Close, but not quite

Ah, the holidays. That magical time of year when people start emailing me to ask if I created this:

http://www.thecompassgroup.biz/merryxmas.swf

For those not link-inclined, it's a very cute animation of Santa and his reindeer singing. The music is the totally awesome cover of White Christmas as performed by The Drifters.

Why do people ask if I made it? Because at the end there's a signature that reads "Joshua Held 2002." Yes, his name is my name too. But, no, I didn't make it. Although I kind of wish I had. I'm a little confused how some random people find my email address, but I guess it can't really be that hard for the people with free time on their hands...

...unlike busy people like me who blog about Christmas animations?

Merry Christmas!

IFAF: You can stop holding your breath...

...the IFAF final between Japan and the US will be aired Thanksgiving Day at 12pm (CDT) on the NFL Network.

In case you need a reminder, this is the world championship of American football. It featured 6 national sides. It happened back in July. The US pretty much waltzed through the group stage, beating Korea and Germany by a combined score of 110-7.

The championship game was a lot closer, so I won't ruin it for you!

Illinois Preview

I'm kind of sneaking this in under the wire, so I'll be brief:

Offensive keys:

• Good mix of run/pass
  
• Bacher - good decisions (get a little more help from his WRs)
• Sutton - do what he does
• Don't get frustrated if J Leman makes 25 tackles.

Defensive keys:

• Keep Juice contained, hit him hard when he runs
• Don't get frustrated if Mendenhall or Benn hurts us
• Don't let them BOTH hurt us

My pick: Northwestern 34, Illinois 28
Bonus pick!: Northwestern (bb) 65, DePaul 60.

Let's go Cats!

Indiana Preview

Well, I've been way off for a couple weeks now. So, it's time to stop trying to actually pick the game, and just have a little fun.

You may or may not remember that our last two games against Indiana have been settled in overtime. Yes, even when the Loosiers were pretty damn bad, we tended to need extra time to finish them. I see no reason why that should not continue in '07, especially because our seasons are often either OT-filled or OT-free.

I'm picking the Cats, in a home upset: Northwestern 37, Indiana 34 (OT)

Let's go Cats!

Speak to Me II: Electric Boogaloo: Redux: Iowa Edition:

I think this Saturday's game against Iowa is our first broadcast on the ESPN/ABC family of networks (ESPN2 tomorrow) since the OSU game. I don't count the Eastern Michigan game on ESPNU, because that can hardly have been considered a "broadcast."

Therefore, we're looking at the second opportunity for a bubble-encased authority to introduce our offensive and defensive starters. After it was shamefully omitted from the OSU game on ABC, let's hope ESPN2 gets it right. Check out my post from September to refresh your mind on the possibilities.

Speak to me from your tiny bubble [Josh Eats Birds]

Also, on the Iowa side, I'm putting all my money on Dallas Clark, TE of the Indianapolis Colts. You might have heard that they have a game on Sunday!

Iowa Preview

Well, my guess proved to be approximately wrong. Alas, 4 1st-quarter turnovers and a bad day of run defense can do that. Not to be deterred, I am picking in favor of NU this weekend. Not because of any statistical comparison or strategic benefit. Not because of an advantage in personnel or coaching aptitude. Rather, it's because I saw Chris Malleo at the barber-shop yesterday, and he told someone that the ApostroCats are gonna win. Works for me!


My Pick: Northwestern 27, Iowa 10

Sorry, little Hawkeyes.

Let's go Cats!

Purdue Preview

I'm taking a time-out from thinking about the firing properties of medium spiny neurons. I know it's hard to believe that I can tear myself away, but I didn't want to miss out on making a pick.

Conventional wisdom suggests that current trends (the two most prolific Big Ten offenses this year) and past performance (we tend to lose at Purdue, except in 2005) point toward a big loss for the Cats tomorrow. Personally, I think this is one of the two hidden-but-important games of the year for NU. The first was the MSU game that started us on this current winning streak.

I think the ApostroCats and the ApostroCoaches know this, and they'll be ready with a couple of guys back from injury (Sutton and Simpson) and some big plays to change the game for us.

My Pick: Northwestern 35, Purdue 31.

Let's go Cats!

EMU Preview

After two thrilling OT wins in the last two weeks, let's all hope and pray that the ApostroCats don't have a let-down at Ford Field on Friday. Detroit is as close to a home game as they will get in this series. NU is not going to Ypsilanti. But I really wanted to type "Ypsilanti."

The Eagles have a pretty balanced offense, and they have been able to score some points lately. Also, they played us pretty close at Dyche last year. I think we'll pull it out, but it's not going to be the kind of blow-out that could get us a little national dap.

Northwestern 31, EMU 13.
NU gets a little ground game going, which means a slightly lower score than the last two weeks.

Minnesota Preview

Hey! I guess my prediction of a shutout didn't quite come true last week? Perhaps I overestimated John Gill's ability to stop all 11 Spartans at once. Ah well, everyone makes mistakes, and obviously I'm quite pleased with the final result.

