CHICAGO — Northwestern University officials on Thursday countered a quarterback's allegations that the program places athletics over academics, urging a federal agency to deny a bid by the school's football players to form the firstcollege athletes' union in U.S. history. Witnesses for the school challenged union lawyers' assertions Northwestern football is highly profitable. And they denied accusations by the union's star witness, outgoing senior quarterback Kain Colter, that classroom performance is given far less weight than on-the-field success.