About EVR

"Expect Victory" is the well known battle cry of the Gary Barnett era Wildcats; a mantra continued today by Coach Fitz. "Victory Right" is, of course, the most recognizable single play in Northwestern Football history; capping off a 21-point comeback at Minnesota in 2000. "Expect Victory Right" is what Northwesten fans have become accustomed to as followers of the Cardiac Cats; another Victory Right game could happen any given saturday. It is also a nod to how Coach Fitz is dedicated to winning the "Right" way.

Friday, December 31, 2010

The Tragic History of the Cotton Bowl Stadium

On Saturday, Northwestern will be the fourth Big Ten team to ever play in the history Cotton Bowl Stadium.  Illinois and Purdue played SMU there in the 30's and Ohio State won the Cotton Bowl Classic in 1987.  No Big Ten team has ever lost in the Cotton Bowl Stadium.

Photo Credit: dallascityhall.com
Fans in this generation of college football may not understand the importance of the Cotton Bowl.  Explaining why the Cotton Bowl used to be important is like trying to explain how Notre Dame used to be really good.  But almost as much as my passion for Northwestern football is my love for college football history.  So on the eve of the Wildcats visit to Dallas, allow me to indulge myself.

The Cotton Bowl was built in 1929 and is located within the confines of the Texas State fairgrounds.  Prior to the Ticketcity Bowl, the Cotton Bowl has had five previous tenants.  

SMU has played the most games in the Cotton Bowl, calling it home for most of their home games until 1978.  SMU, in addition to playing in the Cotton Bowl, is infamous for receiving the "death penalty" from the NCAA for its systematic and University sanctioned player payment scheme in the 80's.  After returning from the death penalty, SMU played a few years back in the Cotton Bowl before returning to campus in 2000.

The Dallas Cowboys played in the Cotton Bowl from the time of their founding in 1960 until moving to Texas Stadium in 1971.  The Cotton Bowl also hosts two annual rivalry games, the Red River Rivalry (Shootout) between Texas and Oklahoma; and the State Fair Classic between Grambling State and Prairie View A&M.

But most importantly, the Cotton Bowl hosted, well, the Cotton Bowl.  Since 1937, the Stadium hosted the annual New Years day Bowl game until this season, when the game has been moved to Cowboys Stadium and will be played on January 7.  The stadium has hosted more bowl games than any other arena except for the Rose Bowl.

For decades, the Cotton Bowl, along with the Rose, Sugar, and Orange, was one of the Big Four New Years Bowl games.  Back then there were five major conferences, the Big Ten (Rose), Pac 10 (Rose), SEC (Sugar), Big 8 (Orange) and the old Southwest Conference, which sent its annual champion to the Cotton Bowl.  The rest of college football was made up of less significant leagues and an army of powerful independents, which included Penn State, Miami, Pitt, and Notre Dame.

As a history lesson here the old Big 8 was comprised of what we now (at least for today) call the Big 12 North along with Oklahoma and OK State.  The Southwest Conference was made up of the four Texas schools in the Big 12 South, along with Houston, Rice, TCU, SMU, and Arkansas.  Much like the recent storm of realignment, it is the movement of these teams which changed college football and lead to the demise of the Cotton Bowl game.

The Cotton Bowl game pitted the Southwest conference Champion against an at large team, usually the runner-up in the SEC or the Big 8; but sometimes it scored an independent.  It was one of THE games to see on New Years Day.  The true heyday of the Cotton Bowl game was in the late 50's and 60's.  In 1959, an Ernie Sims led Syracuse team beat Texas to win the National Title.  In 1963, Texas beat #2 Navy and Roger Staubach to finish #1.  In 1969 Texas beat Notre Dame to win the National Title; one year later, Notre Dame kept #1 Texas from winning the National Title.  It staying high on the college football radar through the mid-nineties.  In each year from 1988 to 1993, the Cotton Bowl matched two top ten teams against eachother.  

The demise of the Cotton Bowl game aligns with the failure of the Southwest Conference and the rise of the Fiesta Bowl in Arizona.  The Fiesta Bowl, at the time, was not aligned with any conference and had the freedom to select whomever it wished.  Sometimes the Fiesta Bowl hit the jackpot such as the 1988 game between undefeated Notre Dame and West Virginia -- two independents.  The growing popularity of this game, along with the exploding population of Arizona, started to threaten the Big Four Bowl Games.

