The Northwestern football schedule for the next three years may look like a page ripped from the annual U.S. News and World Report College Rankings. The ‘Cats will face three teams found in the Top 35 of the college rankings in a series between 2010 and 2012: Rice, Vanderbilt and Boston College.
Now the question that begs asking is, why? Why replace Towson and Miami (Ohio) with Vanderbilt and BC? Northwestern Director of Athletics Jim Phillips said that a myriad of factors contributed to the decision on whom to schedule.
“You look at regions, conferences, what level [the schools] are at, the chance for a national television audience,” Phillips offered as an example of the many factors that go into non-conference scheduling.
Still, according to Phillips, academics reigned supreme in the decision to schedule schools such as BC, Vandy and Rice.
“The academic quality of those institutions absolutely played a factor in those games being contracted,” said Phillips. “We made a conscious decision to schedule like-minded institutions from an academic-mission standpoint.”
Moreover, Phillips believes that the future nonconference schedule will provide both the school and the team with several key benefits. For one, a stronger non-conference schedule will increase Northwestern’s ability to compete within in the Big Ten.
Phillips hopes for big things outside of the Big Ten as well, as he believes that the nonconference schedule will help increase the national exposure of the university, which should provide a boost in the alumni base and recruiting. In fact, Phillips believes that going on the road will provide an opportunity for the program to step up its recruiting game, and he has a point. The road trips that are a part of the non-conference schedule will not only increase Northwestern’s national exposure, but also expand its regional recognition.
While the national exposure that the team would receive on television will increase its visibility across the country, traveling to regions where Northwestern isn’t as prominently known will help widen the program’s recruiting base. The most important road trips, at least from a recruiting standpoint, will be the ones to Nashville and Houston to play Vanderbilt and Rice, respectively — the ones that take them to the recruiting goldmine in the South.
Phillips isn’t afraid that Northwestern can’t compete with some of the larger schools in the race to bring talented players into the fold, in no small part due to the school’s blend of rigorous academics and success on the football field. If Northwestern can make an impression on these road trips, expect the pedigree and the caliber of its new recruits, and thereby its on-the-field product, to vastly improve.
While some may dismiss these games as “Battles of the Nerd Schools,” anybody who closely follows college football knows that the résumés that these schools bring to the table are nothing to laugh at, be it their conference background, their postseason results or the alumni that have gone on to play in the NFL.
Vanderbilt and Boston College come out of the SEC and the ACC, respectively, two of the major football conferences in which the champions receive automatic bids into BCS bowl games. Gone are the Football Championship Subdivision schools such as Towson, as well as Miami University and its 11-game winless streak. Not all the cupcakes are gone, however, as schools from the Mid-American Conference will still appear on Northwestern’s schedule due to a contractual agreement between the Big Ten and the MAC.
With the addition of two BCS conference opponents, however, as well as future games with Syracuse (which hails from another BCS Conference – the Big East), and a quality non-BCS conference opponent, expect some much more anticipated games that will prep the ‘Cats not only for a rigorous Big Ten schedule, but also for possible bowl games with power conferences. If the Wildcats can use this non-conference schedule to expand their national fan base, this may provide another incentive for higher-tier bowl games to bring the team in.
If nothing else, this should give Northwestern fans a look at programs that have produced a couple big names in the NFL. Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler started for the Vanderbilt Commodores before he made headlines in the Windy City. Before he was the NFL’s Rookie of the Year in 2008, Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan turned heads on Saturdays at Boston College. Jarrett Dillard, now a wide receiver for the Jacksonville Jaguars, broke the NCAA record for total career touchdowns with 60 and became one of the nation’s best wide receivers in his four years at Rice. With Northwestern running back Tyrell Sutton now on the Carolina Panthers’ sidelines, the talent of these teams is hard to question.
With these non-conference opponents making their way onto Northwestern’s schedule, it seems that Phillips and the Wildcats’ football team have managed to find that rare blend of high-quality academics and high-quality football. Phillips gives the players themselves credit for making these games perfect match-ups of sorts.
“We’re extremely proud of our student-athletes […] they’re tremendous students and also really good football players.”
Sure, it’s not going to be USC-Ohio State or Michigan-Notre Dame, but it could be worse: It could be Duke-Stanford.