By Ben Bolch
The wins aren't surprising anymore. Nor are they satisfying.
NU coach Gary Barnett, likewise, seemed unsatisfied with his team's early season resume: Three straight wins for the first time since 1971 ... Wins over Notre Dame and Michigan ... A No. 14 ranking by The Associated Press.
None of that matters. These Cats (4-1, 2-0 Big Ten) are so focused that Barnett, convinced his team has far more magic left to unveil, wasn't eventaking complimentary phone calls yesterday.
"When you're in the middle of something special, you don't want to screw it up," he said. "And we're in the middle of it. So pardon me, I'm sort of narrow-minded right now."
Resolved to winning is more like it. But mention the potential bowl sites -i.e. Pasadena, Orlando, Tampa - and Barnett is indeed narrow-minded.
"Just don't include me in any of those conversations," he said, bristling to a reporter's mention of the postseason. "We just can't do that. It's like letting water into a crack in a rock. If it freezes, it breaks that rock up. So we're going to hermetically seal our brains from that kind of stuff."
NU quarterback Steve Schnur, though, does admit to daydreaming about the Rose Bowl.
"I think everyone flirts with the thought," he said.
Students are thinking Pasadena, too. And they're letting the players know how much winning means to a campus that has averaged only three wins a season since 1990.
"I went to class earlier this morning and a couple of guys who I had never seen in my life came up and said, 'Congratulations. Good game,' " Schnur said. "It's a neat feeling because in years past when we lost, they had no reason to support us and it played on my conscience. It's nice to have them behind us now."
The support is definitely in place. So are the stats: Valenzisi is tied for No. 1 in the country in placekicking (11 of 11 field goal attempts) and running back Darnell Autry is No. 4 in rushing (153 yards per game). As a team, the Cats are ranked No. 6 in pass-efficiency defense and turnover margin, and No. 7 in scoring defense.
More important, of course, are the wins themselves.
"I think we've won as many games this year as the previous four," said defensive back and fifth-year senior Rodney Ray, almost not exaggerating.
But the recent spate of success indicates that NU has arrived as a legitimate Big Ten title contender.
"Someone said to me the other day, 'Well, you're playing with the big boys,' " Barnett said. "I said, 'No, we are the big boys and now we're playing like them.' "
Barnett and the rest of the Cats know there are plenty of big boys - Wisconsin, Illinois and Penn State among them - left on the schedule. NU likely needs only two more wins for the second-ever bowl berth in school history (the first was the 1949 Rose Bowl), but that's something Barnett won't discuss.
Barnett is now focusing on NU's remaining six conference games.
"It's sort of like being on the beach with Hurricane Opal and all these waves coming at you," Barnett said of the Big Ten schedule. "It's just one right after the other in this conference. If you're not ready for it, it's going to knock you over."
Chances are, these Cats will be upright come New Year's Day.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
This document may be distributed electronically, provided it is distributed in its entirety and includes this notice. It cannot, however, be reprinted without express written permission of Students Publishing Company. All material published herein, except advertising or where indicated otherwise, is copyright© 1995 Students Publishing Company.