The year of the 'cats: reflections of an alumnus on Northwestern's phenomenal season

Sporting News, The, Dec 11, 1995 by Michael Wilbon, T.J. Simers

Mike Adamle, tennis player Katrina Adams, Irv Cross, Eddie Einhorn, Otto Graham, Todd Martin, Billy McKinney, Brent Musburger, football player-turned-columnist Rick Telander, NBA talent maven Rick Sund and Fred (The Hammer) Williamson. Yes, that Hammer.

Other than Saul Bellow, we won't get into all the writers, most of whom ironically seem to write about sports.

You think ABC won't love being able to pan to those famous faces during the game? Let's face it, the Rose Bowl had become pretty stale of late, not to mention somewhat of a scrooge for not joining the Bowl Alliance in an attempt to produce something close to a national championship. This year, the Rose Bowl has unthinkably been bailed out by Northwestern.

Even a story this sweet hasn't been without a hint of controversy. With success comes scrutiny. Now it's being said that Northwestern must have let in some ringers, made exceptions, abandoned its lofty academic standards to recruit some kids who couldn't have qualified previously.

But the players who make up this year's team averaged nearly 1,100 on their SATs and averaged 3.21 GPAs. The people who started this rumor about Northwestern lowering its standards obviously haven't paid attention to Duke basketball, or for that matter, to Stanford football. While we did sit in Dyche Stadium chanting, "SATs SATs SATs" (usually at Minnesota), "SAFETY SCHOOL ... SAFETY SCHOOL ..." (usually at Illinois) and "That's Alright/That's OK/You're Gonna Work For Us Someday" (at everybody), scholarship and athletic excellence aren't mutually exclusive, as female student athletes prove all the time.

Freshman Levelle Brown from suburban Chicago says, "One of the best things about this is proving all the people wrong who said NU could never be great unless it dropped its academic standards."

On-the-field accomplishments produced six All-Big Ten players: guard Ryan Padgett, center Rob Johnson, injured kicker Sam Valenzisi, injured linebacker Pat Fitzgerald, and Darnell Autry, who rushed for at least 100 yards in every game this season and a school-record 1,675 yards and 14 touchdowns. Autry, neatly enough, is a drama major. Four more Wildcats made the second team. Four more were honorable mention.

Barnett may be brilliant, but he also has talent, or at least cultivated it. "You don't see many jockeys carry horses across the finish line," he says in an attempt to spread praise to his players. NU was No. 1 in the nation in scoring defense (12.7 per game), No. 3 nationally in turnover margin, No. 9 nationally in punt returns thanks to Brian Musso and No. 11 nationally in pass defense thanks to an out-of-this world secondary that includes safeties William Bennett and Eric Collier and cornerbacks Rodney Ray, Chris Martin and Marcel Price.

The defense forced 16 fumbles and 16 interceptions, while the offense turned the ball over a school-record low 12 times. The best news is that nine of the 11 starters on offense come back next year, and the defense will get back eight players who have started some or all of the time. If this season is a fluke, then the same cast is going to have to crash and burn next season.