Lord Stanley's Cup will be there and Jim Cornelison will sing the National Anthem (Blackhawks Day at Ryan Field)

Should be fun. Because of the later start (5:00 PM Central) the game might be a bit better attended than most home openers. Students aren't even on campus yet since classes dont start for 2 or 3 weeks.

Kain Colter practiced this week, but I don't expect to see him on the field. Venric Mark is battling a hammy, so its unclear how much action he will see.

Latest line I saw was Cats -15.5 and the over under at 52.5. Seems a bit much to me on both counts

Mike Greenberg will be there as honorary captain.

Northwestern has more regular-season non-league wins vs. BCS league schools than any other Big Ten school since 2007 (8 wins). Let's hear it for soft scheduling!

Here's an interesting tidbit... apparently only a few scattered season tix singles are still available. I'm guessing Ohio State and Michigan fans bought them up this year for those games and sold the extras. Cheaper than StubHub for both of those games.

I did not know about Mark's injury. I was wondering where he was at last game.
They beat Cal missing two of their best players on the road. That's impressive.

_________________
favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

What's cheaper than Stubhub? I may decide to go this game at the last minute if I can get them really cheap.

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Watching on television.

_________________
The Court will accord substantial deference to the government's immigration policies, particularly those that implicate matters of national security.

There are a bunch on Craig's List for $10-$18 per ticket.

Northwestern up 27 at halftime

Despite the score, it was a sloppy game. There was alot for NU to improve on when it gets to conference play. Ohio State is going to be a huge challenge. After tonight's game against ND, Michigan seems like the front runner to me.

if good ol braxton is out for any significant period of time ohio state just got that much more gettable, IMO.

didn't illinois have some sort of an inspirational late home upset over ohio state near the tail end of the juice williams era? i wanna say it was like ~2010 or thereabouts, but i seem to remember the fighting zookers upsetting ohio state in champaign all the way down to the nailbiting timekilling late possessions where illinois endeavored to gain 3-4 yards at a time for what felt like years ticking off of the clock.

but yeah.... shit, you gotta give it to coach fitz..... northwestern is what it is in terms of the kind of players it's able to get (cuz methinks NU has a slight twinge of + academics in the grand scheme) and it seems like every year fitz gets 'em rolling out of the gate, albeit with more instances of the cardiac cats phenomenon going on.... and then there's some heartbreaking ~38-35 type loss before they have to play the ohio states/michigans/etc and get the loss or two everyone figured they'd get since the schedule was announced.

they remind me of a super MAC team..... it feels like gimmicky college football akin to huskies games, but it's on a level that actually gets their foot in the door against legit big10/etc opponents. i couldn't tell you any defensive players names, nor could i name anyone outside of kain colter, trevor siemien, and venric mark (venrick marc?) but hey, i'll be damned if these guys aren't hovering around ranking 18-25 by the time we go bowling.

class job by fitz all the way around.... it's a good sign that early on the cardiac cats have yet to make an appearance as they've handled biz out west and now back @ home. jolly good show..... GO CATS!!!!!

_________________

It was in '07 and it was at the Horseshoe. I'll never forget those whining babies when Juice danced on the "O". Take that Brutus Buckeye!

_________________
The Court will accord substantial deference to the government's immigration policies, particularly those that implicate matters of national security.

@sinicalypse. Agreed. Fitz has done a nice job. We're for the first time in... well ever... deep at several positions. We are still ridiculously vulnerable against the pass. They play these ridiculously soft corners and basically give the teams the flats. Which I guess is the strategy so they dont get beat on the long ball. But against a stronger team, I think they'll need to play a little more aggressively. I'd say our chances against dOSU just improved without Braxton, but that guy that came in for him looks pretty damn good.

NU has Western Michigan, Maine, BYE, and then dOSU... so hopefully they will rest and get Venric Mark back healthy. Hammy's are a bitch, but I'd love one of our most dynamic backs out there with Kain Colter to run that read-option to perfection.

I was impressed but I was half watching. Defense will need to improve but for a head coach that comes from the defensive side of the ball, NU's D has never been a strong point. They will have to outscore their opponents.

You know, I'm not sure if the defense is actually bad or if it is planned to give up short yards. There was some DEFINITE bad tackling by the secondary in the third quarter. However, that defense is designed to not give up the big play... which they accomplished big time. But we kept their rushing down (and they actually have a couple decent RBs). All their big yards came with passes to the flats (because of the soft corners) and then poor secondary tackling. We didn't blitz much at all. I'll be curious to see how that defense does against OSU... I think we'll have to have a different strategy. But unfortunately, I don't think we will

NU isn't the only team that needs to clean that up.

Regarding Michigan, it's a little early to say how good they'll be. They always have a gamebreaking playmaker or two against Notre Dame, but other teams seem to figure out how to neutralize them later in the season. ND was sputtering overall but still managed to put up 30 points on their defense in the Big House (-- admittedly though Gardner coughed up an easy 6).

I don't want to upset anyone by saying this, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if Fitzgerald were at the top of Jack Swarbrick's short list as Brian Kelly's potential successor at ND. Perfect fit IMO.

_________________
"... go out there and hitch up your trousers, and say: 'Hey baby here I am now. Let me see you run through me now. Let me see you show some disrespect for me while I'm nose on your nose."
- Lou Holtz

Do you really think Pat would leave NU for ND?

A ND fan would think Nick Saban would quit Alabama to coach ND.

Timing and money.

If it means something to an individual, even ND detractors will admit that it's one of the highest-profile jobs in college FB. The compensation package they can put together would be hard for a whole lot of schools to match. ND also has been mulling over proposals to pump millions into the stadium. Facilities and recruiting resources help make the job attractive.

