If Northwestern is looking for a song for its 2010 campaign, they might want to look into Bachman-Turner Overdrive.
It’s a rather obscure reference to most of you, I realize - I had to use peruse the Internet myself to find the hit 1970s Canadian rock band.
The point is that if anything has typified the 2010 season, it’s that the Cats are “Takin’ Care of Business.”
Shades of the 2009 false start have faded. There have been no losses to programs like Syracuse, with or without former Duke point guards. They haven’t needed a last-second field goal to top eventual 0-12 teams like Eastern Michigan. No blasé performances against non-BCS conference opponents like Miami-Ohio.
This is the second time in three years that NU has opened the season to the tune of a 3-0 record.
“I think we’re starting to come together,” coach Pat Fitzgerald said. “It’s good to be 3-0 and not where we need to be. It’s encouraging.”
Fitzgerald has built up the program to the point where if they continue to schedule what look like inferior teams, 4-0 against nonconference opponents should become commonplace. They’ll look to sew it up this week against Central Michigan.
NU’s game against Rice on Saturday in many ways typified their season so far. The Cats garnered minimal national attention, got a stellar performance from junior quarterback Dan Persa and came away with an expected victory.
As Fitzgerald said, the game may not have seen “the most beautiful offensive display by either team,” but that didn’t stop him from trying to pump up the crowd on the sidelines.
“I’m nuts … I was ‘King Celebration’ as a player,” Fitzgerald said. “I like to have fun and I like when our fans have fun.”
It’s an odd thought: The Cats came out the least amped up for their toughest test so far against Vanderbilt, while they got into it in blowouts against Illinois State, 37-3, and Rice, 30-13.
Major conference schools who schedule lower-tier programs write themselves into a corner when it comes to the national spotlight. Everyone remembers Michigan against Appalachian State from 2007. Mississippi’s loss against Jacksonville State earlier this season wouldn’t have made ESPN if not for the fact that the Rebels lost to a Football Championship Subdivision program.
The only thing remembered about games like Oregon against Portland State or Ohio State against Marshall is the lopsided score that’s expected against such incomparable competition.
Even without the face time, the Cats have quietly earned more respect. They’ve gained votes in both the USA Today and Associated Press polls each week.
Fitzgerald said after the game against Rice that the team’s play made “a little bit of a statement.” The best statement to this year’s team and the program as whole would be to take care of business against Central Michigan, and stay off of Sportscenter.
Sports editor Andrew Scoggin is a Medill senior. He can be reached at [email protected].
