We have reached one of the worst times of the fall — a football bye week.

We all want to get up, put on our purple garb and go out to tailgate Saturday morning, but we won’t get the opportunity this weekend. The first week of classes has ended, and there is seemingly no outlet to celebrate surviving week one of the new school year.

You can either sulk in your room and count down the days until the scarlet and gray of Ohio State visits Evanston, or you can find other avenues to showcase your immense purple pride. Whichever one you choose, I don’t care. You can rest your voice so you have plenty of energy for the most anticipated game in recent Northwestern football history, or you can release your pent-up frustrations about the new school year on the hundreds of pages of reading you need to do.

There are plenty of NU events you can go to to cheer on the Wildcats this weekend if you need your dose of NU sports. Nebraska invades Evanston on Friday with the Cornhuskers heading to take on the Cats in both volleyball and women’s soccer. Volleyball takes on Iowa on Saturday night at Welsh-Ryan Arena if you’re too busy on Friday and you miss heading up to the Ryan Field complex on Saturdays.

But the best chance to watch the Cats is a Sunday afternoon doubleheader at Lakeside Field. The afternoon begins with the field hockey team taking on Michigan, and a mere bleacher maneuver grants a seat to cheer on NU against Iowa in women’s soccer. Either way, it’s a chance to showcase your purple pride.

I can’t tell you what to do, but you are missing some excellent teams if you decide not to attend any of these games. Field hockey is a top-15 team, women’s soccer just took a top-10 team to double overtime on the road, and volleyball competes in the nation’s best conference.

At the end of the day, all I ask of you is that you use this bye weekend wisely.

Every student should be at Ryan Field at 7 p.m. on Oct. 5. No excuses. Do whatever you need to do to free up your schedule so you can make Ryan Field the best home field in the Big Ten for at least one night.

ABC is coming to broadcast the game, and ESPN is bringing Mike and Mike to Deering Meadow on Oct. 4. The network may even bring College Gameday the next morning. We must showcase the fact that we are proud of our school and its athletic accomplishments in the national spotlight.

So I implore you, sacrifice this weekend to free up next weekend. Show that NU is not just a school of overachievers who only care about their futures. Show that NU’s student body is just as spirited as the one in Columbus, and let’s paint Ryan Field purple.

Let’s be smart and use this weekend to prepare for the most important Saturday since I’ve been a student at this wonderful school.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @JoshWalfish