Since
2003, Northwestern football has seemed to be pivoted on the fulcrum of
success and failure, balanced near the six-win mark. In 2010, the
pivot swung on the achilles tendon of quarterback Dan Persa: when Persa
suffered a season-ending injury at the conclusion of the Iowa game,
Northwestern's season swiveled from a 7-3 campaign that appeared on
track for another major bowl, to an embarrassing 0-3 finish.
The season began with a 5-0 run, similar to 2008's opening streak, and
only the second time since 1962 that NU has begun with five wins.
The team then stumbled against Purdue and hung close with MSU before
taking a nailbiting win at Indiana to achieve bowl eligibility for the
fourth straight year. However, NU's defense remained vulnerable,
and Penn State demonstrated this when the Lions came back from a
21-point deficit to defeat NU at Beaver Stadium.
After Penn State, expectations were low when NU hosted Iowa, looking
for its fifth win in the last six games with the Hawkeyes. Persa
and company, however, managed a 21-17 thrilling win. The win was
costly: on the final touchdown play, Persa went down. The 'Cats
limped into the Wrigley Field event with Illinois and were drubbed, 48
to 27. A blowout loss to Wisconsin then set NU up for a trip to
the TicketCity Bowl, where the 'Cats lost their eighth straight
postseason game. NU remained at the end of 2010 in a very
familiar position: balanced on its fulcrum of the last decade, and
still looking for a bowl win.
What follows
are excerpts
from some of the comments I posted on this site during the course of
the
2010 season. Please note that the comments posted below are only
ones written by me, and this year I did not provide game previews or
postgame commentary. As with last year, the bulk of articles on
HailToPurple.com
in 2010 came from jhodges and the other contributors. For their
2010 commentary and analysis, please check out the
pages for jhodges, the Waterboy and the Lowes Line.
Heater: the Ultimate Analysis [posted Jan. 9, 2010]
A Look at NU's Recruiting Competitors [posted Jan. 18, 2010]
As
Northwestern nears the 2010 football recruit signing day, it has at
least 16 verbal commitments from prospective players across the
country. The prospective 'Cats have been wooed by, and sport
offers from, schools throughout the NCAA. So who are NU's main
competitors for football recruits? Of course, the athletic
department has a keen understanding of the group with whom they compete
for new players. But from the perspective of the casual fan, and
without using insider information, what can we discern?
One way of judging what schools comprise NU's competitive set is to look at schools that made offers to NU recruits who eventually committed to NU.
Of course, we could also look at all students to whom NU made an offer,
and then examine all of the other offers that set of students
received, regardless of where they eventually went. However, it seems to me to be more pertinent to limit
the view only to those players who actually did come to NU. Who
else were interested in these players to the extent that they were
offered a scholarship?
There is a drawback to this view, of
course: a school could over-represent itself by extending offers to
many more players than it expects to accept. However, this
strategy would eventually backfire so badly that it would be eliminated.
For this analysis, I looked at NU's recruiting classes for the last
nine years. Using information from Rivals.com, Scout.com, and
ESPN, I've collected some (but not all) of the other offers that these
Wildcats received (let's term them NU recruit cross-offers, or
NURCOs). I only looked at offers from other Div. I-A schools. So, what schools in the last decade have produced the
most NURCOs? Here is the (somewhat surprising) list of the top 20:
Rank
School
NURCOs, 2002-'10
1
Indiana
21
2
Vanderbilt
15
3
Stanford
14
4
Northern Illinois
13
5
Illinois
12
6t
Duke
8
6t
Kansas
8
6t
Toledo
8
9t
Akron
7
9t
Colorado
7
9t
Eastern Mich.
7
9t
Michigan State
7
9t
Syracuse
7
9t
Utah
7
9t
Wake Forest
7
16t
Cincinnati
6
16t
Notre Dame
6
16t
Pittsburgh
6
16t
Purdue
6
16t
Wisconsin
6
Vanderbilt
and Stanford certainly aren't surprises, and no one should be shocked
at seeing in-state rival Illinois in the top five, but Indiana's
dominating presence at the top of the list is a little strange.
As we'll see below, one season in particular accounts for the Hoosiers'
tight competitive showing. NIU also seems strange to see so close
to the top; the geographic proximity explains much of it, however,
since NIU extended offers to many of the regional recruits that NU
eventually took.
Rank
Conference
NURCOs, 2002-'10
1
Big Ten
59
2
MAC
57
3
ACC
39
4t
Big 12
35
4t
Big East
35
6
Pac-10
30
7
Mountain West
23
8
Conf. USA
19
9
SEC
18
10
Indep. I-A
13
11
WAC
7
12
Sun Belt
2
Looking
at the NURCOs by conference, it also is not surprising to see the Big
Ten at the top, as NU battled with most of the conference for the best
regional recruits, and the conference is, nearly from top to bottom, an
academically sound group of schools. Given its geography and ties
to some of the NU staff, it is also not surprising to see the MAC at
#2, although I'm a little surprised that it nearly tied the Big
Ten. Since the ACC has both Duke and Wake Forest, it takes the #3
spot (the top three schools that just missed the cut for the top 20 in
NURCOs-- Georgia Tech, Boston College and Virginia-- are all ACC and
gave the conference 15 additional NURCOs).
When we look at the NURCOs by year, we see that some teams compete cyclically with NU for recruits, like Vanderbilt:
The
2005 NU class included four players who received offers from
Vandy. In fact, that class had a lot of offers from some of NU's
closest competitors. For some reason, Indiana had extended offers
to the bulk of that class, which is why Indy is so far ahead of all the
other teams:
While
Stanford had also offered a couple of NU's 2005 recruits, the
cross-over with Stanford is now much more pronounced, and getting
stronger:
...while Illinois has been fairly consistent.
It
is interesting to note that for two years after 2001, when Illinois
went to a BCS bowl and NU fell apart midway through the season, NU was
not able to land a commit who also had an Illinois offer, but that
improved after the 2003 turnaround season.
