What's come true and what has changed since I posted this in early July

[eastbaycat99]

In early July I posted the following under the title 'Biggest conference opener - ever?'

"I am undoubtedly jinxing the Cats to a start like last year by posting this, but working under the assumption that they are legitimate contenders for the West title and can at least win 2 of their non-conference games, the game against Wisconsin to open conference play is arguably the biggest conference opener at least since WW2. (To me, if they lose two non-conference games, something did not come together in the summer and they will not compete for a title). If they lose to the Badgers, their chances of winning the division become extremely small, since they would have to finish the rest of the year two games better than the Wisconsin or hope for a three or more way tie with an edge in tie-breakers to win it. If they win, they become the likely front runner, since they would have the same edge over the Badgers, while Iowa and Nebraska would still have the Badgers, OSU and Penn State, and Minnesota would still have the Badgers. I don't think there has been a year where the outcome of the first game so clearly limited or expanded the prospects for a championship.

Wisconsin will be a handful, and at this point would appear to be 10 point favorites or so in Madison. Here's hoping the offensive line gels and that there are few or no injuries during the first three games, making this one truly memorable."

What has come true:

I probably jinxed them and take full responsibility. The O-line has struggled and the DB's were hit by the plague, so a 10 point deficit has become 15 in the line.

However, the Cats have won two non-conference games and this is still a huge game.

What was unforeseen

Purdue has to be added to the list of teams that could win the West. Their remaining games against the East are Rutgers and Indiana. Iowa proved very tough against PSU. Even if the Cats win Saturday, I don't think they will be considered the front-runners.

Here's hoping the bye week has helped Fitz and the team pull it together. Saturday would have a huge upside if the Cats could pull it off.

 

[hdhntr1]

In early July I posted the following under the title 'Biggest conference opener - ever?'

"I am undoubtedly jinxing the Cats to a start like last year by posting this, but working under the assumption that they are legitimate contenders for the West title and can at least win 2 of their non-conference games, the game against Wisconsin to open conference play is arguably the biggest conference opener at least since WW2. (To me, if they lose two non-conference games, something did not come together in the summer and they will not compete for a title). If they lose to the Badgers, their chances of winning the division become extremely small, since they would have to finish the rest of the year two games better than the Wisconsin or hope for a three or more way tie with an edge in tie-breakers to win it. If they win, they become the likely front runner, since they would have the same edge over the Badgers, while Iowa and Nebraska would still have the Badgers, OSU and Penn State, and Minnesota would still have the Badgers. I don't think there has been a year where the outcome of the first game so clearly limited or expanded the prospects for a championship.

Wisconsin will be a handful, and at this point would appear to be 10 point favorites or so in Madison. Here's hoping the offensive line gels and that there are few or no injuries during the first three games, making this one truly memorable."

What has come true:

I probably jinxed them and take full responsibility. The O-line has struggled and the DB's were hit by the plague, so a 10 point deficit has become 15 in the line.

However, the Cats have won two non-conference games and this is still a huge game.

What was unforeseen

Purdue has to be added to the list of teams that could win the West. Their remaining games against the East are Rutgers and Indiana. Iowa proved very tough against PSU. Even if the Cats win Saturday, I don't think they will be considered the front-runners.

Here's hoping the bye week has helped Fitz and the team pull it together. Saturday would have a huge upside if the Cats could pull it off.

True but every bit as important an opener occurred in 1971 when the Cats when the Cats and Mich were the two favorites to win the Big Ten. They added an extra Big Ten game that year and it was Mich at NU for the first game of the year. NU lost that game something like 12-0 and ended in 2nd place. Had they won that game, good chance they would have won Big Ten and FB fortunes might have been forever changed. Agasse might have stayed, no Johnny Pont and Dark Ages might not have occurred. Have to say that was a pretty important Big Ten season opener.

 

[willycat]

True but every bit as important an opener occurred in 1971 when the Cats when the Cats and Mich were the two favorites to win the Big Ten. They added an extra Big Ten game that year and it was Mich at NU for the first game of the year. NU lost that game something like 12-0 and ended in 2nd place. Had they won that game, good chance they would have won Big Ten and FB fortunes might have been forever changed. Agasse might have stayed, no Johnny Pont and Dark Ages might not have occurred. Have to say that was a pretty important Big Ten season opener.

