Northwestern Wildcats' football and basketball play-by-play announcer and WGN Radio morning sports anchor Dave Eanet has been named the 2011 Illinois Sportscaster of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association.

Head Coach Pat FitzgeraldOpening statement..."Thank you to (Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas executive director) Heather Houston and all of her support staff for an incredible bowl week. We have been to a handful in a row, and I am not trying to minimize the other ones, but this was a really special week.

"I first would like to thank again the people from the Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas. They've been awesome to our guys all week long. We really, really appreciate the hospitality. It's been a tough month for Texas A&M, for Texas A&M football. With us losing (head) coach (Mike) Sherman and having our staff rally like they did, it was extremely impressive to me...

Appearing in a bowl game for a fourth straight year, Northwestern came out on the short end of 33-22 outcome against Texas A&M in the Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas at Reliant Stadium in Houston. NU scored the first touchdown of the game but TAMU ran off 27 straight points to take command.

Only three full days remain before the Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas (11 a.m. Saturday, ESPN) and the Wildcats' Wednesday practice at Rice Stadium reflected a shift in their preparation. NU practiced for a brief but energetic 10 periods -- which amounts to little more than an hour -- under sunny skies and in temperatures that climbed into the 60's.

Season-ticket packages for the 2012 season of Northwestern football -- Chicago's Big Ten Team -- will go on sale Saturday, Dec. 31. First-time season-ticket buyers will be able to immediately secure their exact seat locations for the upcoming season. Existing season ticket holders will receive renewal documents in January.

Northwestern redshirt freshman Ibraheim Campbell (Philadelphia, Pa./Chestnut Hill Academy) collected multiple national accolades on Monday, being named a first-team Freshman All-American by Yahoo! Sports and a member of the CollegeFootballNews.com All-Freshman Team defensive uni

Northwestern senior quarterback Dan Persa (Bethlehem, Pa./Liberty) will be presented with the National Football Foundation (NFF) Mental Toughness Award, the organization announced Thursday. The NFF is set to honor Persa and Northern Illinois quarterback Chandler Harnish at a ceremony on Feb. 20 at Halas Hall.

Northwestern is among the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) programs being recognized as an honorable mention recipient of the 2011 American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Academic Achievement award, the AFCA announced Tuesday. NU is one of only 17 FBS programs to achieve a graduation rate of 90 percent or better for members of its freshman football student-athlete class of 2004.

Northwestern senior Drake Dunsmore (Lenexa, Kan./St. Thomas Aquinas) has been named the inaugural winner of the Kwalick-Clark Award as Big Ten Tight End of the Year and is a consensus first-team All-Big Ten selection, the conference announced Monday evening. Senior safety Brian Peters (Pickerington, Ohio/Pickerington Central) joined Dunsmore as a first-team All-Big Ten choice by the media.

Credit goes to Michigan State on a well-played game today. We didn't do the little things today and that hurt us. If the punt was closer to the boundary, taking care of the ball in the red zone, the protection and communication issues. All those little things add up to success and unfortunately, momentary failure.

- This was the 52nd meeting between Northwestern and Michigan State. The road team now has won six of the last seven contests dating to 2005.

Key third-down conversions on offense proved to be the difference as No.11/10 Michigan State spoiled Senior Day at Ryan Field and escaped with a 31-17 win over Northwestern.

Northwestern's Ryan Field has been named the 2011 College Football Field of the Year by the SportsTurf Managers Association (STMA), the organization announced this week.

Thankful to have secured bowl eligibility for a school-record fifth straight campaign, Northwestern tries to close the regular season on a winning note against No. 10/11/14 Michigan State Saturday in Evanston. Before the game, NU will honor the 25 'Cats who represent the winningest senior class in Northwestern history as they play their final game at Ryan Field.

Head Coach Pat FitzgeraldWeekly News Conference Transcript

25-yard line, he's frustrated as heck, and then he came back and ran like a man possessed. To be honest with you, we need more kids that learn to fight back through adversity. Sometimes we have some youngsters make a mistake and they can't get over it then they make another one and another one and then that's how you get into having some bad plays out there, and I think...

This was the 88th meeting between Northwestern and Minnesota. Northwestern has now wonfour of the last five contests in the series. For the first time in the past four series games, the hometeam emerged as the victor.

Northwestern produced 21 points in the first quarter, scoring on its first three drives, but the defense took over the rest of the way as the Wildcats defeated Minnesota, 28-13 Saturday afternoon at Ryan Field. With the win, Northwestern is now bowl eligible for a school record fifth straight season.

After climbing back to the .500 mark with three straight wins, Northwestern aims to become bowl-eligible for a record fifth straight season when it hosts Minnesota at 11 a.m. Saturday at Ryan Field.

Head Coach Pat FitzgeraldWeekly News Conference TranscriptOn running a simpler defense..."Well as we were looking at what we do defensively we put the first responsibility on ourselves as coaches.

"It's a very business-like performance by our guys. We had the right focus all week, we prepared properly and we came out and had a really solid plan. We weren't sure quite how they were going to defend us, so we had to do a little adjusting there in the first couple sets offensively. Once we saw they were going to load the box we would take advantage by throwing the...

EVANSTON -- Check out our Storify Social Media Recap from our Nov. 12, 2011, non-conference win against Rice.

Northwestern's Doug Bartels (Caledonia, Ill./Rockford Boylan Catholic), Jacob Schmidt (Rhinelander, Wis./Rhinelander), Patrick Ward (Homer Glen, Ill./Providence Catholic) and Kevin Watt (Glen Ellyn, Ill./Glenbard West) all have been named Capital One Academic All-District V first-team selections, announced today (Nov. 10) by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

Head Coach Pat FitzgeraldWeekly News Conference Transcript