As noted earlier, it would at first appear that NU is competing with
Northern Illinois for the regional players (again look at the surge in
offers given to NU's 2005 recruits):
...until you compare the NIU commits that had offers from Northwestern.
Since 2002, NIU has only been able to land three recruits that NU had
offered-- none since '04. Adding the NIU take-aways (in purple)
to this graph, we see this:
While
NIU has targeted a lot of players who eventually choose Northwestern,
the converse is not true. Contrast this to the Stanford
cross-offer graph, when we add to it the Stanford commits who had
offers from NU:
There are 14 NU recruits during this period that had offers from Stanford; however, there are 29
Stanford commits that had NU offers! The number of losses to
Stanford has been consistently high since 2006. Given this
disparity and the increase in NU recruits with Stanford offers,
Stanford remains one of the most serious threats to Northwestern's
recruiting base.
Keep in mind that NU opens the 2010 season by playing Vandy, and plays
the Commodores through 2014, the very same season that the 'Cats
recommence their series with... Stanford. The next five to six
years will see NU's recruiting efforts being driven by the action on
the field and by NU's performance vs. key competitors more than they
have in nearly two decades.
NU and Illinois Have Wrigley Field Deal [posted Jan. 29, 2010]
There
are reports that NU has reached a tentative agreement with Illinois to
play their 2010 game at Wrigley field, "if – they can work out the
financial and operational questions." The information comes from
Loren Tate, a reporter for the Champaign, Illinois News-Gazette.
Tate's column adds to the previous reports that NU athletic director
Jim Phillips was still very interested in moving an NU home game
(either this year or in 2011) to Wrigley Field, and the potential
opponents could be Illinois, Iowa, Michigan or Rice. Two weeks
ago NU and Wrigley Field announced that the field and stadium
dimensions would allow for an NCAA-sanctioned football game (a matter
which had been in doubt). However, the News-Gazette's report is
the first time that it has been made clear that Illinois would be the
opponent.
However, ESPN's Adam Rittenberg writes that Tate's column is not
correct: Illinois is not yet the confirmed opponent for an NU game at
Wrigley. According to Rittenberg, ". . . Phillips told me in a
text message that Illinois hasn't been selected as the opponent and NU
will explore all possible options for a November game."
The move of one of NU's home games to Wrigley Field is a potential
marketing boost at a time when the Wildcat football program dearly
needs one, and it will hit the area where NU needs it most: right at
home, in the Chicago area. However, NU would take a tremendous
gamble by selecting Illinois for this game. If NU chooses nearly
any other college for this game, the local media will focus on two
things: the cool novelty of football at Wrigley Field, and
Northwestern. Only two potential opponents would change that
focus: Notre Dame and Illinois. If NU does choose the Illini, the
media focus will likely be: football at Wrigley Field and how cool this
is for all the Chicago-area Illinois fans (oh, and the Illini will play
NU).
Attendance at an event like this really doesn't matter, as long as it
isn't embarrassingly low. If there are more Illinois fans than NU
fans, that really isn't a big deal. What is a big deal is the
local print and broadcast media, and they will likely focus solely on
the Blue and Orange in the community.
Hopefully, this will not the be the case, and NU will get a lot of
local buzz from this. Rittenberg certainly thinks this; he argues
that Illinois makes the most sense.
Again, picking the Illini is a big gamble, and NU would effectively
give away a home game to Illinois in order to place this bet.
Would the Illini have done the same?
NU Signs Its 2010 Recruiting Class [posted Feb. 7, 2010]
Northwestern
last Wednesday announced its recruiting class for 2010, consisting of
17 incoming students. The class is balanced between defense
(eight players) and offense (nine), with four wide receivers.
Only one recruit in the class is from Illinois (last year NU had five
recruits from in-state). NU continues to focus on Ohio and
Florida this year, with three recruits each.
Among the recruiting standouts is Brandon Vitabile, a center from New
Jersey. Rivals has ranked him the sixth best center in the
current national class. Quarterback Trevor Siemian has also been
ranked highly by Rivals. However, both received three stars from
Rivals.
Neither Rivals nor Scout has scored any of NU's class with four
stars. As of February 7 Rivals ranks NU's class 77th, plunging
from 70th two weeks ago. This is perplexing, since NU's average
star rating increased to 2.94, which is as good as, or better than, the
28 schools ranked directly above NU, and better than quite a few ranked
even higher than that. Of course, Rivals and Scout also consider
class "fit" into their rankings, which apparently means how well the
fan base of the schools "fit" into their subscription revenue streams.
Scout puts the class at 57th (the "Heinz Line," with which HTP readers
should be very familiar), up from 61st two weeks ago. ESPN, which
used to compile its own recruiting info, now relies heavily on Scout
(though ESPN's individual star ratings do differ from Scout's) and does
not rank NU. The Rivals ranking is down from last year, while the
Scout ranking is up from where they put last year's class.
The following table shows the list of recruits announced on
NUSports.com. The comments are compiled from material taken from
Rivals.com, Scout.com, and ESPN.
Please note that HailToPurple.com does not closely follow recruiting
efforts, nor do I have any interest in the recruiting process, crucial
though it is-- for more detailed info and analysis, be sure to check
out Lou V.'s work at Rivals and Scout.com/FoxSport's efforts on
PurpleReign.
Congratulations and good luck to this promising group of soon-to-be Wildcats!
Are Northwestern Stripes Returning? [posted March 28, 2010]
Is
Northwestern about to make the first major change to its uniform in
seven years? The fan blog SpreadFarTheFame.com speculated last
week that NU might indeed make a change, and the site showed an
illustration that might be the new unis.
Since SFTF posted its initial scoop, several HTP readers have also
responded, stating that they, too have either heard about or seen the
new duds. The details in each of these reports are very
consistent.