I've been told that Agasse wanted to stay but NU choose not to resign him.

 

[hdhntr1]

I've been told that Agasse wanted to stay but NU choose not to resign him.

After back to back 2nd place finishes in the Big Ten(something that was considered almost impossible)? I had hear that the administration gave him no support and pissed him off so much that when Purdue came calling, he went. Remember Strotz wanted to basically get us out of BT and take us the Ivy route and doing that well hurt that possibility. He almost got there with Pont.

 

[ricko654321]

In early July I posted the following under the title 'Biggest conference opener - ever?'

"I am undoubtedly jinxing the Cats to a start like last year by posting this, but working under the assumption that they are legitimate contenders for the West title and can at least win 2 of their non-conference games, the game against Wisconsin to open conference play is arguably the biggest conference opener at least since WW2. (To me, if they lose two non-conference games, something did not come together in the summer and they will not compete for a title). If they lose to the Badgers, their chances of winning the division become extremely small, since they would have to finish the rest of the year two games better than the Wisconsin or hope for a three or more way tie with an edge in tie-breakers to win it. If they win, they become the likely front runner, since they would have the same edge over the Badgers, while Iowa and Nebraska would still have the Badgers, OSU and Penn State, and Minnesota would still have the Badgers. I don't think there has been a year where the outcome of the first game so clearly limited or expanded the prospects for a championship.

Wisconsin will be a handful, and at this point would appear to be 10 point favorites or so in Madison. Here's hoping the offensive line gels and that there are few or no injuries during the first three games, making this one truly memorable."

What has come true:

I probably jinxed them and take full responsibility. The O-line has struggled and the DB's were hit by the plague, so a 10 point deficit has become 15 in the line.

However, the Cats have won two non-conference games and this is still a huge game.

What was unforeseen

Purdue has to be added to the list of teams that could win the West. Their remaining games against the East are Rutgers and Indiana. Iowa proved very tough against PSU. Even if the Cats win Saturday, I don't think they will be considered the front-runners.

Here's hoping the bye week has helped Fitz and the team pull it together. Saturday would have a huge upside if the Cats could pull it off.

whoa hold the phone. Purdue is definitely improved, but could potentially win the West? that's crazy talk. they aren't that good. i think they'd be quite pleased if they can scrape to a 3-6 or 4-5 conference record (Illinois, Rutgers, and 1-2 more), would be a nice sign of progress. 4-5 should get them into a bowl game at 6-6 total, which would be a huge improvement.

 

[The_Waterboy]

g

I've been told that Agasse wanted to stay but NU choose not to resign him.

Agasse was NCAA COY in 1970 and had lobbied the NU admin (Miller & Strotz, specifically) for long-needed improvements and complete overhauls to football facilities FOR YEARS, such as...
- completely remodeled home locker room (looked like Chicago stockyard pens; showers & toilets were abominable)
- remodeled visitors locker room (roaches, rats & vermin everywhere; extermination required before home games)
- training room facilities & medical staff was dozen years (or more) behind the norm
- weight room in Patton basement looked like a Hollywood back lot movie set for gulag movies (I reported a dead rat behind the infamous leg press contraption in corner - took a week before it was removed)
- training table was a joke - in Sargent Hall with student population & only during season; often served zero nutritional value food (i.e.: powdered eggs for breakfast w/ same for French toast, etc...); a nutritionist for your weight-gain & maintenance issues, you ask... don't be silly, son... just eat more & more often
- football pads, equipment & jerseys/uniforms were outdated by 10 years minimum
- team was bussed to away games - Minnie, Io_a, Da BuckNuts - which killed legs of players before game
- academic support (tutors) for athletes was sporadic & used only in dire, near-failing situations; many profs were anti-athletics, especially re. schollie athletes, and would refuse accommodation on labs & test days

Agasse was promised ON MANY OCCASIONS these and other much needed facilities upgrades and support improvements but NU Presidents consistently refused to deliver anything of substance - and money was NOT the issue, the admin wanted to demote athletics, in general, to club status, not NCAA level ( a move to mimic/follow U of Chicago's decision to eliminate competitive athletics in deference to becoming strictly all-academic institution, years before)

I and my teammates were recruited by Agasse with these promised upgrade & improvements ringing in our ears and never, EVER were they delivered-upon. After years of being treated like a nuisance, Agasse finally told the NU admin to go eff-themselves and took Purdue's vacant football HC position (an extremely dastardly-telling career move: to a in-conference school & NU's protected rival at that!!!)

