West Lot Pirates

Early Signing Day is here! We take a quick look at the 18 guys making up the incoming class of 2019, take stock of the Men's Basketball team during the winter break and preview the second stretch of Bowl Games.

This week we discuss Adam Cushing's departure from the Northwestern coaching staff to take over the helm at Eastern Illinois. After a check in with the Men's Basketball team, we begin our Bowl Previews with a look at the first week's slate of games.

It was a very emotional game and Northwestern showed out mightily, but alas, was not able to come out of Indianapolis with a Big Ten Title. We recap the game and dive into the deeper meaning of the weekend before we begin to turn our attention to the Holiday Bowl against Utah.

There's not a lot to say about the 'Cats retention of the LOLHat but we do give that game its due before we look ahead to the Big Ten Title game this Saturday against Ohio State.

It was a very workmanlike win in the frigid Twin Cities. We talk about the game and then gear up for the battle of the Hat.

For our second pod this week, we preview the Minnesota game and take an early look at the Men's Basketball squad as they tip off their season at the New Welsh-Ryan Arena.

Big Ten West Champs! We couldn't wait till mid-week to talk about Northwestern's win over Iowa that clinched a berth in the Big Ten Championship Game in Indy.

In a game that was both monumental and meaningless at the same time, Northwestern showed out very well against a very good Notre Dame squad. Fortunately, with Purdue's win over Iowa, we have strengthened our hold on the top of the Big Ten West going into Iowa City this weekend.

Wow. Talk about a perfect weekend for Northwestern Football. A resounding win over Wisconsin and some help from Penn St. and Michigan St. puts the Cats alone in first place in the west. This weekend brings in Notre Dame for a game that is both massive and inconsequential at the same time.

Ugh. I'm not sure what word better describes last weekend's win at Rutgers. We briefly discuss that game before we preview the most important game at Ryan Field since 2013 as 1st place in the Big Ten West is on the line against Wisconsin.

No big deal, just another emergence of the Cardiac Cats winning a game after trailing by 10 with 3 minutes to play, converting a 99 yard TD drive with under 2 minutes to go and no time outs and taking Nebraska to OT.  We look back at all the craziness of the Homecoming game and look ahead to Rutgers.

It's real nice to get out of a rough September and start October off with a quality win on the road. Sam and John go over the Cats big win in East Lansing and preview this weekend's Homecoming tilt against the winless Cornhuskers.

After a frustrating loss to Michigan where Northwestern continued their pattern of not scoring in the second half, we look back at the game. We also welcome in former Northwestern QB Dan Persa for his thoughts on the Cats as well as his increasing presence in sports broadcasting.

What should have been a bye week filled with rest and healing instead turned into a very momentous week with the sudden retirement of Jeremy Larkin. This week, we look at the ramifications on the field for the 'Cats as we preview Saturday's matchup against Michigan. To lighten the mood, we also discuss our favorite games in the past 20+ years of our Northwestern fandom.

Yup. It happened again. Northwestern lost to a MAC school when everyone thought they would walk all over them. It might have been painful, but in this week's episode, we find some sanity in the situation.

It wasn't what we had in mind for our home opener as the Wildcat offense sputtered for most of the afternoon. We discuss the Duke game, preview this weekend's night game against Akron and whip around the rest of the conference.

That's the way to get the season started on the right foot. Northwestern made the quick trip down to West Lafayette on the opening Thursday night under the lights and ESPN cameras and came out with the W. We break down the game and look ahead to our home opener against Duke.

It's finally here! The 2018 season kicks off tomorrow and we are ready to rock and roll! Today, we preview our own Northwestern Wildcats and look ahead to Week 1 as we head to West Lafayette to take on Purdue.

Ah yes... The Illini. Not much more to say than that, but we'll look into Lovie Smith's squad as they try to get out of the basement of the Big Ten West.

What will year 2 of PJ Fleck and the Flecktones look like up in the Twin Cities? Let's row our boats into the land of 10,000 lakes and have a closer look at the Gophers.

Northwestern starts off their final road trip of the season with a visit to Iowa City. The Hawkeyes can always be a little tricky at home, so we need to get to the bottom of this team in this week's preview.

It's probably the most highly anticipated non-conference home game in recent memory. Notre Dame is coming to Evanston for the first time in over 40 years and we have a preview of the Irish.

In recent years, the game against Wisconsin has been pivotal in determining the winner of the Big Ten West. No reason to think this year will be any different.

For the first time since joining the Big Ten, we actually get a chance to see the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. Let's take a look at one of the newest B1G members.

As Camp Kenosha kicks off, we round up some news and notes that have gone down while we are in the middle of our team previews.