The new uniforms (which are reported not to be final: they are under
consideration) apparently feature a purple jersey, and-- for the first
time since November 1996-- they will have northwestern striping on the
sleeve. The uniform look that Northwestern popularized in 1928
became synonymous with the 'Cats and even became named after the
school. The rumored new jersey will drop the USC-style shoulder
sections (which have been in use since 2003) and will drop the N-Cat
logo (which NU developed in 1984, and which has been on the jersey, in
some form, since 1995). Reportedly, NU could go back to using
purple pants for some games, but will also use black pants and white
pants occasionally. There are also reports that NU is considering
a return to black jerseys, possibly for limited use in 2011.
Northwestern Makes It Official: NU-Illinois Game at Wrigley [posted April 23, 2010]
As purple banners flew high over the stadium scoreboard, Northwestern
and the Chicago Cubs held a press conference at Wrigley Field on Friday
and announced that the Wildcats will host the University of Illinois at
Wrigley Field this year. The game will be held on the morning of
Saturday, November 20 and will be broadcast on one of the ESPN channels.
NU Athletic Director Jim Phillips reiterated that safety was a chief
concern, asking "could we safely... put a football field in Wrigley
Field?" He described the investigation that followed, which
concluded that Wrigley Field could, indeed, be made safe for college
football. Phillips called the Wrigley Field event a chance to
"showcase a world-class institution. This is another way to bring
people to the front porch of Northwestern." He also mentioned
that the game is a way to increase season tickets, despite the fact
that the game will NOT be included in season ticket packages (see
below).
Coach Fitzgerald tied the game into Chicago tradition, and of seeing
"another player who wore #51," Dick Butkus, play at Wrigley Field for
the Bears.
Notably absent from today's announcement was any sign of the
Illini. No one from Illinois was present for the announcement,
and Wrigley was decked out in purple, with nary a shred of blue or
orange visible. Clearly, the Cubs and NU are setting the tone
that this will be a Northwestern home game, set at Wrigley Field.
The game will mark the first off-campus home game for NU since the
'Cats hosted Oklahoma at Soldier Field for the 1997 Pigskin
Classic. It is the first football game at Wrigley field since the
Bears left the venue in 1970, and it is the first time NU has hosted a
football game at Wrigley since NU hosted Illinois and Red Grange there
on October 27, 1923.
According to the Q&A session regarding the event, now posted at
NUSports.com, "In order to purchase a ticket for the November 20 game,
fans must purchase season tickets for Northwestern's five home games at
Ryan Field.... Northwestern Football at Wrigley Field is NOT
included in your season ticket package. However, only season ticket
holders have the opportunity to purchase tickets for Northwestern
Football at Wrigley Field." While requiring season tickets for a
Wrigley game purchase might drive up season ticket sales, it remains to
be seen how keeping the Wrigley tickets separate from the season
tickets could potentially affect NU fan attendance at the Wrigley event.
NU Concludes Spring Session with Scrimmage [posted April 25, 2010]
An
injury-free, defense-filled public scrimmage marked the end of
Northwestern's 2010 spring practice period, and it sets the stage for
the rest of the Wildcats' preseason, which will culminate with their
Kenosha scrimmage on August 21.
Sandwiched between rain showers, the spring scrimmage featured both
NU's quarterbacks, Dan Persa and Evan Watkins, as they showed off some
nice passing (not all of which managed to be caught by NU's vast array
of wideouts). As with most spring sessions, the defense seemed a
step ahead of the offense, and this should even out in the August
session.
A few tidbits mentioned, or overheard, during the spring event:
NU has signed Fitz to an additional seven years. The persona of Northwestern Football is solidly at the helm.
Adidas
has not produced the final version of this fall's uniforms. The
prototypes we've seen on the Web so far are just that:
prototypes. Changes are still being made.
The running game was particularly difficult to judge, since Arby Fields is currently playing on the baseball team.
Video highlights of NU's Spring Scrimmage
(Audio replaced due to YouTube legal wranglings...)
Nebraska to the Big Ten [posted June 10, 2010]
The
conference realignment rumors, swirling for weeks, erupted last
Wednesday evening when reports, later confirmed by ESPN and other
sources, indicated that Nebraska had been offered a spot in the Big Ten
and had tentatively accepted. The reports touched off a cascade
of response actions and rumors across college football, with the
biggest salvo coming from the Pac 10, which is reported to have fired
off six invites to remaining Big XII teams. Since then,
Colorado has accepted the Pac's invite, and Texas is mulling its options
Not much is certain right now, but one thing is a nearly sure
bet: the Big XII conference is gone, and its surviving members
are beginning to scramble for a new home. A Pac-16 Super
Conference is a possibility, one that might lobby for two BCS
spots. If that happens, it is unlikely that the Big Ten's
appetite will be sated with Nebraska.
There are, in fact, indications that the magic number for the Big Ten
might be 14. MSU president Lou Anna Simon told the Detroit Free
Press that-- with the addition of Nebraska-- the Big Ten is "one-third
of the way through" the expansion goals.
And what of Notre Dame? The Irish, and the Big Ten, are
mum. It's possible that, as Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany said
on Friday, the conference will "hit pause" on expansion, for a while.
We'll see.
Nebraska will start playing Big Ten football in 2011. And, yes,
the conference will be split into divisions. According to the
Cleveland Plain Dealer, Delany has stated that the conference is
currently working on how to split the Big Ten in '11. Conference
officials are looking at competitiveness of the divisions, traditional
rivalries, and geography.
So, what to make of the Nebraska addition? What indeed? For
the Big Ten, the move is understandable: it brings in a huge fanbase,
and the money that a twelfth team and a conference championship game
will bring is compelling. For NU (the Northwestern NU, not the
UNL NU), the positives are a little more difficult to fathom.
Regardless, this is who we are, and the new reality of the Big Ten will
begin now, with rampant change, division alignment strategies, and the
ever-lurking specter of another interloper, possibly even one slouching
from South Bend.
How Might a Lakefront Stadium Look? [posted Aug. 12, 2010]
Recent discussions, both on Rivals and at Lake The Posts, have posed the always-lurking
question: what to do with Ryan Field? Northwestern's stadium now
lags far behind all the other Big Ten sites, in terms of facilities and
investment. Should Ryan Field be renovated once again (it would
be the fifth major renovation to the stadium since its construction in
1926)? Should it be torn down, and a new stadium built?
