It's surprising enough that No. 22 Northwestern has won the Big Ten West, even more shocking when you consider the Wildcats wrapped up the title with two conference games to go.
The first of those games will come Saturday at Minnesota, and Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald, predictably, won't step off the accelerator as his team speeds toward its first conference championship game.
"Champions win football games," Fitzgerald said at his weekly press conference.
"You do that by the way that you prepare and you do that by the way you execute and you do that by the way you play.