Northwestern football is one of the teams carrying the flag for the Big Ten this season. You could easily argue how they’re anywhere from the second to the fourth best team in the league right now, but they got off to a really rough start Saturday night.
They beat Western Michigan 38-17, in a game where they trailed in the second quarter, and didn’t put them away until the fourth. Still, they have won six in a row. But when you consider Western Michigan actually lost to Nicholls State, a team that actually lost to Louisiana-Lafayatte; and by a score of 70-7. Nicholls State, (Did NU alum Rachel Nichols found a University?) also lost to Oregon 66-3. But they beat Western Michigan.
Northwestern football is still undefeated, but the Big Ten itself looked extremely weak on this Saturday. The wins were very very ugly.
“Seeing our friends in Ann Arbor today, they (Northwestern football team) didn’t overlook anyone. Those guys (Western Michigan) are on scholarship too,” Northwestern football Coach Pat Fitzgerald said.
The Wolverines barely escaped lowly Akron today 28-24.
“We were ready to go, we just didn’t execute,” Fitz said. “They had good energy pregame, good energy in the hotel, just didn’t execute.”
And then added this: “I think in a lot of ways we’ve improved tonight but we just didn’t execute. I love that 471 yards and 38 points is unacceptable- that’s a good thing.”
As for the health of Venric Mark, Fitzgerald held the party line, reiterating that he is “day-to-day.”
He also worked in two of his favorite catch-phrases into this press conference: “players, formations, plays” and “stats are for losers.”
busiest live sports weekend I can ever remember: NASCAR Geico400 Illini in CHI, NU, Sox, Bears, Fire all at home. golf too.
Listen to me every Tuesday at 10:30 AM CDT talking Illini and Northwestern on 1620 The Zone
Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. An analyst for 95.7 The Fan, he also writes on Chicago sports media for Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks) and Facebook.