And, if a new stadium were to be built, should it be constructed on
Central Street, site of NU football since 1905?
While I certainly don't propose that NU should build a new stadium, and
build it on a new location, I think the idea is interesting, at least
from the standpoint of a thought experiment. What would a new
stadium possibly look like, if NU brought football back to the
lakefront, for the first time since 1904?
The following scenario is not possible, of course, for several
reasons. First, the cost would be comically high. To revamp
the lakefront campus and Central Street would run into the hundreds of
millions of dollars. Second, Northwestern has already unveiled
its plans for the Miller Campus (that is, the Evanston lakefront
campus) for the next 50 years, and the plans look nothing like this
scenario. Finally, the City of Evanston would certainly nix any
such proposal out of hand. Still, let's assume that a lakefront
stadium might actually be a good thing (and that's not a given, by any
stretch). Let's also assume money is no object, and Evanston
agrees to the plan. Here then is one possible layout for a new
stadium...
The Current Map
The
current footprint of Ryan Field is almost exactly the same size as the
current Thomas Athletic Complex. What if they were swapped?
The Central Street athletic complex would still include the athletic
offices, as well as Welsh-Ryan Arena and nearly all non-football sports.
If
a stadium were placed on the site currently filled with the Thomas
Complex, what would NU do with traffic? Parking? Tailgating?
Here is one possibility.
The Experimental Map
In
this scenario, traffic is maintained along Sheridan Road, both from the
north and south. The south campus garage (typically under-used
during NU home games) would be expanded to three levels and would
handle much of the traffic from the south. The walkway leading
from the south garage to the lakefill could be expanded (and could
become the new Randy Walker Way), leading directly to the stadium.
The main corridor coming into the stadium from Sheridan Road, however,
would become Lincoln Street. Lincoln would be expanded into a
three-lane plaza-like thoroughfare, allowing for two lanes of incoming
traffic into the stadium (and two lanes outbound when games
conclude). The north campus / SPAC parking lot would be dug out,
to make a two-level garage with a lower level partially
underground.
While the lakefill would not need to expand to hold the stadium, NU
could expand the north beach, to allow for an additional area to host
game-day related activities. Wildcat Alley would become a
made-for-TV beach bash.
The stadium itself would be a 40,000 seat stadium (I've used Boston
College's stadium in these images), ringed by killer views of the
campus to the west, the lagoon to the south, the Otto Graham plaza and
the beach to the north, and-- of course-- Lake Michigan just yards away
to the east.
NU would still provide shuttle buses to Central Street, where there
would be additional parking, and a lot more room to stretch out for the
more hardcore tailgaters.
Impractical?
Cost-prohibitive? Borderline insane? Sure, but just take a
second to imagine walking into the lakefront stadium and taking in that
view. Attendance would take care of itself.
Media 2010 Previews and Predictions [posted June 7 and updated Aug. 22, 2010]
. . . NU is riding back-to-back bowl seasons with nine and eight
wins, respectively. For the first time in nearly a decade, the
media could break the Heinz Line rule [ranking NU always at #57 in the preseason] and propel the 'Cats higher in
the national preseason rankings and picks. Reader expectations or
no, most of these publications are likely tired of being burned by
constantly under-picking the 'Cats.
The 2010 List
Every summer since 2000, HailToPurple.com has posted a recap page
of what the larger 'Net and print publications predict for NU. Here are the 2010
Wildcat predictions:
Let's start with one of the earliest preseason rankings, The Sporting News
and its May 2010 preseason top 100. TSN ranked NU #40 nationally,
and sixth in the Big Ten. As the summer progressed, TSN kept
getting more optimistic for NU. By August, TSN tabbed the
Wildcats to finish fifth in the conference. This is a surprising
pick, to say the
least, by TSN, which nearly always picks NU tenth (or worse) in the
conference and is always among the media sources that offers up the
lowest pick for the 'Cats. TSN's preseason rankings are full of
surprises: Purdue is ranked above the 'Cats, while Michigan State is
lower. Not a surprise: TSN tabs Ohio State second
nationally. TSN singles out Adonis Smith as a key Wildcat in the
fall, and predicts that NU will wind up in the Gator Bowl.
Athlon,
one of the remaining print annuals, slots NU at 49th in the division,
seventh in the conference. Among the players Athon is picking for
a big year: Quentin Davie, Drake Dunsmore, and Al Netter.
Athlon foresees a 7-5 record for the 'Cats (3-5 in the conference), and
a trip to the Texas Bowl to play Oklahoma State.
Another big print annual, Lindy's,
puts NU closer to the old Heinz Line, at 55th (seventh in the Big
Ten). Lindy's ranks Michigan over the 'Cats, but has NU just over
Purdue in the picks.
The always-anticipated Phil Steele
ranks NU 54th in the FBS list, seventh in the conference, again just
below Michigan. Steele predicts the Texas Bowl for NU, playing
Baylor.
Also placing NU just above the Heinz Line: CollegeFootballNews.com.
In its preseason rankings, CFN has NU in 53rd, below Michigan and
Purdue. CFN predicts that NU will go 7-5 in 2010, and calls out
the weaknesses at QB and running back.
Tom Dienhart, writing for Rivals.com,
revives the Heinz Line, ranking the 'Cats 57th. NU is placed into
the seventh slot in the Big Ten, over Purdue and the Minny-Illini-Indy
bloc, and behind MSU. Rivals mentions the usual suspects for
strengths (offensive line, the linebackers, Dunsmore, Davie, Mabin,
Browne, Bryant, and Demos). Strangely, he lists Persa as a
"weakness," and the running game as something to "keep an eye on,"
reversing the positions most other writers use for them.
Internet statistician and ranking mogul James Howell
has been offering his rankings and game predictions for many
years. For the 2010 preseason he also slots NU close to the usual
place, at 55th, sandwitched between Notre Dame and UCLA. However,
Howell ranks NU sixth in the conference: he puts Michigan at 61st
nationally.
