EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) — Northwestern coach David Braun has been looking forward to the first game at the new Ryan Field for a long time.
That moment has arrived.
The Wildcats host Penn State on Friday night for the highly anticipated debut of their $875 million stadium — built on the same site as the former Ryan Field. The first game is being played on the 100th anniversary of the opening of the original Northwestern Stadium.
“This is transformational,” Braun said, “for the university and for the football program. It's an honor to be in a position to lead and serve this program, and also a unique challenge in terms of making sure that myself, our staff and our players ultimately focus on the main thing, and that's preparing for a very talented, very well-coached Penn State team.”
The new Ryan Field seats 35,000, down more than 12,000 from the school's previous home. It's the smallest stadium by capacity in the Big Ten.
It features a canopy designed to keep noise and light focused on the field and includes cutting-edge technology and scoreboards, as well as concessions with food from local restaurants.
“The fans are truly on top of the action. I mean they are a part of the game,” Braun said. “Standing at midfield, I mean you almost feel like you can reach out and touch the stands. And the acoustics that that's going to create with the canopy creates for an incredible opportunity for a home-field advantage.”
It's a major change for Northwestern after it played its home games for the past two-plus years at a temporary lakefront facility and at Wrigley Field in Chicago. It broke ground on the new Ryan Field in June 2024.
The Wildcats played their first two games this season at the lakefront stadium, beating South Dakota State 34-18 on Sept. 5 and pounding Colorado 41-7 on Sept. 19. They are coming off a tough 29-23 loss at No. 6 Indiana in their Big Ten opener.
“I think our guys proved to themselves that sometimes in those settings, it's our first time as a team on the road, I know we learned from it,” Braun said. “We just need to take a breath, keep our poise and focus on the things that we can control. Very confident that our group will handle that better next time.”
It's also a big moment for Penn State in its first season under coach Matt Campbell. The Nittany Lions opened with victories over Marshall, Temple and Buffalo before blowing a 17-point lead in a 24-20 loss to visiting Wisconsin in their conference opener on Saturday.
“We understand that it's a 12-game season guaranteed to us,” Campbell said, “and the reality is, whether you win or you lose, you have to continue to be able to grow forward. I think that there's plenty of great experiences over the last five years of teams that lost early, had the ability to use that loss and have the opportunity to grow itself forward.”
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FILE - Northwestern head coach David Braun runs onto the field ahead of the team before an NCAA college football game against Indiana, Sept. 25, 2026, in Bloomington, Ind. (AP Photo/Doug McSchooler, File)
FILE - Construction of Northwestern's new Ryan Field is taking shape, Aug, 14, 2025, in Evanston, Ill. (AP Photo/Andrew Seligman, File)
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Renee Good’s family sued the U.S. government and several immigration officials Thursday, alleging wrongful death, conspiracy and other violations in the 37-year-old woman’s killing by an immigration officer during a federal crackdown in Minneapolis.
The two lawsuits were filed by Good’s partner, Becca Good, and Renee's brother Brent Ganger.
The Justice Department didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Renee Good was fatally shot Jan. 7 as protests against immigration raids flared across the city. According to Becca Good, her partner stopped their car in a street to support neighbors during an immigration operation.
Bystander video shows Renee Good in the driver’s seat of a red SUV blocking part of the road and repeatedly honking her horn.
Two immigration officers get out of a truck, their faces covered, and one orders Good to get out of the car. She reverses briefly, then turns the steering wheel as the officer says again, “get out of the car.”
Almost simultaneously, Becca Good, standing in the street, shouts: “Drive, baby, drive!”
One officer standing in front of the vehicle pulls his weapon and fires into the windshield. He lurches back as the car turns away from him. The officer, who is now very close to the open window on the driver’s side, fires two more times, fatally shooting Renee Good, according to an analysis of the videos by The Associated Press and others.
Federal officials at the time said the officer acted in self-defense and that Good had engaged in “an act of domestic terrorism.”
The lawsuit against the United States of America seeks damages for Good's wrongful death and “the immense suffering Renee endured in the final moments of her life and for the profound and permanent losses that her death has inflicted upon her family,” according to a news release by lawyers for Ganger and Good.
The lawsuit, which seeks a bench trial, also alleges “intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligent infliction of emotional distress” on Becca Good.
Becca and Renee Good, the mother of three children, were not legally married, according to a family lawyer, but referred to one another as wives. They had only recently relocated to Minneapolis from Kansas City, Missouri.
The other lawsuit alleges a conspiracy to interfere with civil rights and seeks a jury trial. It says the federal government moved to hide the evidence of what actually happened on Jan. 7.
The lawsuit says the shots fired by Jonathan Ross, the immigration officer who killed Good, “were the predictable and intended product of the operation.”
It describes a “carefully planned, coordinated effort between senior federal officials and private actors to make two ethnic communities — Minnesotans of Somali and Hispanic descent and origin — the object of aggression and abduction, and to silence by intimidation, arrest and violence the neighbors and allies of those targeted communities who observed, documented and warned of that campaign.”
The lawsuit names Ross as a defendant, as well as: White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller; former Homeland Security head Kristi Noem; Corey Lewandowski, a campaign manager for President Donald Trump who also served as one of Noem's advisers; White House border czar Tom Homan; former acting director of U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Todd Lyons; former U.S. Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino; and 10 unnamed federal agents.
The killing of Good and another U.S. citizen, Alex Pretti, in Minneapolis just weeks later sparked outrage across the country and calls to rein in immigration enforcement. At least 10 people have died in encounters with immigration officers during President Donald Trump’s second term.
In social media accounts, Renee Good described herself as a “poet and writer and wife and mom.” On Pinterest, a profile picture shows her smiling and holding a young child, alongside posts about tattoos, hairstyles and home decorating.
In an interview shortly after her death, Renee Good’s mother, Donna Ganger, told The Associated Press: “She had this way of making you feel special and loved that I didn’t even understand that until we lost her.”
Good's partner noted the broader loss to communities nationwide.
“As we have tried to navigate our own massive loss, I am also devastated by how many other lives have been destroyed in this darkest of times,” Becca Good said in the news release Thursday. “So many other families are dealing with the loss of their loved ones; to everyone who has had to witness it — the pain of this moment extends far beyond our family. What happened to us should never happen to any family.”
McCormack reported from Concord, New Hampshire.
Brent Ganger, the brother of Renee Good, who was killed by federal agents in Minneapolis in January, wears a button reading "Be Good" as he speaks during a Congressional spotlight hearing on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
FILE - Brent and Luke Ganger, brothers of Renee Good, from left, and their parents, Donna and Tim Ganger, are pictured during an interview, while holding up a frame with photographs of Good when she graduated from Old Dominion University, in Denver, Friday, Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)
FILE - Flowers and photos are left at a memorial site for Renee Good on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