Anyway, Pat is young and I had in mind several years down the road. Brian Kelly has been hinting at wanting to coach in the NFL someday, so I don't see him on the ND sidelines as an aging coach.

No, I don't think Nick Satan would leave 'Bama for ND, just as U. Meyer turned down the job as well. Gary Barnett once turned it down when it wasn't even offered to him...! Although back then he was still ticked off that Lou Holtz had failed to recognize him in an airport...

_________________
"... go out there and hitch up your trousers, and say: 'Hey baby here I am now. Let me see you run through me now. Let me see you show some disrespect for me while I'm nose on your nose."
- Lou Holtz

Let me ask you... would you rather earn $20 million over 5 years or $55 million over 30 years (particularly if you love coaching and would like to do it for a long time)?

How many coaches in the Big Ten, or elsewhere, have that kind of longevity at a single school in the BCS? And aside from exceptions like Frank Beamer at VT, 10-12 years is about the most you're going to be seeing. I'm just saying that if you look around, for various reasons we're not getting really long hauls at the big-time programs. Tressel I think was content at OSU and would've had an exceptionally long stay, but we know what happened there.

In about the year 2021, Kelly will have completed 12 seasons at ND. That's longer than Brennan, Devore, Kuharich, Parseghian, Devine, Faust, Holtz, Davie, Willingham, or Weis -- a span of many decades. (Not to mention the few days of Geo. O'Leary.) At that time, Fitzgerald will be around 46 years old -- a great candidate with fine experience at the right age.

I hope Fitz does have a long career at NU. But you can expect ND to be conducting a head football coaching search in the early 2020s, with BK likely moving on to the NFL. The guys who are in their 30s right now, like Reuhl (sp.) at Temple, are the ND candidates of the future.

Additionally, we see that coaches Faust, Willingham, Holtz, Weis and Davie all eventually took college head coaching jobs after their times at ND -- so Fitz wouldn't necessarily be hanging up the cleats after leaving South Bend.

Finally, we see Holtz having left Minn. for ND, Parseghian having left NU for ND, Saban having left MSU for LSU (iirc)... There have been cases of a coach willingly moving on from the Big Ten conf.

_________________
"... go out there and hitch up your trousers, and say: 'Hey baby here I am now. Let me see you run through me now. Let me see you show some disrespect for me while I'm nose on your nose."
- Lou Holtz

I have to kinda snicker at that analysis. No one is sure what's gonna happen 2 years from now, let alone what is gonna happen in 2021. Predicting out farther than 2 years is simply mental masterbation. How do you know Kelly wants to go to the NFL? And what makes you think that Kelly would even make it to the NFL? Your comments just wreek of Domer overconfidence. And for the record, my Dad and oldest brother were Notre Dame alums... so its not unique to my ears (or eyes).

I'm not at all confident that Pat would be Kelly's successor. I'm just putting out some discussion. I'm not exactly thrilled with BK at the moment after having given up nearly 90 points in his last three games. He's not so enamored of ND like Faust and Holtz were that I expect him to hang here indefinitely.

Fitz may well coach for 30 years, but you can expect the big programs to come calling if he keeps NU in the Top 25.

I guess I won't bother anymore. I don't know why you seem to be having a hostile reaction. When I started all this, I prefaced by saying I didn't want to upset anyone, so sorry if you've taken offense. I like NU and hope they go 13-0. But it's a reality that the better young coaches are going to have some carrots dangled in front of them.

It's neither fact nor fiction that the ND head coaching job is attractive -- that depends on the candidate or would-be candidate. But there's no denying that ND is among the leaders in financial resources, and having all of the home games on NBC is a nice plus too.

_________________
"... go out there and hitch up your trousers, and say: 'Hey baby here I am now. Let me see you run through me now. Let me see you show some disrespect for me while I'm nose on your nose."
- Lou Holtz

Kelly has stated that "some day" he'd maybe like to coach in the NFL, or words to that effect, and he did talk with the Eagles (although of course he wasn't offered the head coaching job).

Even Holtz tried the NFL once in his long career (Jets 1976, iirc). What, Kuharich and Weis were good enough to work in the NFL, but BK probably isn't...?

Regardless of what Kelly is up to after about 10-12 years at ND, I still maintain that it's unlikely he'll remain at ND after that long of a stretch.

_________________
"... go out there and hitch up your trousers, and say: 'Hey baby here I am now. Let me see you run through me now. Let me see you show some disrespect for me while I'm nose on your nose."
- Lou Holtz

You must be new to CSFMB... if you think that is offense, this might not be the place for you. I'm supposedly one of the cordial ones

Frickin' Kelly should have been fired/suspended or something after that kid died on that windy day. THAT should never had happened. Anybody with 2 ounces of common sense would have told the young man to get down that day.

_________________
favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

Thanks for replying -- I've only been on here for a few days, but I don't have any reason to doubt your relative cordiality (there's a form of the word you don't hear every day).

I was thinking about NU when reading about how Oklahoma State's dirty rise funded their stadium upgrades. I'd rather see the Cats program as it is without going that kind of route, as I know they never would. NU and Stanford are really the exceptions to the rule in the top 25. It's a joke that never ends and few people care.

It's infuriating that Ok. St. and others get slaps on the wrists, and expect just that knowing that the benefits they reap will far outweigh the punishments. The whole thing is a sham. Pete Carroll: "Someone's got to defend these guys [his USC felons]." Dick. Fuck.er of the 1st degree.

_________________
"... go out there and hitch up your trousers, and say: 'Hey baby here I am now. Let me see you run through me now. Let me see you show some disrespect for me while I'm nose on your nose."
- Lou Holtz