Dear future Northwestern football opponents, you may want to reconsider scheduling them for Homecoming. NU has ruined opponents’ homecomings in back-to-back weeks. First it was the Iowa Hawkeyes, then came the bye week. (We wrote more about this homecoming angle more at this link)
Last week it was the Michigan State Spartans. In both contests, the Northwestern football team came in as heavy underdogs. This week, NU are slight favorites for their very own homecoming game, this one against the Indiana Hoosiers, who are a much better team than you probably think they are.
SPREAD: Northwestern football -2
TV/RADIO: Saturday, October 22 11 a.m. — Northwestern vs. Indiana, Ryan Field (BTN, WGN Radio AM-720)
Northwestern Football Preview:
During the last two major media opportunities for Northwestern football coach Pat Fitzgerald, there’s been a common theme in the Q&A. How does a group that could only score 7 against a lowly FCS foe, with some of the poorest offensive numbers and statistics in the entire country, explode into a juggernaut scoring 38, and then 54 points in back to back games?
“Let’s stop the early in the season stuff. it’s week seven now,” Fitzgerald said after his team upset Michigan State with authority and sent the homecoming home early and very disappointed.
“I’m glad you’re stop asking me about the beginning of the year. I don’t have any answers other than we just weren’t that good at the beginning of the year, we didn’t coach well,” he continued.
Same theme returned Monday during his weekly media session.
“Going back to the beginning of the year stuff. That team stunk. That team is dead I think. That was a bad football team,” he said.
Obviously, a lot of things have gone right since the calendar flipped to October 1. Back in September Northwestern football was not only bad, but also severely lacking in entertainment value. They were criticized for being bad and just plain boring. They were incessant calls for the head of offensive coordinator Mick McCall.
His offensive line, and his receivers, save Austin Carr, just weren’t getting it done.
Fitzgerald said Monday that “99.9 percent of the time, you shut off the outside noise. But occasionally you use some of that noise, which was probably very well-deserved, to make guys mad. These guys put a chip on their shoulder. They talked all offseason about being all-in.”
Now the Cats are a ton of fun to watch. They’re a good time, exciting team that boasts a rare combination feat. They have the B1G’s leading receiver in Carr, and the league’s leading rusher in Justin Jackson. The line is blocking better, quarterback Clayton Thorson is developing and the receivers are stepping up; taking opposing defenders away from clogging up the box.
Now JJ has more room.
Indiana Hoosiers Preview:
It just sounds weird to say this: “Indiana is a really good football team.” With their tradition as a basketball school first and foremost, not to mention the fact that they have been pretty awful at football for most of our lives….it just doesn’t feel right to believe in the Hoosiers as a legitimate threat.
However they really are. They’re much more than just a fun to watch, high-scoring team that maybe gets to 5-7 or 6-6. Now, with new Defensive Coordinator Tom Allen, they can actually stop people too. The Hoosiers might only be 3-3, but two of their losses came to two undefeated, top ten teams- Nebraska and Ohio State.
Two of their losses were by just a combined five points. I’m not saying they are the third best team in the B1G East, and the fifth best team in the league, but you could make that case, and when everything is said and done at the end of the year, it might just be the case.
Their best player, or at least the most viable offensive talent, is OL Dan Feeney.
Quarterback Robert Lagow makes a lot of big plays, but he also commits a ton of turnovers. He’s a Brett Favreian kind of sort of high risk/high reward kind of QB. He threw five picks against Wake Forest, and if he turns the ball over at Ryan Field on Saturday, it’ll probably hand the Cats a victory.
Still, IU is much better than the average casual college football fan probably realizes, and thus I asked Northwestern football coach Pat Fitzgerald on Monday, what do you tell the common fan who doesn’t know how good the Hoosiers are.
Fitzgerald would tell them to YouTube the Hoosiers. Go on YouTube and look at their highlight reels. Fitz is “really impressed with the Hoosiers.” He pointed out their explosive offensive identity and the turnaround they’ve made on defense since recent years. Called this week’s matchup a huge challenge for the team.
PREDICTION: Northwestern Football 31, Indiana 30
Don’t think the Cats will get stymied by a dose of their own Homecoming ruining medicine. It’ll be a Cardiac Cats game, but they’ll get it done.
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 andBold 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.