Northwestern's football opener — a 13-6 win over Miami (Ohio) — 'pops up' and hits just right

Forget that $800 million football stadium project, Northwestern. Just play all your games at the most delightful little pop-up stadium in all the land, and only on days when the sun is beaming, the lake is gleaming and the good vibes are teeming.

There, it’s settled. See how easy that was?

But no, not really. Bad-weather days will come and make football games at Martin Stadium, where the Wildcats beat Miami (Ohio) 13-6 to open their season, seem like a harebrained idea. Luxury suites at the new Ryan Field, due to open in 2026, need to be sold. Competition must be waged for every dollar and every ounce of prestige, with the gap between major college football’s haves and have-nots growing like never before. The pop-up life simply won’t do for long.

Saturday sure was terrific, though.

Fans tailgate on boats at Baylor, where the Brazos River intertwines with the football stadium. At Tennessee, the Vol Navy “sailgaters” enjoy a similar scene along the Tennessee River. At Washington, fans inside Husky Stadium can gaze out at Lake Washington, and it is ever so beautiful. Add Northwestern to the club for a while. None of those teams play the games as close to the water as the Wildcats.

We can talk a little football here. The Wildcats’ new quarterback, Mike Wright, arrived from Mississippi State via the transfer portal and looked like a keeper in the third quarter, when he dropped a perfect 33-yard pass over receiver Bryce Kirtz’s shoulder and ran in a 13-yard touchdown a few plays later. Wright earlier fumbled away seven points by losing the ball at the 1-yard line, but he’s not Patrick Mahomes, after all. He’s a graduate student playing major-college football in a 12,000-seat setup future Wildcats won’t even know about.

“I’m just excited to be here, and I feel amazing right now,” he said.

After the game, Wright wore Justin Fields’ high school jersey. Before he wore No. 1 for the Bears, for Ohio State and for Georgia, Fields wore it for the Harrison Hoyas of Kennesaw, Georgia. It was nice to have him around again, in a sense, for a football game on the lakefront.

The defense had four sacks and sealed the win with a Robert Fitzgerald interception in the final minute. The answer to that question some of you are blurting out: No, no relation to Pat.

After the game, the feeling couldn’t have been more different than it had been one year earlier. In last year’s opener, Northwestern went to Rutgers wounded and vulnerable, didn’t score until the final minute and appeared to be a dud of a team. No Pat Fitzgerald. An interim coach, David Braun, who’d never been in charge of a team before. The Wildcats ended up having a surprisingly good season, but that day at Rutgers was bleak. This one was quite the opposite.

“I don’t know if there’s anything to compare it to,” Braun said. “It’s just unique.”

It’s what Northwestern football will be for a bit.

THREE-DOT DASH

• WE ALREADY KNOW which team the rest of the country is chasing, and it’s No. 1 Georgia. Who else could ball up Clemson like a used tissue and chuck it in the trash without breaking stride? That’s what the Bulldogs did in Atlanta in winning their 40th regular-season game in a row, a stupefying streak. Their defense held Clemson to 188 yards. Their offense rushed for 169 yards without its first- or second-string running back, and quarterback Carson Beck played like a Heisman Trophy favorite out of the chute. But the streak will be tested big-time with road games against Alabama, Texas and Ole Miss. There’s an “L” in there somewhere. …

• PIGS FROZE OVER. Hell flew. And Iowa erupted for 34 second-half points and 40 in all in a shutout of Illinois State that led some to speculate the Hawkeyes finally have an offense again. Maybe we should wait on that one. The Hawkeyes scored 41 last year against Western Michigan, then got shut out a week later at Penn State and averaged all of 11.9 points over their last 11 games. New coordinator Tim Lester would have to burn every playbook in Iowa City to fare as poorly as predecessor Brian Ferentz did, though. …

• THE BEST PART of Illinois’ 45-0 win against Eastern Illinois: four turnovers created by the defense. In 2022, the Illini “D” was a constant threat to take the ball away. This team won’t beat high-octane Kansas next weekend without some thievery. …

• WHO WAS THAT BOZO who predicted in Saturday’s newspaper that Miami would be upset at Florida (final: Hurricanes 41-17)? Any chance he’s related to the bozo who predicted Penn State would barely survive at West Virginia (final: Nittany Lions 34-12). You’re welcome, America. …

• SPEAKING OF FLORIDA, the Gators might not be very good but at least they have the kicker with the greatest name of anyone who has ever attempted to put a ball through the uprights for three points. Say hello to Trey Smacks, everybody. …

• A TIP OF THE BEER HELMET to my Week 1 MVP, the fan who stood behind ESPN’s “College GameDay” set before the Notre Dame-Texas A&M game and held a “Sell the team, Jerry” sign in the air. Have no doubt, the sign also had a White Sox logo drawn on it. Greetings from College Station, Texas, Mr. Reinsdorf! …

• SPOTTED AT NORTHWESTERN: DePaul athletic director DeWayne Peevy, who took in the game with family including son Braden, a senior football standout at DePaul Prep. The wide receiver’s old man was still buzzing about the performance he witnessed the night before in a win against Deerfield.

“Ten catches and a touchdown!” Peevy said with a smile.

Can’t beat that.