Enjoyed the piece, Mike.
Just my opinion/perception; As an Iowa fan, I can tell you that I would respect Northwestern more if they would jump up and bite somebody else besides Iowa. It’s very similar IMO to Iowa State under McCarney. (Thank goodness for CPR – he is actually beating some other teams he isn’t favored to beat. I can respect that a lot. ) I have a hard time with teams that play their best ball just for us and then roll over like patsies against Ohio State or Penn State. Does Nothwestern have a winning record against any of the other upper tier teams in the last 5 years?(Michigan/Ohio State/Penn State, Wisconsin, Michigan State) Why is that? I would venture to say it’s because their coach hates us.

Jay, lets not kid yourself. When a coach “hates” a team as alluded to by Adonis Smith in reference to Fitzgerald’s feeling about Iowa, there is more to it than rivalry. And you wonder why Iowa fans don’t like Northwestern? You are also making another “sweeping generalization” that Iowa fans expect the Hawkeyes to be national-title contenders every year. I think you are thinking of the state directly to the west of us. We DO expect the Hawkeyes to contend for the Big Ten championship every year as well as beat teams that at least on paper, appear to be weaker.

In a way, we should feel complimented. Barnett chose to manufacture a dislike or rivalry against Iowa becuase he wanted his team to aspire to become a program like Iowa. If you buy into all the egghead stuff, you should be disgusted because to a certain extent, despite the obviously manufactured nature of the ‘rivalry’, some of the Northwestern folks took the bait.

I have respect for Northwestern, to a point. They have to deal with higher admission standards, so they often have to develop players with less than four stars, just as Iowa does. I think it’s reflected in the schemes the run as well–which is what to me makes Stanford look so amazing right now. The problem with Northwestern is that they always seem to play to the level of their opponent. We’ve done that a time or two recently ourselves, but Northwestern seems to have always done it in their ‘good’ years. It’s why they are dangerous but also why they don’t get the respect they apparently crave.

Sure, it’s frustrating to lose to them as much as we have. Who knows how much more, if at all, they get up for playing Iowa, though Fitzgerald grew up and played in the system where Barnett was pounding the manufactured rivalry in his players’ heads. I suspect the Penn State people are really tired of us, and I don’t think we have any malevolence against them, though I have heard that Ferentz does get up for that game a little bit.

Bottom line, weird things have happened against Northwestern, some of which have accounted for the losses. I don’t think there is one (okay, one sane) person who thinks that if we make the block and Stanzi doesn’t get bent backwards in the end zone, that Iowa wins last year. Fact is, our defense can struggle against spread offenses like theirs. Our conservatism with a lead also puts us in danger against them. And, in 2006, at least, they just flat beat us.

If a rivaly means close games, I guess it is. I call that simply comeptitive. I just don’t dislike them and yes, I suppose I think they are beneath us in football. Iowa at one time was right down with them, then earned its way up. Northwestern has raised itself too, but not to the same level or with the same consistency. They are a good, not great, program that can be dangerous.

These guys are totally a thorn in our side the last few years and we need a big win this week and then have them step up against Wisky like they did last year and a few years back. That would allow us to play for our own destiny if they pull that off for us. Cheer against them this week, cheer for them in 2 wks. We can’t look forward to OSU before taking care of business. I think last week’s close call refocused the guys. Go Hawks!!

Iowa has made things difficult for itself in defeating NW. That’s true. It’s also true that NW has made things difficult for Iowa to defeat NW. It’s also true Iowa fans can’t quite get our heads around the conclusion of a 21 year reign of dominance. It’s also true, like with Iowa State, when Iowa does win it tends to be by a bigger margin while also meaning ‘less’ to Iowa fans. That last one is becoming less true with regards to NW. Finally, it’s also true NW takes some ‘dirty’ shots – the knock out of Shonn Greene was helmet-to-helmet, lead with the helmet and it would be a exhibit “A” in what’s not ‘legal’ given the current attention on tackling/contact in the NFL. Last season’s ankle twister on Stanzi wasn’t ‘dirty’ per se. But all the photography shows, pretty clearly, Wooten had grasp of the facemask and that went un-flagged. Add to this rivalry its origins coming from Gary Barnett who did a wonderful job with NW but a guy who certainly hasn’t found a second career as an ethicist anywhere. It’s kind of easy to see how NW comes off a bit punky. If NW wants respect – I’m all for giving them all the respect they can handle. What will be really telling on Saturday, on the fan side of things, is whether or not Iowa fans manage to split the seats 50/50 or make it a 60/40 Black and Gold Iowa City East.

Personally, I’m just impressed that Jay was able to go more than 50 words without somehow working the phrase “since we became a real team” into describing Northwestern. I don’t hate Northwestern, I just hate losing to them; mostly because of their fans. It would be nice if they had the ability to acknowledge that college football was in fact played before the year 1995. LTP is one of the greatest offenders in this regard.

Sorry. I’d like to take ‘the high road’ and respect NU’s efforts.

Until Pat Fitzgerald-Fitzsimmons gets off his high-horse and actually treats the Iowa game as he should treat all others… until the Mildcats actually wins a bowl game… he’s no more than a Jim Walden in my book.

Ferentz seems to have woken up to the ISU thing and put together a couple of strong wins. Perhaps he’s sufficiently annoyed at having a losing record against Fitz and will get the team up emotionally today. If not today, after our recent games against them, and the flat afternoon in Bloomington, when?

In one sense, the timing of this game is a gift. The coaches can max out the emotional prep, because if we win, it’s impossible to contemplate a letdown next week against the Bucks. I would treat this game as a very, very important game, get Ferentz to .500 against Fitz, spend the bus ride home contemplating the Mythical Big Ten title game next week.

There’s no way we lose this game if it’s evaluated on a pure individual match-up basis. They give up 50% more yards per rush than we do, and only a career day by Persa against our linebackers should make it close. Should …. But it is why they play the games. I admire what Fitz has done at NWU.