Blue Ribbon Yearbook
used to be all over the newsstands; now it is only available by phone
or Internet order. BRY is fairly optimistic for the 'Cats,
putting them in sixth place in the conference, ahead of the
Wolverines. Blue Ribbon singles out Drake Dunsmore and Stefan
Demos.
ESPN's Adam Rittenberg picks NU sixth in the Big Ten. Rittenberg likes frontrunner Ohio State to take the conference title.
Sports Illustrated's Stewart Mandel
is optimistic for the 'Cats and has NU and Michigan State tied for
fifth place in the Big Ten, predicting 4-4 records for each in
conference play, and 8-4 overall. S.I. calls Coach Fitz the Big Ten's
"coach on the rise," pointing out that Fitz's 17 wins in the past two
seasons are NU's most since 1995-'96.
CBS's Dennis Dodd
goes with the consensus pick and tabs Ohio State as the best in the Big
Ten. He slots NU in seventh place, ahead of Purdue and just
behind Penn State and Michigan. Dodd has MSU in fourth, as the
Big Ten's surprise team.
The final preseason polls
are out: NU, unranked in both, received two points in the Coaches'
Poll, and no points in the AP Poll (NU's opponent, Central Michigan,
did pick up two points in the AP Poll).
Ed.
note: Each year's Season Review Page
includes the media's preseason
predictions. As for 2010's previews and predictions, most were
surprisingly accurate. Many of the media tabbed NU to finish
seventh in the conference, including CBS's Dennis Dodd and Phil
Steele. Several others also predicted that the 'Cats would finish
in 7th, but listed the QB position as a weakness; instead, Dan Persa
had a monster year. However, for the second straight season, the
award for the most accurate pick goes to Athlon Magazine. Athlon
not only predicted a seventh-place finish, it predicted that NU would
go 7-5 in the regular season and 3-5 in the conference.
The
picks were so uniformly accurate that there was no "dog" pick in 2010--
no major media source guessed that badly. Perhaps The Sporting
News was a little too optimistic with its prediction that NU would come
in fifth in the Big Ten.
'Cats Cap Camp Kenosha XIX
With Public Scrimmage [posted Aug. 22, 2010]
Northwestern
held its annual preseason scrimmage last Saturday, and fans were
treated to a hot day and even hotter performances by some of the
program's rookies.
With the scrimmage open to the public (and it was NU's only open
practice; even Monday's event at Great Lakes is closed, except to
program guests and media), and with the rash of recent injuries to the
team, NU's coaches chose to rest most of their starters. The day,
for the most part, belonged to the new guys.
And the new guys did not disappoint. Freshman wideout Venric Mark
had a fantastic practice, blasting through NU's coverage on kick
returns. Incoming quarterbacks Trevor Siemian and Kain Coulter
also looked terrific, as did freshman running back Adonis Smith.
Of course, there's not much to learn from an open scrimmage-- this is
typically just a day to soak in NU football after a long, parching
drought. The Great Lakes event should be more telling, and then
there's that scrimmage in Nashville in a couple of weeks...
Northwestern Concludes Preseason
With Practice at Great Lakes [posted Aug. 22, 2010]
When
NU holds its final 2010 preseason practice tomorrow at Ross Field at
the Naval Station Great Lakes, it will signify a new era in the
relationship between the base and NU football, a relationship that had
close ties during the two world wars, but has been dormant since.
It is hoped that the 2010 scrimmage will begin a partnership, and that
the servicemen and women stationed at Great Lakes will root for NU, not
just as Chicago's team, but as Great Lakes's adopted team as well.
Great Lakes had itself once been a tremendous power in college
football. During the 1918 season, as military recruits poured in
from college campuses across the midwest, Great Lakes became the most
talented football team in the country. Among the new players for
Great Lakes was Paddy Driscoll, Northwestern's star player on the
fantastic 1916 Purple team. Driscoll played alongside future
Chicago Bears founder George Halas, and the pair helped to rip apart
the naval base's collegiate competition. Great Lakes opened the
1918 season by shutting out good Iowa and Illinois teams, before hosting
a showdown with Northwestern on October 26. Driscoll faced many
of his former teammates on a muddy field at the base, and the two teams
slugged their way to a 0-0 tie. It was the only time (until
2010) that Northwestern would travel to the base, and it was the
highlight of NU's season.
Great Lakes would also tie Notre Dame in 1918 before winning its next
three games. The Great Lakes regular season concluded with a
match against Purdue, which Great Lakes hosted at-- of all places--
Northwestern Field in Evanston! Great Lakes would go on to defeat
the Mare Island Marines on January 1 in the Rose Bowl, for perhaps the
base's greatest-ever football triumph.
In addition to Driscoll, the 1918 Great Lakes team had another NU
connection: its center, Charlie Bachman, would follow up his
performance as a player in the Rose Bowl by becoming, in 1919, head
coach for Northwestern.
Great Lakes fielded its next major football teams during World War II,
and played college schedules during the 1942 through 1945
seasons. Great Lakes played NU for three of those seasons, from
1942 through '44.
The Bluejackets caught NU in the midst of a drought of talent in 1942,
since most of the Wildcats' players had been siphoned off to other
campuses for the war effort. So it was no surprise when the
powerful Great Lakes team swamped NU at Dyche Stadium, 48 to 0.
However, Northwestern became the recipient
of several key military transfers before the 1943 season, and the
restocked 'Cats also benefited from star Otto Graham, who was in his
final year at NU. Graham and the 'Cats (see photo feature, below)
handed Great Lakes one of its two losses that year. Great Lakes
would end the season with a 10-2 record by whipping Notre Dame at
Soldier Field (the only loss for the Irish in 1943).
