At the end of practice this past Tuesday, Randy Walker gathered his team at the 50-yard line to give his daily post-practice assessment. He barked at the players, asking them how much they wanted to win and lacing his message with language that silenced even the coaching staff’s children on the sideline.

The moment reflected a 180-degree jolt from the coach’s calming resolve a week earlier.

“I’m tired of the way we’re playing and I, for one, am not accepting it anymore,” Walker said after Tuesday’s practice. “I tried to stay positive, I tried to stay upbeat, and that has not led to the kind of results we want. I’m tired of talking about it. I’m tired of asking. It’s going to get done.”

Back in August, no one could have anticipated the necessity of Walker’s speech, which comes three weeks from the end of the 2001 season with NU two losses away from a losing record.

After all, last season was marked by grinning champions and shiny trophies, not hollering coaches and frustrated players.

And this season was only supposed to get better. An outright conference championship. A top-tier bowl game. Maybe even a BCS berth.

But things haven’t gone according to plan.

On a team returning 10 of 11 offensive starters, a core of veteran defenders and a Heisman favorite, what went wrong?

FALLING STAR

When running back Damien Anderson left the field early in the third quarter against Indiana with a dislocated shoulder, he took with him what will likely be his final 51 rushing yards of the season.

That meager total dragged Anderson’s season average to below 100 yards per game for the first time in three seasons.

Anderson’s disappointing year jumps out as the most statistically obvious difference between NU’s success in 2000 and 2001. Last year, Anderson finished the regular season with 1,914 yards rushing and 22 touchdowns. This year’s production: 757 yards and eight touchdowns.

But pinpointing the reason behind those numbers is a little tougher. There was talk of opposing teams stuffing the box and whipping out new defensive alignments, keying on the back and devoting all their efforts to stopping him.

Those excuses never satisfied Walker or offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson. The pair argued it was up to the offensive line to stop whining, make blocks and protect Anderson.

But now, with only the formality of a news conference left before the end of Anderson’s NU career, the Cats won’t have an opportunity to salvage their star’s season. And in his absence, the offense could struggle even more in its final three games.

“We can’t hang our heads now and think, ‘Well, we don’t have Damien any more, we have no chance,'” quarterback Zak Kustok said, hinting at an attitude that may be hard for NU’s freshmen starters to shake.

Losing their edge

Wilson doesn’t see the enigma in Anderson’s season, and he isn’t puzzled that his offense has put up nearly 10 points per game less than it did last year.

To him, the explanation is very simple.

“Last year people talked about how good this scheme was, and I kept saying our players were playing good,” he said. “Now everyone’s saying what’s wrong with your scheme? Well, our players need to play a little bit harder.”

Last year’s success, Wilson said, had nothing to do with the no-huddle spread offense that everyone labeled revolutionary. Instead, the 8-3 turnaround was the product of a physical and aggressive style of play that Wilson said hasn’t been evident in 2001.

“Sometimes it’s the nature of the type of kids who are playing football in our society, I think it’s the type of kids coming to this school,” Wilson said. “We get pretty smart, educated guys, and they’re not necessarily the hardest, toughest guys.”

Despite the offense racking up 440 yards per game, Wilson points out that NU has been unable to convert in the red zone all season.

Against Indiana last Saturday, NU amassed an impressive 513 yards. But the 56-21 final score wasn’t so impressive — the Cats needed 171 yards for each touchdown.

“We’ve got to go 170 yards for seven points,” Wilson said. “The field is only 100 yards long.”

By contrast, in the final game of the 2000 season against Illinois, that same offense scored nine touchdowns, putting up only 478 yards. That amounts to 53 yards per touchdown.

turnover trauma

Walker has his own favorite stat to explain this season’s outcome: turnovers.

Like he tells his players, it is no coincidence that NU has dropped every game in which it lost the turnover ratio and won every game in which it came out on top.

The Cats were particularly guilty of this sin against Indiana, turning the ball over three times inside the Hoosiers’ 10-yard line. Anderson fumbled the ball on the 1-yard line and Kustok threw a pair of interceptions.

Before playing Michigan State on Sept. 29, Kustok had gone eight straight games without throwing a pick. He has since tossed five.

When Anderson fumbled the ball in the first quarter against Ohio State, Walker broadcast his anger by sidelining the back for part of NU’s next offensive series.

“We talk a lot about respecting the football,” Walker said after the game. “If you put it on the ground, the next guy gets a chance, because that is not going to be a part of our offense. You make a drastic statement.”

Kustok and Anderson aren’t the only team leaders who have fed the ball to the bad guys this season — senior wideout Sam Simmons has coughed up the ball as well.

The slippery hands appear to be a recent development — the Cats played five turnover-free games last year. But Walker can’t explain the change, especially when his players are going through the same catching and stripping drills they used last season.

