[NU Sports] Other Facts About NU Football

[cherron604 at aol.com]

Stephen is exactly right - if the press release had just said something like 'back-to-back-to-back six-win seasons', everything would have been fine.  But the press release compared eras - It specifically compared the present to the Dick Hanley era:
 
http://nusports.collegesports.com/sports/m-footbl/recaps/110505aah.html
 
College football fans (and NU list members) know that comparing eras is wrong - but casual readers don't always - making it even more necessary for the Athletic office to exercise restraint in writing their press releases.
 
I note also that the press release mentions at length career milestones for Baz, McGarigle, Sutton, Philmore, Lane, Henderson, Herbert...But the Sun-Times beat reporter didn't mention any of that.  She just regurgitated the 'six-win' information.  I think I speak for most list members when I say that the Athletic office should emphasize on-field (and off-field) accomplishments of our student athletes, as opposed to simplistic (and sometimes misleading) comparisons of coaching records across eras.  Then perhaps the press would emphasize those things too.
 
Chuck Herron   Tech '85

-----Original Message-----
From: SjT (Stephen J. Truog) <sjtruog at yahoo.com>
To: nwu-sports at tssi.com
Sent: Mon, 7 Nov 2005 18:54:47 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] Other Facts About NU Football


>  This '6-win' nonsense has to be addressed.
>  
> What we know - RW has had 3 consecutive 6-win
> seasons.  The last instance of 3 consecutive 6-win
> seasons was indeed 1929-1931.
>  
> BUT
>  
> During the Dick Hanley era (1927-1934), Northwestern
> averaged 8.25 games a year.  These consisted of 5.38

I don't think anyone's saying that -- as mentioned
with numbers from rushing and passing records to
coaching win totals, you can't compare eras.

What it does say is that Northwestern -- for the first
time in a long time -- has reached that magical 6-win
mark (usually a bowl mark - save for stupid 12-game
seasons in Hawaii:) ) for the third straight year.
It's a solid step toward building a consistent
program.

For instance, Big Ten teams that have currently put
together 6-win seasons (including this year):
Michigan, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Minnesota. Iowa can
add to the list, but it'll be tough. So that puts us
in the upper half of the league.

You can't compare eras - but that 6 win mark is a big
one for modern football and consistency. Hopefully
it'll be the foundation of the program for years to
come and that extra practice will help get the young
line to become more dominant for Sutton next year.

GO CATS!!!
-SjT

* * * * * * * * *
STEPHEN J. TRUOG
sjtruog at yahoo.com
GO CATS!!!


        
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