Adapting to Change in Big Ten Football
It’s halftime at the Northwestern-Purdue football game, and the Wildcats are up 28-9. Their record thus far doesn’t look at all special; assuming a win today, they’ll have a 4-2 record, 2-1 in the Big Ten. Their two losses, however, were a cliffhanger defeat by undefeated #10 Penn State and an impressive Arizona State team (that sits just outside the top 25). Last week, they racked up 674 yards to upset then-#14 Wisconsin. They’re certainly a team that can’t be written off. Yet every sports writer seems to do just that. In ESPN’s midseason review of the Big Ten, Northwestern is mentioned only in passing– in the context of Penn State and Wisconsin’s troubles with them. ESPN’s (or rather, Brian Hooley’s) predictions for bowl-eligible teams: “Penn State, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan State, Ohio State, Iowa and Michigan.”
It’s a safe prediction, based on conventional wisdom. But the conventional wisdom is often wrong. ESPN’s writer has been covering the Big Ten for 18 years and hosts a radio talk show in Columbus, Ohio. This is his problem– it takes a long time to unlearn old biases and rid oneself of conventional wisdom. Up until the latter half of the 1990s, Northwestern football was the conference joke. In the past ten years, however, Northwestern has had three conference championships. In short, over the past ten years, Northwestern has been one of the top three teams in the conference with Ohio State and Michigan. One would think this would have caught peoples’ attention, but no. It’s always a surprise to them when Northwestern wins.
NU has a tough schedule ahead of them, but barring any major injuries, particularly to Sutton or Basanez, the’re bound to surprise a few more people as they head towards their next bowl appearance.
Update: It’s always a close game with NU, but at least I don’t have to eat my words yet.