How did Northwestern win the West?
- Thread starter TheNewNU_rivals50820
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Somehow everyone else was worse. The divisions are horribly unbalanced at least at the top. Don't get me wrong I'm rooting for NW but they don't look like they should be on the same field as OSU
We will the win west for the next 20 yrs imo
Simple, no one from the West could beat them..
When tOSU puts their minds to it, they're damn good and hard to beat.
Only 20?? Frost retire early or something??
I like our chances. Alvarez is too much of a control freak and wont modernize Wisky. Ferentz is the same way and will probably pull a Bill Snyder and stay way past his prime. Brohm will be headed to the NFL or one of the big boys soon. I think Fitz is a fantastic coach but there are a limitations at a place like Northwestern. Fleck is a bullshitter. We can and should dominate the West the next 20 years
Well, they are looking a lot better now. Making me think the east and west divs aren't as far apart as I thought.
West went 10-11 versus East, and 14 of the 21 games were home games for East teams.
Be awesome to see Urban get beat tonight wouldn’t it..
Game threads never disappoint
Not sure why OU gets a free pass in. I would take OSU in a head to head with them.
They don’t they won the Big 12 and avenged their loss to texass who is higher rated than Purdue who they lost too..
Ohio State is good, but not playoff good. They had a lot of struggles throughout the year and they want to be in the playoff because of one good game.
They seem to have a different personality every week. I think Georgia is better than OU or OSU from what I saw today but OU will get into the playoff imo. Once Bama gets a hold of that defense OU might wish they went to the Sugar Bowl...
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Big 12 is a garbage league. Same Texas team who can't beat Maryland? 3rd place Big 12 team Iowa St. was in a dogfight and very lucky to escape non scholarship Drake today.
Not saying the Big 12 is better than the B1G..
Maryland should have beaten tOSU and that was at the end of the year not the first game...
What the hell does Iowa St have to do with it...sounds like a Ioway thing.
How so? They didn't lose by 29 to a 6-6 team. Their only loss was to Texas, by 3. That win was avenged. It's pretty clear to me which 1 loss team deserves the 4th playoff spot.
Why? Because they almost beat Alabama? Maybe, just maybe, Alabama is not the super power they have been made out to be this year. So, Georgia has an almost win against Alabama and an *** kicking by LSU. I'm not quite sure how that makes them better than OU or OSU.
To answer the OP
Fitzgerald
NW has the highest academic standards for scholarship football players and not much history, but his love for NW is on par with Frost's love for Nebraska. Gotta give PF credit.
Fitzgerald
NW has the highest academic standards for scholarship football players and not much history, but his love for NW is on par with Frost's love for Nebraska. Gotta give PF credit.
He could go to USC UF or UT and win Nattys. He loves NU and living in Chicago and I respect the hell out of him for that. He'll retire the greatest coach in NU history.
Northwestern won the West for a few reasons:
1. Fortuitous scheduling- They didn't have to play Ohio State or Penn State from the EAST. Their toughest crossover road game came at a time when Michigan State's roster was just becoming a MASH unit.
2. More scheduling fortune- Purdue was not really hitting on all cylinders in week 1. If The Big Ten makes NW travel to West Lafayette in week 5 instead of week 1, Purdue kills NW.
3. Wisconsin forced to play their backup QB- NW somehow gets incredibly lucky and only has to face Jack Coan in his first career start.
4. Penalties - This stat is insane IMO. On one hand you can applaud Fitz and his team for not committing a lot of penalties. They only has 29 in 9 Big Ten games. But what's really bizzare is more than half their 3rd down conversions in Big Ten play came because of opponents penalties. In league play, they had 29 drives extended due to penalties by their opponents. To put that on't perspective, the Huskers had 9 third down conversions due to penalty in Big Ten play. This stat suggests one of two things; Northwestern has an uncanny ability to bait opponents into committing penalties or the officials went out of their way to throw them life lines.
5. Injured QBs galore - They played backups vs Wisconsin, Rutgers, Minnesota, and Sparty. They only allowed 7 passing TDs during league play. On one hand, their secondary is decent. However, they got very lucky not having to face very many front line QBs. Hell, they even caught a break facing a True Freshman like Martinez instead of a more experienced signal caller.
6. Fumbles- NW lost one fumble during the season. But they forced a ton. Iowa particularly fumbled their game away vs NW. This is one area where the Wildcats really thrived.
NW was really lucky this season. Their 2016 and 17 teams were both much better than this 2018 team, but the scheduling, the opposing injuries, and crazy penalty numbers propelled them to an 8-1 league record.
On a sidenote, this season is really all about Iowa's pathetic finish. In many ways, 2018 was Kirk Ferentz's worst season. The Hawkeyes have 5 Future NFL players starting on defense including two potential 1st round pass rushers. They have two future NFL tight ends, and 3 future NFL offensive linemen. They also had an adequate experienced QB with good running backs. Their schedule also avoided Ohio State, UM, and Michigan State while bringing NW and Wiscy into Iowa City. Pathetic showing by Ferentz.... give him another 500 k though.
1. Fortuitous scheduling- They didn't have to play Ohio State or Penn State from the EAST. Their toughest crossover road game came at a time when Michigan State's roster was just becoming a MASH unit.
2. More scheduling fortune- Purdue was not really hitting on all cylinders in week 1. If The Big Ten makes NW travel to West Lafayette in week 5 instead of week 1, Purdue kills NW.
3. Wisconsin forced to play their backup QB- NW somehow gets incredibly lucky and only has to face Jack Coan in his first career start.
4. Penalties - This stat is insane IMO. On one hand you can applaud Fitz and his team for not committing a lot of penalties. They only has 29 in 9 Big Ten games. But what's really bizzare is more than half their 3rd down conversions in Big Ten play came because of opponents penalties. In league play, they had 29 drives extended due to penalties by their opponents. To put that on't perspective, the Huskers had 9 third down conversions due to penalty in Big Ten play. This stat suggests one of two things; Northwestern has an uncanny ability to bait opponents into committing penalties or the officials went out of their way to throw them life lines.
5. Injured QBs galore - They played backups vs Wisconsin, Rutgers, Minnesota, and Sparty. They only allowed 7 passing TDs during league play. On one hand, their secondary is decent. However, they got very lucky not having to face very many front line QBs. Hell, they even caught a break facing a True Freshman like Martinez instead of a more experienced signal caller.
6. Fumbles- NW lost one fumble during the season. But they forced a ton. Iowa particularly fumbled their game away vs NW. This is one area where the Wildcats really thrived.
NW was really lucky this season. Their 2016 and 17 teams were both much better than this 2018 team, but the scheduling, the opposing injuries, and crazy penalty numbers propelled them to an 8-1 league record.
On a sidenote, this season is really all about Iowa's pathetic finish. In many ways, 2018 was Kirk Ferentz's worst season. The Hawkeyes have 5 Future NFL players starting on defense including two potential 1st round pass rushers. They have two future NFL tight ends, and 3 future NFL offensive linemen. They also had an adequate experienced QB with good running backs. Their schedule also avoided Ohio State, UM, and Michigan State while bringing NW and Wiscy into Iowa City. Pathetic showing by Ferentz.... give him another 500 k though.
Big Ten scheduling doesn't make much sense at all, and the rules by which division titles are won, also interject crossover scheduling differences, making winning the division not fair for all teams in the division, and further inflicting more damage by playing 9 league games, increasing the likelihood of an additional loss vs scheduling that 4th non-conference opponent. It's pretty clear that this conference only cares about TV revenue, not getting to or playing in the playoffs or national championship game.
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