[NU Sports] Now THAT was a game!

[Dennis W. Brandt]

Re: Jeff Beamsley's response

> The same thing is true here at Northwestern.  We don't have to become
> Ohio State in order to beat them.

But you have to become as talented as Ohio State if you are to defeat them more than once every three decades (and only then when our better year coincides with one of their rare down years).  It is no coincidence that our Big Ten championships in '95 and '00 came in years in which we did not play them.
 
> Competition isn't only about raw ability, otherwise why play the game?  You can just have
> everyone pull out their Rivals ratings, add them up, and the group with
> the higher score gets the W.  I understand that this is a difficult
> concept for you to gasp, but it is not theoretical.  You only have to
> look at the results.  At least in the case of Northwestern, Goliath does
> not win 98% of the time.

And you don't seem to grasp that there isn't one bit of sense in your statement.  In the last 45 years, we have defeated Ohio State twice (and otherwise usually get slaughtered), Notre Dame once, and Michigan five times, so Goliath does usually win.  OK, it ain't the hyperbolic 98%, but it's way more than 50%.

> I suggest that the secret to NU's success is our belief that team play
> can overcome individual weakness. 

To some extent, yes, but the other guy, who doesn't have those weaknesses and also plays within a team concept, will almost always defeat you.  When some of those great teams do lose, it often because they took the other team for granted.
 
> As far as your compliment - "well coached, pretty good players working
> their hearts out"; it has a hint of condescension, particularly in the
> context of this discussion about "talent".  Perhaps that was unintended,
> but the subtext I read was "pretty good players but you're still no Ohio
> State".  I disagree.  The way this team is playing right now, if Ohio
> State were on the schedule next week, we'd beat them too.

I rarely say things I don't intend, and describing my statement as condescending demonstrates an elitist attitude.  Fact:  We haven't been even close to being Ohio State in talent in the 45 years I've watched NU football.  If you find the truth condescending, condescend away.  This year's Northwestern team is well coached, they do work their hearts out, and their talent level is "pretty good," which means they are a hell of lot better than most of the teams they've fielded over the years.  They are a bunch of kids to be admired, but they certainly are not a great football team.
 
> To that end, what Fitz IS saying is that the '95 season is his
> expectation for every team every year.  It just depends on how hard the
> players and staff are willing to work and how much of themselves are
> they willing to invest in becoming a team that believes it can win.  

I have no doubt that Fitz expects his teams to win every year.  It's some on this board whose attitudes toward the means to that end that I question.  It is silly to suggest that the likes of Ohio State, Penn State, Florida, Texas, etc. are poorly coached and that Northwestern somehow has a patent on hard work the others don't understand.  The hard-working, more talented team will beat the hard-working, less talented team nine times out of ten.

> National Championships are catching lightening in a bottle for everyone.

But we've never gotten so much as a sip out of the bottle except for '95, and we blew that with a loss to second-tier Miami and a weak pass rush that did nothing to stop USC's passing attack.  It was a wonderful ride in '95, but, as they used to say on That Was the Week That Was, "It's over.  Let it go."

> You can bet that winning a NC is one of the goals of OSU every year, why is it any less realistic for NU?

Because we yet lack the talent even to dream of such a thing happening.  If we are ever to reach that lofty perch - and I'm certain Fitz is and will continue to make every effort to do just that - he must raise the depth and level of talent above what it is now and maintain it year in, year out, a fact that is certainly clearer to him than us.  BUT, if the university ties one hand tied behind his back, that will be virtually impossible.  Perhaps Fitz can steal the few top prospects from Stanford, Duke, Vanderbilt, etc. and cobble together a national power that can whoop up on Florida, more power to him, but that is not realistic expection ongoing, if ever can be.  If anyone can, it's Fitz.

Talent:  If you want to win, you got to have it.  If you don't, you lose.