“Why have we not had the kind of success this year that we had last year?” he said. “I can’t answer that, but I know it’s not for a lack of attention to detail.”

the big hurt

Compounding NU’s execution flaws this season, the defense has been hit by a string of season-ending injuries.

Starting defensive tackles Pete Chapman and Pete Konopka both went down in the beginning of the fall, with a blood clot and back problem, respectively. Matt Anderson inherited Chapman’s position, before injuring his knee against Penn State on Oct. 20.

Meanwhile, safeties Marvin Brown and Sean Wieber became so nicked up that they had to leave the lineup three weeks ago. Wieber is the only player in the group still sporting pads in practice.

But head athletic trainer Tory Aggeler thinks the injuries can be chalked up to more than just bad luck.

“I’m kind of torn,” he said. “Although I feel like we’ve gotten a lot of injuries this season, it’s kind of like the chicken and the egg problem.

“Consistently, I’m busier at times when we’re losing.”

Aggeler has made four trips to the field this season to assist fallen players. Perhaps not coincidentally, his visits have occurred during NU’s four losses.

Counting his increased number of patients this season, Aggeler questions whether the injuries result from losing, or vice versa.

“When you’re losing, you’re more likely to be the recipient of the blow rather than the giver,” he said.

‘inexperience doesn’t help’

The injuries on defense have left Walker starting his preseason third-stringers: a pair of true freshmen, two redshirt freshmen and a sophomore.

NU’s unexpected inexperience has been yet another factor contributing to the team’s woes this season, although the numbers aren’t quite as bad as they seem — relative to last season.

The Cats defense is on pace to give up fewer passing yards than it did last year, but it has settled at the bottom of the Big Ten in rush defense.

“The core is the same, but there are a lot of new guys out there,” defensive coordinator Jerry Brown said. “I’m not using that as a crutch, but inexperience doesn’t help you.”

The defensive flaws have been accentuated this season without the benefit of a powerful offense to hide behind.

If the offense were as potent this season as it was last year, few people would have noticed the 108 points NU gave up against Ohio State, Penn Stat
e and Purdue. With last year’s production, those three losses would be wins.

x-factors

The most spotty explanation for this season’s struggles is the one that can’t be measured in hash marks or touchdowns.

But it’s one of NU’s most popular excuses.

“I don’t think that (opponents) really had that much respect for our offense last season,” Kustok said. “They probably thought, ‘Well, they’re doing well, but they’re not going to be able to do anything against us. It’s just Northwestern.'”

This theory holds that NU is wilting in the face of a higher level of competition this year.

“NU has a big red target right on its back, on its chest,” said former defensive end Conrad Emmerich, who graduated last year. “Every single Saturday, teams are going to bring their A-game.”

The theory also states that teams now know how to better prepare for the Cats. Wilson disputes the explanation — once again, there was never anything radical about this offense.

But NU did lose three games in a row to teams emerging from bye weeks.

“Obviously, it looks like it was (a disadvantage),” Walker said of the scheduling glitch. “I think the thing that was a little unfair is that we had three in a row. We had three straight opponents with two weeks to prepare for us, and there’s a lot you can get from that.”

a fallen friend

Preseason speculation said the Aug. 3 death of strong safety Rashidi Wheeler might shatter the Cats’ confidence, resulting in a disappointing season of unrealized potential.

This worst-case scenario has become a reality, but Wheeler’s death is the last explanation to tumble out of anyone’s mouth.

“That’s just an obstacle — not an excuse,” Emmerich said. “The only excuse you could say is you don’t have Rashidi on the field.”

Without the perspective of a few more weeks — maybe even months — Walker isn’t sure he can measure the impact of Wheeler’s death on the 2001 season.

“I’m not going to say it wasn’t a huge element in our season,” Walker said. “It was. How significant, I think time will tell.”

A RHETORICAL QUESTION

Emmerich has followed the season on television, as have several other graduated members of last year’s team. Just as perplexed as the current players on the field, the old teammates pick up the phone and try to find answers.

“We couldn’t believe it,” Emmerich said. “We just ask each other, ‘Dude, what’s wrong?’ That’s basically the whole conversation. It’s really bewildering to us.”

This season has recast the accomplishments of the 2000 Cats, a team branded a fluke contender exploiting a gimmicky offense.

Having two such contrasting seasons with largely the same core of players, everyone is left wondering what season reflects the real NU.

Wilson hints at an answer.

“I never thought we were that good last year,” he said. “I didn’t think we were as good as everybody thought we were.”

Emmerich isn’t sure Wilson is right, but he hasn’t got a better explanation.

“I really have no idea,” he said. “If someone has an answer, I’d like to hear it.”