Fake it huh. This is going to be a hot topic of discussion because it seems like anyone could kick a 22 yard field goal, which leads me to believe that Fitzgerald wanted to end the game RIGHT THEN instead of going into double OT. Personally? I don't go for it - the Wildcats had a tough defense and an offense that was picking up first downs.  But who am I to question Fitzy? I love the way NW plays.

9 lives. I sweated through two shirts during the last 25 minutes of this game.  Auburn rushed the field three times, I think. Kafka's non-fumble, Demos' missed field goal 1, Demos' missed field goal 2...There were so many "I don't believe it" plays, the true mark of a great game. Markshausen's non-fumble fumble that got illegally booted by an Auburn player into Kafka's hands...the momentum turning fumble on the kickoff return by Auburn...Kafka's game tying touchdown on a deep ball with a minute left in regulation...the wild fake field goal to end the game...

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I had a post written out for this game by the first half. It was a rather brutally sarcastic piece titled "The System Worked: Northwestern Loses Badly to Auburn, 35-7." Yeah, that's how bad NU's play was until about the mid 3rd quarter. It really looked as though they had done no preparation for this game, that they had no plan coming in, other than to let Kafka fling the ball around willy-nilly in the spread, coverage be damned.

A funny thing happened while I was writing. In the mid-third quarter, I started getting really negative in my tone. I was upset. I had been talking up Northwestern's chances to my friends for weeks, and they were looking like a certain Division III team from Hyde Park. I had food on the line, and Kafka was attempting to match his season long interception total in 30 minutes of play. I was. Not. Happy. And as I got more negative, as the bile built up in my wordpad, Northwestern woke up. Kafka threw an amazing 35 yard strike to Andrew Brewer for a TD - score, 21-14. Only down by seven now. I kept writing. Auburn went three and out. More writing. Our blog isn't exactly a family website, but the things I was saying about my team couldn't even be printed here. And then - Drake Dunsmore broke a tackle and practically dragged another defender into the end zone with him to tie the game.

Wow, I thought. This reverse psychology stuff really works - even at a distance!

The game had gone from dull to thrilling in less than five minutes. Little did I know what was in store...

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(Cue inspiring military music...)

Men, all this stuff you've heard about the Big 10 not wanting to fight, wanting to stay away from the SEC, is a lot of horse dung. The Big 10, traditionally, loves to fight. All real midwesterners love the sting of football.

When you were kids, you all admired our champion quarterbacks, fastest receivers, big league ball carriers, and the toughest linebackers. ESPN loves a winner and will not broadcast a loser. The Big 10 must play to win all the time.

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Hello Rivalry readers!

If you've read this site before, you know me as the Northwestern writer. You probably also know that I am currently a law student at Northwestern. What you may not know, though, is that in addition to making my home in the windy city I am also a born and bred Chicagoan. Okay, okay, that's not that shocking. Now anyone who knows Chicago knows that we loooove our food. Perhaps it's the bitterly cold winters or just the midwestern sensibilities, but we here in Chicago love all things culinary at least as much as (and probably way more so) than any other city or region in the United States.

As a lifelong Chicagoan, I've always been amused by that peculularily Chicago tradition of betting food on sports games. You see, up here, our mayor likes to engage in friendly wagers with opposing mayors whenever a Chicago team makes it into the playoffs. The terms of the bets he makes are simple. The loser sends the winner a heaping pile of food unique to their region after the game or series is decided. Over the years, that's resulted in some quite amusing show downs complete with spreads fit for Mayor Dale - er, a king - and amusing televised posturing.

Sports, egoism, and food. What could be better?

Now, granted, I'm no city mayor. But I am an amateur sports blogger, and that's pretty close, right? To that end, I decided to see if I could rope another SB Nation blogger into such a bet. I tracked down Jay from the SBN blog for the Auburn Tigers, Track 'Em Tigers. I sent him an e-mail proposing that we wager regional goodies on the outcome of the Outback Bowl between Northwestern and Auburn. Fortunately for me, Jay loves food just as much as I do and was extremely excited about the prospect of such a tasty wager. Of course, he foolishly thinks he's going to be the one enjoying food this year, but I digress...

The terms of our bet and some friendly smack talk from Jay after the jump...

Law Buck takes a look at what the Big 10 faces come this bowl season...

Bama Hawkeye interviews the Alabama Blog, Roll Bama Roll, for their take on the Outback bowl...

