B1G Power Rankings are like the music of Katy Perry- absolutely nothing though-provoking or original there.
If you’ve perused the first wave of B1G power rankings for this week (the second, third and fourth waves are still coming yet) you’ll see the Northwestern football checking at #14 quite often. Yes, NU comes in 14/14 and if your rankings are based off this season alone, it’s very well deserved.
If you’re taking into account last year, then maybe it’s a bit harsh.
To quote Spandau Ballet, “I know this much is true”- Northwestern deserves last place after losing to a Group of 5 opponent and then a FCS opponent to open the season. Although the final margin was extremely narrow in both cases, Northwestern football certainly deserved to lose both contests.
Western Michigan out-gained the Wildcats in both passing and rushing yards. P.J. Fleck’s team beat them up at the line of scrimmage too as “Kalamazoo’s MAC Team” got their way in short yardage situations whenever they wanted. Illinois State, “Chicago’s Missouri Valley Team” out-gained the Cats by over a 100 yards.
While the decisive play was fluky in both Northwestern losses, there was absolutely nothing fluky about the fact the NU got flat out beat. No B1G team should ever get out-gained by a FCS team, under any circumstances.
Having lost two games in which they were favored, what does the immediate future hold for Northwestern football?
Duke, a bowl team last year, comes to Ryan Field Saturday night. They’re beatable for sure, as they just to Wake Forest (otherwise known as Weak Forest colloquially) yesterday. However, it’s still a bit difficult to pick the Cats in that one.
Then the schedule reads like this: Nebraska, at #13 Iowa, at #12 Michigan State, Indiana, at #3 Ohio State, #9 Wisconsin.
Northwestern might be a push in the Indiana game, but they’ll be heavy underdogs in the other four conference games. Maybe this Northwestern football team will be great at pulling off upsets, just like they’ve shown a prodigious ability to get upset, through the first two games.
Maybe chalk will hold and this team will be 0-5 and/or 1-6 before you know it. Coach Pat Fitzgerald is known for success in September and November, but major issues in October.
Can you believe this team went 10-2 in the regular season last year?!
What we do know is that this season is dangerously close to going off the rails already, and it’s seriously time to consider some real changes. Perhaps it’s time to consider giving the keys to the offense to back-up QB Matt Alviti? We heard all preseason about how much better QB1 Clayton Thorson had become.
Well, if that’s true, he certainly hasn’t shown it. Thorson didn’t progress as 2015 went on, if anything he regressed.
Offensive Coordinator Mick McCall seems to have Kirk Ferentz or Arsene Wenger like job security. You could have made a case to replace him after 2013. After 2014, the case was more solid, after 2015, it was rock solid, and right now… it’s an open and shut case.
However, it’s just not going to happen, as Pat Fitzgerald is just a great guy with phenomenal character who’s loyal to a fault on this one.
It’s no secret to anyone that Northwestern football has serious issues on offense and that those issues have been clear as day for a very long time. There is absolutely no excuse for need four quarters to even score on a FCS defense and accruing just seven points in total against a MVC team.
Northwestern football became exposed last season. After back to back blowouts at the hands of Iowa and Michigan exposed them as paper tigers, the only real triumph since then was the 13-7 win at Wisconsin. Since midseason 2015, opponents seem to have figured them out.
Now it’s on Northwestern Football Coach Pat Fitzgerald to figure out the counter. He needs to make a wholesale reboot of his offense; and quick.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication and Bold Global.
He also consistently appears on numerous radio and television talk shows all across the country. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram and Sound Cloud.