a better aspirational peer today. They are a very good school with an excellent football program. They recruit similar players, and develop them very well, sending many players from different positions to the League (think about all the WI linebackers, DLs, RBs, OL, and WRs in the League). Wisconsin players stay out of trouble.

I like Chryst. Seems like a very genuine guy who represents the program well. Most other B1G coaches have a fairly high buffoon quotient. Chryst does not. Just keeps quiet and has good teams.

Wisconsin has a great fan base. They travel well, fill Camp Randall, and are gracious guests. They respect Fitz and NU. They are like Nebraska fans without the whining.
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Although Wisky might be the "best of the rest" rivalry for the Football Wildcats, nothing but nothing will ever touch the locker room rivalry between the 'Cats & the Io_a HogEyes. Nada, Zip, Zilch. Protected rivalries with Ill-Annoy and the Perdue Broiler-Chickens be damned. If it's pure emotional motivation you are looking-for that lights the fire under the Pigskin 'Cats, year-in & year-out, it's the HogEyes. Over & Out.
 
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The_Waterboy said:
Although Wisky might be the "best of the rest" rivalry for the Football Wildcats, nothing but nothing will ever touch the locker room rivalry between the 'Cats & the Io_a HogEyes. Nada, Zip, Zilch. Protected rivalries with Ill-Annoy and the Perdue Broiler-Chickens be damned. If it's pure emotional motivation you are looking-for that lights the fire under the Pigskin 'Cats, year-in & year-out, it's the HogEyes. Over & Out.
Click to expand...
The Hog-Eyes will always be the team we love to hate, thanks to Hayden Fry. Their fans are pretty odious too. I am glad there is a big river out west that keeps their fans from swimming over to Illinois.

It's hard to hate the Illini because we regularly beat them like a rented step child.
 
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Hungry Jack said:
The Hog-Eyes will always be the team we love to hate, thanks to Hayden Fry. Their fans are pretty odious too. I am glad there is a big river out west that keeps their fans from swimming over to Illinois.

It's hard to hate the Illini because we regularly beat them like a rented step child.
Click to expand...

My hope is Bielema elevates this game just enough to make beating Illinois fun again.
 
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When it comes to the Ill-Whine-I Pumpkin-Heads, all that anyone needs to say to describe this "milquetoast rivalry" is a 3-letter word... H-A-T! (Unfortunately, it's THE MOST LAME rivalry token in all of Division 1A football, to be sure; but it's ours all the same.)
 
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Feels like most of our fans focus on Iowa/Wisconsin games anyhow, especially of late. Illinois game is just one we'd hate to lose because they've been in our rearview mirror most of this past decade. TBD if Bielema changes that.

As far as weighing Iowa and Wisconsin, it's tough.

Maybe I care about Iowa games more because their fans hate losing to us more, so it turns into a virtuous circle. Iowa's rivals board is a fun place to be when we beat them.

Plus, they seem to hate Fitz more than any other coach.

Wisconsin fans already expect disaster when they play in Evanston.
 
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Since Nebraska has joined the league, Iowa fans seem to enjoy putting it to them as much as anyone. While they hate losing to Northwestern, I'm not sure they'd consider us their main rival.
 
pawildcat said:
Since Nebraska has joined the league, Iowa fans seem to enjoy putting it to them as much as anyone. While they hate losing to Northwestern, I'm not sure they'd consider us their main rival.
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Yeah for sure, they consider Nebraska/Wisconsin/Minnesota their primary rivals for sure probably ahead of us, but they do care about our games with them.

I suppose Wisconsin/Nebraska have been the same way as well. Nebraska fans probably aren't as quick to pencil in a W against us at this point I'd imagine as they were the first couple of years.
 
I think Wisconsin is a good choice because we have had a lot of upsets with them. I also think MSU would be a great rival, as they have taken a few games from us they should not have, and we have taken some from them.

We can have more than one rival. Michigan has MSU and OSU. We could have Illinois, and MSU, and /or Wisconsin.
 
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jne381 said:
I think Wisconsin is a good choice because we have had a lot of upsets with them. I also think MSU would be a great rival, as they have taken a few games from us they should not have, and we have taken some from them.

We can have more than one rival. Michigan has MSU and OSU. We could have Illinois, and MSU, and /or Wisconsin.
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Wisky and NU are the only multi-time B1G West champs. Iowa has one for an honorable mention. They are a natural rival for the division and we have a great history with them. (Plus I have 3 Badgers in my family), so it's the biggest game of the year, for me, at least.
 
Catreporter said:
No...I want to beat them badly every year. Don't care if they ever get good again.
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Winner

And the post above about U Chicago - what a maroon!

