[NU Sports] First game

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

Cool thread!

My first NU football game was the 1992 season finale at Dyche Stadium against the Wisconsin Badgers. I had applied to NU on early admission, but I don't think I had heard back yet. We went down to the game with my best friend's family -- he was heading to Wisconsin -- and the Badgers just needed to beat lowly Northwestern to make their first bowl in a decade or so.

But the Cats pulled the upset in the first of many last-second finishes I have witnessed in Evanston the following two decades. It really kicked off the rivalry for my friend and I -- close, cloudy/rainy NU wins in Evanston and sunny blowouts (save for a couple memorable upsets) in Madison. The next year, he would head out to Pasadena his freshman year and sent me a Rose Bowl postcard with the final line "PS - If you ever want to come out here, you better transfer to Michigan" (which had been my favorite school in the elementary/early high school years -- the oddity is that Michigan never made it to Pasadena during our four years at UW and NU).

Two years later, I was visiting him in Madison, preparing to walk to the stadium for that glorious 3-3 tie with the Illini as we watched Tim Biakabutuka run all over the Buckeyes and send NU to Madison. I don't remember anything about the afternoon game at Camp Randall except wearing my purple N hat and what had to be the biggest grin in the world.

GO CATS!!!
-SjT

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STEPHEN J. TRUOG
sjtruog at yahoo.com
GO CATS!!!