BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – They have to be tired of hearing it by now.

Last year, everything went right for the Wildcats. Last year, they were the guys everyone wanted to talk about.

They bought into an idea – a notion that they could go from worst to first in a matter of months. They bought into this at the very beginning of 2000.

But for some reason, that sales pitch isn’t working anymore. Northwestern was supposed to be good again, but somewhere along the way this bunch forgot about the stuff that took it where it wanted to go last year.

Some day Randy Walker will look back to this season – a season that was full of things no coach can be expected to handle – and wonder why his players stopped buying into the Walker way that had once worked.

Both Walker and the players insist that they’re still working hard, that they haven’t quit. They say their second-half quasi-comeback on Saturday proves so much.

But what they fail to realize is that quitting is irrelevant if you don’t show up in the first place. And not showing up in the first place is the result of something much bigger than giving up when you’re down 42 points at halftime.

It’s really very easy to believe the Cats aren’t packing it in, especially when they insist it’s not so with an icy resolve. This is, after all, the same group of guys that have pieced together one miraculous comeback after another.

But at the same time, this disappointment – soon to be a debacle – of a season is coming from those same guys. So why aren’t they better, especially when they had a full offseason to improve?

Most teams establish a personality by their fifth or sixth game. Good teams often take on a personality that mirrors their coach’s demeanor.

Last year, NU did both.

This year, NU has done neither.

Walker has failed to give this team an identity on the field – the one thing he did a masterful job of in 2000. His teams now react to the opposition every week, taking punches and making weak counters instead of forcing teams adjust to their pace.

And his most important players have started to suggest that maybe it’s time for them to take control.

“Coach Walker can only do so much,” said senior captain Napoleon Harris, an NFL talent who made one tackle against the last-place team in the Big Ten. “I think players respond better from players.”

They now make excuses about bye weeks and stacking the box. Last year it was every other team in the Big Ten trying to explain how to stop NU’s spread offense.

The Cats still will work when Walker tells them to. They will hustle and they might not quit. But until they once again believe in the system he has in place, things will continue to slide ever so swiftly from their grasp.

“You either need to do a good job getting in the boat with me and going in the right direction,” Walker said, “or you better do a great job fooling me. Maybe they’re fooling me, I don’t know.”

The fact of the matter is that every single person involved with NU football might as well be in the boat.

But unless they can figure out how to start rowing in the same direction, there’s no point.

They might as well be swimming in shark-infested waters.

Glenn Kasses is a Medill junior. He can be reached at [email protected].