They did grip work. They did wrist extensions. They stuck their hands in a bucket filled with rice and pushed through it. They grabbed onto numerous plates of weight and just held them as long as they could. "Building that strength in all those tendons, those fibers, those muscles," explains Jose Jose Palma, a member of the NU Football Performance Staff.

Exciting news for Wildcat fans who use iOS devices - the NUsports All Access player is now available on iPhone and iPad!

Our website partners at CBS Interactive recently unveiled the first iteration of a HTML5 video player for our website, which allows for increased compatibility with iOS devices. The HTML5 functionality is currently limited to on-demand video content, but CBS plans to increase the functionality to include live streaming and embedded video players down the road.

You won't have to change the way you use NUsports.com to view video content on iOS devices, either. Auto-detect scripting is in place that determines if you are accessing our website on an iOS device and automatically switches you over to the HTML5 video player.

We're very excited about the latest enhancement for our video offerings, and hope you enjoy the new ability to watch our All Access content on your mobile device. We'd love to hear your feedback on the HTML5 player - tweet it @NU_Sports!

* Early Saturday evening, after the 'Cats had defeated Boston College, quarterback Kain Colter was one of the players who appeared in the interview room. He had, as usual, split time that afternoon with Trevor Siemian, and so here it was only natural that he was asked if he felt he was in a competition for the starting job. "You're always in competition," he said bluntly. "Nothing in this program is set. If a guy's doing a lot better than you, then he'll play. The coaches are competitive. They want to win. They're going to put the best 11 players on the field. So you're always in competition."

NEW WEEK. SAME OL' STORY: On its very first play in the very first game of this very new season, the Wildcats defense was attacked by the arm of Syracuse quarterback Ryan Nassib. By the time that afternoon ended, he had attempted 65 passes and completed 44. On its first three plays in its first home game of a still-new season, the 'Cat defense was attacked by the arm of Vanderbilt quarterback Jordan Rodgers. By the time this afternoon ended, he had attempted 33 passes and completed 17. Now, on Saturday, Boston College drops by Ryan Field with its own accomplished quarterback, the 6-foot-3 junior Chase Rettig.

Late Saturday night, after his team's victory over Vanderbilt, Pat Fitzgerald lamented his 'Cats offensive inconsistency in that game. On Monday, after viewing the film, he was more specific in his critique.

The Northwestern Wildcats are off to their best start in 25 years and the team wants to share its skills with area girls 8^th-grade-and-under this fall.

The first in-season clinic will be held on Monday, Oct. 1 at 4:30 p.m. inside Welsh-Ryan Arena. Various drills will be conducted in an effort to teach fundamental volleyball skills to all participants. The clinic will last 90 minutes and will be followed by an autograph session. Participants who register for this clinic will receive three vouchers for free admission to any future Northwestern volleyball match (a $21 value).

The second clinic will take place on Sunday, Oct. 21 after the Wildcats battle the Iowa Hawkeyes in an exciting Big Ten match. The match begins at 2 p.m. and the clinic will begin shortly upon its conclusion. Participants who register for this clinic will receive free admission to the match and two vouchers for free admission to any future match.

Participants should arrive in athletic shoes and comfortable clothing and should be prepared to have a great time learning the game from the Wildcats.

Registration for each clinic is $10 and includes vouchers, instruction, a water bottle and access to autograph sessions. Space is limited to 100 participants for each clinic, so sign-up now. For more information, or to register, please contact Joe Thuente by phone at 847-467-6862 or via e-mail at j-thuente@northwestern.edu.

* Let's get this out of the way first. "Yeah. Absolutely," 'Cat coach Pat Fitzgerald said late Saturday night when asked if Kain Colter was still his team's starting quarterback. That was true even though Trevor Siemian, Colter's backup, had just catalyzed the 'Cats to a comeback win for the second week in a row.

* Last Monday, at his weekly press conference, 'Cat coach Pat Fitzgerald tore into the performance of his kicking team against Syracuse ("We stunk"), and then dropped in this declaration. "I don't like stinking. And I don't like when guys don't execute what they're coached to do. So we're going to make personnel changes. We made a bunch of personnel changes in the game. We played 44 guys. We're not going to go through what we went through last year. We're going to find the best 11 and get them on the field."

And what, we later asked him, did he exactly mean by "We're not going to go through what we went through last year"?

The competition, staged at SUNY Korea in Songdo International City, pitted Team Korea against Team USA against Team Korea over four spirited days of action. The team of United States All-Stars featured 83 fencers form 10 of the top fencing squads around the country, including the five Wildcats.

A pair of 2012 NCAA Championship qualifiers, including All-American Kate Cavanaugh, represented NU in the epée competition. Cavanaugh was joined in the tournament by fellow NCAA qualifier Courtney Dumas and classmate Kendrick Mooney. Dumas recorded the highest finish of the trio, placing 10th. Cavanaugh finished 15th and Mooney checked in at 21st in the talented international field.

After battling through injury for much of her first season at Northwestern, Katherine Kim came on strong at the end of the season and carried that success into a great showing in Korea. Kim finished 10th in the foil competition at the KUEFI.

Team captain Alicia Gurrieri represented the Wildcats in the women's sabre event. Gurrieri placed 13th in the competition.

Special thanks to Ed Kaihatsu, who documented the trip by taking hundreds of pictures. For a small sample of the experience, visit the photo gallery below.

Follow @NCatFencing

KUEFI Photo Gallery

Website debuts are coming fast and furious this week from Northwestern! On the heels of the groundbreaking Social Media Hub for our football program, TheWildcatWay.com, today we are launching a refreshed and redesigned NUsports.com in conjunction with our web hosts, CBS Interactive.

We recently extended our relationship with the CBS College Sports Network, which provides a website redesign as part of that agreement. Northwestern has had a longstanding relationship with CBS dating to the 1990s; this will be our fifth redesign in the last 10 years. For fun, scroll down to the bottom of this post to see the way NUsports.com has looked over the years courtesy of the Internet Archive Wayback Machine. My, how we've grown up!