Mmmmmm

Wouldn't you like to live in a town called Fruit?

I would.

Phillies win. Josh breathes.

No words. Should have sent a poet.

Ideal gas plate

Saw this plate in Evanston.



It's hard to see in these photos, but it's an Illinois violence prevention plate. So the plate says

NRT PV

or

NRT = PV

I love nerdy license plates!

Wha' Happened?: Indiana

Well, ugh. What a disappointing game for the Cats yesterday. 800 turnovers? Check. Every player injured, including guys who didn't make the trip? Check. Depressing* game-day bar experience? Check.

So, I figured I would use this space to show some pictures from my recent business trip to scenic Iowa. Keep in mind, these pictures were taking with a cameraphone through the window of my car. And usually in the rain.

* - Dear friends, I naturally don't mean you were depressing. But that place was not nearly as electric as when we went to watch the Iowa game.



Iowa 80 - the world's biggest truckstop. I stopped there on the way back, in case I maybe wanted to see a dentist. You heard me.



I took a lot of pictures of signs for towns. Brooklyn was prominent in Iowa AND in Illinois.



That sign is for What Chance, Iowa. I assume that no one ever means to arrive there, but they're always glad that they did.

Let's go Cats!

Thoughts on: Indiana

Not a lot of thoughts this week, because I'm cutting things pretty close! Time t-minus 4 hours to kickoff, and I need to try to get some costume preparation done before and/or after going out to watch the game.

A big key to the game will be a whether Indiana will have the services of QB Kellen Lewis. He is a versatile and experienced threat, but an ankle injury could limit his play or see him on the sidelines entirely. IU has a decent rushing attack for the season, but Lewis is their leading gainer on the ground. If he is out, expect to see an even more aggressive NU defense.

On the other side, Indiana's pass defense is...not vaunted. Bachér will need to be efficient with the ball and keep the Cats on an even offensive keel. To have a big day akin to last week's 48 points, Northwestern will need big gains as well as drive-savers from C.J.

NU is an 8-point favorite in this game, and the O/U is 52.5. I'm going to pick a close-ish one. Northwestern 31, Indiana 22.

Let's go Cats!

Also!: Purdue

I totally had the game picked right.  If only you double both the scores I picked, that is.  I don't know if that means I had the ratio of Cats/Boilermakers right, or if I was just really truly way off...

Anyway, back to trying to catch up on sleep.

Let's go Cats!

Wha' Happened?: Homecoming (Purdue)

Highlights from this year's homecoming weekend:

Eric Peterman - The Peterman Reality Tour made another stop in Evanston on Saturday as "The Real Peterman" caught a 45-yard TD pass and threw another for 30 yards.

Fire Trucks - Did you know you can rent a fire truck for any occasion? Now you do.



Rent a fire truck for your next bris!

Tyrell Sutton - Tyrell lived up to his place of honor in this blog's upper-right-hand corner.  Just under 100 yards rushing, a TD reception and a lot of yards after contact helped make up for a case of fumblitis.

Big Booty - I played Big Booty (Big Booty, aw yeah) at two seperate parties.  And for the record, I was not the instigator of either game, so it was a totally organic coincidence.



The world biggest game of Big Booty? Sadly, no.

Cats win! - Well, duh.  More excitingly, Cats win without too much of an increase in yours truly's blood pressure.  Who knew it was possible?

Time to get ready for Indiana, who will be looking for a much-needed conference win.

Let's go Cats!

Thoughts on: Purdue

So, Purdue is a weird team this year. You'd kind of think they would be good, like when they take Oregon to OT. They're 2-4, but they've lost three straight to tough teams (ND, PSU and OSU). Also, we tend to get clobbered when they come here.

So, it's too much to try and fathom Purdue. What you should spend your time fathoming this weekend is homecoming! Woo! You heard me -- woo!

Things you won't want to miss out on...

• wearing NU apparel
• bands marching
• peps rallying
• revisiting the sites of your most favoritest exam freakouts*

* - a random carrel on a random floor of the library.

Things you will want to yell at Grand Marshall Matt Grevers...

• Are you the one from Bulgaria?
• Which of your gold medals is your favorite? The one you won for Michael Phelps, or the one he won for you?
• Can you reach that off the top shelf for me?

Finally, I don't think I'm going to get to the Whether this week, so I'll jump to a pick! The line is NU -4, O/U 47. I'm going with Northwestern 24, Purdue 13.

Let's go Cats!

