After the death of Randy Walker last summer, coach Pat Fitzgerald was thrust into a role for which even he thought he wasn't entirely prepared.
And he acquitted himself very well.
Despite the Wildcats' disappointing 4-8 record last season, Fitzgerald served as a powerful galvanizing force for a team in turmoil. He even helped build some momentum toward the end of the year, as Northwestern posted a 2-2 record in its last four games. Now he needs to win. And a trip to a bowl game shouldn't be out of the question. It should be expected.
According to ESPN.com's Mark Schlabach, the Cats have the seventh-easiest schedule in college football this year. Their four non-conference tilts are against Nevada, Duke, Eastern Michigan and Division I-AA school Northeastern.
Duke and Eastern Michigan combined for a 1-23 record last year.
Not exactly world beaters.
In conference play, NU is trading in perennial powers Penn State and Wisconsin (who beat it by a combined score of 74-16 last year) for Minnesota and Indiana, two schools with ... questionable prestige on the football field.
Even if half the team comes down with season-ending injuries, the Cats should have enough talent to muster six wins against such an easy schedule.
The difference between a good and great record next year lies in the hands of the coaching staff, which is faced with a simple ultimatum: If you give the ball to junior running back Tyrell Sutton, you will most likely win. If you do not, you will most likely lose.
In his two years in purple, Sutton has shown an uncanny ability to never go down, no matter how many defensive linemen are hanging off of his 5'9", 190-pound frame. Sutton has turned many a three-yard loss into a four-yard gain, and many a four-yard gain into a 57-yard gamebreaking touchdown run with his elusiveness.
But in the early part of last season, Sutton saw his carries drastically reduced in favor of an exorbitant number of quarterback draws.
Even with an upswing in touches at the end of the year, Sutton finished with 15.8 carries per game, five fewer carries than during his freshman year, when he gained 1,474 yards and was named a first-team freshman All-American.
The Cats are 6-2 when Sutton runs the ball 20 or more times. They are 5-11 when he does not.
There is a whole host of other factors leading to wins and losses, but I'm just throwing that out there.
Another thing the coaching staff can do is trust junior quarterback C.J. Bachér. The Cats played quarterback carousel last year to little effect.
Mike Kafka: 2-2 record, 119 passing yards per game, relegated to holding clipboards on the sideline and the occasional trick play.
Andrew Brewer: 0-3 record, no touchdown passes, will be taking snaps at wide receiver this season.
Then Bachér got his chance. And all of a sudden the offense was moving.
Bachér threw for more than 200 yards in each of his starts and tossed six touchdowns, six times more than Brewer and Kafka could manage.
Bachér just looks like a quarterback. He's confident in the pocket. He knows when to scramble. He ... well, he's working on making good reads.
A full season with Bachér behind center can only help the Cats. And with a season of the harsh realities of the college game under his belt, Kafka will make a capable backup.
So there is plenty of reason to be hopeful heading into the 2007 season.
But there is also a thin line between 6-6 and 9-3, and Fitzgerald and the rest of his coaching staff have to learn how to walk it.
Reach David Morrison at d-morrison3@northwestern.edu.
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