2009 Northwestern Wildcats Betting Recap
Online betting players should begin to get used to this: Northwestern is not an exceptional team, but the Wildcats will overachieve most seasons under young coach Pat Fitzgerald. While so many other teams – in the Big Ten and elsewhere – fall short despite having considerable resources and a bigger brand name in college football, Northwestern just hums along and plugs away. The 2009 season was no exception in Evanston, Illinois.
In 2008, Northwestern reached the Alamo Bowl and barely missed stunning Missouri. In 2009, the Purple Cats made it to the Outback Bowl and were on the verge of winning their first bowl game since 1948, but a fake field goal in overtime was stopped at the 2, giving Auburn a 38-35 win over a courageous but crestfallen collection of kids. Northwestern fell behind 14-0 in that game against Auburn, but never stopped competing. Had kicker Stefan Demos been able to make a 44-yard field goal on the final play of the fourth quarter, the Wildcats would have had their dream victory; instead, they had to go into overtime, and when the fake field goal blew up in their faces, they didn’t have a ninth life. Nevertheless, another NU crew overachieved massively while teams like Michigan State and Michigan failed in a very big way. This program in the shadows of Chicago does more with less.
2010 Preview To Bet Northwestern Wildcats
NCAA football betting junkies know that if a team in the Big Ten is going to surprise, it will quite likely be Northwestern. The Wildcats – in many ways a lot like Connecticut in the Big East – look like they’re playing the game at three-quarter speed, but they make plays and put themselves in the right positions on almost every snap. At any rate, Northwestern regularly exceeds its talent in regular-season play. A sports betting analyst can’t ignore this truth.
The schedule for NU in 2010 is quite manageable. One thing you’ll notice right off the bat about the Wildcats’ season slate is that Ohio State isn’t on it. That’s great news. What’s not so great is that Michigan is missing from the schedule as well; then again, Michigan should be better than the 5-7 record it posted in 2009. Road dates at Wisconsin and Penn State are killers, but NU didn’t figure to beat either one of those teams as it is. Winnable games against Purdue and Michigan State are at home. In non-conference play, Vanderbilt – also a very winnable game – is on the road, and that’s a minus. However, another out-of-conference tussle, against defending MAC champion Central Michigan, is at home. One must also realize that Central Michigan, after four years with elite quarterbacking from Dan LeFevour, will be breaking in a new signal caller this season. Northwestern has a very legitimate chance of going 4-0 out of conference, which should be more than enough to get this team a winning record and yet another bowl appearance. For this program, that’s quite good.