Outback Bowl Chief Impressed By Auburn

Comments from the president and chief executive officer of the Outback Bowl are featured along with Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs.   Full Story

Northwestern announced Sunday that it will be playing in a New Year's Day bowl. The Wildcats will square off against Auburn in the Outback Bowl on Jan. 1. Details from NU Sports inside...   Full Story

CFN SEC Blogger Barrett Sallee shares his thoughts on the 18th edition of the SEC Championship Game, the Heisman Trophy race and the SEC bowl picture.   Full Story

Auburn head football coach Gene Chizik talks about what his team's invitation to play in Tampa means to him personally and the program.   Full Story

Northwestern Coach Pat Fitzgerald talks about his team's selection for the Outback Bowl to face Auburn on New Year's Day.   Full Story

With Zeke Markshausen and Andrew Brewer having huge seasons for the Wildcats' high-powered offense, Northwestern assistant football coach Kevin Johns, who serves as the Wildcats' passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach, was named a finalist for the FootballScoop.com wide receiver coach of the year award. Details from NU Sports...   Full Story

There's been some pointed comment by fans at the tone of some Sun Times articles about the Wilcats. It seems that the beat writer for the other paper in Chicago has belittled the Cats even though we've knocked off two ranked teams, etc. daCoach has a few thoughts about NU, the Sun Times and our joint history...   Full Story

Well, it was a November to Remember with those victories over Iowa, Ill-noise and Wisconsin to cap an 8-4 season (too bad the voters apparently made their all-league picks in October), but with weeks to go before the bowl game, my mind got to speculating on what we can be thankful for as NU fans.   Full Story

On the heels of breakout seasons, receiver Zeke Markshausen and kicker/punter Stefan Demos have been named ESPN The Magazine Academic All-Americans. Read more about this pair of seniors and what it takes to get named to the prestigious team.   Full Story

NU wins out to finish 8-4 and tie for 4th in the Big 10 Standings. Steve looks ahead to where our Cats go Bowling..   Full Story

Having been solid holding onto the football since the Wofford mess, sophomore John Clay knew the burden was going to be on his shoulders in the fourth quarter. With a late fumble, however, the Badgers lost their chance to salvage a Big Ten road victory.   Full Story

Wisconsin's defense allows Wildcats quarterback Mike Kafka to throw for 326 passing yards and the Badgers' offense can't register points on the final three drives, letting victory slip through UW's hands in a 33-31 loss Saturday.   Full Story

With their rousing 33-31 win over No. 16 Wisconsin, the Wildcats put the finishing touches on a regular season in which they won games in every conceivable fashion. Early-season blowouts, mid-season slugfests, late-season shootouts. Indeed, 2009 had it all. Purple Reign looks back at the oh-so-varied wins.   Full Story

Although seeing steady improvement during its three-game winning streak, Wisconsin's secondary was no match for senior Mike Kafka, who had his way with UW's secondary in a 33-31 Northwestern victory at Ryan Field Saturday   Full Story

Follow along with Badger Nation's Drive Blog! UW's secondary couldn't stop Northwestern's passing attack and a costly fumble by John Clay with less than two minutes to go prevented any chance of UW rescuing this game from the flames, as the Badgers drop their conference finale Saturday.   Full Story

In addition to having a chance to finish no worse than a tie for second in the Big Ten Conference, the Wisconsin Badgers know that a solid run and run-stopping performance will put them in elite company.   Full Story

Badger Nation's Brad Fedie takes his look at the Five Keys to Victory against the Northwestern Wildcats, where a victory would guarantee no worse than a tie for second place in the Big Ten.   Full Story

Two teams with solid quarterbacks, up-and-coming wide receivers and an average defense, it looks like Northwestern and Wisconsin will be evenly matched come its Big Ten finale Saturday. But when UW has traveled to Ryan Field lately, strange things always seem to happen ...   Full Story

Two weeks ago, sitting at 5-4 with two road games on the docket, Northwestern's bowl prospects looked just a bit wobbly. But now, after downing No. 4 Iowa and Illinois, Northwestern is nearly certain to go bowling yet again. Purple Reign takes a look at what these last two wins did for the Cats' case, which is all but closed.   Full Story

UW head coach Bret Bielema knew this day might come when he let defensive coordinator Mike Hankwitz go after the 2007 season. With Hankwitz running the Northwestern defense for the past two season, the Badgers will face a different Northwestern since the last time the two times teams played in 2006.   Full Story

Its getting about time for all the bowl game bids to work out - the Big 10 is down to its final week, so SjT handicaps the entire Big 10 with a good look at NU's possible opponents as they go bowling for another year. But first, who's likely to be the other B(C)S team - Iowa or Penn State ?   Full Story

Heck of a day in Big Ten land and across the nation. A fantastic game in Columbus, a beautiful beatdown of SC and, of course, a Wildcat Win over the hated Illini.   Full Story

NU holds on to beat Illinois 21-16. Nice to win a close one again after a lot of earlier ones this year went against us ... still, we should have had this game put away by halftime. HIRE A SPECIAL TEAMS COACH ASAP!!! We obviously need that waaaay more than a superbacks coach   Full Story

Along with bragging rights, the winner of this weekend's Illinois-Northwestern game will get a small bronze top-hat -- the first-ever Land of Lincoln Trophy. Read about the trophy, which is designed by Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Dick Locher, and how it came about.   Full Story

Illinois is such a tough one to figure out, Purple Reign brought in not one, but two experts to help set things straight. The Illini beat writers for the Chicago Tribune and Champaign News-Gazette banter with Purple Reign about Illinois and this week's matchup. See what they had to say about Ron Zook, the Illinois quarterback situation and how the team rebounded from its dreadful start.   Full Story