 

[hdhntr1]

g


Agasse was NCAA COY in 1970 and had lobbied the NU admin (Miller & Strotz, specifically) for long-needed improvements and complete overhauls to football facilities FOR YEARS, such as...
- completely remodeled home locker room (looked like Chicago stockyard pens; showers & toilets were abominable)
- remodeled visitors locker room (roaches, rats & vermin everywhere; extermination required before home games)
- training room facilities & medical staff was dozen years (or more) behind the norm
- weight room in Patton basement looked like a Hollywood back lot movie set for gulag movies (I reported a dead rat behind the infamous leg press contraption in corner - took a week before it was removed)
- training table was a joke - in Sargent Hall with student population & only during season; often served zero nutritional value food (i.e.: powdered eggs for breakfast w/ same for French toast, etc...); a nutritionist for your weight-gain & maintenance issues, you ask... don't be silly, son... just eat more & more often
- football pads, equipment & jerseys/uniforms were outdated by 10 years minimum
- team was bussed to away games - Minnie, Io_a, Da BuckNuts - which killed legs of players before game
- academic support (tutors) for athletes was sporadic & used only in dire, near-failing situations; many profs were anti-athletics, especially re. schollie athletes, and would refuse accommodation on labs & test days

Agasse was promised ON MANY OCCASIONS these and other much needed facilities upgrades and support improvements but NU Presidents consistently refused to deliver anything of substance - and money was NOT the issue, the admin wanted to demote athletics, in general, to club status, not NCAA level ( a move to mimic/follow U of Chicago's decision to eliminate competitive athletics in deference to becoming strictly all-academic institution, years before)

I and my teammates were recruited by Agasse with these promised upgrade & improvements ringing in our ears and never, EVER were they delivered-upon. After years of being treated like a nuisance, Agasse finally told the NU admin to go eff-themselves and took Purdue's vacant football HC position (an extremely dastardly-telling career move: to a in-conference school & NU's protected rival at that!!!)

Thanks for the confirmation. We had a promising opportunity there and Strotz goal was to kill it before it spread. What are your thoughts as to what would have happened if we had won that game against Mich in 1971? I know you loved Johnny Pont and the Turf field he brought with him..

 

[eastbaycat99]

whoa hold the phone. Purdue is definitely improved, but could potentially win the West? that's crazy talk. they aren't that good. i think they'd be quite pleased if they can scrape to a 3-6 or 4-5 conference record (Illinois, Rutgers, and 1-2 more), would be a nice sign of progress. 4-5 should get them into a bowl game at 6-6 total, which would be a huge improvement.

In July, I figured Wisconsin was a clear favorite, the Cats were next with a little better chance than Iowa (due to schedule), and Nebraska and Minnesota a little behind that due to QB and other player turnover. I figured PU and the Illini had almost no chance. Purdue has played as well as any team in the division not named Wisconsin so far and have two "easy" crossover games left. I don't think they are favorites, but I would not write them off completely.

 

[JoeWildcat]

g


Agasse was NCAA COY in 1970 and had lobbied the NU admin (Miller & Strotz, specifically) for long-needed improvements and complete overhauls to football facilities FOR YEARS, such as...
- completely remodeled home locker room (looked like Chicago stockyard pens; showers & toilets were abominable)
- remodeled visitors locker room (roaches, rats & vermin everywhere; extermination required before home games)
- training room facilities & medical staff was dozen years (or more) behind the norm
- weight room in Patton basement looked like a Hollywood back lot movie set for gulag movies (I reported a dead rat behind the infamous leg press contraption in corner - took a week before it was removed)
- training table was a joke - in Sargent Hall with student population & only during season; often served zero nutritional value food (i.e.: powdered eggs for breakfast w/ same for French toast, etc...); a nutritionist for your weight-gain & maintenance issues, you ask... don't be silly, son... just eat more & more often
- football pads, equipment & jerseys/uniforms were outdated by 10 years minimum
- team was bussed to away games - Minnie, Io_a, Da BuckNuts - which killed legs of players before game
- academic support (tutors) for athletes was sporadic & used only in dire, near-failing situations; many profs were anti-athletics, especially re. schollie athletes, and would refuse accommodation on labs & test days

