West Lot Pirates

Nick Martinelli finished up his Northwestern career at Welsh-Ryan with a pair of thrilling games: a last second buzzer beater against Oregon and yet another barn burner against Purdue. Tonight, we look back at the end of the hoops regular season and we check in on the rest of the spring teams.

Tonight, we check in on NU Hoops as the Men's team extended their winning streak against Indiana to 6, the Lacrosse team as they took out their frustration after their loss to Colorado, Softball as they continue to develop whilst taking on a meat grinder of a non-conference schedule and Baseball as they have started off to a very respectable 5-2 start.

As the Spring seasons for Lacrosse, Softball and Baseball (yes, we know it's February) get underway, we look at the opening weekend's games which had some good and some rough outcomes.

The calendar may read January, but it's time to look ahead to the 2026 college football season, specifically, the release of the Big Ten schedule. Tonight we look at the Cats' schedule while also noting that NEXT week we find out the home venue locations. Might we see another game or two on the lake before the New Ryan Field is ready?

With Indiana's historic win over Miami in the National Championship Game, that brings us to the end of the 2025 College Football Season. In tonight's episode, we discuss the Hoosiers and their season and how that could completely change the way we think about College Football.

Transfer portal season is here and boy, it's busy. In addition to continuing building out the offensive coaching staff under Chip Kelly, we have a flurry of faces transferring in and heading out. Tonight, we go through some of the early highlights of transfer season including our new QB, Aidan Chiles.

Well now! Happy Holidays indeed! The Cats went out to Detroit in the GameAbove Sports Bowl and laid it on Central Michigan with a dominant performance from the Defense. But we weren't done with the holiday surprises. Northwestern did something that we never thought would happen. They took a big swing and brought in Chip Kelly as the new OC!

For our podcast's 15th birthday, we do what we did in our very first episode, preview the Northwestern Bowl Game. On paper, CMU looks like a middle of the road MAC team, but as we all know, the game is not played on paper. We look forward to our Boxing Day matchup with CMU and look back at the first round of CFP games.

As we enter the back half of December, we find ourselves in the midst of Bowl Season. Tonight, we look ahead to the GameAbove Sports Bowl in Detroit where the Cats will be taking on Central Michigan. We also catch up on the rest of the Big Ten's bowl/playoff matchups and take stock of the Basketball team as we get our final tune-up games before conference play starts in earnest.

It would be easy to chalk this game up to just being a rivalry game in the snow, but there was a lot more going on than just that in Northwestern's 7 point loss to Illinois. Now with the regular season finished, we look ahead to our upcoming Bowl Game as we begin to think about a crucial 2026 campaign as we cut the ribbon on the new Ryan Field. Oh yeah, there's some coaching carousel news too...

What a weekend! Field Hockey finished their journey to repeat as National Champions with 2 incredible wins in both the Final 4 game against North Carolina and the title game against Princeton. Football finally broke the curse of Wrigley Field, getting their first ever win at the Friendly Confines while also clinching a bowl berth for the 2nd time in 3 years under David Braun. Let's not forget the Basketball team either as they went out to the Greenbrier resort in West Virginia and played 2 great games against Virginia and South Carolina, splitting the two.

The Wrigley Curse continued for the Cats as they lost to Michigan in an absolute gut-punch of a game. Northwestern made a valiant comeback and took the lead only to see Michigan drive down the field with time running out to kick the game winner. Now we look ahead to the final game at Wrigley for the foreseeable future as the Cats look to pick up win #6 and go Bowling.

It was a tale of two halves this past Friday in LA. The first half saw two teams trading punches back and forth. But one freak play turned the game on its head and USC pulled away in the second half. We look back at this game while also celebrating a hot start to the Men's Basketball season and wishing the best of luck to both Women's Soccer and Field Hockey as they enter their respective NCAA Tournaments.

The Northwestern Men's Basketball season tipped off this week with a huge win over Mercyhurst. With so many new faces on the squad, we take a look at the who's who on the team. Also, with Friday's trip to LA looming, what will the football team do to slow down the high octane offense of USC.

It was a game much like most of the other Nebraska/Northwestern tilts in that it went back and forth and came down to the last possession. While it always stings to lose to the Huskers, the Cats still find themselves at 5-3 going into their second bye week.

It could have easily been a big letdown spot coming off the huge win at Penn State last week, but the Cats came out on a mission, shutting out Purdue in front of the 1995 Rose Bowl team in the final game at Martin Stadium. Now, sitting at 5-2 on the season, the Cats make their way to Lincoln to try and keep the momentum rolling into November.

There are moments that define a program. The Rose Bowl season at Notre Dame, 54-51 vs Michigan, Victory Right against Minnesota, Noah Herron walk-off win against Ohio St. and so many more. It would not be hyperbole to look back at this weekend's win at Penn St. and include it in this list. The Cats put on as gutsy a performance as we've seen in quite some time to come away from Happy Valley with the W.

Now this is what we're talking about! Northwestern finally put together an offensive performance that we have been looking for as they trounced ULM. Now, the Cats now find themselves not only at 3-2, but also looking ahead to a game against Penn State this weekend that all of a sudden looks a whole lot more interesting.

