Photo: Derek Tam
On Saturday, Northwestern took down a fourth-ranked undefeated team that rarely loses at home. NU did it with a suffocating defense, flawless tackling, and toughness. By midday, the Wildcats were the top story in the sports world after dashing Iowa’s national title hopes.
But the best part of Saturday was that nobody seemed all that surprised.
Fifteen years ago, the Wildcats knocking off a 9-0 team would have qualified as one of the greatest upsets in college football history. Five years ago, such a win was conceivable, but the way the ‘Cats did it in 2009 would have been just as much of a shocker: with defense and, for much of the game, a backup quarterback.
Once upon a time, NU was soft. When it won, it outscored teams in spite of its paper-thin secondary and overmatched front seven. It perennially ranked in the 100’s nationally for scoring and total defense. It didn’t hit as much as it hugged opponents and fell over with them. The team could attain periodic success when a star quarterback and running back gained enough experience to lead the team in shootouts, but bowl seasons tended to come in three-year cycles (bowl seasons since 1996: 2000, 2003, 2005, 2008).
But today, Northwestern is in a different state than it has been since, well, ever. This is not 1995/1996, the two glorious Big Ten championship seasons that culminated in Rose Bowl and Citrus Bowl bids, the only back-to-back bowl games in school history. It’s also not 2000, when NU went 8-4, shared a Big Ten title, but sandwiched the championship between 3-8 and 4-7 campaigns. No, today NU is entering something better. Though the highs might not be quite like those unpredictable championship seasons, the Wildcats are embarking on a golden age.
I know, the Iowa game was one win over one of the least impressive 9-0 teams you’ll see. But here’s the difference between NU in 2009, 2000, and 1995: stability and style. Pat Fizgerald is in it for the long haul, and his coaching and recruiting styles will create consistency in Evanston.
Gary Barnett taught Wildcat fans and players alike how to “Expect Victory” (his famous slogan that helped transform the face of NU football in the mid-90’s), but he skipped town after going 5-7 in 1997 and 3-9 in 1998. Randy Walker installed the revolutionary spread offense, but his defenses belonged in the Lingerie League. Both coaches deserve considerable credit for both heights they reached during their tenures and leading the program out of the dark ages and into respectability, but it is Fitz who is leading NU to the promised land.
For the first time ever, Wildcat fans now expect not periodic success, but a bowl game and a top-half finish in the Big Ten every year. With a team built on a defense as physically and mentally tough as the one we saw in Iowa City, such an expectation is realistic. NU knocked off Iowa because it won the turnover battle, made virtually every tackle, and knocked guys backwards at the point of attack. It out-manned a team that got to 9-0 thanks to its own toughness and resolve. The team we saw Saturday was the kind of team that hardly ever suffers losing records. It’s also the kind of team that matches Fitzgerald’s personality and style, so it just might be here to stay.
Annual bowl trips alone would constitute a golden era in program history, since two years in the mid-90’s can hardly be considered an “era.” And when a team finds itself in the top-half of the conference standings every year, it inevitably makes periodic runs at the top when a few stars align. This is what Wildcat fans can expect in the next decade.
Surprised? Me neither.
This is a tremendous article. It sums up my feelings entirely.
Seriously, Wade? Aren’t you a bit premature in this rendering? I mean, this season and the last haven’t been anywhere near storybook. Just because we beat Iowa both years doesn’t mean we have 5-star recruits salivating at the idea of playing on Ryan’s high school field.
We’ll be finishing – again – in the middle of the Big Ten pack. We will have – once again – recorded an embarrassing a loss that matches the “shock factor” of our two “big” wins. [Indiana in '08, Syracuse in '09]. We will have no one on the all-conference first, second, honorable mention or intramural teams. Phrases like “All-American,” “New Year’s bowl champions” and “Coach of the Year” are as far away from the football team as Tibet is from Evanston.
As Northwestern students we expect to hold ourselves to high standards of achievement. We challenge ourselves not only academically – but in other ways too. Sometimes that challenge is to see if one can chug three cans of Natty Ice in a row. Sometimes that challenge is obtaining a Fulbright Scholarship. We have to hold our football program to a high standard as well – and I think Fitz would agree with me on that one.
Look, I’m as happy as you at the thought of eating pizza out of a bowl in Detroit after this season is over. But let’s settle down, take a step back and remove the “Morse goggles.”
This isn’t the start of the Golden Age. If so, then I’m the Queen of France and the Reagan years were worth reliving. It’s just not the case.