[NU Sports] Congrats Mr. Phillips!

[Mike Nolan]

> the Wrigley Field idea generates PR and there is no bad PR and while it 
> may help the Illini (who we compete with in recruiting) it has to help 
> us more. We still lack some name recognition outside of the midwest.  Not 
> like we used but this helps us. Of course nothing helps more than a 
> good ranking and highly visible bowl game

They're getting more and more recognition each week.  Several people have
said that Persa deserves Big Ten post-season honors, I just hope they
don't forget about him over the next month.  

Steve Magargee had some nice things to say about Persa on Rivals 
and under the 'losers' section he wrote:

Iowa (whenever it faces Northwestern): Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald 
was a star linebacker for the Wildcats who broke his leg against Iowa 
late in the season, forcing him to miss the Rose Bowl game. He has owned 
the Hawkeyes ever since. Northwestern's victory over Iowa on Saturday 
marked the fifth time the Wildcats have beaten the Hawkeyes in their 
past six meetings. 

The coaches put NU back in the top 25, and they just missed the AP top 25.

As far as bowl visibility goes, another couple of wins would really help,
I'm really concerned that losing Persa may cost us in terms of our
bowl status.   

Currently most of the projections have NU in either the Ticket City
Bowl or the Texas Bowl, with Kansas State, Baylor or Texas Tech as
their likely opponent.

The Ticket City Bowl (nee Dallas Football Classic) will be the first game 
to start on New Years Day (11 AM CT), but it is on ESPNU.

The Texas Bowl is on Wed, December 29th at 5PM CT on ESPN, so it probably
won't get seen by many people in the west, though it is the lead-in
to the Alamo Bowl so if (when) it goes into overtime, we'll have that
audience sitting on the edge of their seats.  :-)
--
Mike Nolan