We’re just days from the return of college football. You can even start counting down the hours, not just the days at this point. Northwestern football opens with a really tough Western Michigan team led by Coach P.J. Fleck. The Sugar Grove native has a public persona similar to that of Northwestern head man Pat Fitzgerald.
It’s not by coincidence. Fleck modeled himself after Fitzgerald, as Fitz graciously mentored him at a time when the WMU leader was still cutting his teeth in the coaching world.
Both are well known for being high intensity, having a strong work ethic and occasionally YELLING when the situation requires it. That’s not by accident and Saturday will see the two clash at Ryan Field in the season opener for both teams. Thus you could say it’s battle of master versus padawan; teacher versus student to some extent.
With two big personalities like this, it’s certainly the most engaging story line, especially when you consider that the two men are friends. We covered this in more detail over at this link.
(be sure to check out our 2016 Northwestern season preview over at this link)
THE SPREAD: Northwestern football -5
THE VIEWING INFORMATION:
11 a.m. — Northwestern football vs. Western Michigan, Ryan Field (ESPNU, WGN Radio AM-720)
Northwestern football Storylines:
-Even if you’re not a NU fan, you’ve got to greatly admire what Fitzgerald did to guide Fleck.
When the Broncos head coach was just starting out, trying to establish himself, he called various coaches and asked if he could take them out to lunch and pick their brains. He was just a position coach with NIU then. Fitzgerald, already a B1G Head Coach then, was the only one who said yes.
It was truly benevolent of Fitz and you can read all about it here.
-Fitzgerald, quarterback Clayton Thorson, and the rest of the Northwestern football team are very well aware that they need more balance in 2016, and that means more explosion plays. More on this topic at this link.
-Lindy’s named “Justin Jackson the ball-carrier” as the preseason Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year and they also include him on the preseason all-conference team. The all-star tailback will be the featured weapon in the offense, and he’s been so good that he two nicknames now- “bread and butter” and “the ball carrier.”
-Anthony Walker Jr. could be a first team All-American this December and then a first round NFL draft pick come April in Philadelphia. He has certainly earned the nickname “Franchise.” (More on that topic here)
Fitzgerald has used a lot of rich imagery and interesting metaphors to describe Walker’s physique, including the word “jacked” and allusions to Lou Ferigno, the actor who played “The Incredible Hulk.”
-This is certainly no “pre-conference” game proverbially, or de facto “preseason” contest for Northwestern football. The Broncos are expected to win the MAC West this season, and come in as only slight underdogs, not heavy underdogs. Fitzgerald had some fun in describing how tough a “hit the ground running” game this is, jokingly referring to his high school alma mater, Carl Sandburg in Orland Park, and then ribbing the Northwestern basketball team for their soft scheduling.
(The basketball schedule was announced late last week)
“I wish we were playing Carl Sandburg high school, but we’re not. Or our basketball team, I saw our non-conference schedule. That would be cool; that would be awesome. That’s not what football gets. That’s not the deal. We got to play them and they all count.”
“It is college football,” Fitzgerald said. “You’re going to have seniors graduate, and if we recruited well, we’ve kind of backed them up — and I feel like we have. … We’re going to learn a lot about ourselves by 4 o’clock on Saturday.”
NU Hoops plays a home non-conference schedule that reads like this- Mississippi Valley State, Eastern Washington, Bryant, Wake Forest, DePaul, Chicago State, New Orleans, IUPUI, Houston Baptist.
Western Michigan Storylines:
Broncos WR Corey Davis is really dangerous. He’s NFL level, and Fitzgerald described him as “instant impact” and “a complete wide receiver.” WMU is coming off the first bowl game win in school history, and should they reach Detroit as expected, and win, it would be the school’s first conference championship since 1988.
Tom Flacco, a sophomore at Western Michigan University, is the WMU Broncos QB2. Senior Zach Terrell is ahead of him, and he’s really good. In fact, Athlon rated Terrell the 24th best QB in the nation this season.
Tom Flacco is more of a “change of pace quarterback;” you know like a “change of pace back.” He’s a run first quarterback, unlike Terrell, and unlike his brother. Here’s much more on him.
Monday also saw Fleck taking swift and decisive action against two players who were arrested on very serious criminal charges.
Above and beyond that, Phillip John Fleck did something most college coaches never do. He took both ownership and blame in the situation. Coaches hardly ever put the onus on themselves in situations like this, so Fleck’s words were quite remarkable as he explained why he kicked the two players off the team.
That act, much like Fitzgerald’s act of benevolence articulated by Fleck, conveys how both of these Chicagoland products have depth and character way beyond what you see in television clips.
They have both been known to do the ALL CAPS! type communication when the cameras are rolling. (To be fair, or “tbf” as millenials say, Fitzgerald hasn’t really done much of that the past few years. He really only yelled a lot during his first few years on the job)
These displays are essentially required in order to appeal to the meathead demographic of the football community. It just comes with the territory. Football is a great game with a large, diverse audience casting a very wide net.
There are meatballs within that net, and I know that I’m just as guilty of pandering to that segment as anybody else involved in the game. We all cater to the “DO YOU EVEN LIFT BRO?!” crowd from time to time; it’s inherent to the sport’s very fabric.
Coaches are under tremendous pressure to not just be a coach and carry out all the responsibilities therein, but to also play a coach on television. It’s vital to recruiting.
Underneath the cartoonish soundbite clips, there’s usually a real person with depth and substance. We certainly know this is true with Pat Fitzgerald and P.J. Fleck.
The PICK: This game has a bit of 2014, week two, feel. You have probably the best team in MAC West, NIU coming in to Ryan Field in the early season and pulling off the upset. I don’t think that will happen this time though. It’s strength versus strength, WMU’s high octane, pass happy offense versus Northwestern’s tenacious D.
NU gets it done; Northwestern football 24, Western Michigan 17
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication and Bold Global.
He also consistently appears on numerous radio and television talk shows all across the country. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram and Sound Cloud.