West Lot Pirates

As we start our run-up to the NFL Draft, this week, we welcome in Tim Chapman, author of ChampioN Underdog: The Improbable Success of the 1995 Northwestern Football Team. We reminisce about the amazing Rose Bowl run that 95 team went on, dive into some of the great stories from the book and from the writing of the book.

Northwestern made an exciting run to the second round of the NCAA Women's Basketball tournament in San Antonio before running into a spectacular Louisville squad. Tonight, we recap the two games in Texas before turning our attention to the insanely successful runs pretty much every spring sport are undergoing in Evanston. 

After last year's hiatus, it's great to have the NCAA Tournaments back in our lives. We would be remiss if we didn't bring back our resident bracketologist Scott Sepich to come talk about this years Men's and Women's tournaments. The NU Women picked up a 7 seed and will face UCF in round 1 with a potential matchup against Louisville in round 2. We talk all this and more with Sc...

As another disappointing season from the Men's Basketball team comes to a close, we sat down with former Wildcat guard Jordan Ash to discuss the team, his background coming up in the Chicago Catholic League and talk about his brand new podcast.

With the 2020-21 Men's Basketball team spiraling down towards another disappointing season, it's time we take stock of the direction of the program. We are now 4 years removed from the magical run to the NCAA Tournament, but things are looking pretty bleak. Is it time to move on? What impact will the new Athletic Director have on the situation? We also catch up with the Women and start to...

For the first time in a few years, there was some actual drama to the February Signing Day. Northwestern brought in two highly regarded WR signees today and to talk about them, and the rest of the 2021 class, we sat down with @NUFBRecruiting to discuss.

The Northwestern world is abuzz with the news of a new QB and Defensive Coordinator. Ryan Hilinski has announced his transfer from South Carolina to Northwestern and Jim O'Neil will soon be announced as the new DC. This week, we talk all about these new additions and how they might impact the team in 2021.

With the 2020 college football season now officially behind us, we look back at where Northwestern finds itself in the grand scheme of things, examine the comings and goings of the transfer portal and check in on both men's and women's hoops as we get deeper into conference play.

Citrus Bowl Champions! That has a nice ring to it. Tonight, we look back at Northwestern's dominating performance over Auburn, reflect on the season, pay homage to Coach Hankwitz and begin to think about where this team goes for the 2021 season

For the first time in Northwestern history and only the 3rd time ever, the Cats are ranked in the top 20 in both Men's and Women's Hoops and Football (not to mention the top 10 ranking in US News and World report for the school itself.) Tonight, we talk about the Men's team and their amazing week of wins over Michigan St., Indiana and Ohio St. before we turn our attention to the Citrus...

While the outcome was not what we had in mind, the effort on the field was anything but disappointing. Tonight, we recap the Big Ten Championship game, then we discuss the colossal upset by the Men's Basketball team over Michigan State. After that, we will try to talk everyone off the ledge who is worried about the several football players entering the transfer portal before we begin to look a...

For the sixth consecutive year, the Hat stays in Evanston! More importantly, Northwestern is back in the Big Ten Championship game for the second time in three years! With so much on the line, we had to bring in Jay Sharman from Lake the Posts to join us as we talk about last week's game and preview the title game against Ohio State.

With the Northwestern/Minnesota game cancelled, Northwestern is back in the Big Ten Title game for the second time in three years. The LOLHat is on the line this weekend as the Cats look to finish off the 2020 regular season. Tonight, we welcome back ESPN's Adam Rittenberg to the show to help us make sense of this wild, wacky season. Then we look ahead to this weekend's action.

Did it suck to lose to MSU? Sure. Was it frustrating to have the possibility of a playoff berth dashed? Damn straight it was. Does this loss take away any positive momentum the Cats have had thus far and virtually end the season? Not even remotely! The Wildcats have every opportunity to win the Big Ten West and go to Indy to play for the Conference Championship. Tonight, we are here to talk Wildca...

We expected a defensive, low-scoring, pound-it-out slugfest of a game and this did not disappoint. Northwestern unleashed its stifling defense and shut down the Badgers almost entirely, cementing the Cats' place on top of the Big Ten West. With only 3 games left, NU is certainly in the driver's seat for their second Big Ten Championship appearance in three years. But this game felt even bi...

We're halfway through the season and NU passed their biggest test to date. The Purdue offense is as dynamic as any we'll see all season and the Cat's D was up to the challenge. Keeping David Bell in check and only allowing 2 total yards rushing, Northwestern held on for another one-possession victory.

In what has become a very underrated rivalry, the battle of NU, Northwestern continued to show defensive dominance, especially in the second half, and knocked off the Cornhuskers. While the offense was shaky at times, the D has yet to allow a single point in the second half of any game this season. However, with the high flying Purdue Boilermakers on deck, can the Cats continue to pitch second hal...

Going into this game, we said we knew who both Iowa and Northwestern were. We also know exactly how these two teams play one another. This year's game was no departure from the norm. The Cats continue their streak of wins in Iowa City as we break it down. Then we look ahead to the red-headed stepchildren of the Big Ten, Nebraska.

Well now! Northwestern kicked off the 2020 campaign with a resounding win over a hapless Maryland squad. So many positives to take away from this one starting with Peyton Ramsey, Mike Bajakian's Offense, the OL, you name it! And that's just on the offensive side of the ball. Join us for a jumbo-sized recap and look ahead to this upcoming week's Halloween tilt in Iowa City against the H...

It's taken a long time and a lot of very hard work by so many people, but finally, we have Northwestern Football coming up this weekend. Tonight, we preview the game against Maryland and discuss the possibilities of this upcoming season.

With just over a week to go before the 2020 Northwestern season gets underway, it's high time we take a deep dive into our beloved Wildcats. With Fitz keeping the depth chart and opt-out lists in a safe with more security than Fort Knox, all we can do is analyze this squad from afar. Who will take the reins at QB this year? Who will step up to be our key pass rush specialist? Will we have a de...

We wrap up our preseason previews with a look at that little school down south. Northwestern has kept the LoLHat 7 of the past 8 seasons, even as bad as last year's team was. Will Illinois' insane luck in the turnover game continue into this season? Will it even matter?

Of all our 2019 previews, Minnesota was easily the one we were most off on. Their offense looks like it will be decent again, but with the loss of their top defensive players, will that derail their chances to make noise in the West this year?

Wisconsin comes into the 2020 season as possibly the best team in the Big Ten West, at least on paper. With no COVID opt outs, what we expected to see sure looks like it will be what we do see. But without the home field advantage that Camp Randall brings them, can they put together another Western Division title run?

As we get closer and closer to kicking off the Northwestern 2020 season, we take a look at the schedule put out by the Big Ten and break it down on a high level.