Agasse was promised ON MANY OCCASIONS these and other much needed facilities upgrades and support improvements but NU Presidents consistently refused to deliver anything of substance - and money was NOT the issue, the admin wanted to demote athletics, in general, to club status, not NCAA level ( a move to mimic/follow U of Chicago's decision to eliminate competitive athletics in deference to becoming strictly all-academic institution, years before)

I and my teammates were recruited by Agasse with these promised upgrade & improvements ringing in our ears and never, EVER were they delivered-upon. After years of being treated like a nuisance, Agasse finally told the NU admin to go eff-themselves and took Purdue's vacant football HC position (an extremely dastardly-telling career move: to a in-conference school & NU's protected rival at that!!!)

You have brought back scary images for me; I hope I don't have nightmares. I played baseball for a couple years during that period, and we used the Dyke stadium locker rooms and showers, and they were really awful, but I guess we didn't know any better. The Patton gym weight room was rather lame as well. I would love to see the look on the faces of today's recruits if they walked through those facilities..

 

[NJCat]

You have brought back scary images for me; I hope I don't have nightmares. I played baseball for a couple years during that period, and we used the Dyke stadium locker rooms and showers, and they were really awful, but I guess we didn't know any better. The Patton gym weight room was rather lame as well. I would love to see the look on the faces of today's recruits if they walked through those facilities..

I ran cross country, and that team probably had the worst facilities of all. The Dyche locker room was scary. Dark, dirty, showers were unusable, just pathetic.

I remember watching the football players eat at Sargent, they usually sat at the table over by the door. Same crap food the general student population were forced to eat. College life has sure changed!

 

[The_Waterboy]

Thanks for the confirmation. We had a promising opportunity there and Strotz goal was to kill it before it spread. What are your thoughts as to what would have happened if we had won that game against Mich in 1971? I know you loved Johnny Pont and the Turf field he brought with him..

If NU had won the Mich game, we were in position to get to the Rose Bowl. In those seasons, it was "Rose Bowl or No Bowl" - a mantra that I'm sure you heard once or twice during your time at NU. Well, 1971 was the 2nd consecutive season NU came-in No. 2 in the Big 10 conference, and of course, we went nowhere, while conferences like the old SWC, the Pac-10 and the SEC were raking-in literally millions during the bowl season (and $1M buckos in those years was equivalent to $10M - $15M in today's valuation). Since tight-wad Strotz was such a lying sack of s#it & a skin-flint to NU athletics support in general, if Agasse had led his team (and mine) to the Rose Bowl, the athletic dept. would have had the funds "relatively in hand" to install those improvements by its own revenue stream. However, I wouldn't put it past the jack-hole dynamic duo of Miller (who was promoted to Chancellor) & President Strotz to white collar theft and snatch those ready "unallocated" monies and position them elsewhere away from athletic upgrades & improvements. Those 2 jerk-weeds truly wanted NU out of competitive NCAA athletics, which they viewed as corrupt (which for many SWC, Big-8, SEC & PAC-10 football & basketball programs was an absolute fact), so they turned their backs to Agasse and his red-haired stepchild football program, as successful as it was in spite of all those horrid disadvantages, in a bid to get the general alumni population disenfranchised and disillusioned with athletics and go the U of Chi route. Unfortunately, the move backfired in their faces. The alumni did just the reverse and they loudly protested the treatment of athletes & facilities at NU. Strotz remained in power from 1970 thru the mid-80s - and his pervasive attitude of ignoring athletics in hopes of its drying-up and dying on its own was a major contributor to the start & continuity of the Dark Ages, starting with the hiring of John "Punt" Pont after Agasse's departure thru the mid 80's... What can one say about the coincidence of Strotz' final departure from his NU admin office to the return of competitive athletics at NU at the same time? I will let you NU alumni and history be the ultimate judge on that 20-something year trainwreck in its painfully slow transition towards the recovery of NU athletics after having been abandoned on the doorstep of the truly dedicated cadre of NU alumni supporters in the middle of the night.

