Reports of Northwestern’s demise seem to have been greatly understated.
The Wildcats effort in Piscataway laid bare everything that clear-headed people pointed out as likely fatal flaws. The daring optimists who believed that maybe if things break right Northwestern could find four wins on their schedule? Check on them. They can’t be doing very well right now.
The front four spent most of the day being thrown off the line of scrimmage. The embarrassingly limited Rutgers offense asked little of the linebackers, who were fine, and less of the back four, who may be very good. Rod Heard might be my favorite player on this team this year.
Northwestern’s offense was somehow worse than expected. There aren’t a whole lot of words that you can really offer at this point. The offensive line is a horror show. Up until the last drive of the game Northwestern had negative rushing yards or close to it. Cam Porter, who may be good, will never get a chance to highlight any of his ability if he continues to get hit in the mouth the second he receives a handoff.
The passing game is just as bleak, but I will spend a bit of text here defending Ben Bryant. It is true that with an offensive line that is more theoretical than real that mobility is more important, and Bryant is less mobile than perhaps is ideal. He also appears to have a penchant for throwing hospital balls and “intercept me” balls, which isn’t great. But he also is good for a few “holy shit” passes a game, and on a team that has a ceiling of 2 wins this year, a quarterback who is exciting is far preferable to one who is boring, and as such I hope Bryant remains the QB for as long as possible. It’s not the optimal choice for making the team more competitive in the future or even this season, but it is more fun, and that should be prioritized at all costs.
I can’t believe how bad Northwestern looked in their listless ass-kicking walkthrough against Rutgers, who sucks. There is a very big difference between a team that is bad and a team that is hopeless. Bad teams can be fun! If in the midst of a 4-win season, you have some spark on some corner of the team, or play some games where you punch past your weight, or even just make a few big plays, watching a bad team can be enjoyable.
This season will not be that.
One friend told me Northwestern looked like a team that is in year-one of a return back from the death penalty. That was the kindest thing I heard all day.
I don’t think the team lacked effort or came out flat. I think that’s just what Northwestern has to offer, which is to say they have nothing to offer. Rutgers is going to be darn close to the least talented roster Northwestern will play this year and Northwestern didn’t look like they belonged on the same field. Rutgers was faster, stronger, more disciplined, better, more interesting, you name it, and, again Rutgers sucks. This was Northwestern’s chance to win a Big Ten game, and they looked completely and utterly outclassed.
What gets scary, and what the real cause of the angst Northwestern fans are feeling ahead of its home opener, is that things will still get worse before they get better. This team, for as far as it has to go to achieve relevance now, will be the best team Northwestern fields for at least a few more seasons.
There is precisely zero talent on this roster, and the exodus that will inevitably come hasn’t even happened yet. If you think this season is rough, imagine what it looks like next year. Northwestern’s QB is a grad transfer, its top three wide receivers are all fifth years, its entire tight end room are seniors, four of its offensive linemen are seniors of some type, half of its defensive line are seniors, and Bryce Gallagher is a 9th year senior. Those guys are, except in cases of weird Covid years, all gone next season.
And those are just the guys who have to leave.
Watching Jeremiah Lewis make big plays for Duke is an appetizer for what’s to come over the next few years. The only reason Northwestern didn’t have a raft of players transfer out after Pat Fitzgerald was fired was that rosters were already set and scholarships weren’t readily available. This next offseason is when the real bloodletting starts, when players who came to Northwestern to play for Pat Fitzgerald and to win football games are presented more attractive options for their college football experience. If this season is rough, imagine the year following when the roster is emptied out by transfers and the recruiting class, already being hollowed out by decommitments, is barely FCS quality.
All of this gives Northwestern’s home opener the feeling of a funeral. The present is frightening enough, where Northwestern is a deserved underdog against a UTEP team who is projected to finish 6th in CONFERENCE USA. The future is more frightening still. Northwestern’s season is supposed to be the swan song for Ryan Field. If everything goes accordingly to plan, it will be two full seasons before Northwestern is back playing football in Evanston. It’s hard to imagine those years going much better than this one.
For a program whose vector is pointed directly over the cliff, a sleepy afternoon game against the fearsome Miners of UTEP holds extra weight.
Northwestern needed to find something, anything, to believe in during their opener against Rutgers.
It found nothing. It tries again this afternoon.