Senior Day Turns Into One Of The Best Days For Northwestern Football

My final regular season game at Ryan Field as a student was a dream come true. Prior to this game, all of NU's thrilling victories since 2006 had been on the road. At Michigan State in 2007, at Iowa and Minnesota in 2008, and at Iowa in 2009 come to mind.

For some reason, Ryan Field hadn't witnessed too many exciting victories since my freshman year. In 2007, wins over Nevada, Minnesota, Indiana, and in 2009 Indiana, had all been very close. But they weren't exactly games you were happy to see come down to the wire, because they were all teams NU SHOULD beat.

Wisconsin was a whole different story. Led by powerful running back John Clay, the Badgers marched into Ryan Field Saturday looking to notch their ninth victory of the year. Their only losses were to powerhouses Iowa and Ohio State. The Badgers were definitely a force to be reckoned with this year.

Did I think the Wildcats could beat the Badgers? Yes, but I was by no means confident it would happen.

The way they won this game was absolutely brilliant. I'm pretty sure the Wildcats threw more deep balls in this game than they'd done in every previous game combined.

I was standing next to a friend of mine who used to go to NU and is originally from Wisconsin. He was trying to be neutral, but he kept muttering how Wisconsin had the worst secondary in the Big Ten.

Mike Kafka sure made them look like that. I couldn't have been happier for how big the seniors came through on Senior Day. Andrew Brewer caught two touchdown passes from Kafka and his second one was the best catch I've ever seen a Northwestern wide receiver make. He sprawled full length in the middle of the end zone to make the catch, and immediately popped up with a triumphant look on his face.

Zeke Markshausen continued his fairy tale year with a touchdown pass of all things to Sidney Stewart. That was the coolest play ever, right in front of the student section, Kafka swings a lateral to Markshausen who runs a bit with it before stopping and throwing a 40-yard strike to Stewart.

I spend a lot of time working for the student media, so considering how big a fan I am of Northwestern football, I am not in the student section nearly as much as I should be.

I think for the first time I realized how special that section can be. After every big play my friends and I would jump wildly around in a circle hugging each other, then standing back up on the bleachers and high fiving as hard as we could.

It sure as heck beat my first student section experience—the 2006 "win" over Eastern Michigan, where I spent most of my time thinking I'd be better off if I'd just stayed at home.

It sure is amazing how much has changed for the program in four years. At the last regular season game (there's still the Spring Game) I'll ever attend at Ryan Field as a student, Northwestern finally beat a top 25 team at home. It ended under the lights, in dramatic fashion, and after Jordan Mabin's biggest interception of his life—we charged the field to celebrate.

I just remember yelling: "We're going to Disney World!"