Purple Passion

Northwestern University is located on the North Shore of Chicago in Evanston, Illinois. It is by most standards a very prestigious academic institution. Northwestern also fields a football team and is part of the Big Ten conference.

I was born at Evanston Hospital in Evanston, Illinois and grew up on the North Shore. Northwestern was the doormat of the Big Ten until the late 90's when they had a miracle season and went on to play in the Rose Bowl. One of the players on that team was an All American linebacker named Pat Fitzgerald.

Today, on a rainy day in Evanston, Illinois, Northwestern played host to the Iowa Hawkeyes. Iowa came into the game ranked #13 in the country still with hopes of winning the Big Ten title this season. Northwestern played a solid defensive first half and led 7-3 going into halftime. Iowa came out in the second half and re-established themselves taking a commanding 17-7 lead. Northwestern's undersized defense was wearing down and Iowa was driving to put the game away in the 4th quarter when it happened. A simple mistake. Iowa's quarterback threw deep down field into the waiting arms of a Northwestern defender. Still, with the ball on their own 15 yard line and with no evidence of being able to move the ball, Iowa looked in command. Not so fast my friends...

Northwestern's Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald is a fighter and a winner. He was not hanging his head on the sidelines. He was into the game, coaching and encouraging his team on. Northwestern proceeded to drive the ball 85 yards with a hurry up offense that had the much bigger defensive players gasping for air. Touchdown. Northwestern's defense made the necessary stop the next series of downs and once again, Northwestern drove the length of the field. They went 91 yards to take the lead with just over a minute and a half to play.

Northwestern won the game. The fans ran onto the field. The players were happy. The coach was happy. And all of this when things really looked bad for Northwestern.

The last 2 weeks, Northwestern had given up big leads and lost. It looked like this game was going to be no different. But it was different. The Northwestern kids never gave up. They fought and clawed and pulled the win out. It was nice to see and the reason I love college football. No game this season have I seen my beloved Longhorns come close to that kind of effort and determination.

Northwestern played and won a game today. Texas needs to get back to this same type of effort and determination if they want to earn the right to be an elite team again.