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Big Ten Round Table Week 6: Northwestern Wildcats
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Northwestern should pile up the sacks against the
RedHawks (AP Photo/Nam Y Huh)
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Northwestern has made a habit of giving heart attacks this season.
After the first quarter against Purdue, it seemed like the cardiac unit in Evanston was going to be full before halftime.
Instead, the 'Cats came back and surprised Purdue. Seems there was more to that Boilermaker team than originally thought.
They weren't just playing up to their opponents; they were actually pretty good.
At the end of the season, the Purdue win could be the game that Northwestern fans look back on and say, "That's where our season really began."
Even more important than getting back on track, was that it was a conference win for Northwestern. They needed to add to that column before this week's snoozer against Miami (Ohio).
More about that one later though, because first we have to tackle the other five questions in this week's Big Ten Roundtable
1. After two weeks of Big Ten play are you ready to rip up your original Big Ten champion prediction, or is it still too soon to go back on your initial thinking? Please remind us who you predicted.
I chose Penn State to take home the conference crown before the season, and I am sticking to my guns.
Despite a letdown against Iowa, which was a damaging loss in terms of the National Title, I have to believe that Penn State can hold serve against the rest of the conference.
But with the loss, they don’t control their own destiny. They can take care of business against Ohio State, which helps, but they will need other teams to take care of Wisconsin and Iowa for them and twice at that.
Is it possible? Sure. The conference is too balanced from top to bottom for me to believe that everyone will make it through unscathed.
2. The SEC is once again receiving high praise from the national media and with three teams in the top five it is not without some merit. Is the SEC the top conference right now in college football? If not, who is?
I think the SEC is the best in college football right now, or at least that they have the most possible contenders for National Title. I think it would be hard to argue that the winner of the SEC championship would be considered the favorite to win the title no matter who was on the other side (unless it was another SEC team).
Look at a team like Arkansas who fought Georgia hard (and was shellacked by Alabama), but who went up against Texas A&M and had no issue. And A&M is much better than the Aggie team that took the field last season.
Arkansas is just supposed to be in the middle of the pack in the SEC, and they were that much better.
When you have conference depth like that, national dominance is a given.
3. I have seen some questions floating around surrounding the value of the 12 game regular season in college football. As many teams seem to fill the extra game with a team from the FCS ranks, do you feel the 12th game should continue for the good of the game? What might be an alternative solution?
I go back and forth on the twelfth game.
For some leagues, like the PAC-10, it is great. It allows them to get in a full, round-robin schedule.
But for others it helps nothing and as pointed out, it requires many to fill the slot with an FCS school.
Now, to me, the scheduling of FCS schools is lazy. Look at how many games are played against the lower division in weeks one and two and you have to wonder why the two FBS schools couldn’t get together with some sort of home and home arrangement.
Instead, we have blowout fest, or in the case of Duke and Virginia, a very expensive loss.
There seems to be a simple solution out there.
I would contend that most ADs are doing this lackluster scheduling with an eye on an easy win and a bowl game. So punish them for it.
Tell them that they can’t count it towards qualifying for a bowl game. Make the teams win six games against real competition.
Or if you are going to still allow the win to count for a bowl, make it harder to get to a bowl. Require seven wins. Is a .500 football team really worthy of a postseason berth, especially one as meaningless as they will get in the glut of bowl games?
Maybe that will change the behavior of these FBS schools and make the regular season even more exciting from year to year.
4. You get to pick one coach from the entire Big Ten to use for one game that you have to win. Who do you want coaching your team in a must-win game? To make this question more interesting, you can not pick the head coach of the team you cover.
No one seems to game-plan better week after week than Jim Tressel. It may not always translate into a victory, but if my team needed that extra edge, there is no one better to provide it than Tressel.
Of course, it wouldn’t hurt to have his recruiting on Northwestern’s side either.
5. Ok, new scenario. The school you cover has announced that the current head coach has been let go (or retired) and the school is opening up a world-wide search for a new head coach. Who are three names that would be on your list.
It is hard to believe that this scenario would come to pass now that Northwestern has its Golden Boy in Pat Fitzgerald wearing the headset, but just in case, here are my three that could definitely bring in a change of pace.
1. June Jones (current SMU coach, former Hawaii coach) – It is about time someone tried the Gunslinger offense in the Big Ten. The weather might be a factor in its effectiveness later in the year, but you have to believe it would put more butts in seats. Who wouldn’t come out to see 500 yards of passing offense per game?
2. Paul Johnson (current Georgia Tech coach, former Navy coach) – If we aren’t going to go to the passing game, then why not the Triple Option? Plus Johnson is used to working at schools with tough academic standards such as those at Northwestern.
3. Dennis Erickson (Current Arizona State coach, former coach everywhere) – Erickson would never be the popular choice in Evanston, but he has shown the ability to turn college programs around over the years. The only way that Fitz would be run out of town would be if things had totally imploded at Northwestern. That is an environment where Erickson would thrive. Plus we would bring some of that PAC-10 flair to the Big Ten, something the conference desperately needs right now.
6. Tell us what to expect from the team you cover this weekend.
Northwestern finishes up its nonconference slate for the season with Miami (Ohio). The RedHawks are one of the worst teams in the FBS but that hasn’t stopped Northwestern from underachieving before.
This time around, the ‘Cats should be safe. The offense is fully healthy for the first time since the opener and that should help improve things on the scoring front.
Northwestern 34, Miami (Ohio) 13
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