Northwestern...... and Big 10 thoughts.

[Deleted User 183]

Sorry kids, they (Northwestern) have been my team for the past 45+ years.
Is there a team that has been luckier this season? I have seen them play in person 3 times this season and they looked like absolute shit against Duke and yet they played ND even for 3 of the 4 quarters if they weren't better than ND for 3 of those 4 quarters. Strange team I still can't figure out.
Crazy thing is if they somehow win the Big 10 Championship game I think the Rose Bowl has a dilemma. Do you take NU, Michigan, or Ohio State? People think about tickets being sold. The tickets are sold no matter who plays in the game. In terms of viewership, Michigan or Ohio State have to be a much bigger draw.
I don't think NU is going to beat UM or OSU so it shouldn't be a concern of the Rose Bowl committee but if they do beat UM or OSU, stay tuned.

Pre-season AP #4 Wisconsin is currently not ranked and neither is pre-season AP #11 Michigan State.

Here is my NCAA football question of the day.
Better football conference today, Big 10 or Big 12? I can't decide.

On a side note - I thought (and still think) it's pretty cool that supposedly a Northwestern "donor" bought all 8,000 allotted tickets for the Big 10 Championship and said any student who wants one can have one. Great gesture but I say there is no way the school allowed this to happen - that ALL the tickets were sold to the donor.
Also, supposedly Northwestern is paying the way for the students to get there via bus and currently has commitments for 43 full busses.

[chiknbut]

Sorry kids, they (Northwestern) have been my team for the past 45+ years.
Is there a team that has been luckier this season? I have seen them play in person 3 times this season and they looked like absolute shit against Duke and yet they played ND even for 3 of the 4 quarters if they weren't better than ND for 3 of those 4 quarters. Strange team I still can't figure out.
Crazy thing is if they somehow win the Big 10 Championship game I think the Rose Bowl has a dilemma. Do you take NU, Michigan, or Ohio State? People think about tickets being sold. The tickets are sold no matter who plays in the game. In terms of viewership, Michigan or Ohio State have to be a much bigger draw.
I don't think NU is going to beat UM or OSU so it shouldn't be a concern of the Rose Bowl committee but if they do beat UM or OSU, stay tuned.

Pre-season AP #4 Wisconsin is currently not ranked and neither is pre-season AP #11 Michigan State.

Here is my NCAA football question of the day.
Better football conference today, Big 10 or Big 12? I can't decide.

On a side note - I thought (and still think) it's pretty cool that supposedly a Northwestern "donor" bought all 8,000 allotted tickets for the Big 10 Championship and said any student who wants one can have one. Great gesture but I say there is no way the school allowed this to happen - that ALL the tickets were sold to the donor.
Also, supposedly Northwestern is paying the way for the students to get there via bus and currently has commitments for 43 full busses.

They have a special place in my heart as well. Back in my sports writing days I would cover all home Northwestern games - this was in the Francis Peay era. They were good for one big upset a year and we always had one of our local kids go there and play special teams for four years. Greg Bradshaw - remember him Gutter - was our big local boy, from Woodstock.

Pretty great that they will have a presence at the Big Ten title game. The students don't appear to travel well on their own and the majority of their home games are pretty geriatric. Also, that stadium is a dump. I was at the Wisconsin game - great seats - but the place is not loud, or at least it's not set up for good sound.

Yes they've been lucky and looked terrible against Akron and Duke. But they're a fun team.

Just guessing Michigan wins, goes to the Final Four playoffs and OSU goes to the Rose Bowl. Still, love to see Northwestern playing in a bowl game in January. One of the most amazing turnarounds in college football history.

[Deleted User 183]

Never knew you were a writer - or didn't recall it if you have shared that. Would love to read what you wrote if you can share it.
Vaguely remember Bradshaw was the QB but fully admit I didn't attend any NU games in the late 80s even though I was back home and living less than 10 miles away.

Not sure how they did it but all of a sudden the students give a damn. I'm now hearing in essence they are expecting as much as half the student population to attend. I guess a road trip sounds fun no matter if you're in to football or not.

Indeed Ryan Field is a dump and it's been a dump since I was a kid. They spent a ton of money on Welsh-Ryan Arena (I'm planning on going to a game in the next 2 weeks) and on the new football practice facility but not much at all on the Football stadium. Kind of surprised.

I'm in agreement that UM should win out and of course it they do - Final Four for them. Then OSU goes to the Rose Bowl. I'm not thrilled because they will travel well and then my ticket price goes up.
Not sure what it is about coach Fitz and his staff but whatever it is, I wish KU had some.

[chiknbut]

Never knew you were a writer - or didn't recall it if you have shared that. Would love to read what you wrote if you can share it.
Vaguely remember Bradshaw was the QB but fully admit I didn't attend any NU games in the late 80s even though I was back home and living less than 10 miles away.

Not sure how they did it but all of a sudden the students give a damn. I'm now hearing in essence they are expecting as much as half the student population to attend. I guess a road trip sounds fun no matter if you're in to football or not.

Indeed Ryan Field is a dump and it's been a dump since I was a kid. They spent a ton of money on Welsh-Ryan Arena (I'm planning on going to a game in the next 2 weeks) and on the new football practice facility but not much at all on the Football stadium. Kind of surprised.

I'm in agreement that UM should win out and of course it they do - Final Four for them. Then OSU goes to the Rose Bowl. I'm not thrilled because they will travel well and then my ticket price goes up.
Not sure what it is about coach Fitz and his staff but whatever it is, I wish KU had some.

Fitz is a real "eddie attaboy" coach, which might work on some level in college. I don't think he's a great coach by any means, but he was a good fit when Randy Walker died. Look at the Bowl game against Memphis last year - three really terrible decisions that should have cost the team the game. One involved losing the three-year starting quarterback on a trick play.

But I love Northwestern for a bunch of reasons. They always seem to fill my "underdog" need.

And I should say, back in the day when I was covering NU, the place was a bigger dump. It's dramatically nicer than it was back in the 1980s. I believe the press box didn't have heat at that time and there were no luxury suites. The west side of the stadium is very nice and worthy of a Big Ten team. The rest, including the "improved concessions" along the south side are pretty awful.

That being said, I love having a Big Ten team a train ride away from my house. That and a brother-in-law with some sweet season tickets on the lower level near midfield.

And since I know it's just you and me on this circle-jerk thread, Greg Bradshaw sat on the bench for three years behind Mike Greenfield and started every game his senior year. I think the team went 3-12 that year - maybe. But it was always fun to cover the games. Saw some cool teams like Air Force when Dee Dowis ran the offense. And got to interview Tony Mandarich after Michigan State pounded the Wildcats one Saturday. The largest man I've ever seen in person.