ESPN: Once on the brink of the big time, Northwestern fighting to get back

[BleedGopher]

per ESPN:

The signs all along pointed to a potential tipping point for Northwestern.

The buzz had reached a fever pitch on campus with the Wildcats unbeaten and ranked No. 16 in the nation heading into October of 2013. College GameDay was coming to campus to set the scene ahead of a showdown against No. 4 Ohio State that marked one of the biggest home games in recent history for the program. And with a win, Pat Fitzgerald's club would not only claim a signature victory, at a minimum it could have stamped itself as a legitimate threat to capture a Big Ten crown -- and it was well on its way to doing so in the fourth quarter on a rainy night at Ryan Field.

In heartbreaking fashion for the Wildcats, it all slipped away from them down the stretch. Even worse for Northwestern, that loss did go down as a turning point for the program, just not the kind it envisioned and one that in some ways it is still trying to recover from nearly two years later.

"Ohio State was a huge game and after we lost, it basically just took the wind out of our sails," senior Nick VanHoose said. "It hurt. You can tell from watching our next game against Wisconsin [in a 35-6 loss], I mean it looked like we didn't even show up.

"We tried to be us, but I felt like a little bit of a piece of us, who we are, was kind of lost after that game. Players start having doubts about the season, having doubts about play calling and coaches, and once you get any of that into your locker room, it becomes a cancer and it spreads from player to player. It was bad."

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post...he-big-time-northwestern-fighting-to-get-back

Go Gophers!!

 

[Donovan]

Gopher fans can understand this hurt, reminds me of our 2003 Michigan game.

 

[HopHead]

Northwestern has always been the "one of these things is not like the others" school in the Big 10. I often wonder if they reached their peak and are headed for a prolonged period of mediocrity or worse.

I know I get sick of hearing national (and local) pundits talk about how Minnesota should be happy to be a perennial 6-6/7-5 team because that's their ceiling. But I think a case can be made that Northwestern's ceiling is much more real. They have too many things working against them from school size and admission standards to facilities. Plus, even though Pat Fitzgerald is by all accounts a fantastic coach, even good coaches can have their message get stale after a while. Time will tell.

 

[disco]

Northwestern has always been the "one of these things is not like the others" school in the Big 10. I often wonder if they reached their peak and are headed for a prolonged period of mediocrity or worse.

I know I get sick of hearing national (and local) pundits talk about how Minnesota should be happy to be a perennial 6-6/7-5 team because that's their ceiling. But I think a case can be made that Northwestern's ceiling is much more real. They have too many things working against them from school size and admission standards to facilities. Plus, even though Pat Fitzgerald is by all accounts a fantastic coach, even good coaches can have their message get stale after a while. Time will tell.

In theory, that's true (same with Vandy in the SEC), but then you look at a Stanford, who had a pretty good run as a top program over the past decade or so, and Stanford's athletic department as a whole is the most successful in the country year after year. I do think facilities have a lot to do with it though.

 

[Tim1406]

In theory, that's true (same with Vandy in the SEC), but then you look at a Stanford, who had a pretty good run as a top program over the past decade or so, and Stanford's athletic department as a whole is the most successful in the country year after year. I do think facilities have a lot to do with it though.

Stanford also has 14 conference championships and 5 rose bowl victories to fall back on. There is a history of success there that brings out fan support and boosters that help with creating the right culture amongst the players, coaches, and not to be overlooked the fan base.

To compare, Northwestern has 8 conference championships and 1 rose bowl victory in 1948.