Hey Iowa, do you like apples?

via 1.bp.blogspot.com

Well Northwestern just ended your undefeated season, potentially cost you a Big Ten title, and has now beaten you 3 straight in Kinnick and 4 out of 5 overall -- how do you like them apples?

For a first time post here on Sippin' On Purple, I think "Rooting Interests" had the desired effect, overall.  I mean, after all:

• Northwestern shocked the nation (but not Cats fans) by beating Iowa.
• Wisconsin held on against Indiana, making it less likely the Hoosiers get to 6 wins (and making Northwestern's November 21st game against Wisconsin -- who will potentially be 9-2 and ranked in the top 15-20 -- even bigger, leading to the 2:30 pm kickoff -- GET YOUR TICKETS NOW CATS FANS!)
• The Illini snuck past Minnesota, putting us (temporarily) ahead of the Gophers by a game
• Purdue beat reeling Michigan, which means A) the Wolverines will not be going bowling (I don't see them beating Wisconsin or OSU to get the all-important 6th win), and B) we're one more Purdue upset over Michigan State to Purdue pulling the sweep of the state of Michigan and potentially dooming BOTH teams to non-bowl seasons (MSU has 5 wins, with Purdue and Penn State left) -- putting the Cats in even better bowl position.
• And Navy beat "That School in South Bend", leading to arguably the greatest trash talk of all time by none other than Pat Fitzgerald (which he told to Stewart Mandel at SI.com -- "Even though we're similar academically, we're in a little different boat as Stanford and Notre Dame," said Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald. "We've been consistently winning since 1995. They're still saying they can do it, but we're doing it."

Sure OSU beat Penn State (which makes it harder for NU to improve its bowl position, due to the fact that Penn State's loss makes it less likely that the Big Ten gets 2 BCS teams), Western Michigan was crushed by Sparty, none of our non-conference foes won, Vandy couldn't pull out an upset of the Gators, and "that school in Palo Alto" pulled out an impressive win over Oregon.

Still -- a pretty good week for Northwestern's Rooting Interests.....Week 11 Rooting Interests to follow later this week!