Larry Brown Sports

Northwestern defeated Mississippi State in the Gator Bowl on Tuesday to win its first bowl game since 1949. For those of you who struggle with math, that’s a 64-year drought. The Wildcats had lost nine straight bowl appearances prior to the 34-20 victory, which was tied with Notre Dame for the longest bowl losing streak.

One might say Northwestern got the monkey of its back with the win, which is why the team decided to celebrate by destroying a stuffed monkey after the game. The photo you see above was tweeted by the Northwestern athletics twitter account, which described the carnage as “the remains of the bowl monkey.” Head coach Pat Fitzgerald made mention of the monkey to begin his postgame press conference.

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Nebraska fans are legendary for their passion and devotion to their football team. Perhaps no story symbolizes that devotion more than what happened over the weekend at Ryan Field.

According to the Chicago Tribune, Northwestern had to use a silent snap count for their final drive of the game against Nebraska despite playing at home in Evanston, Illinois. The offensive linemen complained that they couldn’t hear the calls, prompting the silent snap count.

“We didn’t prepare for that all week,” quarterback Kain Colter said.

Northwestern’s final drive resulted in two completions before the game ended. The drive before that was six plays for 38 yards, and it ended in a missed long field goal attempt.

We’ve actually seen this happen before in football. Last year, Green Bay Packers fans had such a strong presence in San Diego they forced the Chargers into a silent snap count at home as well. Nebraska fans have produced a sellout streak for home games that dates back to 1962. They travel extremely well and have been able to buy their way into every stadium in America. What happened in Evanston is no surprise, but it’s still a compliment to Nebraska fans.

Helmet smack to College Football Talk

Northwestern is having a strong season, but that doesn’t mean they’re all set with their game-day routines. In fact, coach Pat Fitzgerald is switching up the team’s schedule for Saturday’s home game against Nebraska.

The Chicago Tribune reports that Fitzgerald will have a mandatory nap time for his players on Saturday about five hours before the game. The reason is due to the early afternoon kickoff.

Northwestern’s kickoff against Nebraska is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. CT on Saturday. The team also had a 2:30 p.m. kickoff on Sept. 15 against Boston College, and they apparently were sluggish during the game despite winning 22-13.

Fitzgerald attempted to get to the bottom of the situation. From the Tribune:

[Fitzgerald] asked members of his Leadership Council: “What’s the deal? Why didn’t we start fast?”

They told him the game clashed with nap time. NU players typically arrive at the team complex at 6:50 a.m. for meetings, practice from 8:50 to 10:30, attend class and then snooze in the early afternoon. So Saturday’s itinerary will call for an early breakfast and a nap at around 9:30.

Fitzgerald almost could not believe he agreed to it. “Unbelievable,” he said. “This is what I get paid to do. Seriously. Create nap time. It’s pathetic.”

Fitzgerald is joking about the situation, but his solution actually makes a lot of sense. Many people don’t think about it, but various start times have a huge effect on games. West Coast teams often struggle when they have early start times on the East Coast. A 1:00 p.m. ET kickoff means a West Coast team would have to get up extremely early, presenting a major departure from their routines.

Fitzgerald even posted a picture to his Twitter account of the team’s Saturday itinerary that features the scheduled nap time:

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Michigan State entered Saturday’s game at Northwestern ranked 7th in the BCS Standings and first in the Big Ten with a 7-0 record. They had beaten Notre Dame on a crazy fake, taken down Wisconsin at home, and they pummeled Michigan on the road. With a big challenge at Iowa looming, Saturday at Evanston seemed like a trap game for the Spartans.

It certainly turned out that way, yet Michigan State prevailed with an impressive comeback.

The Spartans came back from down 17-0 in the second quarter to win 35-27. They caught a nice break early in the game when Northwestern lost a fumble at the Michigan State one-yard line on its third possession. Kirk Cousins threw a touchdown pass before halftime to get them on the board and they went into the half down 17-7. In the second half, Michigan State’s offense really came alive.

Bennie Fowler scored on a reverse to pull the Spartans within three, but then they allowed another touchdown going down by 10. Michigan State reached into its bag of tricks again and ran a fake punt to convert a 4th down in Northwestern territory and they scored a touchdown right after that. Yet again, a fake on a special teams play gave them a huge lift. From there, Michigan State’s defense got stops (including a pick to seal the game), and the offense scored two more touchdowns to win it.

Michigan State isn’t blowing teams away and reminds me a lot of Iowa last year in terms of the way they’ve won games. It hasn’t always been pretty, but they keep coming out on top. Now they can turn their full attention to the Hawkeyes.

Photo Credit: AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh