Close, but No Cigar

While watching the final seconds tick down and Evan Watkins throw a pick to end the inaugural Ticket City Bowl, it is apparent to me Northwestern can not and will not win another Bowl Game for a number of fairly large reasons.  One being, which is out of their control, not having their starting quarterback Dan Persa.  Without him, there just hasn't been the same spark on the offensive side of the ball since he went down in the Iowa game.  I do have fairly fond memories of going to Northwestern football games in my pre-teen days. Steve Schnur was their quarterback, Darnell Autry was in the backfield, D'wayne Bates at wideout, they had an explosive return man in Brian Musso, a solid kicker much like Demos in Sam Valenzisi, and a fairly well-known linebacker in Evanston known as Pat Fitzgerald.

I have just outlined a group of players that make up a solid college football team.  The Wildcats lack a consistent running back, a strong secondary and linebacking crew, and with the exception of Demos a solid special teams unit.  The missing factors have been the largest reason they haven't been able to win another Big Ten title since the Fitzgerald days.  Although they didn't win the Rose Bowl against a USC squad featuring Keyshawn Johnson, they made it to one of the most prestigious bowl games in the country and were put in front of the national eye.  There's no doubt in my mind Fitz and the Wildcats are hungry to make it to a BCS game.  Fitz brings the same tenacity to the sidelines as he did the field in his playing days.  If his dedication to the program was ever in question, look back at the 1995 season.  He won Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year as well as the Bronko Nagurski Award while missing two game with a broken leg.

I don't see the same fire that Fitzgerald brought to the field in this defensive unit.  Fitzgerald is more upset than the players if something goes wrong or an obvious mistake is made.  I want to see players shouting and yelling and taking blame for their own mishaps.  Maybe that's just me though.  Maybe it is just the way the game has changed in the last fifteen years.  On the plus side of the school's recent success they have received thirteen verbal commitments before the coach had even met the future Wildcats.  As long as the team's recruiting staff recruits based on needs, their success will continue.  Pat Fitzgerald scoffs at the "star rating" system used by many recruits.  To put that system in perspective, he had a negative star rating coming out of high school.  Fitzgerald put it simply at the beginning of the season, "Success breeds recruiting success."  They have found two very underrated gems in Mike Kafka and Dan Persa, but both also went down to injuries late in the season.  It's a matter of going to that next level-Big Ten title, winning a meaningful Bowl game, winning the MEANINGFUL conference games, etc.-that will help the school's programs excel further and further.