Compared to the days leading up to the Ohio State game, Northwestern fans’ excitement for the Wildcats’ trip to Wisconsin Saturday feels subdued. It’s understandable: Northwestern suffered its first loss of the season last week, which would be a buzzkill on its own, but stings even more for NU fans because of how much that game against the Buckeyes seemingly meant. It was Northwestern’s so called, “moment in the spotlight,” its chance to show it “can hang with the big boys.” But just because Northwestern couldn’t upend OSU doesn’t mean Saturday night was a total failure.
Northwestern lost to a top-five team it most definitely could have beaten (not to mention the expansive media coverage it soaked in the days leading up), and didn’t do anything to relinquish its status as the current Legends Division frontrunner. Being able to stick that in the back of their minds – that they nearly took down Urban Meyer’s 18-wins-in-a-row Big Ten kingpin – should give the Wildcats the confidence to know they can compete with anyone in this league. That includes a good, but beatable, Wisconsin team at Camp Randall Stadium. What’s crazy is that after this weekend, Northwestern will have played the two hardest games on its schedule. It’s all downhill from here.
---
Another interesting selection of picks from the InsideNU panel. Wisconsin opened as a 10-point favorite, but what do we think about Northwestern’s chances Saturday?
Is this game a “must win” for Northwestern? It’s an interesting talking point.
Our notes and quotes compilation from a week of practices, a press conference and a teleconference: Monday press conference notes, Tuesday practice notes, Wednesday practice notes (including an interesting conversation with defensive backs coach Jerry Brown), Big Ten conference call notes.
There were no changes to Northwestern’s injury report this week.
Catch NU's depth chart this week? Our brief breakdown.
A video preview of Northwestern's upcoming matchup, hosted by Northwestern News Network.
Watching last week’s Northwestern-Ohio State game, it was hard to pick which team had the “edge” in all three phases (Ohio State gets the nod on special teams). We try to do exactly that in advance of Northwestern’s visit to Madison. How do the Wildcats match up?
A detailed review of the Ohio State game from former Wildcats linebacker Nate Williams.
A bunch of Northwestern fans and writers were none too pleased to see so many Ohio State fans procure tickets for Saturday night’s game. We break down the problem, and offer a potential solution. We also got some insight from Ryan Chenault, Northwestern’s assistant athletic director for marketing.
Read up on Wisconsin in this week’s compilation of links.
After losing its first game of the season, is Northwestern still slated for a top-tier bowl game? We make our weekly projections.
With defensive tackle Sean McEvilly sitting out his third consecutive game, redshirt sophomore C.J. Robbins, now healthy for the first time in since arriving on campus two years ago, needs to step up.