West Lot Pirates

Well, we knew that the Minnesota OL was amazing and that it really didn't matter who was running the ball for them. Already down their top 2 RBs for the season and their 3rd RB going out early, they still had 2 backs go for over 100 yards as they controlled the ball and the clock, wearing out the NU defense. The Cats' season seems to be circling down the drain, but with Iowa coming into Ry...

It was a tale of two halves in Ann Arbor last week. While the Cats hung in there for the first half, the second half was a different story as Michigan took their decisive time of possession advantage and wore the NU defense down. Now we enter the heart of the western division schedule as we take on the Gophers this Saturday afternoon. For the first time in several years, all three of us will be in...

It's amazing how much one win can change the mindset of a fan base. Northwestern came off their bye week and did pretty much whatever they wanted against Rutgers. This weekend's matchup against Michigan, however, is going to be a totally different beast. But there is a path to victory there. Join us as we trace that path out for you.

With a week off to regroup, we reset our expectations for the back half of the season. Rutgers is coming to town this weekend and we outline a path to victory. We also discuss the announcement of the next President of Northwestern, Dr. Rebecca Blank.

There's really not much we can say about this game. It was awful in every sense of the word. With Northwestern's bye week upon us, this is an opportunity to take stock and see what kind of changes the Cats can make as we get into the back half of the schedule. 

A lot of things went right in Northwestern's big win over Ohio, but there are definitely still some things to work on and questions to be answered. This week, the Cats head west to Lincoln to take on Nebraska under the lights. Nebraska's Defense is much improved, but is there a blueprint to moving the ball against them? Can Adrian Martinez be stopped by anyone other than himself?

To call that first half against Duke a miserable time would be too generous. There are a lot of adjectives that we could use to describe it, but fundamentally, it was just embarrassing. The second half was a different story, but the Cats just ran out of time. We feel your pain as we try to figure out what the hell is going on with this team and how we can mentally re-adjust our expectations for th...

While Indiana State was certainly what the doctor ordered to get the bad taste of the opener out of our mouths, there is still some rumblings of discontent amongst Wildcat faithful. We had to bring in Jay Sharman (aka Lake the Posts) to help us take the temperature of the fanbase, get our heads around the annual "September Swoon" and prepare us all mentally for this weekend's game agai...

Well, that is certainly not how we wanted to start the season. Things went south for the Cats starting from the very first play of the game. However, instead of giving our knee-jerk reactions, we took some time, broke down the film and really dissected what went wrong last Friday in Evanston.

It's Game Week! As we all get set for Friday night's opener, we take you deep into the trenches with everything you need to know about Northwestern and as much as we can figure out about Michigan State. We're ready to kick this season off with a bang!

At long last, we come to the finish line of our summer previews. Today we preview our very own Northwestern Wildcats. However, there is so much to say about this team, we would be hard pressed to cover the entire team in one episode. Last episode, we took a deep dive into the NU Defense and tonight we wrap it all up with a look at the O. It's the second season of the Mike Bajakian experience a...

At long last, we come to the finish line of our summer previews. Today we preview our very own Northwestern Wildcats. However, there is so much to say about this team, we would be hard pressed to cover the entire team in one episode. So tonight, we take a deep dive into the NU Defense. There is a lot of speculation with what we might see from Jim O'Neil's D, but one thing that we all know...

It's a new era in Champaign as Bret Bielema takes over from Lovie Smith. He does have his work cut out for him as there was not a ton in the cupboard. Does Bret have the wherewithal to get the Illini back to respectability? Will our streak of LOLHat ownership continue?

While they have had flashes of excitement, generally Purdue has not lived up to expectations in the Jeff Brohm era. Now with another change at Defensive Coordinator and the graduation of Rondale Moore coupled with a brutal schedule, will the Boilers be able to show some improvement?

Fly the red pirate flag for an emergency podcast. When news broke that Cam Porter was done for the year and Hunter Johnson was named starting QB, we had to jump right on with our thoughts. Take a breath folks, this is not the end of the world.

Last year, Wisconsin was widely touted as the class of the Big Ten West. As we all know, that was not exactly what happened. This year, the Badgers look to have a stacked defense and it will be tough to put up points against them. Will their offense be able to put up the points they need to make it to Indy?

It seems like we know exactly what Iowa is going to be year after year. Solid D, stout running attack, great OL. After coming in 2nd in the west last year, will the 2021 Hawkeyes "more of the same" approach put them in position to go to Indy in December?

The 2020 Gophers were a trendy pick to follow up their great 2019 season and contend for the Big Ten West. However, that was not to be as their defense faltered and they struggled to keep points off the board. Will PJ Fleck be able to shore up the D and keep the offense a'rowing back into the western title picture?

Last season was an absolute train wreck for Michigan, especially defensively. Jim Harbaugh seems to be walking on thinner and thinner ice, but as of yet, he hasn't fallen through. Will the so-called "quarterback whisperer" finally have a QB shine in his system? Or will that atrocious D from last year continue to bite them in the butt?

Under Greg Schiano, Rutgers is looking to turn around what can only be described as an abysmal experience in the Big Ten. In 2020 Rutgers showed a few flashes of excitement, primarily on Offense. Their Defense, on the other hand, was brutal. With a palpable upswing in recruiting, will the Scarlet Knights make noise in 2021?

Nebraska has been a middle to bottom team in the Big Ten West not only in the entirety of Scott Frost's tenure as coach, but pretty much since the moment they joined the Big Ten. After another disappointing season, will 2021 be the year Nebraska turns the corner? Or will Frost be looking for work after the season?

Today, we revel in our latest recruiting commitment, recap the Big Ten Media Days and react to the opening salvo in the latest round of conference realignment as Texas and Oklahoma look to move to the SEC.

Northwestern rounds out its non-conference slate with a little MACtion. Ohio had a late coaching change as Frank Solich retired, but long time OC Tim Albin takes over. Since Ohio only played 3 games in 2020, what do we really know about the Bobcats?

In a 2-for-1 preview pod, we take a look at Indiana State and Duke, the 2nd and 3rd games on the Northwestern schedule. The Sycamores haven't played a game since 2019 as they opted out of the 2020 season, so there is not much hard information on them. So we speculate as to what they might look like. Then we turn our attention to Durham, NC as Duke tries to rebound from a dismal 2020 campaign....

We have an announcement to make! This year, by popular demand, we are releasing a T-Shirt to help raise money for the Evanston Community Foundation . T-Shirts will go on sale on Friday. July 17th. For more information, go to westlotpirates.com and check our Twitter feed.