For the life of me, I can’t figure out how Chicago can have a college football team right in its backyard, a Big 10 football team nonetheless, and do so little to embrace it as the city’s team. It could be a factor of proximity to the city, the team does reside eight miles north of Chicago, which could give a bit of an outsider identity. It could be because Northwestern has the second smallest alumni base in Chicago of all Big 10 schools, due to a smaller enrollment and the fact Chicago is a big draw for graduates from Midwest schools. More than likely, it’s probably because if Chicago did ever embrace Northwestern as their college football team, it probably got burned by the consecutive losing seasons along with multiple records set for just general awfulness. However, things hit a turning point in 1995, when after a dominating season, Northwestern won the Big 10 outright and played in the 1996 Rose Bowl. This began a period I will refer to as the Northwestern Modern Era, as a new character of Northwestern football emerged that began to amass a track record worthy of accumulating a fan base as large as an entire city. Chicago’s resistance to whole-heartedly accept Northwestern led me to wonder what characteristics a team has to have that gives it acceptance as a community’s team. I’ve narrowed down the characteristics to two: the fans’ ability to identify with the team’s locale, and the team’s success is enough to draw interest.
Let’s first take a minute to appreciate the greatness of the college football system. State schools throughout the entire nation, many in the middle of nowhere, can support a competitive football team and give the state’s residents a team to cheer for in the absence of having a professional team. The bottom line is everyone backs their local team. When a state is so small that one college team becomes the de facto state’s team (What’s up Nebraska?), it makes the community’s decision easy who to back. However, the state of Illinois has two college football teams in major conferences. The tendency for Chicago to rush behind only one of these schools means it falls into the mindset of not having any other local options. I allot the responsibility here to the major Illinois media outlets, ironically, all of which are based in Chicago. It’s not a personal fault to like a team with a more recognizable name better, but one’s opinion might be swayed if the other options of equal or better teams were more prominent in their media. There are benefits to getting behind a local team, and for the sake of the geographically-challenged, let’s just come out directly and say Northwestern is local, Champaign is not. A local team means fans can drive a mere hour or two to see a live game. Bring the kids and begin to build the team loyalty early. And come see a sizable contingent of local-grown players from some of the finest high school football programs in the suburbs. On the 2009 team, 33 of the 104 players on the roster are Illinois products, which is really the ideal amount to show they can retain a local feel, but show they can attract talent from other top high schools in the country. It is natural for the community to root for their local team, and an increased showing in media coverage is really all that is necessary to build the consensus that Northwestern is that local team Chicago can embrace.
Chicago sports fans are incredibly loyal, which is why the local team argument should suffice here, and in theory, it shouldn’t be necessary for a team to be successful to be accepted as the city’s team. However, if a team does have success, there seems to be no reason for a fan base to not accumulate. It’s easy to see how Northwestern fans of the past could have been burned through the painful years of the 70s and 80s when they set such records for most consecutive losses, most Division I-A losses, most points allowed, and greatest negative point differential. But in the Northwestern Modern Era, the team has shown it is perennially underrated. Of the past 13 seasons referred to, Northwestern finished higher in the Big 10 standings than its preseason Big 10 ranking 8 times, and has done so in 6 out of the past 6 seasons. Only two other Big 10 teams can say they’ve been more underrated over that period: Purdue and Indiana (and we’ll just disregard Indiana for now since only once in the Northwestern Modern Era have they been ranked in the preseason better than 10th). In contrast, Illinois has only exceeded its Big 10 preseason ranking 4 times, thus making it one of the most likely to underachieve Big 10 teams. And whether or not Northwestern necessarily ends up with a winning team, they consistently produce an exciting, high-powered offense, in itself exciting enough for television coverage. I’ll give you 2005 when only 4 college teams put up more yardage the whole season (What’s up Brett Basanez? What’s up Tyrell Sutton?).
At the very least, Northwestern usually has a star player whose play alone makes the game exciting to watch. We’re talking about players who come in second in the nation in total yardage at 172 yd/game (What’s up Damian Anderson?). Players who can lead the team in rushing and lead the Big 10 in completion percentage (What’s up Mike Kafka?). And in the anomaly that this year is where the team is actually stronger on defense, we have a player who likely could be drafted on day one despite Roger Goodell moving the third round to Sunday (What’s up Corey Wootton?).
And at the very very least, Northwestern is worthwhile to watch because they do not fail to make games interesting. The difference between now and in the past though is in close games, they usually end up winning them. No doubt there are exceptions such as the 2007 loss that otherwise would’ve given Duke the record for most consecutive games lost. Personally, I think Northwestern was just trying to protect its own place in the record book on that one. And then there was the inexcusable loss earlier this year to Greg Paulus. What was lost in the final score though was that Mike Kafka played out of his mind, throwing 35 completions on 42 attempts for 390 yards, thus still making it an exciting game. And so the rest of the season has gone with close games all season; wins against Iowa and Purdue, and losses against Michigan State and Penn State, but generally all games have been worthy of watching.
Pat Fitzgerald led Northwestern into a new era when in 1996 he was named the collegiate defensive player of the year for the second straight time. It is fitting then that the Northwestern Modern Era continues with Fitz leading the team once again. As long as Fitz is at the helm, Chicago has reason to be excited about the future of Northwestern football. And there is reason to believe Fitz will be around for awhile. He was the youngest D-1 head coach ever at age 31, and if you know anything about him, he doesn’t view his position as a stepping stone to bigger things, his ties to the school run deep, and he sincerely wants to build something primed for the long-term.
It is time for Chicago to give Northwestern football its due credit. I’m not saying the whole state of Illinois has to accept Northwestern as their team, although that wouldn’t be a bad idea anyway, in the Northwestern Modern Era, Northwestern is 8-5 in its rivalry game against Illinois going into this weekend. Just let Northwestern be the prime team covered for upstate Illinois and U of I be the prime team covered downstate. For where Northwestern has been and where they’re looking to go, they’re well deserving of being regarded as Chicago’s college football team.