We have been saying for some time that this game against the Bruins would be very telling in what to expect from this Northwestern squad this year. While the Cats did play a clean game and many players looked great, there were some major concerns in the strategy and game plan philosophy that we had to get into.

With the Cats off this week preparing for a dreadful UCLA squad with their interim coach, we took this opportunity to take stock of the rest of the conference through the lens of our preseason thoughts. Who is looking better than we thought at the start of the season? Who is worse?

Northwestern enters their first Bye Week with many questions still unanswered. On one hand, the Cats looked pretty decent against a monster Oregon team. On the other hand, the Offense still remains maddeningly inconsistent and mistake-prone. Today we take stock as we look ahead a week and a half to a dreadful UCLA team who just fired their coach.

It was a lovely night for some Friday Night Lights and Northwestern did what they needed to do: lay down the wood on their FCS foe. Unfortunately, they also lost Cam Porter for the season with a leg injury. Now, with #4 Oregon looming Saturday morning, what will the Cats need to do and what should we expect to see?

As Northwestern's Field Hockey squad embarks on their journey to defend their National Championship, John sat down with InsideNU's Editor-in-Chief Yanyan Li to break down the 2025 team.

That was certainly not the start to the 2025 season that anyone had anticipated. The Cats gave up 5 turnovers and the offense looked listless throughout the game. Tonight, we take a look back and try to figure out what NU will need to do to right the ship.

You've heard us talk about the rest, now join us as we talk about the best! That's right, this is the moment you've all been waiting for: our in-depth preview of the 2025 Northwestern Wildcats. We'll dive deep into the defense, the offense, the special teams and much, much more.

We wrap up our Summer Preview slate just as we do every year, with the battle for the Top Hat and Illinois. The Illini are coming off their best season in a while as they continue to embody the Bret Bielema system. But last year they seemed to come out on the right side of almost every close game they played. Will that luck continue into the 2025 campaign?

Northwestern wraps up the 2025 home (Wrigley) schedule as we welcome in the Gophers. In what may be the last game in Wrigley for the foreseeable future, PJ Fleck and the Flecktones come in looking to build on recent success. Will they have enough to make some noise at the top of the conference?

Two years removed from their National Championship, Michigan looks to ride their stellar D and hope that their revamped offense can propel them back to the top of the conference.

USC starts their second season in the Big Ten in a fascinating place. There is always the sense that the Trojans could/should be in the picture for the top of the conference, but for the past several years, the reality of the situation is not what the USC faithful expect. How hot is Lincoln Riley's seat? Will a rough schedule keep them from achieving where they believe they should be?

For the first time in what seems like forever, Nebraska is coming off a bowl appearance. Matt Rhule continues to reshape the program and Dylan Raiola enters his sophomore season hoping to improve on what was a solid freshman year. Will the Huskers actually make it a streak of bowling this year?

There are very few teams in the conference that look as different from last year as Purdue. A new coaching staff led by Barry Odom brought in boatloads of transfers into West Lafayette this year. Will it be enough to get Purdue out of the Big Ten basement?

Penn St. comes into the 2025 season highly touted and widely considered to be among the cream of the crop in the Big Ten. They return most of their offensive weapons and make a huge hire at Defensive Coordinator. Will they be able to live up to their hype this year?

It's the second season for UCLA in the Big Ten and the second season under DeShaun Foster. Coming off a 5-7 season last year, they have a lot of new faces. What will the Bruins look like when they come visit the lakefront?

Northwestern's third game of the season marks the start of the conference slate and with it, the defending Big Ten Champions, last season's #1 seed in the Playoff and what will no doubt be the highest ranked football team to play on the Lakefront, the Oregon Ducks. The Ducks look to reload after last year's disappointing finish at the Rose Bowl and they look fully capable of making that happen.

In today's episode, we discuss David Braun, Preston Stone, Joe Himon and Anto Saka and their trip to Vegas for Big Ten Media Days. We also discuss the Jake Retzlaff transfer to Tulane and how that may impact the Cats' week 1 matchup.

We continue our Summer Previews with a look at the three Non Conference matchups. The Cats start off heading down to New Orleans in late August to take on Tulane. The following week brings a Friday evening matchup against Western Illinois. In early October, the Cats welcome in Louisiana-Monroe to the lake for Northwestern's Homecoming game.

Our Summer Previews continue with brief looks at the other 4 Big Ten teams Northwestern does not play this year: Indiana, Washington, Michigan St. and Iowa.

Are you ready? Because we sure are! The 2025 college football season is fast approaching so it is time for us to kick off our 15th season of Northwestern Football coverage. We start as we do every year with previews of the Big Ten teams that NU will not play this season. We start off with the defending National Champs OSU, Maryland, Rutgers and Wisconsin.

The 2025 Northwestern Spring Sports calendar closed with a huge flourish this year as the Women's Golf team won their very first National Championship with some incredible golf against the very best in the nation. Lacrosse also played for the title after a massive comeback against BC in the semifinal.

We are fully into postseason mode for Lacrosse and Softball. The Lake Show continues into the NCAA Quarterfinals with a definitive win over Michigan. Now only a date with Penn stands between them and the Final Four. Softball rode the wave of a monster series win at UCLA into the NCAA Tournament where they will head to Clemson for their regional.