In Great Lakes's final meeting with the Wildcats, on October 7, 1944,
Great Lakes waxed the 'Cats 25-0. Again, the outcome was not too
surprising: Great Lakes was en route to a 9-2 record. Among the
1944 Bluejackets that NU faced was a former Wildcat. Richard
Eggers had recently transferred to Great Lakes for training. Also
on the '44 Great Lakes team was an unheralded back named Ara
Parseghian. Mr. Parseghian, of course, would have further
adventures at Dyche Stadium in another decade.
...For preview and post-game content from the first half of the 2010 season, be sure to check out Jonathan Hodges' commentary.
NU Begins New Tradition this Saturday [posted Oct. 8, 2010]
Northwestern
has announced that it is taking a page from Vanderbilt's tradition book
and will have the university's freshmen run onto the football field
before this Saturday's Purdue game.
The Vanderbilt tradition was created by E. Gordon Gee (once and current
head of Ohio State; at the time, he was Vandy's chancellor) after the
2003 season, in order to increase school spirit and each class's sense
of investment in the school's athletic program. According to the
Daily Northwestern article that announced NU's decision to start its
own version of the run, NU President Morton Schapiro made the decision
to start the run at NU after his wife and Pat Ryan's wife witnessed the
Commodore run at the NU-Vandy season opener, and persuaded him to copy
it.
Unlike the Vandy version, in which the freshmen make the run before the
first home game of the season, NU's will take place before homecoming,
since many freshmen aren't yet on campus for the first NU home game.
Along with the new player entrance tunnel and fireworks, the Great
Lakes preseason practice, and the fourth quarter "put your hands in the
air," the NU freshman run is another on the growing list of new
traditions being injected into Wildcat football during the reimaging of
the program under the Schapiro-Phillips-Fitz era (there are a bunch
that now need to be added to the Traditions List).
And, as with many of the other changes, it is aimed at increasing the
attendance of a key group of fans. It should pay dividends, and
we'll see that start of it this Saturday.
The Week of Ara and Otto [posted Oct. 20, 2010]
During
the next seven days, two NU legends will be honored in very public, and
different, ways. First, this Saturday former Wildcat head coach
Ara Parseghian will make his return to Evanston for the first time in
roughly a quarter century. Northwestern has named Coach
Parseghian honorary captain for the homecoming game against Michigan
State.
Honoring Parseghian and the "Era of Ara" is a long time coming.
Parseghian guided the Wildcats out of their mid-1950s slump and into a
period of greatness from 1958 through 1963. During those
seasons-- Ara's glory years at NU-- the 'Cats were ranked in the AP top
ten for at least some point every season except '61. Of course,
the 'Cats were ranked #1 in 1962, the last time NU topped the
poll.
Parseghian's final months at NU were not the happiest. The
administration was not entirely accommodating to Parseghian's wishes
for the program, and Ara would utter his famous line, "I'm restive"
when asked about his desire to stay at NU. Time,
apparently, has healed some wounds, and Coach Parseghian will be
welcomed back to Wildcat Nation.
Wildcat Nation's most famous son, the late Otto Graham, will get his
due on Tuesday, when the Big Ten Network airs its next installment of
Big Ten Icons, unveiling Graham as 14th on its list of the greatest
athletic icons in Big Ten history. It now appears that only
Graham and Coach Pat Fitzgerald (who had been previously announced)
will represent Northwestern on the list. While I believe that NU
should have been deserving of at least two more names on that list, and
Graham should have been at least four spots higher on it, it is still a
great honor to have Graham celebrated. . .
NU 2010 Attendance Set to Break Record [posted Oct. 31, 2010]
We
knew that the great marketing push begun by Northwestern athletics this
year would pay dividends. The only questions were just how much
would it succeed, and how soon. We're finding out that the payoff
is immediate and significant.
With the recent announcement by Northwestern that its last two home
games (against Iowa at Ryan Field and against Illinois at Wrigley
Field) have sold out, we can now estimate the average home attendance
for the year. If the Wrigley Field game is included in NU's total
home games, the estimated average home attendance this year is
36,466.
That is the highest average home attendance since 1998, Gary Barnett's
last season as head coach (a season just one year removed from the
back-to-back championship seasons). More importantly, however,
2010's estimated attendance is a whopping 51% higher than last year's
average. The estimated increase per game of 12,276 versus last
year-- if it holds, once we have the final attendance numbers from the
Iowa and Illinois games-- would be the largest jump in per-game attendance in Northwestern history.
It breaks the record previously set in 1959, when Ara Parseghian's team
was ranked #2 in the nation for much of the season.
This is a
fantastic achievement and a great start on the road to make NU football
again a competitive venue. It demonstrates not only the success
of the current marketing effort by Jim Phillips and his team, but of
the work Coach Fitzgerald and his team have made to keep the Wildcats strong.
Welcome to Glorious Chaos... [posted Nov. 19, 2010]
So now it is Friday evening, and the smoke is clearing from the Shot (to the Foot) Heard Around the World.
Northwestern is the sports headline across the country today, for
better or worse, as the One Goal Wrigley story spreads and
spirals. No one in his right mind could have predicted the wild
coverage this game had as of Thursday night, and no one, given even the
grandest piles of street drugs, could have guessed the turn that
coverage would take today.
There will be recriminations and accusations, and jokes, and more, but
let's look forward: this game is going to be a once in a lifetime
circus, a date that will truly live in infamy, and we are going to be a
part of it. As you might have guessed by now, I love to study the
history of the game, and particularly the history of this team.
This is the kind of thing that makes me ready to dance. Think
about it: in a hundred years from now, Northwestern fans will be
talking about this crazy game. We will be dead, gone and long
forgotten, but NU historians and football fans will be bringing this
up, along with the re-constituted digital holography of the game
itself. This is, nutty as it seems, history.
This is going to be. . . fun.
Really, really fun. Disco Demolition Night fun. Woodstock
brown acid fun. ESPNU? Welcome to the highest-rated program
that network has ever had. And, to top it off, if the Wildcats
come out utterly jacked and focused, in the midst of chaos, they have
the opportunity to wrest control of the stage and make the night and
the conference their own. For all the wild media that seems out
of control, NU football is actually in the driver's seat, and has a
great chance to steer wherever they want (hopefully due west,
repeatedly!).
