Apparently, Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald isn't a fan off topsy-turvy amusement park rides.
"I think if you get up on that roller coaster, man, that's why some people get sick going up and down," Fitzgerald said earlier this week, speaking of his undefeated team's upcoming game at Purdue. "You just can't do that. You've got to be consistent."
Funny, considering no other team in the Big Ten has had a more wild ride in recent history than the Wildcats.
Northwestern topped the West division in 2018 with an 8-1 conference record, followed that up with a rock-bottom 1-8 division finish in 2019 and has currently regained its No. 1 spot at 3-0 in 2020.
Actually, draw Northwestern's trajectory in the Fitzgerald era on a piece of paper, and the results since 2006 resemble exactly what Fitzgerald tried to warn against: a slow climb to the highest peak, a stomach-turning sheer drop and a skyrocket back to the pinnacle.
Not exactly the stability the coach was calling for, but certainly a thrill.
The 2018 success came partly from fourth-year starting quarterback Clayton Thorson and his 3,183 passing yards, 17 touchdown passes and nine rushing scores. The school's all-time leading passer sent the team to the Big Ten championship game, where whichever West team goes is essentially the sacrificial lamb to Ohio State, and on to a Holiday Bowl victory.
The offense very much was not the Wildcats' strong suit in 2019. In fact, it was a liability. It averaged just 16.3 points and 297.1 yards per game. Northwestern cycled through four different starting quarterbacks, and none of them could generate any sort of production, even former five-star recruit and Clemson transfer Hunter Johnson.
