Northwestern coach Randy Walker was upset at his team’s lack of passion in Saturday’s loss to Arizona State. Maybe it wasn’t a case of no emotion as much as leaving it in the locker room.
Players have their own pregame rituals, with mixed results. Linebacker Tim McGarigle busted the lip of safety Dominique Price when the two butted heads in a prekickoff game of bull-in-the-ring, normally a practice ritual in which players form a circle and two names are called out to jump in the middle and go at it.
“If we lost, I want to do something we didn’t do the last time,” Price said. “Before a game, I don’t want to leave any stone unturned and then think later that we could have done something more.”
Although the pregame frenzy is intense, the Wildcats left the locker room and were outplayed in a 17-7 first half, suggesting they left the intensity behind.
Northwestern’s goal becomes finding an emotional level it can sustain.
“I can pull a highlight film on anybody and it’d look pretty good,” Walker said. “But it is about consistency.
– Next: Saturday vs. Kansas, 1 p.m.
