Northwestern football is notorious for its dual-quarterback system, in which Kain Colter and Trevor Siemian share snaps at the quarterback position. The system worked well for the Wildcats in 2012, earning them a 10-win season. (Let’s not talk about 2013.) But if NU were to embrace a standard one-quarterback system, which quarterback should head coach Pat Fitzgerald start?
To answer this question, we turned to the most scientifically sound method we could think of: Xbox 360. We simulated two 2013 Northwestern football seasons on NCAA Football 14. For one season, Kain Colter alone quarterbacked the Wildcats, while in the other Trevor Siemian exclusively took snaps. Here’s what happened.
Kain Colter: With Colter under center, the Wildcats struggled at times throughout the season - especially against some of the Big Ten’s powerhouses. Colter’s ‘Cats were demolished by Ohio State 38-7 and lost to Michigan 34-13. However, Colter himself had an incredible season, passing for a school-record 29 touchdowns and more than 3,000 yards. He also rushed for almost 1,000 yards. Colter’s superb play - at least against teams not named Michigan and Ohio State - lifted the Wildcats to an 8-5 record, including a victory over Oklahoma State in the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl.
Trevor Siemian: Siemian’s Wildcats finished slightly worse than Colter’s, but they still managed to end the season with a decent 7-6 record and a bowl game victory. Siemian’s numbers were outstanding: He threw for a school-record 30 touchdowns, which means that according to our highly scientific research, Northwestern currently boasts the two top passers in its history.
Siemian also had difficulty against a number of Big Ten teams, predictably falling to Ohio State but also losing in embarrassing fashion to Iowa 42-14, surely to the chagrin of the Xbox version of Coach Fitz. Unlike Colter, however, Siemian was successful against Michigan, leading the ‘Cats to a 45-42 victory over the Maize and Blue.
Conclusion: Colter and Siemian both had excellent seasons statistically, but neither team was able to make much noise in the Big Ten. The team records give Colter a slight edge, not to mention Colter’s teams performed better against better opponents. Colter probably benefitted from the fact that injuries were turned off in our simulation; in reality, Colter is more susceptible to injury than Siemian. Overall, the only real conclusion that we can draw from this study is that the Wildcats seem to be playing better in the world of Xbox than on the real field, if this season is any indication.