We asked Teddy Greenstein, the Northwestern beat writer for the Chicago Tribune, to give us his take on the Wildcats going into today's game against Illinois at Evanston's Ryan Field:
How surprised are you that Northwestern is Big Ten West champs?
Amazed. Heading into the season, I thought Wisconsin would be dominant. Obviously, NU got beat soundly by Duke and puked away the game to Akron. NU was on the verge of starting 1-2 in Big Ten play against Nebraska. The Wildcats needed to convert two fourth-and-10s just to set up a field goal that cut the score to seven.