If I'd told you before the season that Northwestern would head into its matchup with Ohio State in Columbus with a 4-3 record, you'd have told me that sounds about right. If I then proceeded to tell you how the Wildcats got there and what this team looks like, you wouldn't have been so kind.
Cautious optimism, justified by last year's 10-win season, would have you believe Northwestern would have handled its opening two games. But that was before Western Michigan was 8-0, legit-chance-at-New-Years-Six-Bowl, Western Michigan. That was before Illinois State, a team that has gone 2-5 against FCS teams, went 1-0 in road games against Big Ten teams.