Northwestern-Wisconsin pregame notes

We're here in Evanston for Northwestern-Wisconsin. Here are some notes to start the game.

- It's pretty miserable here today. It's like 43 degrees and raining with a pretty steady wind coming out of the northwest. It does not seem like it would be fun to play football in or watch football in.

- That said, I was pleasantly surprised by the number of students that were out and about before the game. Even 52 minutes before kick, there was a group of students in the stands. The student section won't be that full, but there's certainly a lot more purple here than red.

- Jack Mitchell missed a 42-yarder from the center of the field during warmups. I can't imagine NU will kick a lot.

- No Solomon Vault, Ibraheim Campbell, Ian Park or Keith Watkins today. Losing Campbell hurts the most, but Godwin Igwebuike has done a solid job replacing him when needed this year. Vaul's playmaking abilities would help, but Justin Jackson is capable of managing a bit workload. Park likely wouldn't have played much and Watkins has been a solid asset on special teams.

- Matt Harris is apparently a full-go today. That's hard to believe after the hit he took last week.

- Collin Ellis is back at middle linebacker, but Anthony Walker has certainly earned more playing time. I asked Ellis if he will move over to SAM or WILL at all, and he said there have been conversations about it (if anything, it seems more likely he'd go to WILL for certain packages to get more speed on the field), but we'll probably just see more rotation at MIKE than anything.

- Purple helmets, purple jerseys and white pants today.