‘Cat Nip

We’re going with a rapid fire bulletpoint approach to this post to help you get caught up on all sorts of new information borrowed from across the web.  Fire up!

• Northwestern beat the University of Chicago 70-46 tonight at Welsh-Ryan Arena. The Maroons, an original Big Ten member and now DIII school is our only exhibition game of the season. They’ll be plenty of stat padding from guys who rarely play and tons of photos of Wildcats dunking with the hideous sight of empty bleachers in the background. Mike Turner left the game with a chest injury. Stats to be posted in the am.  I wonder what the over/under on puns including Maroon 5 will be?

• According to Ticketmaster, the ‘Cats-Michigan game is the second highest average resale ticket price in the country at $206 each. Only Texas A&M & Alabama is higher.

• WildcatReport.com’s Ryan Holmes filed a report from football practice today and once again I got to read how Kain continues to just kill it with his throwing in practice. Quinn Evans seems to be mending well and practicing while Nick VanHoose suited up but didn’t practice.

• There is a new rookie ready to carry the team bag in the blogosphere. Welcome Not Southeastern to the ranks of Wildcat blogs. They’re cranking out a bunch of content, but I would’ve loved the moniker to be a play off of Northeastern as I still live with that geographic challenge whenever I visit family out east who ask me how I enjoyed the co-op program.

•  The Devin Gardner “And/Or” Denard Robinson QB prep is in full effect as you can see in this video interview with Fitz thanks to Teddy Greenstein. Teddy also outlines the various paths to various Northwestern bowl games. Considering the ‘Cats are 24th in the current BCS rankings with two glamour name teams left, a top 14 finish would seem highly likely if we were to run the table. Teddy handicaps those chances here as well.

• NUSports.com’s Skip Myslenski offerred up all kinds of quotes from the  likes of Kain Colter and Brian Mulroe on the mental state of the team heading in to the crucial November stretch of games. Check it out here.

• The Sun-Times had their own take on NU preparing for Denard and Devin. Check it out here.

• I’m starting to really think we’ll be seeing a healthy dose of Michigan QB Devin Gardner on Saturday. MaizeNBrew, one of the best B1G blogs out there, broke down how Devin Gardner’s head-turning 45-yard TD heave was a turning point in confidence building for the dangerous athlete. Chalk this up under must read material for scouting report homework as a fan.

• Matt Alviti, our 4-star QB commit for 2013, has earned the 2012 Illinois Player of the Year. The kid oozes winner and has only lost 3 games in his career. Check it out here.

• Earlier this week, ESPN.com’s Adam Rittenberg profiled B1G sack leader and Wildcat DE Tyler Scott. Check out the profile of the rising junior here.

• Finally, check out the 2012 B1G rushing leaders and how close Venric Mark is to topping the chartss. Note Kain Colter is knocking on the door to be one of the top ten in the conference as well:

Survey Says…

We ask, you answer. The second highest voter turnout of the season weighed in on the fans’ mentality during this bye week. Here is the question and your response:

How are you feeling heading in to the bye week?