"Even though we're similar academically, we're in a little different boat as Stanford and Notre Dame," said Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald. "We've been consistently winning since 1995. They're still saying they can do it, but we're doing it."
That quote's from a Stewart Mandel article,
Notre Dame is no longer different than other programs of its type
Fitzgerald doesn't mention that Northwestern wanted out of the ND series. Their win in 1995, the year Fitzgerald mentions as baseline, was the year NW beat ND to end a 14 game ND win streak. With the exception of the 4 game streak by Parshegian over ND in '59-'62, NW only won 3 other times going back to 1889.
Where NW was 0-14 in those years before dropping the series they've gone 10-4 in replacing ND.
ND meanwhile went for 14-0 to 11-3.
And while ND was losing to Nebraska, Maryland, and GT who replaced NW, NW was beating up on Div AA Towson, and Div AA NorthEASTERN, and Ohio, and Miami of Ohio in place of losing to ND.
ND has taken a lot of flak for scheduling Western Michigan, their first MAC opponent, but Northwestern who's been "consistently winning since 1995" has had a steady diet of Eastern Michigan, Div AA S. Illinois, Div AA New Hampshire, and the like for 2+ wins a season. I can list them all but I've got other things to do today.
Mandel notes that ND is not different than any other programs. ND has struggled since '93. I figured UF and OSU had signifcantly more wins than ND since 199 (Fitzgerald's baseline) so I looked them up on Stassen compared to UF, OSU, USC, and NW and Stanfored the mentioned other parties in the article. I found one other program whose results for that period is surprising:
<TABLE border=0 rules=none cellSpacing=0 frame=void cols=7><COLGROUP><COL width=86><COL width=95><COL width=86><COL width=86><COL width=86><COL width=86><COL width=86></COLGROUP><TBODY><TR><TD height=32 width=86 align=middle>
I-A Winning % 1995-2008 </TD><TD width=95 align=left>
</TD><TD width=86 align=left>
</TD><TD width=86 align=left>
</TD><TD width=86 align=left>
</TD><TD width=86 align=left>
</TD><TD width=86 align=left>
</TD></TR><TR><TD height=32 align=middle>
Rank </TD><TD align=middle>
Team name </TD><TD align=middle>
Winning % </TD><TD align=middle>
Games Won </TD><TD align=middle>
Games Lost </TD><TD align=middle>
Games Tied </TD><TD align=middle>
Games Played </TD></TR><TR><TD height=17 colSpan=7 align=middle></TD></TR><TR><TD height=17 align=middle SDNUM="1033;" SDVAL="2">
2</TD><TD align=left>Florida</TD><TD align=middle SDNUM="1033;0;0.0000" SDVAL="0.78212">
0.7821</TD><TD align=middle SDNUM="1033;" SDVAL="140">
140</TD><TD align=middle SDNUM="1033;" SDVAL="39">
39</TD><TD align=middle SDNUM="1033;" SDVAL="0">
0</TD><TD align=middle SDNUM="1033;" SDVAL="179">
179</TD></TR><TR><TD height=17 align=middle SDNUM="1033;" SDVAL="9">
9</TD><TD align=left>Southern Cal</TD><TD align=middle SDNUM="1033;0;0.0000" SDVAL="0.73429">
0.7343</TD><TD align=middle SDNUM="1033;" SDVAL="128">
128</TD><TD align=middle SDNUM="1033;" SDVAL="46">
46</TD><TD align=middle SDNUM="1033;" SDVAL="1">
1</TD><TD align=middle SDNUM="1033;" SDVAL="175">
175</TD></TR><TR><TD height=17 align=middle SDNUM="1033;" SDVAL="32">
32</TD><TD align=left>Alabama</TD><TD align=middle SDNUM="1033;0;0.0000" SDVAL="0.60116">
0.6012</TD><TD align=middle SDNUM="1033;" SDVAL="104">
104</TD><TD align=middle SDNUM="1033;" SDVAL="69">
69</TD><TD align=middle SDNUM="1033;" SDVAL="0">
0</TD><TD align=middle SDNUM="1033;" SDVAL="173">
173</TD></TR><TR><TD height=17 align=middle>
33t</TD><TD align=left>Notre Dame</TD><TD align=middle SDNUM="1033;0;0.0000" SDVAL="0.6">
0.6000</TD><TD align=middle SDNUM="1033;" SDVAL="102">
102</TD><TD align=middle SDNUM="1033;" SDVAL="68">
68</TD><TD align=middle SDNUM="1033;" SDVAL="0">
0</TD><TD align=middle SDNUM="1033;" SDVAL="170">
170</TD></TR><TR><TD height=17 align=middle SDNUM="1033;" SDVAL="70">
70</TD><TD align=left>Northwestern</TD><TD align=middle SDNUM="1033;0;0.0000" SDVAL="0.49405">
0.4941</TD><TD align=middle SDNUM="1033;" SDVAL="83">
83</TD><TD align=middle SDNUM="1033;" SDVAL="85">
85</TD><TD align=middle SDNUM="1033;" SDVAL="0">
0</TD><TD align=middle SDNUM="1033;" SDVAL="168">
168</TD></TR><TR><TD height=17 align=middle SDNUM="1033;" SDVAL="86">
86</TD><TD align=left>Stanford</TD><TD align=middle SDNUM="1033;0;0.0000" SDVAL="0.43168">
0.4317</TD><TD align=middle SDNUM="1033;" SDVAL="69">
69</TD><TD align=middle SDNUM="1033;" SDVAL="91">
91</TD><TD align=middle SDNUM="1033;" SDVAL="1">
1</TD><TD align=middle SDNUM="1033;" SDVAL="161">
161</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Despite ND's "mediocrity Southern Cal has only averaged 2 more wins per season than ND.
Despite ND's "mediocrity" Alabama only has 2 more wins from '1995 to 2008 ('08 is the last year Stassen has in his database).
As for Northwestern despite their collection of Div AA opponents and MAC foes won 19 games FEWER than ND despite Fitzgerald's quote to the contrary.
And Stanford won 33 fewer games than ND in the same time frame.
Despite the "worst" period of ND football, ND was still the 33rd winningest program during that period. L
ong, long way from the Leahy days but still not like everyone else.
Had ND been playing directional schools and Div AA schools like just about everybody else in Div 1 and they'd be ranked about 15th for this "worst" period.
Not righting the ship, just putting things in perspective. Something Fitzgerald and Mandel neglected to do.
