Here in the crudite section of the Big Ten season, game scores are supposed to be conspicuous, 54 points here, 51 points there, 52 points somewhere else. Yum, yum.
When the score is 24, more or less, there should be a Notre Dame or a Colorado on the other side of the scoreboard, not a morsel like Duke, not a 15-game-losing-streak, down-to-the-freshman-third-string-quarterback, still-tormenting-at-the-end Duke.
Not if Northwestern has plans for later.
The Big Ten schedule may not start until October, but measurements are being taken now.
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“Every man on this team has faith we can defend our Big Ten title,” said Northwestern’s Brian Musso after the Wildcats’ 24-20 victory Saturday.
Without Musso, the Wildcats would already have lost the ACC title. Without Musso’s fourth-and-5 catch to the 1-yard line, without his 74-yard squirm for a touchdown, without at least those two of Musso’s 10 catches, Northwestern is a lot less credible.
And without Musso, or somebody, anybody else, making such a career day a redundancy, the middle of the road is not a way for Northwestern but a destination.
“If that had been Ohio State out there,” conceded defensive end Casey Dailey, “we would have been in a lot of trouble. But it wasn’t.”
No, it was only another scheduling patsy, like Rice is next week, like the kind Northwestern used to be, here to consecrate the newly rehabbed Ryan Field, the stucco heap that once was Dyche Stadium.
That part of the day was fine. The place actually resembles an uptown football arena now, not some sort of abandoned flea market, although the new, shallow, sunken field does have the look of a fajita pan, still a distinction.
“What better way to initiate Ryan Field than to keep everybody there until the end?” said coach Gary Barnett.
The place can hold its head up with any college field in the nation now, with elevators that work, bathroom appliances that flush and electricity in nearly every place it needs to be.
“It is now a legitimate Big Ten stadium,” Dailey said.
That being said and agreed to, is Northwestern a legitimate Big Ten football team? I might suggest there is no need yet to make space for a third consecutive Big Ten trophy. The pair of them that are there might just be spaced a little more judiciously until we see what we shall see.
“We have a long way to go to be a really good Big Ten team,” said Barnett. “We’re not ready to defend the Big Ten title yet, but we took a step in that direction. You can’t take it in big leaps; you’ve got to take small steps.”
They don’t come much smaller than Duke.
“It had to be a heck of a football game to watch,” Barnett said.
It was not what you would call a nail-biter. It was more like a nail-filer.
The short version is, this should not have been that hard. And other than the fact that Northwestern did come back three times to win, not much that happened can be used to project anything dependable.
The 117 yards rushing by Adrian Autry may not be transferrable to later. The passing efficiency of Tim Hughes may not apply against real teams.
This was Duke, not to be forgotten. Sad, sorry Duke.
The so-so defense may not stand up to the assorted Michigans and the various States, be they Penn or Ohio.
“We will be one of the best defenses in the country by the end of the year,” said linebacker Barry Gardner. “Now is the time to make our mistakes.”
Northwestern would seem to be beyond self-deception. It will need to be. This is the next stage, sustaining what has been started the last two seasons, not returning from here to back there.
Otherwise, old Dyche would have been just fine.
“What you have to do,” explained Gardner, “is play like your hair’s on fire.”
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That would do it.