over a NW team that has to win next week to become bowl eligible.

Wow, talk about rolling the friggin dice!

FWIW, per article on another site, Iowa has apparently had 4 decommits this recruiting cycle in football, the latest a 3-star WR from Texas.

Cats and FITZ are their guys. Of course they are making the Carr hit make the game highlights.

Our defensive weakness.

I am glad they are getting reps. They are not terrible. They simply are not up to the standards that we have come to expect the last few years from our DB's.

It happened all game, but on that 2 pt conversion, Buford bit so bad on the 2 yard slant. Thank God the pass was awful.
Shenault got beat on 3 or 4 plays that drive as well.

They will get better no doubt.

That said, I am nervous if it's us versus Washington State in the Holiday Bowl.

What is your guys guess on the starting 3 DBs and 2 Safeties next year when we come out in nickel packages?

With the win today, there's no way the UofM fires this guy with 8 wins. With that, I hope he isn't satisfied with our offense. I love our line coach but the play calling is terrible. With a decent offensive coordinator we should be no worse than 9-1. We just seen our first screen pass of the season? Plus we haven't beaten a team we shouldn't have. And have lost to one we shouldn't have and played way to close to Rutgers. We just don't dominate any team.

How different is this defense from years past when we seemed to play prevent defense for 60 minutes. This defense is fun to watch and must be fun to play.

Anyone know the start time for the game

What in the world was Claeys explanation for the TO with 26 seconds left in the half?

The single worst coaching decision I've ever seen. So simple to let it run down, WTF happend? Tell me a player messed up and called it.

They just showed this during the Ole Miss/Vandy game. Here they are in order of highest APR Score

Duke - 4-7
Wisconsin - 9-2
Minnesota - 8-3
Northwestern - 5-6
Vanderbilt - 4-6

They had WI and MN in bold because they already qualified for a Bowl. They talked about how, like last year, maybe Vandy or Duke could get to a Bowl, if not enough teams get to 6 wins.

Didn't they change that rule in the off season?

Since the geographical alignment of the divisions, there have been 32 crossover games (including B1G championships games), and it's an even 16-16 split. What happened to the supposed East superiority?

We went to a bowl in 2012, 13, 14, & 15. Oddly enough since Claeys & Co. have been here, the only Senior Day win is 2011 vs Illinois.

I'm really hoping to see this years group go out as winners. The last impression of anything is what sticks with us the most. How Mitch plays his final 3 games will be important on the legacy he leaves.

Series opens in Mankato tonight. 7 pm. FSN main channel.

1) SKI-U-MAH! (anybody else see the big SKI-U-MAH sign in the crowd?)

2) Row the damn Boat!

Look, I love TC. I love this staff. They've done so much for us and I'll always be grateful.

But IMO, PJ Fleck is the next Barry Alvarez or Mark Dantonio. When you get a chance at a guy like that, you have to jump on it. All the rumors say he covets the Minnesota job and wants to stay in the Midwest.

To me this is a no brainer: the day after the Wisconsin game make the change----and you do whatever it takes to make sure that Sawvel stays (and maybe Sherels as well. I would also be cool keeping Bart Miller, but I realize that Fleck isn't gonna keep 3 coaches. ).

Hell, I wish we could move TC back to DC, but I realize that is not gonna happen.

players with eligibility remaining who walked through today:
Matt Leidner
Connor Rhoda
Ray Dixon
Duke Anyanwu
Andrew Harte
Chad Fahning
Luke Rasmussen
Julien Kafo

Anyone else I missed?

Admin or others in the know.....

Tracy Claeys looks like a hands off CEO. What are his duties during the game? I watched him the entire game, he has his head set off about 98% of the time. He doesn't talk to players or coaches. I'm honestly not ripping him, as we played the best game of the season, and it works, but just seems unusual to see a head coach so hands off. He doesn't know what defense we're calling on what we're doing on offense.

Remember, Tyrone Carter's nephew Marquis Williams is here. Might not be a big fan of the cold, though.

Login to view embedded media
2018 Mississippi State commit Nik Hogan is a new name to report on that's here.

I said earlier that Kendarian Handy-Holly may visit, and it turns out he wasn't able to make it. He'll probably take an official visit in January.

Pregame reads

• Facts & Figures: Northwestern vs. Minnesota
• Behind Enemy Lines: Northwestern
• Sawvel tells stories on Jalen Myrick, talks Northwestern
• Claeys tells favorite story on Leidner, talks replacing LG for Northwestern
• Pirsig talks Northwestern, Dovich, Leidner's mental state
• Wolitarsky says offense is improved
• Johnson talks Northwestern, the run game, Leidner, and more
• Leidner talks Senior Day, Northwestern, lack of TD passes
• Claeys talks Northwestern and senior class
• Main points from Tuesday presser
• Minnesota's seniors to go out at home vs. Northwestern from the Associated Press
• Fearless Prediction: Northwestern vs. Minnesota from Wildcat Report

Recruiting

No official visitors.

Tyrone Carter's nephew Marquis Williams is here. I said earlier that Kendarian Handy-Holly may visit, and it turns out he wasn't able to make it. He'll probably take an official visit in January.

2018 Mississippi State commit Nik Hogan landed at MSP about 20 minutes ago, so he'll be here but probably not in time for the game.

The only commit I saw on the sidelines was Dominik London, but I'm sure there are more.

Other news
Conor Rhoda is transferring.

Greene, Wright, Moore, Calhoun, and Pirsig are announced as the starters.

for Mitch to have the best game of his career against the skunks next week, bringing home the Axe to Brainerd or Bemidji (or wherever PB is hanging out these days). Please, please let Good Mitch show up and finish his B1G career with a yuge win. Regardless of the frustrations, which have been many, I'm proud to call myself a Gopher fan. Thanks guys for an entertaining and memorable season.

qbs making plays all over. The nebraska backup even has thrown a td pass.

i think Lynch and Coffey make this team so much better. Curry will be a solid contributor as well. How do they stack up against the rest of the B1G? Do they have enough depth and are Dupree and Nate Mason good enough to hold their own against other backcourts? Connor and others, thoughts?

The last two months there's been a lot of talk of Mark Williams switching to receiver and I think two weeks ago Johnson said they'd re-evaluate his position at the end of the year. They may still re-evaluate his position at the end of the year, but it's my understanding that he's doing everything with the wide receivers right now. All his reps come at receiver and he's at all their meetings.

Presser will start shortly, follow along here.

Link: Fearless Prediction: Northwestern vs. Minnesota

How's the weather and roads down there? If the game was now I wouldn't be able to make it