A brutal October stretch follows what is a somewhat manageable non-conference slate.
Pat Fitzgerald’s talked about it plenty of times.
Northwestern has a distinct advantage over most other teams when it comes to the first three weeks of the football season: Northwestern’s quarter system. While most players at other schools spend several week trying to figure out classes, balancing school work with practice and trying to set some sort of schedule before Week 1, Northwestern’s student-athletes are, for all intents and purposes, eating, sleeping and breathing football.
Most of Fitzgerald’s players finish summer courses in late July and don’t take another class until late Sept.