Big Ten Spotlight: It’s hard to wrap my head around Northwestern leading the Big Ten West

Let me preface this — all of this — by saying I have an enormous amount of respect for Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald and I really have been impressed with how his players have overcome adversity for much of this 2018 season.

But — there’s always a but, isn’t there? — when I looked down on the Big Ten West standings, I still shake my head in amazement that the Wildcats are sitting alone at the top. The Wildcats are currently 5-1 in the Big Ten after upsetting Wisconsin 31-17 Saturday in Evanston. That was huge, and then Iowa and Purdue went out and lost winnable games, too. Check, check, check.

So there are the Wildcats, alone at the top, with Wisconsin, Iowa and Purdue all sitting at 3-2. This division title, suddenly, is there for the taking, especially with wins over Wisconsin and Purdue already in the bag.

The Wildcats, a division leader.

It’s a hard concept to grasp right now, especially when you look around at the other division leaders in the Power 5 (the Big 12 is just one league) and you have to think of the nine teams, Northwestern would be ranked No. 9.

Here are the top teams who are leading — or tied for the lead — in their respective divisions throughout the Power 5 conferences:

• SEC West: Alabama (8-0)
• SEC East: Georgia (7-1)
• ACC Atlantic: Clemson (8-0)
• ACC Coastal: Virginia (6-2)
• Big 12: Oklahoma (7-1)
• Pac-12 North: (Washington State 7-1)
• Pac-12 South:  (Utah 6-2)
• Big Ten East: Michigan (7-1)
• Big Ten West: (Northwestern 5-3)

Northwestern has the one Big Ten loss to Michigan, and that was a game where the Wildcats had a 17-point lead, only to lose 20-17. There’s no real ugliness there, because Michigan is clearly very good.

It’s the two nonconference losses — to unranked Duke and Akron, both of whom have three losses now — that stink up the Wildcats’ resume. Every time someone wants to shout from the mountaintops that Northwestern should get more respect, two words will always be shouted right back

Duke. Akron.

But that’s not all of it, really. These Wildcats have simply been difficult to figure out all year. Even the wins are hard to swallow sometimes. The perfect example of that was the narrow 18-15 win over Rutgers two years ago. Rutgers has been losing by a million practically every week all season, and the Wildcats struggled to get past them. Still a win was a win. It counted the same as the Wisconsin, which was much more impressive.

Still, it’s all about getting better and winning games. That’s what they’ve done.

“Control the controllables,” Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald said. “I’ve been doing this a long time. I don’t care what anyone says about me. My job is to develop the football team. This year we just didn’t have the consistency in the beginning, now the depth is starting to improve. I’m really proud of some of our older guys. We’re getting better and that’s what matters.”

Individually, quarterback Clayton Thorson is the perfect barometer for what this team is all about. He’s coming back from major ACL surgery and, to be frank, he probably came back too early. But that’s the nature of the college football calendar, and he played when called upon.

He’s a great player, but he’s been very erratic all year. He has more than 2,000 yards and 10 touchdown passes, but he’s also thrown 10 interceptions. He can look great for a couple of weeks while throwing for 373 yards against Michigan State and 455 against Nebraska, then he can stink up the place by throwing for 150 and 167 against Rutgers and Wisconsin, with three interceptions.

But, they were still wins. So, let’s take it and move on.

“I think our offense did a great job this week,” Thorson said after the Wisconsin win. “We came in every day and worked hard. The energy really picked up. A lot of passion this week. It’s a credit to the guys up front.”

So enjoy it for now. After a nonconference home game against unbeaten Notre Dame this weekend, the Wildcats face Iowa with the Big Ten West title on the line. Win and it’s theirs.

Northwestern, Big Ten West champs. That’s hard to swallow.

Tom Brew

Tom Brew has been a recognized reporter in Big Ten sports for decades. Among other projects, he writes about Big Ten football for Saturday Tradition.