It’s time to get those keys ready, find that oversized purple sweatshirt and learn the words to the fight song. It’s only five weeks until the Northwestern football season’s opening game at Ryan Field, and the team is already preparing for a winning season.
No one knows what to expect of the Cats this season. They had a disappointing season in 2006, but Coach Pat Fitzgerald is optimistic about new recruits and veteran players who just found their game too late last time.
As the players head to training camp at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, The Summer Northwestern takes a look at last season and talks to Coach Fitzgerald about what to expect from Northwestern football this fall.
The beginning for FitzgeraldLast season was one of the worst NU has had in recent history, beginning with the death of Head Coach Randy Walker. Fitzgerald told the Racine Journal Times that as he was tucking his son Jack into bed, he got a call on his cell phone telling him Walker had died of a heart attack.
Fitzgerald was named NU’s head coach a week later. Even though it was assumed he would succeed Walker in the position, Walker’s early death made Fitzgerald the youngest head coach in Division I history, at the age of 31.
Although they started off strong with a win against Miami University of Ohio, the team quickly lost momentum after losing to the University of New Hampshire, a Division I-AA school, a smaller division than NU’s Division I-A.
Things got worse during the Michigan State University game in the middle of the season. In 2005, NU beat the Spartans 49-14, and the 2006 game seemed to be going the same way until after halftime. In the third quarter, while trailing the Wildcats 38-3, Michigan State scored 38 unanswered points, winning by three and achieving the greatest comeback in Big Ten football history.
Running back Tyrell Sutton, a Communication junior, said the defeat came because of “a lack of focus” during the game.
“When you’re up by 30 points, you tend to get lackadaisical, and (it was) the same thing with New Hampshire. They were a I-AA team, so we figured there was no way they were going to come out and be serious,” Sutton said.
After Michigan State, the Wildcats suffered two more defeats – once against Michigan, and again versus Ohio State.
“I thought there was a lot of inefficiency, not problems,” Fitzgerald said about last season. “We need to improve third downs quite a bit. We were too inconsistent (with our) kicking game. A lot of guys are stepping up for that.”
The Wildcats ended the season 4-8, with no bowl prospects. Still, the end of the season was a highlight for Fitzgerald, who thought the way the team rallied and won two of the four games after Michigan State was an improvement, not just for the team but for its coach as well.
“I don’t have any regrets,” Fitzgerald said. “The only disappointment is (that) we didn’t go to a bowl game.”
But that’s the goal this year. The Rose Bowl may be too ambitious, but Fitzgerald still wants to give his graduating players a bowl game to remember.
The official football season opens September 1 with a game against Northeastern University. Although NU faces Big Ten power teams Michigan and Ohio State back-to-back, the coaching staff isn’t worried.
“We’re not going to look past our first game with Northeastern,” Fitzgerald said.
Player-by-playerBefore the season opener, though, the team will report to training camp on August 11 for 11 days in Wisconsin. Sutton laughed when asked what camp is like.
“Hell,” Sutton said. “It’s in the middle of nowhere. It’s hot, it’s humid. It’s just long. It’s only 11 days, but it’s the longest 11 days of your life, and it’s all football. That’s all it is.”
CJ Bach
