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Game 127: Army @ #6 Notre Dame

Army scored first and last, but Notre Dame walloped them in between. Led by Heisman hopeful, Brady Quinn, the Irish made senior day in South Bend a memorable experience for all who packed inside Notre Dame Stadium. The Black Knights had the intensity, but lacked the offense to keep up with the luck of the Irish. Notre Dame came pouring out of the famed tunnel in their rarely worn green jerseys. When the captains met at midfield, Brady Quinn received the largest ovation – one of many to come on this nippy November Saturday…

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Game 126: #1 Ohio State @ Northwestern

Northwestern probably wishes there was a “CNTL, ALT, DELETE” function on this football game. Is there any way we can start over? Perhaps they wish this could be granted for their entire season. With all the trouble the Wildcats have had this year, their matchup with #1 Ohio State would have to serve as their bowl game. With the top ranked team in the nation, all the national attention, and equal amount of fans from both sides, the atmosphere emoted a bowl-like feel. Actually, it felt more like Chicagoland’s personal Ohio Stadium. The gross amount of Buckeye fans drowned out the flecks of purple. The fair-weather nature of the Wildcats fans was purely embarrassing.

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Game 125: Kansas @ Iowa State

Getting back at Kansas should have been the driving force for Iowa State. Last season, the Jayhawks kept the Cyclones out of the Big 12 Championship game with a come-from-behind, overtime victory in Lawrence. For Iowa State, thoughts of revenge may have been clouded by the fact that their team has been suffering through a winless conference campaign in 2006. It quickly became evident that no amount of revenge, redemption, or fan support that shuffled into Jack Trice Stadium could lift the Cyclones toward victory…

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Game 124: #19 Oklahoma @ #23 Missouri

Missouri football has been on the cusp of many breakthrough moments and when placed in the national spotlight, their program crumbles. Carrying one of their best records in years, the Tigers welcomed traditional power, Oklahoma, to Memorial Stadium in Columbia. Again, opportunity knocked and Missouri had a good enough team that could answer the door and storm through. However, the Sooners’ agenda failed to coincide with Missouri’s plan and Oklahoma kept all hopes of a Missouri resurgence bolt-locked.

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Game 123: #22 Wisconsin @ Purdue

Boilermaker Spirit Weekend at Purdue is saturated with activities culminating with the conference clash on Saturday at Ross-Ade Stadium. The festivities were cut short this year thanks to the Badger defense that held Purdue to its lowest offensive output at home in thirteen years. The weather reached perfection and West Lafayette offers a classic Midwest venue that can please even the most sensitive of college football critics. The only missing link this weekend fell on the shoulders of the Purdue offense that couldn’t move a feather with an industrial fan much less a football.

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Game 122: Purdue @ Northwestern

Northwestern needs to review the rules of football. Lately, it seems as though they believe that the game lasts a mere thirty minutes. Take this past weekend’s tussle with Purdue at Ryan Field in Evanston: The Wildcats played an extremely competitive first half and then morphed into a submissive punching bag for half number two. When we reached the ticket gate and asked if any tickets were available for today’s game, the response from the ticket window was, “Of course, we have hundreds!” That was the first indication that Northwestern had better make room for another notch in the loss column. Perhaps I should have asked for half off the ticket price knowing that the Wildcats would only offer one half of entertainment …

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Game 120: Northern Illinois @ Ball State

Ball State University might want to replace their maintenance staff with NIU tailback Garrett Wolfe as he covered more ground and clipped more blades of grass with his shoes than John Deere could with a fleet of mowers. On an evening where nearly every type of imaginable weather came over Sheumann Stadium, nothing could stop the nation’s leading rusher.

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Game 118: #16 Iowa @ Illinois

Electricity bills will be lower in Iowa this weekend seeing that the entire state population including the band made their way to Champaign. Illini fans seemed to be in attendance merely as a diversion until basketball season. That truth became evident when four former Illini basketball stars were honored during the first half at Memorial Stadium. The excitement for those four athletes in street clothes brought on more cheers than the football squad’s performance. Yet, that is the nature of Illinois football right now. The gloomy, overcast skies reflected the emotions of the orange and blue. Head coach Ron Zook in his second season with the Illini is still searching for a conference victory. Upon my visit to the bathroom before the game and listening to swarms of Hawkeye fans screaming their fight song, something gave me the feeling that today wouldn’t be Zook’s day.

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