Wha' Happened?: Michigan State

Kind of a strange game yesterday afternoon in Evanston.

The Cats outgained MSU on offense, and had some decent stops on defense.  Tyrell outrushed Javon, and he had 183 total yards.  CJ completed 34 passes and was only sacked once.  But, we lost by 17?

Those annoying other parts of the game came and reared their ugly (collective) head: turnovers and special teams.  Northwestern's kick coverage, punt coverage and kick return game was a mess.  We gave away three turnovers and never caused one.  These kinds of things explain how a seemingly close game is really a 17-point loss.

While everyone is silver-lining...ing about a 5-1 record, the worryworts will remember that all these annoying miscues come after a bye week.  I tend to side with the people who enjoy our 83% winning percentage, but we need to hope that this was a little rust that developed after a week away from our winning streak. A little honing this week will hopefully do the trick against Purdue for Homecoming.

Let's go Cats!

Whether Report: Michigan State

Say Josh, tell me whether...

...you almost forgot that you usually do two preview posts?
Kind of.  A little bit.

...you also forgot that there used to be a "real" weather report?
Forget that, I did not.  In fact the weather tomorrow should be pretty excellent.

...you really mean that?
Well, kind of.  It should be pleasant, although I usually start wishing for a crisper temperature once October rolls around.

...you used the bye week productively?
I studied the opposition profusely, if that's what you mean.  Also, I didn't really shower much...if that's what you mean?

...you're ready to make a pick?
Well, I was.  But then I told jhodges what I thought, and he said that was his pick.  So, now I have to switch it around a little.

...so?
I'm going to go with Northwestern 34, MSU 21.  A nice happy mix of defense, offense, and a couple made kicks for good measure.

Let's go Cats!

Thoughts on: Michigan State

I'm trying to get back into the swing of blogging here, after a bye week for the team and for the blog.  Also, the Phillies just went out to a 2-0 lead in the NLCS, so my attention is a little split today.

But, I don't blog about the Phillies (often) so let's get back to the Cats!

Tomorrow afternoon -- yes, afternoon -- Northwestern returns home to take on the Spartans.  The last two years, this match-up has been decided by an average margin of 5 points, but an average of 84 combined points per game.  I'd like to believe that this year will be different and that defense will prevail.  BUT, I just can't bring myself to go against history and Javon Ringer.  Even if Iowa did hold MSU and Ringer sort of in check last week, I think NU will have to worry about:

• Javon Ringer - Duh.  The RB is the best in the conference (unless and until OSU's Wells gets fully fit again).  He might have been the best back in the country for the first few games, although Iowa kept him under 100 yards last week.  We'll need to do something close to that to keep our defense from falling on its heels.

• Brian Hoyer - He's not the greatest QB, and he doesn't have the best wideout crew, but he is a veteran and he has the ability to throw for a ton of yards on a good day.  With our LBs and secondary focusing on supporting the run, we'll either need good pressure or great coverage to keep Hoyer under wraps.

The ApostroCats to look for tomorrow, in my incredibly humble and attractive opinion are:

• Tyrell Sutton - Maybe this will be the game in which Tyrell really runs like we know he can?  It's hard to argue with wins, but I think there has to be a showcase game for Sutton, and I think it could be tomorrow in his return to the Ryan Field grass after his injury against Ohio.

• Jordan "" Mabin & "I Shot the" Sherrick "but I did not Shoot the Deputy" McMannis - These guys will have a lot of single coverage as we try to stop the MSU ground game.  I'm not looking for lockdown coverage on both sides, but solid open-field tackling is the watchword...s.

Let's go Cats!

A little behind on things

So, I firmly intended to get out a post about our thrilling win over Iowa last week. Really! I wasn't going to use work as an excuse or anything. But then I got kind of sick (here come the excuses!) and then a whole other weekend's slate of games happened...So, let's just all say that we're happy to be 5-0, to be rested from a bye week, and to be recognized in a couple of national polls [pdf].

In other sports news about which to be happy, some of us don't hail from Chicago and we are celebrating the first NLCS appearance for the Phillies since 1993. Joe Carter is out of league, so hopefully there's no one to stop the Phightin's. He is out of the league, right?

Back to NU to finish things off, the men's soccer team improved to 9-0-2 with a win over Penn State. They entered the week ranked #3 in the nation, and with #2 St. Johns losing, the Cats should be poised to move up a rung.

Let's go Cats (and Cats) (and Phillies)!