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YouTube NU Football Index
A new page of links, devoted to Wildcat game clips currently housed on YouTube.

Official Northwestern Sites

NUSports.com-- Operated by CBS Sports, this is the official NU athletic site, providing info about all Northwestern teams.  Includes press releases, audio/video, and up to date team rosters. Just prior to the 2009 season, NU brought in former Chicago Tribune columnist Skip Myslenski, who is now the NUSports.com special contributor. NUSports.com contains the official on-line store, which is operated by Let's Tailgate.  Let's Tailgate, the finest NU merchandise retailers, have a store on Central Street, just west of Ryan Field. Recently, the athletic department began posting to its own Twitter account.  Coach Fitzgerald also maintains a page on Twitter.

NUFootballFamily-- A recruitment-focused site managed by a company called Recruiting Radar.  NUFootballFamily is a sleek, video-rich look at the current 'Cats, the program, NU and the community.  Also has a frequently updated blog section.

Northwestern University-- NU's Web site, a portal to just about everything on campus and to the alumni pages.

NU Archives-- The University Archives (located in the Deering Library) has a Web exhibit devoted to NU football history, containing pages for each era of Wildcat football. In addition to its digital exhibit, the Archives has also posted a series of film clips of NU football and a list of NU's Hall of Famers. Also be sure to check out the archived site NU keeps from its Sesquicentennial.  This site was devoted to the year-long celebration of NU's 150th anniversary in 2001.  Interesting historical information about sports, academics, and campus life.   The site is still up, but is now strictly an archival site

WNUR-- Chicago's Sound Experiment and the only place to hear reggae, industrial, and Leonard Nemoy singing Beatles tunes, all in one evening.  Here is their sports page, which is updated often and very well done.  WNUR-FM broadcasts the Wildcats, as does WGN; however, only WGN carries the games live on the Web. In Spring 2005 WNUR's Howard Tilman posted to WNUR's web site his discussion about HailToPurple.com, the first edition of his series, "So You're a Northwestern Fan."

The Daily Northwestern-- the last whisper of truth in a maddening cacophony of LIES.

Other Fan Sites (and Blogs) Like Hail To Purple, these are pages run by individuals, non-commercial and independent.

Section 1: Actively Updated Fan Sites Pages active as of June 2010.

Lake The Posts-- NU football blog Lake The Posts began in late June 2007.  The blog features daily updates, including a wealth of informed and content-rich commentary and analysis. LTP covers all things related to NU athletics, with a keen eye focused on Wildcat marketing.  He has offered a slew of great suggestions for improving the athletic department's marketing efforts. Of particular note is LTP's fantastic feature, "the Purple Mafia," in which the host interviews some of NU's most illustrious alumni.

The Northwestern Wildcat-- Readers of the Rivals.com NU message boards are familiar with Turk and his post-game reports, player reviews, and recruiting analysis.  He began his own fan site, called The Turk Report, in February 2005.  In August 2009 Turk moved to his new site, which will feature commentary covering all NU sports.

Bring Your Champions, They're Our Meat-- Ready for a shock to the system?  Then take a look at the wittiest, strangest, and most inexplicable NU fan site of all time.  A blog that began in November 2008, BYCTOM features sports commentary that focuses on NU football... sort of.  I fear that the creator of BYCTOM might give up and stop updating (the updates are, shall we say, sporadic).  Two words of advice to this person: DON'T STOP.  Do whatever it takes to go on.  Quit your job.  Release the hostages.  Make an unholy pact with the darker forces of your psyche-- whatever it takes.

Black and Purple-- Created in February 2008 by a Northwestern alumnus, Black and Purple is a Weblog devoted to opinion about NU sports, with a focus so far on football and basketball.  B&P is a fan of NU and Indiana.  Iowa?  --Not so much...

Welsh-Ryan Ramblings-- This blog has been posting since November 2008, but until recently it was devoted to NU basketball.  However, in fall 2009 it has widened its commentary to include the Wildcat football team, so it now fits into this group.

Section 2: The Dearly Departed NU football fan sites that are no longer on the Web.

Click here for a list of defunct fan sites.

Unofficial Northwestern Sites Pages either affiliated with an Internet network or run as commercial sites

Rivals' WildcatReport.com--  This is Northwestern's site within the Rivals / Yahoo network.  The current Rivals site is administered by Lou Vaccher, who provides original and in-depth coverage of games, recruiting and more.  Larry Watts, who used to write for the Evanston Review, now provides exclusive material for Rivals. The site was started by Chris Pool back on the old RivalNet network toward the end of 1996.  Roy Lamberton later ran the site (and called it Purple Reign) starting in the fall of 2000.  In November 2002 Roy took Purple Reign to Scout.

Purple Reign-- This is Scout.com's Northwestern site, affiliated with Fox Sports.  The site is currently published by David Vranicar, who took over the post from Roy Lamberton in May 2009.  Vranicar provides a mix of free and premium content, including weekly news wrapups, team and recruiting information. The Scout site was created by Chris Pool after he left the Rivals site.  When Roy Lamberton left Rivals in 2002, he joined Pool at Scout and soon was the sole publisher of Purple Reign.  Lamberton left in 2007, returning in 2008.  The site continues to have both free and premium-based message boards for fans.

Sippin' On Purple-- Begun in June 2009 as a student-run blog called "The Purple Drank," Rodger Sherman's wonderful blog Sippin' On Purple is now part of the SB*Nation blog network, which is part of CBS Sports.  Check out SOP's Coach Fitz Intensity Meter.

Spread Far the Fame-- A blog which began posting in September 2009, SFTF features commentary on NU athletics and Wildcat football in particular.  In June 2010 Spread Far the Fame shed its independent status and became part of the Chicago Now site network, representing NU athletics among Chicago Now's roster of sports fan blogs.

