- After holding off all day, the thunderstorms finally hit in Evanston. Right now, all tailgaters are being held in Welsh-Ryan Arena, Trienens Hall or their cars. About 15-20 minutes ago, NU announced the severe weather precautions would last another 30-45 minutes. Things look like they'll clear up for at least a little bit on the radar, but the hourly forecast isn't too promising. The storms are scattered, so it's tough to say if/when they'll hit. We'll keep you updated on any possible delays.
[Update: They're letting people in and the radar looks clear for the foreseeable future.]
- When we spoke with him earlier, Jim Phillips was ecstatic about what this week has done for the university. The students did their part, responding to GameDay better than most people could have imagined. By 4 a.m., some were estimating there were 1,000 students in line (the show started at 8 a.m.). That's pretty impressive. Check out our photos and tweets from the GameDay experience and the best signs from GameDay.
- Not on to actual football. Mick McCall noted to BTN's Rick Pizzo that 1) NU couldn't use Venric Mark like he was 100 percent and 2) the Wildcats had to "tempo the heck out of OSU." Mark may not return kickoffs, but I expect to see a lot of him on the zone read with Colter. I also expect a fairly heavy dose of Trevor Siemian to test OSU's suspect pass defense. Regardless, it will be a different offense than we've seen so far.
- Defensively, NU's defensive tackles have to step up in place of Sean McEvilly. That may require a lot of linebacker support on runs up the middle — Columbus-area native Chi Chi Ariguzo could have a big day from a tackles standpoint. I have a hunch we could see a lot of nickel with Jimmy Hall. He has the range to cover OSU's breadth of offensive weapons and gives the Wildcats an extra defensive back.
- InsideNU's Chris Johnson and NNN's Harry Swartout preview this week's game on our weekly webisode "Wildcat Gameday Preview."