Although the Chicago Cubs won’t be hosting a bowl game in Wrigley Field this winter, they will welcome the Iowa Hawkeyes and Northwestern Wildcats in on Saturday. Besides the world has enough bowl games in baseball stadiums anyway. This gimmick is as trendy as pumpkin spice right now. A baseball score is very likely this weekend, as the Hawkeyes bring an absolutely putrid offense and a very elite defense to the Friendly Confines.
Wildcats Classic FYIs
Northwestern vs Iowa, 2:30 PM, Wrigley Field, Chicago, IL
Features: Special Wrigley Connection for NU OL Coach NUFB History at Wrigley Photo preview of the Field Layout
Streaming: Peacock (Paul Burmeister, Kyle Rudolph, Zora Stephenson)
Radio: WGN 720 (Dave Eanet, Ted Albrecht)
Odds: Iowa -5.5, O/U 31, ESPN Predictor App: Iowa 78%-22%
Iowa Hawkeyes (6-2, 3-2) Preview:
Northwestern versus Iowa is a matchup of the fifth and sixth lowest scoring offenses in the power five conferences of college football. So we maybe neither side breaks double digits here…at least not without the aid of a defensive or special teams touchdown.
NU’s offense ranks 13th in the Big Ten at 307.4 ypg.
But that’s 75 more ypg than the Hawks, whose 232.4 is worst in the entire nation.
While the Iowa Hawkeyes may not be very fun to watch (it’s easy to understand why this game was demoted to the streaming service), they do somewhat win games, to an extent, and their fans will be fired up for this one.
You can definitely expect a very pro-Iowa crowd for this one, the Big Ten Westiest game that will ever Big Ten West. This Saturday could bring the most Sickos Committee game possible.
1060 W. Addison will see a crowd that is at least 60-70% black and yellow.
An absolute heartbreaker for the Hawkeyes in Kinnick.
Minnesota goes home with the win and Floyd of Rosedale; Brian Ferentz goes home with 10 points added to his total.
The Climb to 325 continues. Volume up. pic.twitter.com/mHcgHuBeto
— Sickos Committee (@SickosCommittee) October 22, 2023
The Brian Ferentz Saga: Not a Love Story
Iowa brings the poster child for nepotism in sports, Offensive Coordinator Brian Ferentz, to the Friendly Confines.
I often like to joke that the Chicago Bears, as a whole franchise top to bottom, are basically what would happen if you had a Brian Ferentz level of merit hire at every position in your organization.
You don’t have to be an Iowa fan to hate the fact that Brian Ferentz, who is basically sports Meghan McCain, had a job this long. You can just be a human being who believes in the concepts or meritocracy and the notion of their being consequences for one actions.
Regardless of what happens with the drive for 325, Ferentz the younger is officially not coming back next season. The school announced on Monday that Brian Ferentz will be with the team until the end of the season, plus the bowl game, but after that his time is up.
The Iowa Hawkeyes really need this one if they are to mount a charge to the Big Ten West title.
Already bowl eligible, IU is looking at a 9, or maybe even a 10 win season, despite the fact that they are missing one whole phase of a complete college football team.
Northwestern Wildcats (4-4, 2-3) Preview
David Braun is doing a much better job than anyone expected. The Wildcats are entering November very much in the running to obtain a bowl berth. Back in the summer, who could have predicted that?
We said 3 wins, maybe 4, in our season preview prediction post, and here they are in the mix for six. Will Braun have the interim label removed at the end of the season?
Or do they keep him as DC, with the corresponding title of Associate Head Coach? Then they hire an offensive guru as the head man? We’ll see, but Braun stepped into an absolutely impossible task, and so far he’s passing with flying colors.
Northwestern is 4-1 at home, but 0-3 on the road. This will technically be a home game, but crowd wise, the Iowa Hawkeyes will have the home game atmosphere going. B
Brendan Sullivan has filled in nicely for Ben Bryant at quarterback, and he’ll get the call again here.
“Do not anticipate Ben playing this week,” Braun said at his weekly presser on Monday.
Said it last week: he’s progressing, maybe not as quickly as he’d like to or as we’d like him to. He is working his butt off. Anticipate getting him back at some point. Anticipate that Brendan Sullivan will be going for us this week.”
And now with that, we move on to a brief history of Northwestern football at Wrigley Field.
2010: Illinois 48, Northwestern 27
Due to one end zone being mere inches from a brick wall, both teams had to drive the same way, the opposite way, the whole game.
This was just like when we played sandlot football as kids.
Illini running back Mikel Leshoure rushed for an Illinois-school-single-game-record 330 yards. The team itself racked up an insane 519 rushing yards. Talk about a ground and pound approach.
2021: Purdue 32, Northwestern 14
The 1060 Project transpired in between the first game and this one. The field dimensions were now finally safe enough to play here, but once again the Cats got totally routed.
For much more detail on the history of Wrigley Field college football go here.
Prediction: Iowa Hawkeyes 13, Northwestern 9
Iowa gets to 13 via two safeties, and three field goals, largely set up by great field position achieved on defense and special teams.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He’s written for numerous publications, including the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. He regularly appears on NTD News and WGN News Now. Follow the website on Twitter and Instagram.