Northwestern Wildcats Examiner-- Began during the 2008 season; part of the Chicago examiner.com site network.  This news list-style blog is managed by Benjamin Miraski.

NORTHWESTERNMIX.com-- Part of the SPORTSMIXED.com network of sites, a commercial set of sports blogs that began in 2008.  NORTHWESTERNMIX.COM is run by a NUMBAlum who provides original content, as well as syndicated content and news and blog links.

North by Northwestern-- Hard to peg: NbN is not an official NU publication, nor is it part of a larger Internet network.  It is a completely independent online student publication for the NU community, begun in 2006.  Features thorough coverage of NU sports.

Daily Herald-- The Herald's site provides good, though sporadic reporting on the 'Cats, with skilled and knowledgeable writers, including Lindsey Willhite.  However, their focus remains on Notre Dame and the Illini.

Evanston Review -- The Review used to feature great reporting by Larry Watts.  However, with Watts' departure the Review now almost exclusively focuses on high school sports, with very little coverage left for NU.

Chicago Tribune-- ChicagoSports.com, the Tribune's Web sports site, features an NU page.  The coverage for NU is now mainly provided by Shannon Ryan, who is off to a good start reporting on the 'Cats.

ESPN-- The Purple's team page from ESPN.  Links to ESPN articles about the 'Cats

Sports Illustrated-- SI's small page devoted to Northwestern.  Includes sports.  Illustrated.

USA Today-- Graphs!  Easy! To! Read!  NU!  Page!

FoxSports-- When Wildcats Attack:  Highlights Here.  A meld of several groups, including Fox, CollegeFootballNews.com, the Sporting News and The Insiders.

CBS SportsLine-- The Tiffany Network's team page for NU.

MSNBC-- Another NU page, with a few basic stats and stories.

Message Boards Want to post your Wildcat football rants?  Want to lurk and see what others are writing about NU?  Here are all of the NU football message boards.

Rivals Wildcat Football Free Board-- The main Rivals NU board.  The former "Purple Reign," it is now moderated by LouV and the Rivals staff. Rivals Wildcat Football Premium Board-- A premium, fee-based message board returned to Wildcat Report in 2007, as a place for Rivals subscribers to discuss recruiting scoops and other topics. Purple Reign Premium Discussion Board-- The Scout.com premium board.  Fee based and no longer in use. Purple Reign "Ryan Field"-- The Scout.com open NU football board.  Free.   CBS Northwestern Board-- This is an inactive message board with a very curious history.  It was at one time the official NU site's board, and it used to be linked directly to NUSports.com (though it was unused even then).  It is now a generic board within CBS's network. Big Ten Fever-- A new message board, replacing the now-defunct Big Ten Talk (itself something of an offshoot of the old Big Ten official message boards).  There are forum pages for each Big Ten school, including NU. The Wildside-- A message board that began in 2004 and was revamped in 2006, it is linked to the folks at WNUR. "NWU" Sport List Archive-- This page is a partial archive of the "NWU Sports List," run by Mike Nolan.  Members subscribe to participate.  Not a conventional message board, but a list of e-mailed posts.  The oldest existing message board (started circa 1994).  Viewing the archive used to be open to all, but changed in 2004 to an entirely subscription-based service. Chicago Tribune NU Board-- ChicagoSports.com's board, an old site which has deteriorated over time.  Last used in 2002.  Free. SportsOnly, FansOnly, AOL, and the Official Big Ten boards-- These NU message boards, all very popular at one time or another, are no more.  Will they return?  Probably not, but who can say?

Other Sites of Interest to NU Fans

GameDay Evanston-- Rivals.com poster AstroCat designed this site as a resource for visiting fans traveling to Evanston to watch a Northwestern game.  GameDay Evanston provides information about area parking, restaurants, and attractions.

The Big Ten Conference-- The official site: news releases and a resource for stats.  Now run, like NU's site, by CSTV (what isn't run by CSTV now?).  Unfortunately, the conference decided in October 2000 that their long-running message boards (a notorious wild west show of juvenile flaming) were a little too salty to be officially sanctioned, and the Webmaster shut them down.

Big Ten - Online-- A nice survey of each Big Ten school's online info and resources.

NCAA-- The NCAA's official site.  Of particular note is the site's records page, which gives links to on-line and free copies of the most recent NCAA football record books, in Adobe format.  A must for football history and stats buffs.

ncaafootball.com-- The NCAA's official site specifically for football.  Feature articles, photos, and a little history and stats.

NationalChamps.net-- At one time this site was at least loosely affiliated with the NCAA.  It had a sizable database of college football info, including a section of future schedules for each team.  Now almost all of its content is subscriber access only.

Collegefootballnews.com--  What used to be an independent and fun college football site has become a mere cog in the FoxSports machine.  Still very interesting analysis and commentary.

Power Ratings-- James Howell's College Football Power Ratings.  A creative rating system that James Howell has applied to just about every team in college history.  Extensive site with  schedules, scores, results from the Ice Age.

College Football Data Warehouse-- The name says it all.  NU's page within the warehouse includes all-time poll rankings, championships, season records, and more.

Pro Football Reference-- Lists all NU football players who have played in the NFL, with key stats.

The Helmet Project-- The Helmet Project is one graphic artist's attempt to recreate virtually  every football helmet ever worn by an organized team.  The Big Ten has a page, and NU's section includes illustrations of some of the Wildcats' helmets since 1960.

Valerie Sue Miller-- Valerie is a Northwestern alumna and an outstanding singer.  Check out her Website, as well as her first two CD offerings, available on her page!