[NU Sports] ZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..............

[DPENDERG at aol.com]

That ESPN crew was indeed the worst I have ever seen.  NU (or NW as  ESPN 
loves to label us) does not yet have the respect or standing to get  spotlight 
games or announcing teams.  The way we played last night,  however, made us look 
like we deserved such pitiful, third-string  announcers.  If EMU had not 
committed those penalties and had their veteran  QB instead of a novice freshman, 
this game easily could have been a Duke-like  embarrassment.  After the game, 
Fitz pushed the spin that a W is a  W.  Sure, but playing at the EMU level 
will not beat Purdue, Iowa, Indiana  or Illinois.  I want to think playing better 
competition will raise the  level of the Cat game.  Our secondary and our 
pass rush, however, are  still suspect and 280 passing yards by a kid barely out 
of high school is  inexcusable.  The "real season" begins next week.  I hope 
we're  ready.  
 
 
In a message dated 10/20/2007 11:17:38 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
jleonard518 at yahoo.com writes:

Fellow  Wildcat Faithful,

You are among an elite core of true Northwestern fans  if you made it through 
that entire game. Even more so if you spent the time  and money to see this 
barn burner live in lovely downtown Detroit. 

As  Cats fans we all know that you take wins where you can get them, but this 
 wasn't a fun game to watch and it should never have been this close. I am  
going to rationalize this by saying that 'hopefully' CJ and special teams  
(kick coverage) spent all of their sloppy play in this game and are now ready  to 
play sharp the rest of the way. I hope EMU never returns to our schedule.  

And this game was called by the worst pair of announcers I've seen  since 
watching the Cats play Duke on the Jefferson PIlot network about 10  years ago. I 
cannot believe they made me miss Pam Ward. A coouple of  highlights (all by 
Jay Taylor I believe) include:

- refering to EMU  coach Jeff Genyk and 'Coach Fitzpatrick'
- Noting that EMU had an extra  timeout because of the 2-minute warning
- After seeing EMU run a Boise  State-style statue of liberty play, he said 
that the EMU QB showed 'great ball  handling skills by moving the ball from his 
right hand to his  left'

But, we are 5-3 and need two more for a bowl trip (perhaps for a  return 
visit to Ford Field). I like our chances against Purdue. The extra day  of rest 
always helps and assuming they beat Iowa they will likely be looking  ahead to 
Penn State a bit. 

Victory &  Honor,
Jim

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