This past weekend was great. I went home to Harlan (Iowa) and basically relaxed with my family with the exception of my middle brother, Kevin. He's a junior at Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa, and he plays basketball.

Kevin had a game Saturday at Wisconsin-Stout and hit a 3-pointer as the shot clock went off with 30 seconds left in overtime to put BV up by 4. My family watched his game online, and we were really excited when Kevin hit that 3. The rest of the time I was either watching college football or playing ping pong against my youngest brother, Zach. I ended up winning the best of 7 series 4 games to 3, which was a little unexpected because he whooped me the last time we played.

I also watched the Pitt and UNO game online. It was kind of weird actually because when I woke up in the morning I felt like I should be going to the pre-game meal. Then when 10:30 rolled around it felt like I should be getting my pads on and getting ready for the game. Once it was noon, I was feeling knots in my stomach because I felt like I should be playing in a game.

As the game went on, I began to feel more comfortable realizing that both teams were physically pounding each other while we got to have a weekend free from contact. That is one of the biggest benefits of earning a bye week. Pitt ended up winning 33-21. They were flying around all day, and they played more physical than UNO.

I feel like we really got an edge from last week's practices over Pitt because we focused mainly on them while they had to prepare for UNO. This will be the most important week of practice for our team this season. If we continue to practice well and keep improving, then everything else will take care of itself.

We completed one of our main goals by winning the MIAA. By doing that, it has put us in a position to be one of 16 teams left with a chance to win a National Championship. The next step is beating Pitt Saturday at Bearcat Stadium.

This Saturday will be the first time Pitt has played at Northwest since the 2000 season. I'm looking forward to this game because it will be a great atmosphere. I'm assuming Pitt will bring a decent following, and I have no doubts that our fans will fill up Bearcat Stadium. The weather will be great on Saturday so I expect no excuses for not being there.

See ya next week,

Ozzy #12