My favorite recent comment was last year when a Wisconsin fan said something like : 'Northwestern is the team that at some point in the game, every year, you say - what the hell happened and why are we losing?'
That, my friends, is NU football
 
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Hungry Jack said:
The Hog-Eyes will always be the team we love to hate, thanks to Hayden Fry. Their fans are pretty odious too. I am glad there is a big river out west that keeps their fans from swimming over to Illinois.

It's hard to hate the Illini because we regularly beat them like a rented step child.
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Most of 'em would float pretty well, though. ;)
 
Even though the State if Illinois doesn't produce a ton of great football players, Nu has to stay on top of UI in order to be the top choice of those players who want to stay in state.
I think Madison is closer to Evanston than Champaign so there is some geographic competition there too. I'm most proud when we beat Wisconsin.
 
NUThump said:
GB picked Iowa; given where the program stands, Fitz now needs to pick OSU.
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I gotta be honest, I don't think OSU (at their current performance level) will ever be a reasonable benchmark for anybody in the Big Ten. Even programs like Penn State and Michigan with all their resources/tradition/recruiting grounds are a level beneath Ohio State right now.

Wisconsin and Iowa absolutely make sense for a variety of reasons as programs that we really do need to beat to have a special season. Beating those two means we have a great shot at winning the division and going to a top bowl game.

Furthermore, if we have a year where we beat Wisconsin and Iowa, we typically have a decent shot at beating Ohio State, say 20-25% chance.

Can any program really ask for better odds than that in the Big Ten?
 
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zeek55 said:
I gotta be honest, I don't think OSU (at their current performance level) will ever be a reasonable benchmark for anybody in the Big Ten. Even programs like Penn State and Michigan with all their resources/tradition/recruiting grounds are a level beneath Ohio State right now.

Wisconsin and Iowa absolutely make sense for a variety of reasons as programs that we really do need to beat to have a special season. Beating those two means we have a great shot at winning the division and going to a top bowl game.

Furthermore, if we have a year where we beat Wisconsin and Iowa, we typically have a decent shot at beating Ohio State, say 20-25% chance.

Can any program really ask for better odds than that in the Big Ten?
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We overlap in recruiting much more with Wisconsin and Michigan than we do with OSU. We need to win more recruiting battles with OSU if we are going to reach their level. We obviously did fine without Werner and Borland in our linebacking corps, but until we start wining battles for guys like this (and Cam Martinez), OSU will be tough to catch.

The other issue with OSU is the divisional split. Of course, if we win the B1G West every year, we will have a chance to beat them!
 
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Hungry Jack said:
We overlap in recruiting much more with Wisconsin and Michigan than we do with OSU. We need to win more recruiting battles with OSU if we are going to reach their level. We obviously did fine without Werner and Borland in our linebacking corps, but until we start wining battles for guys like this (and Cam Martinez), OSU will be tough to catch.

The other issue with OSU is the divisional split. Of course, if we win the B1G West every year, we will have a chance to beat them!
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Yeah, that's the thing about our games with Ohio State before 2018.

I actually made a thread back around the 2018 Big Ten championship game that it was the rare opportunity for one of our best squads to actually play Ohio State.

So many of them have missed Ohio State since Barnett got here. '95/'96/'00/'09/'12/'15/'17 are all years we didn't play Ohio State, and you can make an argument those include a lot of years with squads we'd consider among the best of the past 3 decades. That's 3 Big Ten championship winners and 4 10-win squads that didn't play Ohio State. That includes 5 of our 7 teams that have finished the season ranked since Barnett.

And of course, our only recent team that beat Ohio State was a team that finished 6-6 (with 5 Big Ten wins) and was a team that played up and down to its competition.

So yeah, in the past it has been a bit of "well our best teams didn't play them", but if we're in the Big Ten championship game it means we have a great team but also means they probably do too...
 
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"It's hard to hate the Illini because we regularly beat them like a rented step child." Illini feel the same way about NU basketball.....
 
barney31 said:
"It's hard to hate the Illini because we regularly beat them like a rented step child." Illini feel the same way about NU basketball.....
Click to expand...
Basketball board is that way —>

This is the football board, where we’ve pantsed you six ways since Sunday for a looooong time.
 
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Io_a and _isconsin are our true rivals, and have been for 20-25 years.

I think of Illinois as our”safety rival”, much like a safety school. It’s nice to have a guaranteed win in the B1G each year.
 
Hungry Jack said:
The Hog-Eyes will always be the team we love to hate, thanks to Hayden Fry. Their fans are pretty odious too. I am glad there is a big river out west that keeps their fans from swimming over to Illinois.