As for "Punt" Pont, after he was promoted to AD, he instantly become his very own employer (the AD) to his original hired employee position (as NU HC). In year 2 of his regime, he polled NU football players on whether or not to install Astro-turf to replace the natural grass turf. I know for an absolute fact, the team voted to keep natural grass, which NU had the 2nd best game field in the Big-10 behind No. 1 Purdue, who genetically engineered their own hybrid grass to survive the pounding of football season. Playing in Ross-Ade Stadium was like playing on a feather bed - no turf-contact injuries that I can recall in 4 years. He had already made the executive decision to avoid the football program's cost of maintaining a natural grass field to the supposed more economical Astro- turf (which over the following years had been proven itself to be more expensive in injuries and other problems like unchecked staph germ propagation in the turf surface than natural grass), so he lied to the team after the vote when he told them the team "overwhelmingly" voted in favor of the Astro-turf replacement... A bald-faced falsehood. Incidentally, I had the 1st confirmed/diagnosed injury of turf-toe at NU in fall 1973. My big toe was seriously hyper-extended backwards after having made a tackle and then got dog piled under a half dozen players where my foot got driven into the unforgiving turf and couldn't slip out sideways from the top pressure. Cost me 3 weeks - at which time Punt said that I was a weak player to have sustained the injury. And that was after he refused to deal with my situation where my body type (an ectomorph-mesomorph combo as described by NU training staff) could not retain weight even though I ate like a horse & I had the reputation of training table consumption that was unparalleled among the other players and I had come to him for assistance in resolving the problem. When Pont voiced that comment, I knew he was nothing less than a talking head of a football HC. He lost contact with the entire team in the 1974 season. He was the linchpin architect, along with Miller & Strotz, of the Dark Ages. I still grieve its birth to this day, some 40 years later.

 

[hdhntr1]

You have brought back scary images for me; I hope I don't have nightmares. I played baseball for a couple years during that period, and we used the Dyke stadium locker rooms and showers, and they were really awful, but I guess we didn't know any better. The Patton gym weight room was rather lame as well. I would love to see the look on the faces of today's recruits if they walked through those facilities..

You would not see them for long!!!

 

[hdhntr1]

I ran cross country, and that team probably had the worst facilities of all. The Dyche locker room was scary. Dark, dirty, showers were unusable, just pathetic.

I remember watching the football players eat at Sargent, they usually sat at the table over by the door. Same crap food the general student population were forced to eat. College life has sure changed!

That was one of the big reasons to join a frat back then. Food much better.

 

[NJCat]

That was one of the big reasons to join a frat back then. Food much better.

I had a bid offer from DU for 4 years. No way.

 

[hdhntr1]

If NU had won the Mich game, we were in position to get to the Rose Bowl. In those seasons, it was "Rose Bowl or No Bowl" - a mantra that I'm sure you heard once or twice during your time at NU. Well, 1971 was the 2nd consecutive season NU came-in No. 2 in the Big 10 conference, and of course, we went nowhere, while conferences like the old SWC, the Pac-10 and the SEC were raking-in literally millions during the bowl season (and $1M buckos in those years was equivalent to $10M - $15M in today's valuation). Since tight-wad Strotz was such a lying sack of s#it & a skin-flint to NU athletics support in general, if Agasse had led his team (and mine) to the Rose Bowl, the athletic dept. would have had the funds "relatively in hand" to install those improvements by its own revenue stream. However, I wouldn't put it past the jack-hole dynamic duo of Miller (who was promoted to Chancellor) & President Strotz to white collar theft and snatch those ready "unallocated" monies and position them elsewhere away from athletic upgrades & improvements. Those 2 jerk-weeds truly wanted NU out of competitive NCAA athletics, which they viewed as corrupt (which for many SWC, Big-8, SEC & PAC-10 football & basketball programs was an absolute fact), so they turned their backs to Agasse and his red-haired stepchild football program, as successful as it was in spite of all those horrid disadvantages, in a bid to get the general alumni population disenfranchised and disillusioned with athletics and go the U of Chi route. Unfortunately, the move backfired in their faces. The alumni did just the reverse and they loudly protested the treatment of athletes & facilities at NU. Strotz remained in power from 1970 thru the mid-80s - and his pervasive attitude of ignoring athletics in hopes of its drying-up and dying on its own was a major contributor to the start & continuity of the Dark Ages, starting with the hiring of John "Punt" Pont after Agasse's departure thru the mid 80's... What can one say about the coincidence of Strotz' final departure from his NU admin office to the return of competitive athletics at NU at the same time? I will let you NU alumni and history be the ultimate judge on that 20-something year trainwreck in its painfully slow transition towards the recovery of NU athletics after having been abandoned on the doorstep of the truly dedicated cadre of NU alumni supporters in the middle of the night.

