Northwestern still fighting for respect

Posted by ESPN.com’s Adam Rittenberg

Northwestern went into its regular-season finale against Illinois as a home underdog despite owning three more wins than the Illini.

	Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images
	Defensive end Corey Wootton is Northwestern’s only first- or second-team All-Big Ten selection.

Whether or not the Wildcats felt disrespected by Las Vegas, they handed Illinois a fairly thorough beating (27-10) and ended the regular-season at 9-3, notching the program’s highest victories total since head coach Pat Fitzgerald was a senior linebacker. Northwestern finished in a fourth-place tie in the Big Ten with Iowa, a team it beat Sept. 27, and re-entered the BCS standings at No. 24.

“Hopefully,” wide receiver Eric Peterman said, “we’re getting a little bit more respect.”

Not yet.

When the All-Big Ten selections were released Monday night, Northwestern had a grand total of one player — defensive end Corey Wootton — on the first or second teams. Only bottom-feeders Purdue and Indiana had less representation on the All-Big Ten teams than Northwestern.

Wisconsin had six second-team selections despite a 7-5 record, and 5-7 Illinois had two first-teamers (wideout Arrelious Benn and linebacker Brit Miller) and three second-team picks.

“I haven’t talked to any guys [to see] if they’re mad they didn’t get to first team or we didn’t get more people,” said Peterman, who was interviewing for a job at American Airlines in Dallas when the All-Big Ten teams came out. “I don’t think it really affects us. It’s all about team here.”

Head coach Pat Fitzgerald called the Wildcats a first-team All-Big Ten team on Monday and didn’t seem concerned about the team’s uphill battle for respect.

“I know we’re very well-respected within the young men that we’re recruiting,” Fitzgerald said. I know that we’re very well-respected in the high school coaches that we walk into their high schools. … So I guess that respect that you’re talking about — about the things that are out of our control — quite frankly, I don’t care.

“To win football games and to be bowl-eligible and to have the success that we’ve had and three Big Ten championships since 1995, I think it speaks for itself. So if you don’t respect the job that our young men do [and] our coaches do, then shame on you.”

Peterman admits Northwestern still fights the perception of being “the little stepchild of the Big Ten that everybody gets to beat on all the time.” The last few seasons have started to change that opinion, but respect remains hard to come by.

Northwestern did lose to a bad Indiana team whiffed on two chances to make a splash during the regular season, getting stomped at home by both Michigan State and Ohio State. But another opportunity awaits in a bowl game, where Northwestern hasn’t been successful in nearly 60 years (1949 Rose Bowl).

Though the Wildcats could be leapfrogged by Iowa in the bowl pecking order, a 10th victory could change perceptions of the program heading into 2009.

“It’s got to be year after year, consistently in the middle of the pack or in the upper echelon [of the Big Ten] to get respect,” Peterman said. “And also win a bowl game. Ten wins in a season is kind of another level. Ten sounds so much better than nine. We’re trying to get to that level and get the monkey off our back of winning a bowl game for the first time in 60 years.”

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