When SMU was given the death penalty, the SWC received the first in a series of blows.  SMU was not permitted to field a team in 1987 and elected not to play in 1988.  The SWC only had eight teams in these two years.  The conference was already top-heavy, with Texas, Texas A&M and Arkansas dominating the league.  

When Arkansas left for the expanding SEC after the 1991 season the league was left with two major powers, five also rans, and SMU, who could barely field a competitive team.  The SEC had expanded to 12 teams and was taking advantage of the NCAA rule that permitted a championship game to be played.  Texas and A&M saw dollar signs and no future in the SWC.

In 1995 the SWC played its final football season and sent its final Champion to the Cotton Bowl.  Texas, A&M, Tech, and Baylor joined the Big 8 to form the Big 12.  Rice, SMU, Houston and TCU were left to scrap for mid-major attention, despite being among the big boys for decades.

But the biggest blow for the old stadium in Dallas was that the Big 12 pledged its champion to play in the Fiesta Bowl, forsaking both the Orange Bowl and the Cotton Bowl.  The Orange Bowl managed to sign on with the up and coming ACC, which had recently brought on Florida State as an anchor team.  The Cotton Bowl was left holding a soggy bag.

The Cotton Bowl has since settled in with an SEC and Big 12 match up.  But the game has now moved out of the old Stadium and is no longer a New Years Day game.  It is a ghost of its former glory -- a discarded result of politics and power.

Northwestern is truly playing at a historic place on Saturday.  We should only hope that the stories of the old Cotton Bowl continue to be told for decades to come and that they never be forgotten.

Monday, December 27, 2010

Catching up with EVR

It seems like months since the Wildcats last took the field in Madison -- and even longer since EVR posted here.  So there is a lot of catching up to do before we prepare for the Ticketcity Bowl on Saturday.  Hopefully, this will wet your appetite and get you back in Wildcat football mode.

I realized that I never did a breakdown of the Wisconsin game.  While trying to do an adequate review of a 70-23 beat down is rather pointless, there are a few take-aways from this game to discuss.

  • Lost in the blur of seven turnovers was the fact that the NU offense was able to move the ball fairly well against the Badgers.  NU did not punt in the first half and there is something to say about being able to squeeze out 23 points under the circumstances.  Yes, this is really straining for a silver lining; but the offense was not nearly as bad as the final score would suggest.
  • Venric Mark is the most electrifying player that Cat fans have seen in Purple since D'Wayne Bates.  It has taken his a little while to get used to the speed of the college game, but with each week, he got closer and closer to breaking a big one.  He almost did it against Illinois and obviously did in Madison.  This is going to be a fun guy to watch for the next three years.
  • Stephan Demos really did a nice job of turning around his senior season.  After the Outback Bowl disaster and a nightmarish start to 2010, Cat fans were left wondering after the Purdue game whether it was time to move on.  Demos really tightened up his game during the last six games of the season and should be able leave NU with his head held high.
The Cats have seen a few personnel changes since November -- both on the current team and in the recruiting class.  First, and most significant is the departure of Arby Fields.  Arby was certainly given his chances to be the man, both last year and here in 2010.  But in the end, his fumbling issues as well as his tendency to bounce his runs outside unnecessarily lead to his place on the bench.  Certainly the sophomore saw two freshmen (Trumpy and Smith) ahead of him on the depth chart and the decision was easy.  We wish Arby good luck with whatever he chooses to do with his future.

The Wildcat recruiting class was at 13 players at the end of November; and that is where it stands today.  But not without some player movement.  First, the Cats lost the commitment of linebacker Derek Watt.  Watt is the brother of Wisconsin's all-conference D-Lineman J.J. Watt.  Derek had always been deciding between the Cats and the Badgers and in the end, chose to join his brother in red.  Decommitments to join a brother are not uncommon, and this move should not be seen as a comment on the team's recruiting efforts.

Sean Cotton, a safety from Melrose Park, IL, was forced to decommit because of his ACT scores.  NU remains open to renewing his scholarship offer if Cotton is able to improve his scores -- and he currently only has an offer from Western Michigan.  Cotton received the highest 3-star rating (5.7) that Rival.com offers.  So Sean would be a great addition to the defense.  Good luck Sean.