As for "Punt" Pont, after he was promoted to AD, he instantly become his very own employer (the AD) to his original hired employee position (as NU HC). In year 2 of his regime, he polled NU football players on whether or not to install Astro-turf to replace the natural grass turf. I know for an absolute fact, the team voted to keep natural grass, which NU had the 2nd best game field in the Big-10 behind No. 1 Purdue, who genetically engineered their own hybrid grass to survive the pounding of football season. Playing in Ross-Ade Stadium was like playing on a feather bed - no turf-contact injuries that I can recall in 4 years. He had already made the executive decision to avoid the football program's cost of maintaining a natural grass field to the supposed more economical Astro- turf (which over the following years had been proven itself to be more expensive in injuries and other problems like unchecked staph germ propagation in the turf surface than natural grass), so he lied to the team after the vote when he told them the team "overwhelmingly" voted in favor of the Astro-turf replacement... A bald-faced falsehood. Incidentally, I had the 1st confirmed/diagnosed injury of turf-toe at NU in fall 1973. My big toe was seriously hyper-extended backwards after having made a tackle and then got dog piled under a half dozen players where my foot got driven into the unforgiving turf and couldn't slip out sideways from the top pressure. Cost me 3 weeks - at which time Punt said that I was a weak player to have sustained the injury. And that was after he refused to deal with my situation where my body type (an ectomorph-mesomorph combo as described by NU training staff) could not retain weight even though I ate like a horse & I had the reputation of training table consumption that was unparalleled among the other players and I had come to him for assistance in resolving the problem. When Pont voiced that comment, I knew he was nothing less than a talking head of a football HC. He lost contact with the entire team in the 1974 season. He was the linchpin architect, along with Miller & Strotz, of the Dark Ages. I still grieve its birth to this day, some 40 years later.

I left for AZ in Jan of 74 and then ended up in Springfield for 15 years so I did not have to really directly see the depth of the Dark Ages. That trio made all of NU athletics (but FB the worst) into the laughingstock of college sports and set us back about 40 years. I hope they found a special place in hell for them. Thank Barnett and company (and the new NU leadership that made them and the upgrades possible) because short of that miracle in 95 and 96, I don't know how we ever find our way back to relevance.

 

[Gladeskat]

NU had rug-like Tartan Turf by 3M, not fake grass-like Astroturf.

Marty Sz. challenges you to an eating contest.

 

[The_Waterboy]

Bugsy -
I thought Astro-s#it was the carpet-like stuff with the 1-inch thick rolled poly flex-sheeting under it. The marketers of that crapola carpet claimed that the poly sheeting base would "soften-up" in 2-3 years. During my experiences, it was like playing on the hardened boilerplate mud field of my grades school FB days - direct cause of my turf-toe injury. Also, the sunlight reflective surface made heat index temps of that carpet surface during August 2-a-day practices & September games near high 90 degree temps, if not triple digits. Shear torture. And the coaching staff took the standard approach at the time of not allowing water breaks during practices because they believed it would make you soft. A Neanderthal mind set. to be sure.

As for an eating contest, ask Fla-Dude re. my chewing capacity. Even NU HOF All-American footballer Jack Cvercko (great fella to converse-with) was duly impressed w/ my abilities when we sat across from one another @ a Fla-Dude Purple Party.

