[NU Sports] From College Football News....

[Kaplan, Neil]

In praise of Northwestern
Is it finally time to start giving respect to Northwestern for being a
more-than-solid football program under head coach Randy Walker? Of course,
it all got started with the Gary Barnett Big Ten title years, but give
credit for Walker for keeping the program at such a competitive level.
Stanford went to the Rose Bowl under Ty Willingham, and then fell off the
map. Stanford, Vanderbilt, Duke, Wake Forest and Rice, comparable schools to
Northwestern in both academics, football history and enrollment, haven't
been close finding and maintaining anywhere near the same success Walker has
been able to achieve in Evanston. Since 2000, Northwestern has won 34 games
and played in three bowl games. By comparison, Penn State has won 37 games
over the last six years with only two bowl appearances. Michigan State has
won 34 with two bowl games. Illinois has 26 wins and Indiana in the same
span. It'll take a few upsets to get back to a bowl with this year's
schedule, but Walker and Wildcats are used to that. 

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