[NU Sports] Penn State and Bowl hopes

[Dennis W. Brandt]

<Fitz is succeeding in making us a 'Bowl caliber' team every year, that gets 
us recognition from fans, media and prospective recruits.

We may become "bowl-eligible" principally because we schedule wimp 
pre-season opponents like Towson, Eastern Michigan, Miami of Ohio, and 
Syracuse.  Even then, only once in the last fifteen years have we beaten all 
four of our wimp non-conference opponents and often struggle even when we do 
win.  Quite a contrast from my senior year ('67) when we played number-one 
ranked Miami (and won) and highly ranked Missouri, and the year following we 
took on O. J. Simpson's USC team.  A weak pre-season schedule doesn't make 
NU unusual, but it doesn't make us a quality program either.  What we 
clearly have accomplished is not being the doormat we were in the past, but 
that is not good enough anymore.  I want a legitimate shot at beating Penn 
State, Michigan, and especially Ohio State every season, and I want to see 
some pre-season games against quality teams and have a good chance at 
winning those, too.  Anything less is a loser's mentality.  Recruiting 
better talent is the only way that can happen.  It may take another five to 
ten seasons for Fitz to pull it off, but once the stream starts flowing, it 
will tend to keep flowing.