 

[FloridAlum]

L

Bugsy -
I thought Astro-s#it was the carpet-like stuff with the 1-inch thick rolled poly flex-sheeting under it. The marketers of that crapola carpet claimed that the poly sheeting base would "soften-up" in 2-3 years. During my experiences, it was like playing on the hardened boilerplate mud field of my grades school FB days - direct cause of my turf-toe injury. Also, the sunlight reflective surface made heat index temps of that carpet surface during August 2-a-day practices & September games near high 90 degree temps, if not triple digits. Shear torture. And the coaching staff took the standard approach at the time of not allowing water breaks during practices because they believed it would make you soft. A Neanderthal mind set. to be sure.

As for an eating contest, ask Fla-Dude re. my chewing capacity. Even NU HOF All-American footballer Jack Cvercko (great fella to converse-with) was duly impressed w/ my abilities when we sat across from one another @ a Fla-Dude Purple Party.

I must defend The Waterboy's ability to put away a large amount of chow. I first really noticed it the night before the Vanderbilt game in 2010 , when about a dozen of us had dinner at the incomparable Loveless Cafe.I was sitting directly across from him at dinner, and spent a fair bit of time watching him eat. I am fairly sure that, in addition to a whole bunch of biscuits and other stuff, that the dude ordered a very large prime rib and had a full order of ribs as a side dish. ( my side dish was coleslaw.) Also included in his skill set is the ability to consume voluminous quantities while continuing to talk nonstop.Do not try to outeat The Waterboy.

 

[hdhntr1]

L


I must defend The Waterboy's ability to put away a large amount of chow. I first really noticed it the night before the Vanderbilt game in 2010 , when about a dozen of us had dinner at the incomparable Loveless Cafe.I was sitting directly across from him at dinner, and spent a fair bit of time watching him eat. I am fairly sure that, in addition to a whole bunch of biscuits and other stuff, that the dude ordered a very large prime rib and had a full order of ribs as a side dish. ( my side dish was coleslaw.) Also included in his skill set is the ability to consume voluminous quantities while continuing to talk nonstop.Do not try to outeat The Waterboy.

Or out talk him.

 

[FloridAlum]

Or out talk him.

Both in quantity and volume

 

[mikewebb68]

In July, I figured Wisconsin was a clear favorite, the Cats were next with a little better chance than Iowa (due to schedule), and Nebraska and Minnesota a little behind that due to QB and other player turnover. I figured PU and the Illini had almost no chance. Purdue has played as well as any team in the division not named Wisconsin so far and have two "easy" crossover games left. I don't think they are favorites, but I would not write them off completely.

Purdue has not played nearly as well as Iowa, imo. They still make a ton of silly mistakes that cost them games.

 

[Gladeskat]

Bugsy -
I thought Astro-s#it was the carpet-like stuff with the 1-inch thick rolled poly flex-sheeting under it. The marketers of that crapola carpet claimed that the poly sheeting base would "soften-up" in 2-3 years. During my experiences, it was like playing on the hardened boilerplate mud field of my grades school FB days - direct cause of my turf-toe injury. Also, the sunlight reflective surface made heat index temps of that carpet surface during August 2-a-day practices & September games near high 90 degree temps, if not triple digits. Shear torture. And the coaching staff took the standard approach at the time of not allowing water breaks during practices because they believed it would make you soft. A Neanderthal mind set. to be sure.

As for an eating contest, ask Fla-Dude re. my chewing capacity. Even NU HOF All-American footballer Jack Cvercko (great fella to converse-with) was duly impressed w/ my abilities when we sat across from one another @ a Fla-Dude Purple Party.

While Tartan Turf is horrible for causing rug burns and infections, the turf NU had was the softest artificial surface I ever played on. Minnesota's old Memorial Stadium had the worst artificial turf (threat bare).

DId you ever see MS eat? He was another guy who ate enormous quantities of food and couldn't gain a pound.

 

[pawildcat]

True but every bit as important an opener occurred in 1971 when the Cats when the Cats and Mich were the two favorites to win the Big Ten. They added an extra Big Ten game that year and it was Mich at NU for the first game of the year. NU lost that game something like 12-0 and ended in 2nd place. Had they won that game, good chance they would have won Big Ten and FB fortunes might have been forever changed. Agasse might have stayed, no Johnny Pont and Dark Ages might not have occurred. Have to say that was a pretty important Big Ten season opener.