Make this moment your own, guys. Take control. Have fun,
and write the next chapter of Chicago sports history in your own wild,
bizarre and talented way.
A Complete List of NU's Off-Campus Games [posted Nov. 19, 2010]
As Northwestern prepares for its off-campus home game at Wrigley Field
against Illinois, let's review all of the Wildcats' previous regular
season football games that were not played on a college campus.
This list includes home games (taken from the Home Sites list on this site) in purple as well as away games in red.
November
27, 1890. NU beat Wisconsin, 22-10. Played in Milwaukee,
this was a Wisconsin home game, and the first game between the Purple
and the Badgers. The game was a huge spectacle for NU: fans took
a special train to Milwaukee to watch the festivities (which included a
shooting contest before the game), and the game began a tradition of
playing Wisconsin on Thanksgiving that would last the decade.
Several of the next games with the Badgers took place in Milwaukee. [NU
lists the date for this game as November 26]
October
17, 1891. NU tied Lake Forest, 0-0. Played at West Side
Park, this was an NU home game, Northwestern's first off-campus home
game. This was the Cubs' home turf. Not Wrigley Field: this
site was two parks before Wrigley became the Cubs' venue. 1891
was the final year for the park, and it is believed that the NU game
might have been among the last events held on the field.
October 31, 1891. NU tied Wisconsin, 0-0. Another Wisconsin home game played in Milwaukee.
November
26, 1891. NU lost to Wisconsin, 40-0. The second Wisconsin
home game played in Milwaukee that season; the Purple and Wisconsin had
played in Milwaukee for both Halloween and Thanksgiving. [NU
lists the date for the game as November 29]
October
22, 1892. NU tied Chicago, 0-0. Played at South Side Park,
this was a Chicago home game. This was the second South Side
Park, located at 35th Street in Chicago. At the time of the
Purple's game with Chicago, the park was the home of the Chicago Cubs,
which had moved from the West Side Park in 1891. The game marked
the University of Chicago's intercollegiate football debut and the
beginning of the NU-Chicago rivalry that would last for just 35 years.
October
29, 1892. NU beat Michigan, 10-8. Played at the 25th Street
Grounds, Chicago, this was an NU home game. Just one week after
the off-campus game that began NU's series with Chicago, NU hosted
Michigan for the very first time in a game played off-campus. The
win was the Purple's biggest victory to date.
November
24, 1892. NU lost to Wisconsin, 20-6. Played in Milwaukee,
this was a Wisconsin home game, and it came just one week after the
Badgers beat NU in Evanston. Another Thanksgiving spectacle in
Milwaukee.
October
4, 1893. NU lost to the Denver Athletic Club, 8-0. Played
at the Chicago Stockyards, this was an NU home game, played in perhaps
the oddest place ever played by NU. The Purple hosted this game
as part of the festivities surrounding the Chicago Columbian
Exposition. The field was constructed as part of the World's Fair
Pavilion, and it was lit with gas and electric lighting. Kickoff
was 9:00 pm, making it likely the first night football game played in
Chicago, and perhaps the midwest. Paul Noyes, who had informally
coached the team in 1892, made his formal coaching debut in the game,
becoming the first of three NU head coaches to debut in an off-campus
game (eventually joining Noyes would be Joe Flint in 1895 and Gary
Barnett in 1992).
December
16, 1893. NU lost to Chicago, 22-14. Played at the
Tattersall Riding Academy in Chicago, this was a Chicago home game, and
it was the first-ever indoor football game played in Chicago.
Because of the size of the venue, the football playing field was
truncated.
September
21, 1895. NU lost to Wisconsin, 12-6. Played in Milwaukee,
this was a Wisconsin home game, and the final in the Milwaukee
series. Joe Flint made his debut as NU's head coach, just ten
days before he made his exit as NU's head coach.
November 9, 1895. NU lost to Missouri, 22-18. Played in St. Louis, this was a Missouri home game.
October 9, 1897. NU beat Beloit, 6-0. Played in Rockford, this was a Beloit home game.
November
23, 1901. NU lost to Minnesota, 16-0. Played at Marshall
Field, Chicago, this was an NU home game. OK, so technically this
game was not off-campus-- it just wasn't a campus belonging to either
team! Minnesota at the time was a very popular team, and to
handle the overflow crowds for the game, NU moved this home game from
Sheppard Field to Marshall, the home field for the University of
Chicago.
November
14, 21, and 26, 1903. NU tied Notre Dame and Wisconsin, then lost
to Carlisle. This was a three-week series of games played at the
Sox Park (39th Street Grounds), and they were all NU home games.
NU was having a phenomenal season in 1903, and to handle the huge
crowds at the end of the season, NU relocated its team to the home
field of the Chicago White Sox. This was the Sox's home before
Comiskey.
November
19, 1904. NU lost to Minnesota, 17-0. Played at Marshall
Field, this was an NU home game, the second and final played at
Marshall against Minnesota.
October
30, 1920. NU lost to Indiana, 10-7. Played in Indianapolis,
this was an Indiana home game. In the early 1920s the Hoosiers
moved several of their home games to the Washington Park Grounds in
Indianapolis.
October 13, 1923. NU lost to Indiana, 7-6. Played in Indianapolis, this was an Indiana home game.
October
27, 1923. NU lost to Illinois, 29-0. Played at Wrigley
Field, this was an NU home game. This was, before 2010, the one
time that Northwestern had played at Wrigley (at the time called Cubs
Park). The Bears (NU's nickname for that one, single season)
hosted the Illini in front of over 32,000 fans, who got to watch Red
Grange tear across the Friendly Confines at will.
