The Northwestern Wildcats football team has been a big story in Chicago over the last week. After improving to 6-1 last weekend the Cats became bowl eligible, and it even led me to wonder if the team had a legitimate shot at a conference title this season. Despite the excitement about the team, there were still a lot of doubters out there as well. When I was out last night with a friend whom is a Northwestern graduate, he told me that while he's impressed with the team, he still knew they had no shot at beating Ohio State in Evanston in a few weeks.
It was at that point I told him, "They better make sure they win tomorrow first." My friend laughed at me, saying that the Hoosiers are horrible and that there was no way the Wildcats would lose against them. It was then I told my friend, that like him, the Wildcats may look past the Hoosiers this week and it could end up costing them.
Well, guess what just happened.
The Wildcats just finished losing to the Hoosiers 21-19 in Bloomington -- a Hoosiers team without it's starting quarterback Kellen Lewis -- as Indiana got the homecoming gift it was looking for. The Wildcats gave them a few gifts, in fact, as they turned the ball over five times. I don't care who you're playing, or how good you are, if you give the ball away five times you aren't going to win very often.
"Five turnovers, guys," said Fitzgerald when asked what the deciding factor of the game was. "You turn the ball over five times and you don't get one back, a good football team like Indiana, a team that can make big plays is going to make you pay and that's what they did."
To make matters worse, Wildcat quarterback C.J. Bacher had to leave the game in the fourth quarter after he apparently hurt his hamstring. Whether or not it's a pull or just a strain we'll have to wait and see, but if Bacher has to miss a few games their fantastic season could come crumbling down just as quickly as it started.
