[NU Sports] Wildcats defeat Iowa--10 years ago today

[Jeff Beamsley]

As I recall, the pink locker room was something that Hayden Fry did to
intimidate and aggravate opposing teams.  What GB did was, IMHO, clever and
profound.  By painting NU's locker room pink, he turned the whole Fry thing
on its head.  It not only said that we're not afraid of you.  It also said
that we are smarter than you.  We have turned your sorry misogynistic ploy
into a joke and the joke's on you.

I think you underestimate Fitz.  I would hope that he learned this and more
from the time that he spent playing for GB.  What I read in the tribune
regarding his strategy this year is pure Barnett.  After the MSU loss, hopes
for a bowl game were gone, but the opportunity for glory was not.  Fitz told
the team to view every remaining game as a bowl game and promised the same
sort of national recognition that they would receive by winning over the
holidays.  The team went out and played like champions, beat Iowa, and got
exactly the recognition Fitz promised.  

Just like me, I'll bet they are all eager for Saturday to get here, because
it is another opportunity for glory.

Jeff

-----Original Message-----
From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com] On
Behalf Of John Labbe
Sent: Thursday, November 09, 2006 12:25 AM
To: 'nwu-sports at tssi.com' List Sports
Subject: [NU Sports] Wildcats defeat Iowa--10 years ago today

"It was a cold November afternoon in Iowa City when the Northwestern
Wildcats faced off against the twenty-third-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes.  The
Wildcats were the defending Big Ten champions, but they were coming off a
decisive defeat the week before on the road at Penn State.  After their weak
showing in Happy Valley and with their final road game looming at Kinnick
Stadium, the Wildcats' chances of a repeat Big Ten championship looked slim.

In the first half, the Wildcats jumped out to a 10-0 lead after a
twenty-three-yard Dwayne Bates touchdown pass.  But the Hawkeyes fought back
to narrow the halftime score to 13-7.  In the second half, as the snow began
to fall and the gray skies turned to night, Wildcat running back Darnell
Autry stole the show, scoring four touchdowns, three rushing and one
receiving.  Autry finished the day with a career-high 240 yards rushing, as
the Wildcats dismissed the Hawkeyes 40-13, keeping Northwestern in the hunt
for the Big Ten title."


---That's my own eye-witness recollection of the last time the Cats won in
Iowa City before this past Saturday.  It was exactly 10 years ago today
(November 9, 1996).  It ranks as one of the best Northwestern games I've
attended.  Of course, Pat Fitzgerald played in that game.  
(I would have worked his stats into the above narrative, but I couldn't find
a box score with those details.)

How much do you want to bet that Fitzgerald recounted that very game last
week to his players as they prepared for Iowa?  It's a triumphant story of
responding to adversity on the road at a tough place to play.

The difference between Fitzgerald and Barnett?  Fitzgerald didn't have to
paint his team's locker room pink to get his players up for the game.

Let's beat those Buckeyes.

John Labbe


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