Every summer, the dawn of a new college football season signals hope for sports fans across the country. There’s hope that this will finally be their year. Hope that no matter what sports commentators say, things are finally going to be different. Be it somewhat reasonable or completely illogical, the weeks leading up to kickoff can be a blissful time where every team has the same record and you can allow yourself to dream of your team defying the odds and having the season of a lifetime.
However, in the weeks leading up to Northwestern football’s season opener against Nebraska, that typical sense of hope and belief in this year’s team was noticeably missing.