Northwestern coach Randy Walker was all smiles at his weekly news conference Monday. But there is a difference between smiling and being content.
“We are so just jubilant and euphoric, I’m just not sure we’re going to be able to come back down to earth,” Walker joked, “Having said that, I’m the perfect person to deal with things like that. Because I’m usually just, as my daughter puts it, ‘Grandpa Grumpus.’ “
Walker may have to look for something to get grumpy about, as No. 21 NU (5-2, 3-1 Big Ten) is ranked for the first time since October 2001 and is right in the middle of the hunt for the Big Ten title.
In a matter of weeks, Walker has gone from trying to find a way to salvage the season to making sure his players don’t get too excited about the team’s success.
“Their either really good about telling me what I want to hear, which some of them are really good at that, or they really do get it,” Walker said. “I think they’re doing a good job of managing the situation that we’re in.”
The ‘situation’ Walker referred to is not an unpleasant one. The Wildcats are gaining national recognition everywhere from The New York Times to the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, as NU was named its team of the week.
Walker has a vote in the USA Today Coaches Poll, and after the game against Michigan State, he said he was not sure if he would rank the Cats. He eventually made up his mind.
“I ranked us, reluctantly,” Walker said. “I put us at the bottom of that top 25. I’m not going to say where, but we’re in the top 25.”
He said the team is still not where it needs to be to be successful.
“I look at the entire football team and I hope that no one on our football team looks at themselves and says, ‘Boy, I’ve kind of arrived, and this is as good as I can be,’ ” Walker said. “I hope there is no one that harbors that belief because I think we all can get better and we need to get better.”
Something the Cats can continue to improve is their defense, which fell to last in the nation after giving up 480 yards to Michigan State.
Walker said there was a message he wanted to make sure his players understood.
“Three weeks ago, you weren’t worth a darn,” he said. “Nobody liked you, you’re girlfriend was thinking about going out with another guy. It wasn’t good.”
At least one player listened to Walker, as senior wide receiver Mark Philmore reiterated his coach’s message Monday.
“I think as a team we understand how hard it was to get to where we are right now,” Philmore said. “I don’t think we’re going to let this opportunity slip out of our hands.”
NU has won three consecutive games and is tied in the loss column for first place in the Big Ten.
In the next three weeks, the Cats face the three teams picked to finish atop the conference at the beginning of the season – No. 25 Michigan, Iowa and No. 12 Ohio State.
“After each win, we get more confident,” senior wide receiver Shaun Herbert said. “We believe more that we can win every game now.”
Reach Abe Rakov at [email protected].