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As we begin preparing for the year in which the Big Ten shocks the college football world by winning five of its seven bowls, let's learn about the opponents.  Oh sure, we could turn to the fans of our opponents and ask them questions about their beloved cats, birds, and bees.  But this site was founded upon the idea of rivals. That's why we're talking with our opponents' rivals. After all, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Don't forget to go back and submit your Bowl Prediction sheet for another chance to win a prize. For winning the regular season OPC, Seattle Hawkeye won...a hat. You may win...something cooler. Hardest bowls to pick so far are Stanford-Oklahoma and PSU-LSU.

As we look at the Outback Bowl, PeteHoliday of the outstanding Alabama blog, Roll Bama Roll, was kind enough to answer these questions that we had about the hated Auburn Tigers.

1.  Much has been made about Auburn offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn's desire to run his offense at an uncomfortably fast pace (not just the plays, but the time between plays).  Yet, while watching Auburn lose to Alabama and Georgia, their offense didn't seem to move any faster than a typical spread offense that lines up without a huddle (such as Kansas, Texas Tech, or even at times - Northwestern).  Is this all much ado about nothing?

Yes and no. By and large, Auburn's office just isn't going to run much faster than your average spread offense. Part of that is because, at times, there's only so fast you can push a football game. Part of it is that [former Auburn head coach Tommy] Tuberville did not exactly leave the cupboards stocked with top talent. The Auburn offense has the potential to move with a lot of speed but, in practice, they're not really able to execute that particularly often. Next season, or the year after, might be a different story but, at least for now, you're not going to see Auburn push any game-speed (or player-speed) envelopes.    

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Well, that turned out to be quite the exciting game. I was rather shocked by the final score, though not by who won. Those of you who've been around since the beginning of the season know that this was a tough one for me, as I write about both Wisconsin and Northwestern for The Rivalry, Esq. I grew up a Badger fan and as a current Northwestern Law student also cheer quite hard for the Wildcats. While the Northwestern-Wisconsin rivalry isn't a blood feud like some others in this conference, it was still a difficult game for me. Every play was essentially both good and bad. I cheered and then felt despondent for the entirety of this game. That's not really a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

I had hoped earlier this season that things would shake out in such a way that this game would only be important to one team and thus I would be able to pick a side for the game and stick with it. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) this game held implications for both teams. Both teams gained bowl eligibility weeks ago, but the the narrative of their seasons was on the line. While the cheesehead in me is sad that the Badgers lost, I think, in the end I am happy that the game turned out the way it did. Frankly, Northwestern needed this game more.

That might seem to be an odd statement, but, looking at the reality of this conference it makes sense from both a bowl perspective and a recruiting perspective. The current Big 10 standings have three teams at 10-2 on the season, with Ohio State taking the championship based on their better in conference record. OSU will thus claim the Big 10's automatic BCS berth and head to Pasadena to take on the Pac-10 champ. As far as at large berths go, Iowa will probably claim another for the Big 10, and Penn State has an outside chance of grabbing one also. If they didn't get an at large, PSU would be slotted into the Capital One bowl vs. a SEC team.

Wisconsin, then, was priced out of the BCS a long time ago. Even at 10-2, it would have been unlikely for them to move from their slot in the Outback bowl, and at 9-3 (assuming a win in two weeks over Hawaii) they won't drop from that perch either. Further, Wisconsin's team is a young one. They have performed remarkably well for such a freshman-sophomore loaded squad, and I see only bright things ahead of them.

Northwestern was in a similar bowl game spot. With the upset of Iowa and the expected victory over Illinois, Northwestern had vaulted themselves to 7 wins and past the rest of the mushy middle of the Big 10 to claim a ticket to the Champs Sports bowl. The victory today gives them eight wins, but they still sit behind Wisconsin and unless the Badgers falter in Hawaii they will still have a worse record by a game. Because Michigan State lost to Penn State today, there is no team capable of leapfrogging the 'Cats. Northwestern is as stuck as Wisconsin.

So, then, we must look at this game from a recruiting perspective. Wisconsin will always do well in recruiting among Big 10 teams. They are a flagship state school known both for academics as well as athletics. They have the loyalty of an entire state, as well as a history of a great football team and will always be competitive with the upper tier Big 10 teams for recruits. A victory tonight wouldn't have altered that in any meaningful way.

Northwestern, by contrast, could gain a significant boost from this victory. With today's win they have sealed an eight win season after coming from virtually nowhere to reach nine wins last year. They will not only be going to a bowl two years in a row, but a warm weather bowl at that (no Pizza! Pizza! here). Despite the dismal beginning to this season, they defeated two of the three ranked teams they played against, and came one quarter away from upsetting the third when Penn State came to town. These upsets, if they can be combined with the 'Cats first bowl victory in 60 years, would seal the impression in recruits minds that Fitz is determined to build a consistently winning program in Evanston that will compete with the conference's upper tier.

