Northwestern Athletic Director Rick Taylor recently received a telephone call from Bill Byrne, his counterpart at Nebraska.
Houston had backed out of its agreement to play a home-and-home series with the big, bad Huskers–something about valuing life and limb–and Byrne wanted to know whether the Wildcats might be interested in taking the spot on the football schedule.
NU vs. NU? No.
Byrne’s timing couldn’t have been worse. The Wildcats were inching closer to the hardest part of their schedule–Saturday at 4-0 Michigan, home Oct. 18 against Michigan State, at Ohio State Oct. 25, and home Nov. 1 against Penn State. Those four teams are ranked in the top 11 in the Associated Press poll. Michigan is ranked sixth.
The Wildcats play the same four teams next year.
Play Nebraska next year? No thanks, Taylor said. Northwestern has enough to worry about the next four weeks. Coming off a difficult loss to Wisconsin on Saturday night, the Wildcats are 0-2 in the Big Ten, 2-4 overall. They have lost three games in a row. They still are talking about a bowl bid, but they picked a bad month to get serious about it.
Four tough programs in a row. Combined record: 17-0.
Even though they lost 26-25 to Wisconsin, the Wildcats said they left with positive feelings. That’s a big step for a team that hasn’t had a lot to feel good about this year. Many of Northwestern’s players and coaches thought they would be undefeated going into the Michigan game. They have lowered their sights.
“I think, for the most part, the Rose Bowl certainly is out of the question–it probably is,” coach Gary Barnett said. “You’ve got to adjust a little bit. Rather than be down about that, I think we’ve got to play and take away from (the Wisconsin game) . . . that finally we’re hitting on all cylinders on both sides of the ball.”
At this point, the Wildcats would need a miracle and a suitcase of bribe money to get a bowl bid. But this is a school that has become used to miracles.
“I really think we have the talent to go to a bowl game,” defensive end Casey Dailey said. “But that doesn’t mean anything. We need to be on a mission. Right now, we’re really not. We’re kind of just holding on.”
Time is running out for Dailey and Northwestern’s other seniors, who don’t like the sound of the phrase “rebuilding year.” But that’s exactly what this season looks like.
“Some of these teams, if they want to get us, this is the year to get us because we’re going to be pretty good down the road,” Barnett said.
Nebraska will have to take that on faith.
