A new goal has been uncovered in Northwestern’s team room: Win the Legends Division.
After sweeping through the non-conference slate at 4-0, the Wildcats turn their attention to the Big Ten and the chance to play Dec. 1 in Indianapolis. The three players present at Monday’s press conference all shrugged off the reveal of the new goal, putting the focus back on the game Saturday. Although NU is brimming with confidence after winning its first four games, the locker room attitude remains the same.
“We got to focus on this game here,” junior linebacker Damien Proby said. “Our first step to winning our division is going through Indiana, and that’s what we plan on doing this week.”
Junior tailback Mike Trumpy said the team’s focus has been on improving itself from week-to-week — a mindset coach Pat Fitzgerald has instilled in his players.
“We’re really only focused on ourselves and currently focused on Indiana and going 1-0 this week,” Trumpy said. “Coach Fitz stresses that every single week, going 1-0 this week and focusing on us and not looking ahead.”
The Hoosiers present numerous challenges for the Cats, most notably a two-man quarterback rotation. After losing starter Tre Roberson for the season in the second week of the year, Indiana went to a platoon system at quarterback. The offense certainly changed without Roberson, but Fitzgerald called Indiana’s offensive coaches some of the best in the conference.
With only one full week of tape on this two-quarterback system, Fitzgerald said he will focus mostly on concepts before looking at what each individual does well. He admitted it is difficult to make a game plan without much tape and said he will need to remain flexible.
“You got to look at what they’re doing conceptually,” Fitzgerald said. “You might be able to get a beat if they’re doing different things with the quarterbacks. If they’re not doing anything different with the quarterbacks, then you’ve got to look at the strengths and what they try to do to play to that quarterback’s strengths. We’re going to have to do a lot of adjusting defensively Saturday.”
Proby said he’s not going to worry about which quarterback is in the game.
“There’s only so much you can do on the field,” Proby said. “We got to go off the film that we do have on the quarterback. We just have to study the little things we do have on them — the receivers’ routes, the way the line blocks, things we can’t control.”
Indiana is one of four Big Ten teams that will have a bye week prior to playing NU. Fitzgerald said he is not concerned about the extra rest because teams can get rusty after a bye. Since 2002, Big Ten teams are 17-32 after a bye week, the worst of any of the six BCS conferences.
Despite the challenges that the Hoosiers pose, the Cats’ goal remains the same: to represent the Legends Division in Indianapolis. But first, NU needs to send a message to the rest of the conference that NU is here to stay, Proby said.
“We still have a big thing to prove to other Big Ten members as to who we actually are,” he said. “That’s something (Fitzgerald) put a large emphasis on.”
