Jan. 3, 2006
Sun Bowl
Although the outcome of the game wasn't what we had hoped, I thought the overall experience at the Vitalis Sun Bowl was tremendously positive for our team and fans. The Sun Bowl has the reputation of being the most hospitable bowl, and based on how we were treated last week, this reputation is certainly well deserved. Bernie Olivas, executive director of the Sun Bowl, and his staff went out of their way to make sure that our coaches, staff and players had everything we needed during our stay in El Paso. Unfortunately, this will be the last year that the Big Ten sends a team to the Sun Bowl, as the Big Ten has changed its affiliation with bowls (the Sun and Music City Bowls will be replaced by the Insight.com (Phoenix) and Champs (Orlando) bowls. I also want to give special thanks to all of our fans who traveled to El Paso. Our turnout of fans at the game was impressive, and will help us in future bowls.
As we look to next season, I think the experience at the Sun Bowl will help our team. With a relatively young team, the extra month of practice will be invaluable in developing our players. We return 14 starters as well as other key players, and the experience of playing in the bowl game will be invaluable to them.
I am so thankful for all that our seniors did for the football program during their time here. They played with great heart all season, and I'm glad that they were able to end their careers with a bowl game experience. They are leaving our program in very good shape.
Big Ten Opener
Our men's basketball team opens Big Ten play at home against Purdue on Wednesday night. The game starts at 6 p.m. to allow our fans to get back to watch most of the BCS national championship game. Our team has won three games in a row, and is starting to play with confidence. Hopefully we can get off to a fast start in conference play. Senior Mohamed Hachad, a key factor in our recent success, had an emergency appendectomy last week. He will miss the Purdue game, but should be back by the Penn State game. He is a difference maker for us, and we will need him healthy to do well in the league.
Midlands Championships
We hosted the Midlands wrestling championship last week. The Midlands is regarded as one of the finest wrestling tournaments in the country. Our team performed well, finishing 10th (out of 61 teams). Sophomore Jake Herbert deserves special mention, as he became our first wrestler to win back-to-back Midlands championships.
Winter Olympics
Northwestern will be represented at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino by sophomore Margaret Crowley of Chicago. Crowley, 19 years old, earned a spot on the U.S. speed skating team. She will compete in the 3,000-meter event. Congratulations to Margaret, who is majoring in economics and minoring in French and literature at Northwestern.
Happy New Year to all our Northwestern Wildcat fans!