Historic Hypothetical:
If Darnell Autry got injured during the 1995 season
We all loved the 1995 season. It was clearly the turning point of Northwestern football. Imagine this scenario, though. During the 4th game of the season against Indiana, the Heisman finalist injures his leg and is done for the season. Northwestern is forced to turn to sophomores Adrian Autry (no relation) and Faraji Leary. Adrian Autry averaged 3.7 yards per carry and Leary 3.3 but mostly in mop up time. There wasn’t a lot of evidence that in their sophomore seasons either of these two would have been able to pick up the slack that Darnell initiated. Here’s how the season would have likely ended up.
Assuming Darnell went down in the second half of the IU contest, the ‘Cats would have hung on to beat the Hoosiers, 28-10. But the loss of such an offensive force would have put more strain mentally and physically on the Wildcats. Steve Schnur would have to do more with his arm than simply manage the games and limit mistakes. He would have to take more risks- not really his forte.
The Michigan game would have been too much with this added pressure on the offense and the ‘Cat’s simply wouldn’t have been able to put up the same performance they did that October day: Wolverines win 21-10.
The disappointment from not performing in Ann Arbor may have had a hangover effect on the boys in Purple. NU struggled in that game (in reality) until Darnell turned it on in the second half as it was, so without him (in this hypothetical) proved to be an obstacle the ‘Cats couldn’t hurdle. Sam Valenzisi missed a long 58 yard FG late in the game as the ‘Cats dropped a heart-breaker, 19-17.
Now sitting at 3-3, Northwestern went into their Homecoming against an inconsistent Wisconsin team. The Wildcats, hitting on all cylinders, gave the home crowd a reason to cheer once again and set their sights on the postseason, beating the Badgers 27-6 on a rainy day in Evanston.
The following week, the Wildcat offense faced one another tough defense, with the trio of Illinois linebackers (Hardy, Rice, Holocek). It came close, as this game but the Illini got the best of the Wildcats, making a goal line late in the 4th quarter, topping the ‘Cats, 20-16.
At 4-4, the Penn State game was not nationally televised and played at noon eastern time instead. The Nittany Lions were sleeping through most of the game but made a roar (sorry for the pun) in the second half, kicking the Wildcats back below the Mendoza line with a 31-10 outcome.
The good news is the Wildcats ended the year with two victories over Iowa (27-13) and Purdue (30-3). With those victories, they ended with a 6-5 record overall and 4-4 in the conference, putting them in a 6th place finish behind Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, Illinois and Michigan State. They accepted a bid to the Sun Bowl to play Washington. In that game, the defense stepped up and shut down a mid-level Huskies offense and get their second ever bowl victory in school history. The front seven and some periodic safety blitzes put pressure on Damon Huard, causing errant throws and a few fumbles that the opportunistic ‘Cats defense pounced on.
Adrian Autry finished with just under 900 yards rushing, while Leary and FBs Levelle Brown peppered some additional relief. FB Matt Hartl became an even bigger part of the offense (primarily in the passing game) and the defense, having to be on the field more was not as dominant as they were in the real ’95 season, but still, they led the way toward the program’s first bowl berth and bowl win since ’49.
If Darnell Autry got injured during the 1995 season
We all loved the 1995 season. It was clearly the turning point of Northwestern football. Imagine this scenario, though. During the 4th game of the season against Indiana, the Heisman finalist injures his leg and is done for the season. Northwestern is forced to turn to sophomores Adrian Autry (no relation) and Faraji Leary. Adrian Autry averaged 3.7 yards per carry and Leary 3.3 but mostly in mop up time. There wasn’t a lot of evidence that in their sophomore seasons either of these two would have been able to pick up the slack that Darnell initiated. Here’s how the season would have likely ended up.
Assuming Darnell went down in the second half of the IU contest, the ‘Cats would have hung on to beat the Hoosiers, 28-10. But the loss of such an offensive force would have put more strain mentally and physically on the Wildcats. Steve Schnur would have to do more with his arm than simply manage the games and limit mistakes. He would have to take more risks- not really his forte.
The Michigan game would have been too much with this added pressure on the offense and the ‘Cat’s simply wouldn’t have been able to put up the same performance they did that October day: Wolverines win 21-10.
The disappointment from not performing in Ann Arbor may have had a hangover effect on the boys in Purple. NU struggled in that game (in reality) until Darnell turned it on in the second half as it was, so without him (in this hypothetical) proved to be an obstacle the ‘Cats couldn’t hurdle. Sam Valenzisi missed a long 58 yard FG late in the game as the ‘Cats dropped a heart-breaker, 19-17.
Now sitting at 3-3, Northwestern went into their Homecoming against an inconsistent Wisconsin team. The Wildcats, hitting on all cylinders, gave the home crowd a reason to cheer once again and set their sights on the postseason, beating the Badgers 27-6 on a rainy day in Evanston.
The following week, the Wildcat offense faced one another tough defense, with the trio of Illinois linebackers (Hardy, Rice, Holocek). It came close, as this game but the Illini got the best of the Wildcats, making a goal line late in the 4th quarter, topping the ‘Cats, 20-16.
At 4-4, the Penn State game was not nationally televised and played at noon eastern time instead. The Nittany Lions were sleeping through most of the game but made a roar (sorry for the pun) in the second half, kicking the Wildcats back below the Mendoza line with a 31-10 outcome.
The good news is the Wildcats ended the year with two victories over Iowa (27-13) and Purdue (30-3). With those victories, they ended with a 6-5 record overall and 4-4 in the conference, putting them in a 6th place finish behind Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, Illinois and Michigan State. They accepted a bid to the Sun Bowl to play Washington. In that game, the defense stepped up and shut down a mid-level Huskies offense and get their second ever bowl victory in school history. The front seven and some periodic safety blitzes put pressure on Damon Huard, causing errant throws and a few fumbles that the opportunistic ‘Cats defense pounced on.
Adrian Autry finished with just under 900 yards rushing, while Leary and FBs Levelle Brown peppered some additional relief. FB Matt Hartl became an even bigger part of the offense (primarily in the passing game) and the defense, having to be on the field more was not as dominant as they were in the real ’95 season, but still, they led the way toward the program’s first bowl berth and bowl win since ’49.
