You know what grinds my gears?

[Jonny2TheP]

First of all, I can't believe I'm getting sucked into this whole "no one respects NU" thing. I was able to fend it off for this long, but suddenly I'm finding myself more and more annoyed by the national perception of this team. I hate myself at the moment.

What mainly annoys me is that while everyone seems to take away the value of thoroughly beating the team that is currently ranked #7 and has an outside chance of getting in the playoff, it seems like the only two games anyone cares about are the two games this season where we just didn't show up. THOSE two games are the anomalies in our season. Yes, they came against two of the best four teams we played, but why is it that "Stanford didn't show up to play Northwestern", but "the true Northwestern team is the one we saw over an eight day stretch in October"? What about the Stanford win? What about a nice road win over a Duke team that was playing way better football early in the season? What about the win over Penn State, or the road win at Madison where we held Wisconsin (a team that has lost three games to teams that have a combined three losses) to -26 rushing yards?

Yes, we aren't an explosive team that lights up the scoreboard or blows out our opponents. But you know what, we play better defense that about 95% of teams in the country, and we play an extremely conservative offensive game plan with the goal of WINNING GAMES. Not winning games by 50 - just WINNING GAMES. Period. This isn't rocket science.

The moral is that people will mold and shape the narrative to fit whatever their opinion is- even if it doesn't make any sense. I guess some of us do it too. I just am a little sick of this Cats team, which is very good, getting so little respect.

 

[SmellyCat]

Amen.

I think the Michigan/Iowa games are legitimate data points when evaluating how good NU is, but so are the Stanford/Wisconsin games.

I think in general there is a year-in/year-out perception that NU can't possibly be THAT good. So when they win a lot, it's a "down year in the Big Ten." When they beat a really good team, the excuses come out (it's too early! the refs! locusts!), rather than just a legit good team outplaying another legit good team.

There are five Big 10 teams in the top 15, but there's no national narrative of the awesome conference this year. I think a part of that is because Northwestern (and to a lesser extent, Iowa) are among those five teams, so the Big 10 can't be THAT good. It's like if Penn State and Nebraska are mediocre, the Big 10 must stink, and whoever wins it doesn't deserve it.

 

[Fitz51]

The problem is recency, as it has always been in any objective polls. It's why a 11-1 team who lost in October can be considered superior to a 12-1 team who loses a conference Championship game. Whichever happened most recently carries more weight. A flaw of the system and of people, generally.

 

[RockyTopRowdy58]

Outside looking in opinion... Not playing Ohio St or Michigan St leaves a lot of guess work for me. IMO those are the best teams in the B1G and we don't have the benefit of knowing how NU would fare against them.

Combining that with getting blown out by Iowa and Michigan and it definitely hurts perception.

For the record, I think NU is a good team. I think they are a top 25 team... Top 15, I don't know.

 

[Fitz51]

Outside looking in opinion... Not playing Ohio St or Michigan St leaves a lot of guess work for me. IMO those are the best teams in the B1G and we don't have the benefit of knowing how NU would fare against them.

Combining that with getting blown out by Iowa and Michigan and it definitely hurts perception.

For the record, I think NU is a good team. I think they are a top 25 team... Top 15, I don't know.

How much does Purina have to pay UT for those endzones?

 

[RockyTopRowdy58]

How much does Purina have to pay UT for those endzones?

Go to the mainboard

 

[DaCat]

Hook em horns!

 

[chicagocatfan24]

Outside looking in opinion... Not playing Ohio St or Michigan St leaves a lot of guess work for me. IMO those are the best teams in the B1G and we don't have the benefit of knowing how NU would fare against them.

Combining that with getting blown out by Iowa and Michigan and it definitely hurts perception.

For the record, I think NU is a good team. I think they are a top 25 team... Top 15, I don't know.

inside looking in... I agree

 

[GECat2]

It's all good. Now lets win the dam bowl game!!

 

[Deeringfish]

We will have to prove it in the bowl game.

 

[stpaulcat]

We will have to prove it in the bowl game.

Christ (sorry), we could play the #1 team in the country and win and the explanation would be they had a lot of injured players, or they just weren't executing, or they were playing down to us, or something.

 

[WestCoastWildcat]

Christ (sorry), we could play the #1 team in the country and win and the explanation would be they had a lot of injured players, or they just weren't executing, or they were playing down to us, or something.

...or they were in a time zone coma,..<no I'm not going to say it.., I can't help it...(I hate myself for saying it even with heavy sarcasm)>..like Stanford was when they played us. (Sorry). Maybe Stanford can adapt the Commandor Cody song title and lyrics to "Lost in the Ozone Again" to "Lost in the Time Zone Again". Again my apologies for bringing this up.

 

[GlideCat]

How much does Purina have to pay UT for those endzones?

How much did we pay in the year(s) when we copied them?

 

[Fitz51]

How much did we pay in the year(s) when we copied them?

$10,000 per game.

 

[cat inkansas]

First of all, I can't believe I'm getting sucked into this whole "no one respects NU" thing. I was able to fend it off for this long, but suddenly I'm finding myself more and more annoyed by the national perception of this team. I hate myself at the moment.

What mainly annoys me is that while everyone seems to take away the value of thoroughly beating the team that is currently ranked #7 and has an outside chance of getting in the playoff, it seems like the only two games anyone cares about are the two games this season where we just didn't show up. THOSE two games are the anomalies in our season. Yes, they came against two of the best four teams we played, but why is it that "Stanford didn't show up to play Northwestern", but "the true Northwestern team is the one we saw over an eight day stretch in October"? What about the Stanford win? What about a nice road win over a Duke team that was playing way better football early in the season? What about the win over Penn State, or the road win at Madison where we held Wisconsin (a team that has lost three games to teams that have a combined three losses) to -26 rushing yards?

Yes, we aren't an explosive team that lights up the scoreboard or blows out our opponents. But you know what, we play better defense that about 95% of teams in the country, and we play an extremely conservative offensive game plan with the goal of WINNING GAMES. Not winning games by 50 - just WINNING GAMES. Period. This isn't rocket science.

The moral is that people will mold and shape the narrative to fit whatever their opinion is- even if it doesn't make any sense. I guess some of us do it too. I just am a little sick of this Cats team, which is very good, getting so little respect.

Experiencing similar feelings here in Kansas City. It seems like everyone likes us when we are "harmless". My coffee group gives me the old "NU does it the right way" and "really admire their program" when we are down or average; but now that we are good its "boy, you were lucky to pull that one out" and other such "stuff".

 

[Fitz51]

Experiencing similar feelings here in Kansas City. It seems like everyone likes us when we are "harmless". My coffee group gives me the old "NU does it the right way" and "really admire their program" when we are down or average; but now that we are good its "boy, you were lucky to pull that one out" and other such "stuff".

Here's the thing - often over the last two decades, we *were* lucky to have pulled one out.

 

[beetlemania74]

Win the bowl game, finish with a top 10 ranking...the results will speak for themselves. We have the opportunity to finish with the most wins in a season in the 100+ year history of Northwestern football. I'm done complaining about being disrespected - this season has been fantastic.

 

[GlideCat]

Experiencing similar feelings here in Kansas City. It seems like everyone likes us when we are "harmless". My coffee group gives me the old "NU does it the right way" and "really admire their program" when we are down or average; but now that we are good its "boy, you were lucky to pull that one out" and other such "stuff".

We are becoming hated. There is no better sign that a program is on the rise.