George Kittle Said He Would Rather Play Against Ohio State Than Northwestern. Wait, What?

San Francisco 49ers tight end hung out with me on Wednesday morning. 

We talked his offseason plans, his time in Nashville, growing up in Wisconsin then Iowa City, and some other fun topics of conversation, but one that stood out to me was when talking about Big Ten football. Obviously, George played at Iowa and is well-versed in the Big Ten world so I was a little surprised when he explained his two toughest places to play in the Big Ten. 

"The two toughest stadiums to play at in the Big Ten is at Northwestern and at Purdue on like 11 o'clock gameday when it's kinda chilly. It's October, November, it's kinda chilly, not sunny, it's kinda cloudy, it's not raining, but it's not great weather, and there is no one in the fucking stands" Kittle said. "You have more fans than they do, but unless you just come out the gate and end it, Purdue and Northwestern no matter what will always. make it a good game. It's amazing."

The Horseshoe in Columbus? Nah. 100K+ at the Big House? Nope. White out at Happy Valley? Nada. It's the two home fields that are the JV squad compared to most of the Big Ten - and I'm a Purdue guy. 

Makes sense, though, in a way. It's the game of your life when you play at Michigan, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Penn State. They're easy to get up for. No one likes forced energy, and sometimes on those grey days in West Lafayette that's what you gotta do when you're the visitor. "Trap" games or "sleepy" contests as they're popularly referred to. 

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