Tag: Northern Illinois

Former Iowa fullback shares transfer portal destination

The former Iowa fullback has found his transfer portal landing spot.

Another former Iowa Hawkeye has found his transfer portal landing spot.

Former Iowa fullback Rusty VanWetzinga committed to Northern Illinois. VanWetzinga departs Iowa after two seasons in which he played minimally.

The 6-foot, 235-pound fullback saw his first game action with Iowa during the Hawkeyes’ Citrus Bowl loss to Tennessee to cap the 2023 season. VanWetzinga played in four games this season but did not record any statistics.

Now, VanWetzinga joins an NIU program that put together a 7-5 (4-4 MAC) campaign in 2024. The Huskies will face Fresno State (6-6, 4-3 Mountain West) on Monday, Dec. 23 at 1:30 p.m. CT in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.

“Thank you Iowa for a great two years,” VanWetzinga said in his post on X to announce his departure. “After a coaching/system change over the past year on offense, I have decided it is in my best interest to enter the transfer portal with three years of eligibility left as a linebacker/fullback.”

VanWetzinga’s younger brother, Joey VanWetzinga, just signed as part of Iowa’s 2025 signing class.

Like his older brother, Joey VanWetzinga comes to Iowa out of Pleasant Valley High School. A 6-foot-2, 260 pound offensive lineman, Joey VanWetzinga was ranked by ESPN as the No. 10 center in the 2025 signing class.

With Rusty VanWetzinga moving on and Hayden Large exhausting his eligibility, Eli Miller is the lone fullback projected to be on Iowa’s 2025 roster.

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Riley Leonard pens message to Notre Dame fans in The Players’ Tribune

Hear from the Irish’s QB.

[autotag]Riley Leonard[/autotag] has experienced it all in what will be his only season as Notre Dame quarterback. After a celebrated career at Duke, he opted to use up his college eligibility with the Irish, with whom he experienced incredible highs and the lowest of lows.

Leonard details all of that in a piece for The Players’ Tribune directed towards Irish fans. While some of it touches on his earlier life and his path to becoming a faith-based individual, the parts Irish fans likely will be most interested in are about his decision to come to the Irish and his experience in the immediate aftermath of the stunning loss to Northern Illinois that opened the home schedule.

No matter how the 2024 Irish’s season ends, Leonard forever will be seen a key reason the team made the College Football Playoff during its first year under the 12-team format. And if you’d like to hear more from him, here’s a recent interview he did with NBC Sports’ Nicole Auerbach:

Best of luck to Leonard for the rest of the season.

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Marcus Freeman named one of five finalists for Dodd Trophy

He deserves this for sure.

Notre Dame easily could have folded after its shocking loss to Northern Illinois in its home opener. Instead, [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] got the Irish back on track, and they haven’t lost since. That put the Irish in the College Football Playoff, and Freeman’s reward was a contract extension that locked him up for the next six years.

Now, Freeman has another reward coming his way. He has been named one of five finalists for the Dodd Award, which is given to the coach whose team best excels on the field, in the community and in the classroom. This is his first time making the final cut alongside all the other finalists, consisting of Army’s Jeff Monken, Arizona State’s Kenny Dillingham, Oregon’s Dan Lanning and South Carolina’s Shane Beamer.

Brian Kelly is the lone Irish coach to win this award, doing so in 2018. Given the current environment, it’s very likely Irish fans would be much happier seeing Freeman win it.

Here’s Freeman news conference this past week in case you missed it:

Obviously, the real goal is a national championship, but this is a nice one to have at the moment.

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Photos of Notre Dame football’s victory over USC in annual rivalry game

What image will you remember most from this game?

Notre Dame is in the College Football Playoff after closing the regular season with a 49-35 victory over USC. It’s great whenever the Irish defeat the Trojans, especially on the road, but this one carried extra meaning for the aforementioned reason. Historically, the Irish have needed this win a bunch of times to determine their postseason fate, and they answered the call again.

Now, the Irish play the waiting game as to where they’ll be playing their first playoff game and who. It’s almost if not completely certain that they’ll be opening at Notre Dame Stadium, so fans undoubtedly are making their travel plans for South Bend for that weekend if they haven’t already. Who would have thought that was possible after the loss to Northern Illinois?

While there are bigger things ahead, that doesn’t mean the Irish shouldn’t enjoy their win over the Trojans. In fact, they might want to look back at photos of the day such as the following:

Notre Dame statistical leaders through 11 games

Who leads the Irish heading into the final regular-season contest?

Notre Dame has its fate in its own hands for the College Football Playoff. All it needs to do is defeat USC, and a first-round game at Notre Dame Stadium appears to be a certainty. Who would have thought the Irish would be in such a good position after the loss to Northern Illinois threatened to derail their season early?

The Irish can’t afford to get complacent though. The Trojans have not had a great season, but dealing the Irish a loss that could threaten their playoff chances would make up for everything that has gone wrong for them. That’s why the Irish will need to prepare for them like they would for any ranked team, and the talent they have should allow them to emerge victorious.

