High Five: Northwestern II

The idea of “High Five“ first took shape in my head after the Tennessee game. I was doing what I always do the day after a game: watching it again. This second viewing is through a more critical lens compared to my “in the moment” viewing experience which is often too visceral to fully appreciate nuance. In other words - I’m usually “fanning” way too hard and I miss a bunch of stuff.

I’ve found that through my rewatch process, a narrative will typically emerge and I can winnow that narrative down even further to a handful of plays which were the most impactful to the storyline of the game.

But what really gave me the idea on that night was Tomislav Ivisic destroying the guitar. That was a PERFECT final chapter to the story of that game - even though it happened in the locker room. It was right then I thought it would be fun to re-tell the narrative of that game with some key video clips leading up to the smash-bang ending.

The first High Five didn’t happen that night because I wasn’t yet sure how the logistics of a such an article would work, but it did debut after the next Illini game at Ohio State.

Why am I telling you all this now? Because last night, the story ended after the first media time out. The 42-12 run coming out of that break run pretty much dissolved any compelling narrative. So this “40 Point Epic Beatdown“ edition of ”High Five” while devoid of story, is mostly just going to be a bunch of fun highlights. Well, except for number 1…