With the Big Ten West Division title already secured and the trip to Indianapolis for the conference title game already booked, might Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald ease off the gas a bit and rest some key players when his Wildcats face the Gophers on Saturday at TCF Bank Stadium?
Not a chance, Fitzgerald says.
"It matters to us. Every game matters to us," he said. "It's a Big Ten West game. We've talked about going with a championship approach now for a number of weeks, mentalitywise, in the way we prepare and the way that we play."
Fitzgerald's Wildcats are in a unique position. Last Saturday, they beat Iowa 14-10 in Iowa City to improve to 6-4 overall and 6-1 in the Big Ten. At the end of the game, Fitzgerald found out both Wisconsin and Purdue had lost, meaning Northwestern had clinched the West title and a trip to Indy. The Badgers and Boilermakers are 4-3 in the conference, and one of those two mathematically could tie Northwestern for the division title (Wisconsin and Purdue play Saturday), but the Wildcats beat both teams and hold any tiebreaker.
In addition, the Wildcats' victory at Iowa clinched bowl eligibility, making Northwestern the first team to win its division but go 0-3 in nonconference games.
"When you get into divisional play, the only thing that matters is if you win," Fitzgerald added. "Champions win football games."
Northwestern takes a seven-game road winning streak into TCF Bank Stadium, and Fitzgerald sees keeping that streak going as important.
"This is our seniors' last road game in the Big Ten. It's a big game," he said. "We've got goals ahead of us that we want to achieve, and for us to achieve those goals, we've got to go 1-0 this week."
