Northwestern Wildcats Archives

Six Leading Candidates to be the Next Notre Dame Head Coach

November 29, 2021 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

Brian Kelly has bolted Notre Dame for LSU, and now we have to wonder what’s next. Kelly at Louisiana State is an odd hire, a strange fit to be sure, but why not embrace the strangeness of the silliest silly season ever.

Not even to conference championship Saturday yet and we’re already talking about a new hire at USC as well as openings at Notre Dame and Oklahoma. The domino theory is already starting to take shape. With that in mind, let’s look at who could be headed to South Bend.

[Read more…]

Follow paulmbanks

Filed Under: College Football, college sports, Football/Soccer, Northwestern Wildcats, Notre Dame, Ohio State Buckeyes

Illini Football Game Preview: LOLHAT Contest vs Northwestern

November 25, 2021 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

Happy rivalry week college football fans! All Thanksgiving week and weekend we’ll see local rivalries renewed and in state battles waged across this great country of ours. It all culminates on Saturday, Nov. 27, with a loaded week 13 slate which includes the Northwestern Wildcats at the Illinois Fighting Illini.

Let’s preview the Land of Lincoln Hat Trophy (or LOLHAT) game, starting with the basic FYIs.

[Read more…]

Follow paulmbanks

Filed Under: College Football, Illinois Fighting Illini, Northwestern Wildcats

Wrigley Field Has Been Unkind to Northwestern Thus Far

November 23, 2021 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

It was 11 years, to the exact day actually that Northwestern lost 48-27 to Illinois in Wrigley Field. A decade has passed and the stadium has been renovated and improved upon, but it was a very bad result, once again, for the home team as Northwestern fell 32-14 to Purdue. The Boilermakers covered, and if you’re into Betting sites, then you know the visitors were favored by 11 points, with even more bullish sentiment on the money lines.

While the sample size is indeed small, just two games, NU has now been outscored, on aggregate by 39 points in the two Wrigley affairs. Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald rotated his quarterbacks, but it didn’t help to jumpstart the offense at all.

[Read more…]

Follow paulmbanks

Filed Under: College Football, Northwestern Wildcats, Purdue Boilermakers

Why Wrigley Has Added Meaning for Northwestern OL Coach Kurt Anderson

November 19, 2021 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

For Northwestern Offensive Line Coach Kurt Anderson, tomorrow’s Wildcats Classic is extra special on a couple different levels. Obviously, it’s a Big Ten West division game, being staged in the very novel and picturesque backdrop that is Wrigley Field, and that’s huge in and of itself.

However, Anderson has connections to the facility through both the Chicago Cubs and the Chicago Bears, and he discussed both today during a media opportunity to preview the field layout.

[Read more…]

Follow paulmbanks

Filed Under: Chicago Cubs, College Football, college sports, MLB, Northwestern Wildcats

Wrigley Field Final Touches Applied for Northwestern-Purdue (Photos)

November 19, 2021 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

The Wildcats Classic (game preview and prediction here) is now hours, not days, away and Friday brought a chance for the media to come out on see the finishing touches on the Friendly Confines layout and playing surface.

Overall, it looks absolutely beautiful, just transcendent! However, as we covered during our preview podcast, you still have come cramped corners of the end zones, as space remains tight. No, it’s not as bad as the 2010 loss to Illinois, where both teams had to drive towards the same end zone, but it still doesn’t leave a lot of wiggle room.

[Read more…]

Follow paulmbanks

Filed Under: Chicago Cubs, College Football, college sports, MLB, Northwestern Wildcats, Purdue Boilermakers

#19 Purdue at Northwestern: Wrigley Field Game Preview

November 18, 2021 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

The Northwestern Wildcats will host the #19 Purdue Boilermakers on Saturday at the historic Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field. Unlike the first, and only previous time that the Wildcats played at the venue, this game will utilize both end zones.

It won’t be a both teams drive the same way, and the “losers walk” kind of thing. Both teams will be on the same sideline however. This contest could also serve as kind of a dry run for other Wrigley Field football to come, maybe.