It's hard to hate the Illini because we regularly beat them like a rented step child.
Click to expand...

um...I believe the phrase is "like a red headed mule".
 
EvanstonCat said:
Seen on twitter:

Fun fact: Northwestern Football has finished 3 of the last 4 seasons ranked inside the top 20. Illinois Football has 3 season with an above .500 B1G record since 1993
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I think of the other Western Division schools as rivals even if there is not an official rivalry. But as far as having a named or declared trophy game-type rivalry, I think that Wisconsin would seemingly the top choice to add on as a trophy rivalry due to geographic proximity but also because NU rise the past few decades kind of a tailed behind the rise to prominence of Wisconsin, along with a competitive series in recent decades. NU has an 8-7 record against Wisconsin since 2000. A commentary on Wisconsin's Rivals site concurs with the assessment that Northwestern may be Wisconsin's biggest current rival in the Western Division:
wisconsin.rivals.com

BadgerBlitz - Building A Rivalry: Wisconsin Football vs. Northwestern

With both programs on the rise, Northwestern has been a thorn in Wisconsin's side over the last three decades
wisconsin.rivals.com wisconsin.rivals.com

Iowa is another strong candidate because it appears that between Coach Barnett and Coach Fitzgerald, NU has targeted Iowa as a team to emulate, even pegging the week of the Iowa as "Iowa Week" almost like Ohio State might reference "Michigan Week" against its archrival:
theathletic.com

Iowa-Northwestern: Long one-sided, now a rivalry that thrives on organic intensity that makes it truly special

The Iowa-Northwestern series doesn't have a trophy like many other Big Ten rivalries, but characters like Hayden Fry and Gary Barnett made it every bit as important.
theathletic.com theathletic.com
NU is 10-10 versus Iowa since 2000 and a home state paper also references the building a rivalry even if Iowa fans haven't realized it:
www.thegazette.com

Iowa-Northwestern football is an even series in the 21st century. Is it a rivalry?

CEDAR RAPIDS — As a Hawkeye fan, you might not think of this as a rivalry. But the results over …
www.thegazette.com www.thegazette.com
www.wsj.com

Northwestern Picks Fight With Hawkeyes, Who Really Don't Care

Wildcats want to call it a rivalry, but Iowa doesn't. They face each other Saturday in Iowa City, but have little shared history.
www.wsj.com www.wsj.com

If we were looking at a cross-division rival, I think Michigan State could be surprise candidate. I heard that Michigan State fought to get Northwestern as a protected cross division rival in one incarnation of the Big Ten's scheduling a few years ago, although I think only Indiana-Purdue is the only protected cross-division rivalry. There have been some classic games in a close recent series as NU has an 8-9 record against them since 2000.
spartanswire.usatoday.com

Northwestern Has Had MSU's Number Many Times

After Michigan State’s 31-20 win over Central Michigan on Saturday, the Spartans will shift their focus to the 1-3 Northwestern Wildcats. Spartans should pay zero attention to the Cats’…
spartanswire.usatoday.com spartanswire.usatoday.com

One thing that makes a rivalry an archrivalry seems to be that there is reciprocity in shared hostilities. On that measure, based on past reviews of NU by other fans, I think Iowa is actually the closet to be being a full-fledged rival.
dearoldgold.com

Iowa football: Hawkeye’s unfortunate history of playing Northwestern

The Iowa football team is hoping to rebound against the first place Northwestern Wildcats Saturday. Here's Iowa's unfortunate history versus the Wildcats. ...
dearoldgold.com dearoldgold.com
www.espn.com

Putting a price on the Iowa-Northwestern rivalry

Posted by ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg No self-respecting list of Big Ten rivalries would put Iowa-Northwestern in the top 5, though the bile between the Hawkeyes and Wildcats is certainly growing.
www.espn.com www.espn.com
www.goiowaawesome.com

GAME PRIMER: IOWA VS NORTHWESTERN

Previewing Iowa's game with Northwestern on Saturday.
www.goiowaawesome.com www.goiowaawesome.com
bringyourchampionstheyreourmeat.blogspot.com

Championship/Rivalry

Let's just lead off with it: the Northwestern Wildcats have won the Big Ten West. There are two games left; Northwestern could spend its ro...
bringyourchampionstheyreourmeat.blogspot.com bringyourchampionstheyreourmeat.blogspot.com
 
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I would vote for Wisconsin as the main rival. the game needs a trophy in the form of a 'Big Sausage' and the teams play for the 'Sausage'.

What could be more appropriate for fans from Madison and Chicago?
 
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