Guys, I believe the spelling of the former NU coach's name is Agase, not "Agasse."

 

[pawildcat]

If NU had won the Mich game, we were in position to get to the Rose Bowl. In those seasons, it was "Rose Bowl or No Bowl" - a mantra that I'm sure you heard once or twice during your time at NU. Well, 1971 was the 2nd consecutive season NU came-in No. 2 in the Big 10 conference, and of course, we went nowhere, while conferences like the old SWC, the Pac-10 and the SEC were raking-in literally millions during the bowl season (and $1M buckos in those years was equivalent to $10M - $15M in today's valuation). Since tight-wad Strotz was such a lying sack of s#it & a skin-flint to NU athletics support in general, if Agasse had led his team (and mine) to the Rose Bowl, the athletic dept. would have had the funds "relatively in hand" to install those improvements by its own revenue stream. However, I wouldn't put it past the jack-hole dynamic duo of Miller (who was promoted to Chancellor) & President Strotz to white collar theft and snatch those ready "unallocated" monies and position them elsewhere away from athletic upgrades & improvements. Those 2 jerk-weeds truly wanted NU out of competitive NCAA athletics, which they viewed as corrupt (which for many SWC, Big-8, SEC & PAC-10 football & basketball programs was an absolute fact), so they turned their backs to Agasse and his red-haired stepchild football program, as successful as it was in spite of all those horrid disadvantages, in a bid to get the general alumni population disenfranchised and disillusioned with athletics and go the U of Chi route. Unfortunately, the move backfired in their faces. The alumni did just the reverse and they loudly protested the treatment of athletes & facilities at NU. Strotz remained in power from 1970 thru the mid-80s - and his pervasive attitude of ignoring athletics in hopes of its drying-up and dying on its own was a major contributor to the start & continuity of the Dark Ages, starting with the hiring of John "Punt" Pont after Agasse's departure thru the mid 80's... What can one say about the coincidence of Strotz' final departure from his NU admin office to the return of competitive athletics at NU at the same time? I will let you NU alumni and history be the ultimate judge on that 20-something year trainwreck in its painfully slow transition towards the recovery of NU athletics after having been abandoned on the doorstep of the truly dedicated cadre of NU alumni supporters in the middle of the night.

As for "Punt" Pont, after he was promoted to AD, he instantly become his very own employer (the AD) to his original hired employee position (as NU HC). In year 2 of his regime, he polled NU football players on whether or not to install Astro-turf to replace the natural grass turf. I know for an absolute fact, the team voted to keep natural grass, which NU had the 2nd best game field in the Big-10 behind No. 1 Purdue, who genetically engineered their own hybrid grass to survive the pounding of football season. Playing in Ross-Ade Stadium was like playing on a feather bed - no turf-contact injuries that I can recall in 4 years. He had already made the executive decision to avoid the football program's cost of maintaining a natural grass field to the supposed more economical Astro- turf (which over the following years had been proven itself to be more expensive in injuries and other problems like unchecked staph germ propagation in the turf surface than natural grass), so he lied to the team after the vote when he told them the team "overwhelmingly" voted in favor of the Astro-turf replacement... A bald-faced falsehood. Incidentally, I had the 1st confirmed/diagnosed injury of turf-toe at NU in fall 1973. My big toe was seriously hyper-extended backwards after having made a tackle and then got dog piled under a half dozen players where my foot got driven into the unforgiving turf and couldn't slip out sideways from the top pressure. Cost me 3 weeks - at which time Punt said that I was a weak player to have sustained the injury. And that was after he refused to deal with my situation where my body type (an ectomorph-mesomorph combo as described by NU training staff) could not retain weight even though I ate like a horse & I had the reputation of training table consumption that was unparalleled among the other players and I had come to him for assistance in resolving the problem. When Pont voiced that comment, I knew he was nothing less than a talking head of a football HC. He lost contact with the entire team in the 1974 season. He was the linchpin architect, along with Miller & Strotz, of the Dark Ages. I still grieve its birth to this day, some 40 years later.

Good tale, WB. It was terrible for anyone who cared at all about NU to see it go from a relatively competitive football program to a national joke within a matter of a few years.