[Read more…]

Follow paulmbanks

Filed Under: Chicago Cubs, College Football, college sports, MLB, Northwestern Wildcats, Purdue Boilermakers

12 Potential Chicago College Football Bowl Game Names

November 16, 2021 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

The Northwestern Wildcats will host the Purdue Boilermakers at Wrigley Field on Saturday, in a game that is being branded the “Wildcats Classic.” (full game preview and prediction)

Once again the idea of bringing a college football bowl game to Chicago is being discussed, and we penned an op-ed on this idea for the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition in 2017. You can read it in full over at this link, and we excerpted part of the introduction below:

[Read more…]

Follow paulmbanks

Filed Under: Chicago Bears, Chicago Cubs, College Football, MLB, NFL, Northwestern Wildcats, Purdue Boilermakers

Revisiting Illini-Northwestern, 1 End Zone Only, at Wrigley 2010

November 12, 2021 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

“One way, or another, I’m gonna find you! I’m gonna git ya git ya one way!” Blondie told us in the early 1980s. One Saturday, late in November of 2010, these words applied to a Big Ten college football game. It was more than a Big Ten league game, it was branded the Wrigleyville Classic, and it actually hosted ESPN College Gameday.

It was an in-state rivalry game as Northwestern “hosted” their arch-rivals, Illinois, and there was only one end zone in use that day. Yes, both sides had to drive towards the west end zone. No one could head towards the east due to safety precautions. How did this happen and why?

[Read more…]

Follow paulmbanks

Filed Under: College Football, college sports, Illinois Fighting Illini, Northwestern Wildcats, Purdue Boilermakers

Nebraska vs Northwestern in Ireland About More than Football

November 8, 2021 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

The next edition of the Aer Lingus College Football Classic will feature the Northwestern Wildcats taking on the Nebraska Cornhuskers in Dublin, Ireland on August 27, 2022. Staged at Aviva Stadium, this will count as a “home game” for the Wildcats, with Notre Dame then giving up a home game when they play Navy in this event in 2023.

Representatives of both the game and Ireland’s tourism bureau were on hand last night when Northwestern lost at home, 17-12, to the Iowa Hawkeyes in a game that was most notable for the political protests that transpired on the field.

[Read more…]

Follow paulmbanks

Filed Under: College Football, college sports, Northwestern Wildcats, Travel

Northwestern Wildcats Basketball 2021/22 Season Preview

November 8, 2021 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

Northwestern basketball coach Chris Collins is now 118-132 overall and 49-98 in conference since he took over for Bill Carmody in 2013-14. Yes, Northwestern improved last season, but not all that substantially. If they do improve again this upcoming season, as some believe they will, the jump will need to be much more significant.

When Collins signed his contract extension in 2017, fresh off the program’s first and only NCAA Tournament appearance, he then became among the 15 highest paid coaches in college hoops. Since then they went 15-17 (6-12) in 2017-18, 13-19 (4-16) in 2018-19, 8-22 (3-17) in 2019-20 and 9-15 (6-13) last season.

[Read more…]

Follow paulmbanks

Filed Under: College Basketball, college sports, Northwestern Wildcats

Iowa Hawkeyes at Northwestern Wildcats Game Preview, Prediction

November 6, 2021 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

The #22 Iowa Hawkeyes visit the Northwestern Wildcats on Saturday in a match-up of the two most tenured head coaches in the Big Ten. Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz has been around the league longer than anyone, but there are certainly calls for his sacking in Iowa.

The dean of college football coaches, Ferentz, has been criticized for his methods and style, with his detractors calling upon him to modernize his offense. Ferentz has not done himself any favors, as he used the word “predictable,” to describe his own team, in his weekly press conference. Certainly, Wisconsin had no issues predicting what Iowa was going to do last week, as the Badgers absolutely dominated them on both sides of the ball.

[Read more…]

Follow paulmbanks

Filed Under: College Football, college sports, Northwestern Wildcats