Northwestern football has shot up to #17 in the Associated Press poll and #18 in the Coaches poll (Although the latter needs to be given little to no weight because it somehow still included Auburn this week). Right now the Northwestern Wildcats are the third highest ranked team in the Big Ten. Only Ohio State and Michigan State, both in the East Division, and both playoff contenders, are ranked higher.
NU is right there with Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota (the Cats get two of those three games at home this season) as your four legitimate contenders to represent the West in Indianapolis at the Big Ten title game. Yet Northwestern football is still flying under the radar somewhat.
Why is that?
When it comes to individual players promoting a football program it all starts with the quarterback. Northwestern’s QB1 is Clayton Thorson, a redshirt freshman who’s only attempted 63 passes in his career (all this season). He’s too inexperienced to be the proverbial face of the franchise.
Almost all teams find their most marketable entities at the offensive skill positions.
Northwestern football doesn’t have a deep threat wide receiver or overwhelmingly dominant tailback who is in the Heisman Trophy discussion. Justin Jackson is a well established feature back, who rushed for 1,100 yards as a freshman. He’ll be in the mix for Big Ten MVP, but he’s not say LSU’s Leonard Fournette.
Christian Jones is an extremely valuable possession, move-the-chains kind of receiver, but he’s not an every week game-breaker like say Notre Dame’s Will Fuller. So while Northwestern has some star players on offense, the unit itself is not overly domineering. The O. isn’t the strength of this team.
It’s the other side of the ball, and it’s the reason Northwestern football will be in every single game on their schedule this season. Is NU for real this season?
Their defense certainly is. It’s an extremely dominating group.
It’s also very well rounded, and “led by”….a whole host of stellar defenders. Who’s the star of the Wildcats defense? You can make a case for a few different guys.
-Sophomore middle linebacker Anthony Walker recorded a career-high 19 tackles, 1.5 for loss this past Saturday. He makes the calls for a Northwestern defense that has held opponents to one total touchdown through three games. He’s won Big Ten Defensive Player of the week two of the three weeks possible this season.
-Defensive End Dean Lowry had six tackles, an interception and a pass break-up at Duke. He was Northwestern’s defensive player of the game. He’s got as much raw physical talent as anyone on this Northwestern football team and he did all his damage this past week despite only playing in 60% of the snaps.
This is a unit with a lot of depth and balance.
“I’d love to play everybody. If we could play 65 guys in a game, I’d do it between now and the time we play at Soldier Field,” Pat Fitzgerald said yesterday.
And don’t forget all the other solid contributors Northwestern football has on defense- Keith Watkins, Godwin Igwebuike, Ifeadi Odenigbo, Nick Van Hoose and Deonte Gibson just to name a few.
By the way, here’s the podcast of my segment talking Illini and Northwestern football on KOZN 1620 The Zone this morning:
In terms of the big picture, where does Northwestern football rank nationally right now?
“You’re three weeks in of playing games. I wouldn’t evaluate any team until probably four conference games… The final four conversations and the ranking conversations for now are awesome for blog sites, fans and everyone that wants to have a discussion about everything that doesn’t matter,” Fitzgerald said at his weekly Monday presser.
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and sometimes writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. The website is also featured on News Now.
Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes to the Chicago Tribune RedEye. He also appears regularly on numerous talk shows all across the country. Catch him Tuesdays on KOZN 1620 The Zone.
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