Here are the major statistical leaders the Irish are taking into their regular-season finale. Not all of them will be available, but they’re fun to see nonetheless:

Notre Dame vs. Virginia: Fourth-Quarter Analysis

This quarter was uneventful, but that’s OK with the win.

Notre Dame didn’t need to do anything fancy to close out Virginia. Never mind that it failed to score on fourth-and-goal to cap a lengthy drive that began in the third quarter. It already had done enough to secure a 35-14 victory, which featured Tony Muskett running for a garbage-time touchdown.

Even though [autotag]Zac Yoakum[/autotag] capped another long drive by missing a 36-yard field goal, hardly anybody at Notre Dame Stadium cared at that point. The Irish were going to cap their home season with another victory. At least for the moment, the loss to Northern Illinois that happened there in September felt like a distant memory.

Obviously, Irish fans aren’t going to forget about that defeat to the Huskies entirely because it still threatens to derail their team’s chances at the College Football Playoff.

The focus now was on the seniors playing perhaps their final game in South Bend. It never is easy for Irish fans to say goodbye to those players, but all good things must end. If this is it for them at home, it was a nice way to go out.

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Notre Dame projected as College Football Playoff quarterfinalist

Minds are starting to change about the Irish.

For much of the time after Notre Dame lost to Northern Illinois, the Action Network’s Brett McMurphy was not empathetic. He consistently had the Irish in the Pop-Tarts Bowl, thus rendering their first season in the expanded College Football Playoff era a failure.

McMurphy has changed his tune about the Irish however. A week ago, he projected the Irish as the No. 10 seed in the playoff. While he had them losing to Penn State, it still was a sign of progress.

Now, McMurphy has flipped the seeds for the Irish and Nittany Lions, meaning the Irish now would host the first-round game. What’s more, he has the Irish winning the game, which would give them a New Year’s Day date with Georgia at the Sugar Bowl. Regrettably, that’s where he has the Irish’s run ending, but this still is a nice projection.

A lot has to go right for the Irish to get as far as McMurphy thinks they will, but that he even made this projection shows how much the narrative surrounding the Irish has changed for the better.

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Tim Brown: Notre Dame’s biggest concern is repeating loss to NIU

Can the Irish follow the former Heisman winner’s advice?

As Notre Dame’s most recent Heisman Trophy winner, [autotag]Tim Brown[/autotag] is one the most respected living former Irish players. When he talks about the program that helped develop him into a Pro Football Hall of Famer, people listen.

To that end, Brown made an appearance on “The Big College Football Show” on the Chicago Sports Network. During his interview, he was asked what his biggest concerns about the remainder of the Irish’s season.

Brown’s answer was simple in that the Irish need to avoid the letdown they suffered against Northern Illinois, and he isn’t wrong. That loss has hung over them like a storm cloud ever since it happened. Many believe it will cost them a College Football Playoff spot even if they run table for the rest of the regular season.

Only time will tell how damaging that loss will be in the end, but for now, Brown’s advice to the Irish is simple:

For now, the Irish simply need to play like their fate entirely is in their hands still. It’s the least they can do.

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Brett McMurphy projects Notre Dame out of playoff, in Pop-Tarts Bowl

Maybe start booking your trips to Orlando now?

Let’s get one thing straight: Notre Dame will aim for the College Football Playoff as long as it has a chance. At this point, the best thing it can do is run the table for the rest of the regular season. But there always is a chance that that won’t happen, and the Irish thus will be on the outside looking in.

Brett McMurphy of the Action Network has released his weekly bowl projections, and he has the Irish out of the playoff. Instead, he projects that the Irish will face TCU in the Pop-Tarts Bowl.

It’s worth noting that McMurphy has had the Irish in this particular game ever since they lost to Northern Illinois. The only thing that occasionally has changed during that time is the opponent. So in his view, the Irish have not beaten anybody of high-enough quality since that loss to prove they belong in the playoff.

While it would be fun to see the Irish end their season eating their bowl game’s mascot, it’s not the end goal. Hopefully, they can make it so that it won’t have to be.

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Todd Blackledge: Notre Dame must win out for College Football Playoff

Will the Irish do it?

As the color analyst for NBC’s Big Ten Saturday Night coverage, Todd Blackledge doesn’t get to call Notre Dame games. But that doesn’t mean he’s not keeping tabs on the Irish. After all, he wouldn’t have the gig he has if he wasn’t paying attention to all of college football.

In an appearance on “The Dan Patrick Show”, Blackedge was asked by the host about the Irish’s chances at making the College Football Playoff. Blackedge made it clear that the Irish’s remaining schedule is a detriment in that there aren’t a lot of big games left if any at all.

With Florida State at 1-5 and USC below .500 in Big Ten play, Blackege said the Irish don’t have a lot of margin for error. That means they’ll have to win out in order to have even a shot at the playoff. It’s further proof that the loss to Northern Illinois continues to hang over the team like a cloud.

We’ll continue to have this debate for the rest of the season or at least until the Irish lose another game. Better get used to it if you aren’t already, Irish fans.

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