Thus, the team that needed the victory most managed to pull it out, and I am at least moderately happy for that.

After the jump, I do a multiple personality recap of the action on the field...

Bama Hawkeye takes a look at the sweet goods on the line this weekend in the Big 10...

Graham and Law Buck engage in dueling coverage of the OSU and Michigan rivalry game...

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Wow. What a finish. I think I finally know how Iowa fans have been feeling most of this season. Northwestern has had some memorable games this season - scares against Eastern Michigan and Miami(OH), come backs against Purdue and Indiana - but even through all of those, I think today's win against formerly undefeated Iowa qualifies as the most memorable of the year.

I was asked during the live game thread if Northwestern winning out (including the Iowa victory) would make this season a success. My reply was that unless it was combined with a bowl win against a decent or good team, the answer is no. As thrilling as this victory is, it's merely one great moment in a season full of disappointments.

But we can talk about that later. For now, let's just bask in the upset glow...

Once again during a Northwestern game I saw a starting quarterback taken down by injury and replaced by an ineffective backup. Except, this time, that injury came on the other side of the ball. The biggest news from this game, aside from the final score, was the injury to Ricky Stanzi.

The injury happened in the beginning of the second quarter. Pinned down on their own 6 yard line, Stanzi took the snap in the end zone to attempt a pass. The Iowa defense, for some inexplicable reason, failed to cover Corey Wootton who rushed in from Stanzi's right side and took him down. Stanzi fumbled the ball and Marshall Thomas fell on it for Northwestern's first TD of the game.

Stanzi didn't get up.

He managed to walk off the field, which probably saved a few emergency rooms in Iowa City from having a new crop of admits. The update during the middle of the game suggested that Stanzi, who did not return, suffered some sort of ankle sprain. There was no information on how soon he would return to play, but it's not likely to be a season ending injury.

That's pretty much the only good news Iowa fans can take away from this game, as their Big 10 title hopes are now threatened and their chance at the BCS title almost certainly eliminated, barring a few losses on the parts of Florida, Texas, Alabama, and Cincinnati.

Stanzi was replaced in the game by redshirt freshman James Vandenberg, a substitution that changed the script of the game. Vandenberg showed his inexperience in a big way and the upset was on.

Read how it happened, after the jump...

Graham takes a look at the Big 10 defenses going into Week 10...

I recap the disappointing collapse against Penn State in Week 9...

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Before this game, Pat Fitzgerald said he wanted the Wildcats to go out and play 60 minutes of quality football. Well, he got about 45. Going into the half, Northwestern led Penn State 13-10. Going into the fourth quarter, Northwestern and Penn State were tied, 13-13. And then the wheels came off, as has happened so many times this year. Except this time there would be no late game magic, no 25 point come back, no last second Stefan Demos field goal for the win. This time, when the game clock ticked down its final seconds on Saturday, there was just the end. The end to a game that started out so promising, to an epic upset in the making.

And yet... beyond the situation with Mike Kafka, which I'll get to below, I'm not that disappointed. Sure, I'm disappointed on a season level - this has not been the year I thought it was going to be. But, disappointed in this game? Not so much. I rated Northwestern's chances of stealing this one coming into this week at 10-15%. We had the momentum coming off the epic Indiana comeback, but Penn State had been rolling lately and their defense had overtaken Iowa in the stats. A win against them would be huge, but it would not come lightly, trap game or no. I knew this, and so seeing the result, I am only somewhat let down. My only sadness comes from what could have been.

Indeed... what could have been. This game started out well enough, with Northwestern holding their own against a #12 ranked Nittany Lions team. This time, the 'Cats didn't find themselves looking at a three score deficit before they got on the board. They held the Nittany Lions to a field goal on their first drive, and then answered with one of their own on a 34 yarder by Demos. The receivers were focused and sure handed while Kafka seemed to mystify the PSU defense with quick screen and slant passes. The game would remain tied at 3 through the end of the first quarter, and the 'Cats kept up the tit-for-tat in the next one. Kafka sprinted into the end zone on a 14 yard scramble for a touchdown to open it, and all of a sudden the Wildcats were up 10-3.

Then the middle of the second quarter came.

And Kafka got hurt.

The defense tried valiantly to keep Northwestern in this game, but in the next two and a half quarters with Dan Persa, the backup QB under center, the 'Cats would only pull out three more points on another Demos field goal. That field goal would have Northwestern up by 3 going into the half, but the offense remained stalled.

Kafka was on the sidelines with a hamstring injury, and the Wildcats just weren't the same...

Graham makes an argument that Minnesota should bench starting QB Adam Weber...

My take on the insanity that was Northwestern's comeback against Indiana in week 8...

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