November
22, 1924. NU lost to Notre Dame, 13-6. Played at Soldier Field,
this was an NU home game, and it was groundbreaking for a number of
reasons. First, it was the first-ever football game played in the
new "Grant Park Bowl," construction of which was not yet
completed. NU had been christened the Wildcats after their close
loss to Chicago the week before, and the match with Notre Dame in
Chicago's new stadium was in a sense the Wildcats' debut. And the
'Cats did not disappoint. Notre Dame was by far the best team in
the nation, and featured the legendary Four Horsemen. The game
was supposed to be a rout. However, "Chief Wildcat" Moon Baker
kept the Irish in check, and NU lost a close one, but gained momentum
for its decade of dominance that would ramp up the following season.
October
24, 1925. NU lost to Tulane, 18-7. Played at Stagg Field,
this was an NU home game. Just like in 1903, NU was having a
fantastic season in 1925, and Northwestern Field could not handle the
ticket demand. Initially, NU wanted to move this game to Soldier
Field, but instead turned again to Marshall Field (retooled and renamed
Stagg Field) at the University of Chicago.
November
7, 1925. NU beat Michigan, 3-2. Played at Soldier Field,
this was an NU home game, and it is one of the legendary moments in NU
history. Michigan had not let a team score all season, until NU's
field goal. NU's safety was intentional, and led to the very
rules of football being changed (teams suffering a safety had been
allowed to keep the ball). The game followed a match at
Northwestern Field against Indiana the week before. With the
Tulane game at Stagg Field in October, this marked the only time in NU
history that the team played three straight home games, all played at
different locations.
October
10, 1931. NU tied Notre Dame, 0-0. Played at Soldier Field,
this was a Notre Dame home game, and it is the only time ever that NU
played at Soldier Field as the visiting team. As part of
charitable depression relief efforts, the Irish moved their home game
to Chicago. The tie would not hinder NU from pursuing a possible
national championship during the '31 season.
November
28, 1931. NU lost to Purdue, 7-0. Played at Soldier Field,
the site was neutral. Of all NU's games, this was the only one
(other than bowl games, which I am not including on this list) for
which the field was truly neutral: even the game programs were
neutral. LIke the Notre Dame home game at Soldier Field earlier
in '31, this game was played for charities helping with efforts to
combat the Great Depression. However, this game had not even been
scheduled at the beginning of the season. It was tacked on as a
Thanksgiving week exhibition. Unfortunately, exhibition or not,
it counted in the standings, and it cost Northwestern the national
championship, though NU did get to share the Big Ten crown with Purdue.
September
30 and October 14, 1933. NU lost to Iowa, 7-0 and tied Stanford,
0-0. A pair of games played at Soldier Field, they were NU home
games. Just as it had with the 1893 World's Fair, NU participated
in the festivities in the 1933 World's Fair, playing two games at
Soldier Field for the spectators and representing the city of Chicago.
October
19, 1991. NU lost to Ohio State, 34-3. Played at Cleveland
Stadium, this was (amazingly) an NU home game. The low point for
NU's off campus exploits, the 'Cats arranged this home game in
Cleveland solely as a money-making venture. 73,830 mostly Buckeye
fans showed up, making this the largest crowd for an NU home game in
history.
September
5, 1992. NU lost to Notre Dame, 42-7. Played at Soldier
Field, this was an NU home game. Coach Barnett's debut was
overshadowed by a firm beating at the hands of the Irish.
September
3, 1994. NU lost to Notre Dame, 42-15. Played at Soldier
Field, this was an NU home game. The Irish had only agreed to a
four-game series with NU if the 'Cats moved their two home games to
Soldier Field. This game concluded NU's part of the bargain, but
payment would not be exacted until a year later. NU will not
again schedule a series with Notre Dame until the Irish agree to come
to Ryan Field.
August
23, 1997. NU beat Oklahoma, 24-0. Played at Soldier Field,
this was an NU home game. This was also Pigskin Classic VIII, and it
was the final time NU played at Soldier Field. The Pigskin
Classic used one team's field as the home field (as opposed to, say,
the Kickoff Classic, which used truly neutral stadia). NU chose
to host in Chicago. The 'Cats whipped a down-on-its-luck
Oklahoma, but the big news was the loss of Dwayne Bates, who broke his
leg.
October
19, 2007. NU beat Eastern Michigan, 26-14. Played at
Detroit's Ford Field, this was an EMU home game. This was the
"anti Wrigley": little hype, and about 50 people on hand to see NU
cruise to a win against Eastern Michigan.
November
20, 2010. NU vs. Illinois. Played at Wrigley Field, this
will be NU's latest off-campus home game, its first in 13 years. . . .
'Cats Fall in the TicketCity Bowl [posted January 2, 2011]
Northwestern's
postseason drought continues. After sixty-two years, 661 games,
and eight postseason efforts, the Wildcats' Grand Quest remains
unfinished, as NU's rally against Texas Tech in the very first
TicketCity Bowl was not sufficient. The 'Cats, down by 22 points
in the third quarter, launched a comeback bid driven by freshman Kain
Colter's fumble recovery for a touchdown, boosted by two scores from
Evan Watkins, and capped with Jordan Mabin's outstanding pick six with
five and a half minutes to go. The Red Raiders, nursing the
seven points that remained of their lead, held on.
Of course, no one expected the game to be an easy one: the 'Cats had to
do without Dan Persa, the team's injured quarterback and MVP.
Runningback Mike Trumpy also sat out with an injury. NU was
further hampered by a rough first half (the 'Cats were outgunned 24-6,
and suffered a missed extra point for the fourth straight bowl game)
and a subpar defensive performance (NU gave up 34 first downs and 552
yards, an average of over six and a half yards per play).
Mr. Colter, however, was a pleasant surprise, rushing (often in the
same backfield as Watkins) for 105 yards and two touchdowns, including
the heads-up recovery of his own fumble that began NU's comeback
attempt. He followed this with a pass to Josh Rooks for the
two-point conversion that would (briefly) put NU just 14 points behind
Texas Tech. Colter also notched a nice 11-yard pass to Venric
Mark and a 20-yard rifle shot to Jeremy Ebert. But perhaps
the best play was the gadget pass to Ebert, who passed back to Colter
for a 32-yard scamper, setting up Watkins's first score.