Pat Fitzgerald guided his Northwestern Wildcats to a stunning comeback road win at Kinnick Stadium after trailing the Iowa Hawkeyes by 17 points. The win moved the Wildcats to 2-0 and now they are back in Evanston awaiting the Nebraska Cornhuskers, a team forced to sit idle last Saturday after Wisconsin cancelled their game following a Covid-19 outbreak across the roster.

Monday saw Fitzgerald reaching into the coach’s little book of psychological tricks in an attempt to keep his team from one of the oldest pitfalls in college football, the letdown after a big win.

Talking with reporters, the former Wildcat’s middle linebacker called the Cornhuskers “the most talented team” his squad would face all season, which may or may not be true and may in fact harken back to Fitz’s playing days in the middle 1990’s, when Nebraska won back t0 back national championships with dominant teams in 1994 and ’95.

The Cornhuskers are warming up on the recruiting trail under third year head coach Scott Frost, who in fact quarterbacked Nebraska to their third title of the decade in 1997. The Huskers reeled in the fourth-rated class in the Big Ten last year, this year, and apparently next year as well, according to 247 Sports. Their national rank has hovered between 17 and 20 all three years. 

Nebraska enters the game 0-1 after taking a 52-17 beating from league heavyweight Ohio State in Columbus. The Cornhuskers attempted to schedule a game against Tennessee-Chattanooga after the Badgers game fell through but the Big Ten responded with a hard and unequivocal ‘no’ to the school’s request. 

Northwestern enters the game 2-0 playing some of their best football in the 15-season Fitzgerald era in Evanston.