In the wake of the coaching changes at Indiana, NU was the recent recipient of two of the Hoosiers' decommitments.  First the Cats picked up safety Nick VanHoose to fill the void left by Cotton.  VanHoose is a 2-star DB (Rivals.com; 3-star on Scout.com) and is not ranked as high as Cotton.  But he will be a necessary part of the Wildcat recruiting class that currently has only four defensive players, including...

CJ Robbins, who left the Hoosiers camp in order to play Defensive End for the Cats.  Robbins is a 3-star (Rivals) end with a 5.5 rating, and is larger than Max Chapman, the other DE in the class.  No word on whether VanHoose and Robbins left IU because they would rather be Legends than Leaders.

There are reports that sophomore Roderick Goodlow will be converted from an OLB to a DE.  At 6'2" 215, he will be a speed rusher from the outside and could fill the role that the Cats had been developing with Quentin Davie in the second half of the season.

From an injury standpoint, Dan Persa's recovery is reportedly going very well.  Meanwhile, Mike Trumpy is still hoping to be able to play on Saturday, but his status remains questionable, according to the Wheaton Patch.

A great deal has been made about freshman QB Kain Colter and his brief appearances against Illinois and Wisconsin.  Teddy Greenstien writes a nice piece about Kain and his developing role in the NU offense.  It remains to be seen what his role will be in Dallas on Saturday.  But his play against Tech will tell us a lot about the expectations for the future will be -- both as the backup in 2011 and more importantly, as the future starter in 2012.  As a comparison, Skip Myslenski recently detailed the http://nusports.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/121410aaj.html.  Keep an eye on how this plays out.

The Big Ten Conference recently made a highly-publicized announcement regarding the league's division names, new logo, and annual awards.

  • When the Conference elected not to divide the divisions geographically, it was left with a no-win situation when naming them.  At least it is not as bad as the "Atlantic" and "Coastal" Divisions in the ACC.  From a practical standpoint, Big Ten fans will likely refer to them casually as "our Division" and "the Other Division"; and nationally, they will be called "the one with Ohio State" and "the one with Michigan."  Leave the real names for press releases and stat sheets.
  • The new logo is pretty weak.  No good explanation has been made for including a "1" but not a "2".  And I understand the use of a color that has not been claimed by a Conference member -- but did it have to go with North Carolina Blue?
  • I actually like the awards and the names really fit with the Legends/Leaders monikers.  Using Amos Alonzo Stagg is a nice nod to history; as well as the spared use of Nebraska and Penn State players.  Naming the best Linebacker award after Fitz is quite an honor given the LBs that have been through this League.
Insight Bowl Preview: Iowa vs. Missouri.  Iowa may have been one of the most disappointing teams in the country this year.  After getting back to #9 in the country after its big win against Michigan State, Iowa lost its last three games, including a brutal loss to Minnesota.  The Hawkeyes vaunted defense proved to be a fraud as they continued to fold in the final minutes of games.  All five of the Hawkeyes losses came on last minute drives.

Missouri had a similar path, but avoided the end-of-season slide.  After a monumental win over then #1 Oklahoma, Mizzou lost consecutive games to Nebraska and Texas Tech.  But it recovered to win its last three games on finish 10-2.  On paper, Iowa has the better players, and the Tigers have had the better season.  On the field, this game should be pretty even.  But the Hawkeyes simply have too much going on right now, with their off the field problems.  My pick is 27-24 Mizzou.

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Ticketcity Bowl Week

Photo Credit: media.scout.com
Expect Victory Right returns from an extended hiatus this week to get you ready for the Ticketcity Bowl matchup with Texas Tech.  Northwestern will play in the historic Cotton Bowl Stadium; and is one of five Big Ten teams playing on New Years Day.

This week will EVR will breakdown the last month of Wildcat football and preview the eighth bowl game in the Expect Victory Era.

Monday's post will breakdown the news and notes since the Wisconsin game.  There have been some personnel changes and recruiting news.  And of course, my take on the Big Ten division announcement.  Also included will be my thoughts on Tuesday night's Insight Bowl, featuring future divisional rival Iowa.

Wednesday EVR will tell the historic but tragic tale of the Cotton Bowl -- how it went from one of the most prestigious Bowl games to an afterthought.  I will also breakdown the rest of the Big Ten bowl lineup.

Friday will be a typical pre-game Friday, with an in depth look at both teams.

I hope everyone is enjoying the holidays with their friends and family.  But now it's time to gear back up for college football!

Go Cats!