Expectations for Northwestern football are very high this season. It doesn’t come close to the summer hoopla entering 2013 (when NU was ranked in the top 25, coming off a Gator Bowl win, and even found themselves hosting College Gameday early in the B1G season), but there is still a strong buzz.
Like the ’13 preseason, the Wildcats are coming off another bowl game win, this one in the Pinstripe over New York. Northwestern football coach Pat Fitzgerald has now accomplished something his two predecessors Randy Walker and Gary Barnett did not- a bowl game win, and he did it twice.
On the flip side though, Walker and Barnett won a B1G title while Fitzgerald’s Wildcats haven’t really contended. The 2015 team came close, but the home blowout to an Iowa team that finished the regular season 12-0 ended that opportunity. The B1G West, just like in most seasons, remains there for the taking. Wisconsin has established itself as the rulers of the division as the Badgers are a frequenter of B1G Title Games. Iowa is a wild card and Nebraska is still not looking ready to contend.
Thus, many prognosticators see the Cats finishing second, and giving the Badgers the best challenge out of anyone to reach Indianapolis for the league title game.
Lindy’s predicts Northwestern football to finish second in the B1G West, and ranks them 21st nationally. For the “our call” summation statement they write: “Pat Fitzgerald has solidified his program to such an extent that winning the division is a distinct possibility.”
Street & Smith’s wrote: “provided Northwestern avoids a slow September, double digit wins, and perhaps more are a strong possibility.” Athlon forecasts a Holiday Bowl berth (as did Lindy’s) and a second place finish.
Fitzgerald was asked about the expectations
“My director of communications told me that today that and I said great we got picked second, that stinks I guess we have to get the job done to get picked first,” Fitzgerald said at Media Day.
“You can control some things and you can’t control others. You can’t control that,” he continued.
“Typically the preseason stuff goes back to the way you played the previous year. Sometimes there’s way too much put into the previous team because you graduate a lot of guys, it was a magical run, so on and so forth. Then you get predicted to do this, and you’re like ‘wow how did they have such a bad year’ they didn’t, they were just unlucky.”
That’s the power of momentum and the recency effect. When Northwestern football makes a strong closing argument, it leaves a positive lasting impression.
Shortly after the Pinstripe Bowl, we did our way too early Northwestern football season preview, which you can read at this link.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV.
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