[Husker] NU-TAMU is close to call

[Mike Nolan]

> My guess is they are there due to the venue, not the teams.  The GOPHERS beat IL 
> last week.
> Roger Lohr-Mpls

This past week was a good one for new/interim coaches, Minnesota and Colorado
both won, as did the Cowboys in the NFL.  

I think the Northwestern AD has been pushing this really hard, he's
trying to raise their visibility in the Chicago media, and the game is
a sellout.  (However, Wrigley holds over 10,000 less than Dyche/Ryan,
so don't expect the Huskers game in 2012 to be moved there.)  

I'm told that after last weekend's games, Northwestern's victory over Iowa 
got only about as much coverage as Notre Dame and Illinois, but in some ways
that's an improvement over the coverage they got when I was an undergrad
there.

The Illinois-Northwestern game is on ESPNU, though earlier in the season 
there was talk about it being on ESPN2.  (Northwestern fans would have 
preferred it be on ESPN2, because of the Pam Ward factor, the Cats always 
seem to do well when she's calling the game.  She's aware of the Pam
Ward factor, incidentally, and thinks it is hilarious.)  

As to Persa's backup, Evan Watkins is a redshirt freshman, 6'6" and about 250 
(a good six inches taller than Persa, and probably a step slower) but he 
hasn't played enough to know what he's capable of.  He did come in 
when Persa got dinged against Indiana and threw a bullet of a 13 yard 
pass on 3rd and 8.  But after that he didn't do much passing.  He's 3 of 7 
for the year.  He's also a local player, from the west suburbs, so making
his first start at Wrigley should be a big deal.  
--
Mike Nolan