Looking ahead to Minnesota tomorrow, I think the ApostroCats will have reasonable success on offense (not 48 pts worth), but don't expect that Minnesota has no scoring potential. I'm going with....

Northwestern 30, Minnesota 14.

Let's go Cats!

Michigan State Preview

Is it bad that I get less and less excited about writing these as we keep losing? I guess that's why I'm not a professional sports columnist; I can't write 12 columns per day like Jay Mariotti.

For tomorrow's NU game at Michigan State, I think the Cats will have to look to their most consistent performers to keep on doing what they've been doing. Everyone on all sides will have to pitch in to get the win, and last week they showed that they can do just that for a while.

So, I'm picking two Cats to make major impacts tomorrow: John Gill and Amado Villarreal. Gill is in charge of stopping both of MSU's running backs (Ringer and Caulcrick). Amado is in charge of offense.

My pick: Northwestern 21, MSU 0.

Let's go Cats!

Michigan Preview

In a hurry today, and it's looking bleak for the Cats with Sutton and Smith both out (Smith for the season). Briefly, I think the only way that NU wins is in a defensive show, stopping Hart and getting to Mallett.

If the Cats win, it will be Northwestern 14, Michigan 13.

Let's go Cats!

Speak to me from your tiny bubble

It occurs to me that this Saturday will be NU's first ESPN/ABC game of the season. That means that the Cats' offensive and defensive starters will be introduced by someone either directly or casually associated with Northwestern, sitting in a little video bubble on-screen. Who do you think it's gonna be? Well, I've got the odds and I'm taking all bets.

Pat Fitzgerald 3 to 2
Coach Fitz is the obvious choice since he's already here by the cameras all day. If he's the go-to guy, expect a coach joke about how slow CJ Bacher is.






Mike Greenberg 5 to 1
Greeny is a vocal NU alum, and ESPNer, and I can only assume that CFB is next on his list for commentating domination. But who are we kidding? He'd use this time to lord NU's 2-1 start over Mike Golic's 0-3 Notre Dame.




Mike Wilbon 7 to 1
Wilbon is also part of the nice NU presence on the worldwide leader. I'd like to state a preference for him to be the guy this job. Also, I saw him at the ASU game a couple years ago, which was cool.

Wait. Wilbon's the one on the right? You just shook my world to the core. I've gotta sit down.





Luis Castillo 20 to 1
Luis is probably the most prominent Wildcat in major pro sports right now. I was going to use a picture of the other Luis Castillo, but I was worried that the San Diego lineman might kill me with his mind. He can totally do that, you know.






David Schwimmer 40 to 1
I don't really think it'll be him, but I wanted have some actor. BTW? It's scary how many pictures like this you find when you search for him.






Willie the Wildcat 99 to 1
As much as this might be pretty funny for a few seconds, it would get awkward really fast as the announcers wonder whether they ought to fill in the words that Willie would leave out. ESPN has someone on staff who can recognize bad ideas before they happen, right? Oh yeah, I forgot: "Who's Now?"

Ohio State Preview

So, it's been a painful week in Wildcatland, although I think the mainstream sports media has done us a favour by not highlighting out loss too much. Now it's time for a whole different kind of pain as NU heads to OSU Saturday afternoon.

Anyone know why this game is on ABC here in Chicago? How weird that Michigan-PSU isn't a fully regional game.

And now we've reached the part of the season where I change the way I pick games. Instead of what I predict will happen, this is what the score needs to be for NU to come away with a win: Northwestern 31, Ohio State 28.

Cats win!

Duke Preview

Guess what I'm still not doing? Over-obsessing about the Cats! I'm obsessing just the right amount these days, thank you very much. So, here's what I know about our upcoming game against Duke:

• It's at night. But NOT at 9pm like they said on WNUR. It's at a much saner 7pm.
• Duke sucks. But sometimes they don't
  
• We have some pretty good moments, but sometimes we suck.

So, will the ApostroCats suck for more or less of the game than the blue devils? That's a tough question. I think we'll be OK to win, but probably not to cover the 16.5 points we're giving. Unless Tyrell is 100% healthy; for now I'm assuming that B-Rob will be the main rusher.

I say Northwestern 27, Duke 13.

Nevada Preview

Once again, I haven't really done any research to preview this game. Maybe I'll get on the ball once the Big Te(leve)n season starts. And once I've found a job! Here's what I know, mostly gleaned from the radio and the newspaper:

• Nevada got clobbered by Nebraska, in large part by getting run over like Wal*Mart greeter on the day after Thanksgiving.
• Jim O'Donnell of the Sun-Times has a flare for vocab, using "cornhuskered" (spellchecker suggestion: consecrate) and "upstreaming" in his recap of that game.
• Even with Trevor Rees back, NU probably doesn't have the same O-line as Nebraska, although Sutton is at least as good as Lucky (Nebraska RB).
• The line is NU -10, O/U 50.5. When was the last time we were a 10 point fave? Maybe for EMU last year, I suppose...checking...yes (unless we were highly favored over Illinois).
  

I can't really justify giving 10 points to any team that falls only behind Hawai'i and Boise State in its conference. So I'm going with the push (and the over) in a reversal of last year's score: NU 31, Nevada 21. I would have really like to go with 28-17, but this is too symmetrical to pass up.

Oh, come on Ivan. We aren't THAT good.

There are much better recaps of the ApostroCats' 27-0 win over Northeastern out there. So, I'm not really going to say much. I agree with most people who say that it was not a particularly impressive defensive effort that led to that shutout.

But, there's something about keeping your opponent off the scoreboard when you're supposed to. It lends you credibility among people who don't actually watch your games. Hence? On ESPN.com, Ivan Maisel has us playing in the Insight Bowl against Colorado AND the Motor City Bowl against Miami (OH).

I do think that getting in multiple bowl games in a single season would only help our recruiting, but I'm not sure I can get enough vacation to make it to both Tempe and Detroit this December.

NU 27 - NU 0 - Cats Week 1 Recap - Lake The Posts
2007 Bowl Predictions (Week 1) - ESPN.com

Northeastern Preview

It's almost time for NU football to get going again. The 2007 season starts out at home against the Huskies of Northwesteastern. This is a Josh Eats Birds family grudge match, because my cousin went to that other NU. So you know I'm bringing my A-game to Dyche on Saturday. My cousin may or may not be aware that the game is taking place.

This season, I'll be reducing my posts to a preview and a recap. I'll throw in random other posts too, approximately sometimes.

My half-penny analysis of NU-NU (heh):

• Northwestern's defensive line is outweighed by Northwesteastern's O-line by only 8 lbs on average. Expect them to get backfield pressure throughout the game without much blitzing.
• The ApostroCats front 5 on offense average almost 300 lbs, and outweigh the Huskies three defensive linemen by almost 50 lbs. Northwesteastern will bring blitzes from different locations, but if the Cats can pick those up, Bacher will have time to find open receivers.
• If the Cats get a lead, Sutton will see minimal carries, if he is still nursing a leg.

I'm not seeing a betting line for this game. Maybe they don't have them for FCS games? Anyway, I'm picking without that influence this week.

My pick: Northwestern 30, Northwesteastern 10

2007 Big Ten Predictions

So, last year, I slightly underrated Wisconsin and OSU, slightly overrated NU and vastly overrated Iowa. Let's see if I've learned any lessons (hint: probably not). Here are my predicted final standings and bowl berths for the Big Te(leve)n in 2007.

Big Ten Champs: Wisconsin
Coach of the Year: Bill Lynch (Indiana)
Northwestern? Champs Sports Bowl

             Big Ten  Overall
Wisconsin       7-1     11-1     Rose Bowl
Penn State      7-1     10-2     Capital One Bowl
Michigan        6-2     10-2     Outback Bowl
Ohio State      5-3     9-3      Alamo Bowl
Northwestern    4-4     8-4      Champs Sports Bowl
Indiana         4-4     8-4      Insight Bowl
Iowa            3-5     6-6      Motor City Bowl
Purdue          3-5     5-7
Michigan State  2-6     4-8
Minnesota       1-7     5-7
Illinois        1-7     4-8

IFAF World Cup Championship: USA vs. Japan

Look for Craig Coffin at a gridiron near you. He'll probably be the one selling beer, but he'll also probably be the only one that won a world championship lately. The (former?) SIU kicker made two FGs in an NCAA-style overtime to push team USA to a 23-20 victory in the final of its first American Football World Cup.

The Americans faced their toughest competition, as expected, from the host Japanese. The two-time defending world champions took an 10-7 lead into the locker room (do they have locker rooms at this thing?) at halftime. They also led 17-10 in the 4th, until American running back Kyle Kasperbauer rushed for his second TD of the game with 2:51 remaining on the clock.

After matching FGs in the first OT period, Coffin won it for the US by making his kick in the second overtime.

A location for the 2011 IFAF final has not yet been determined. I say they have it in Indianapolis, and the US can just field whichever of the Colts happen to live in the area during the off-season.

In Demetrius Eaton news, Demetrius Eaton had one tackle.

IFAF World Cup: USA vs. Germany

The US national American Football side played its second (and final) pool match of the 2007 championships, and it beat Germany 33-7. USA had held its opponents scoreless for nearly 6 quarters before the Germans scored on interception return just prior to halftime at Kawasaki Stadium.

Team USA played a game that Americans would be more familiar with, after their 77-0 drubbing of Korea in earlier Pool 2 play. The 33 points came from three TD runs (Childs, Johnson and Blakowski) an interception return and a safety. Neither team had a particularly prolific offense, with USA gaining a total of 254 yards and Germany totaling 148.

In players we care about news: LB and captain, Demetrius Eaton had 2 tackles and 2 assists. The US punter/kicker is named Coffin. Do we think he specializes in "coffin corner" punting? We do.