gary barnett

[Ed-Seth: This being the 20th anniversary of the 1997 National Championship, Michigan historian Dr. Sap is taking us game-by-game through it. Previously: Those Who Stayed, The Hit, The Stop, The Captain’s Down]

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October 11, 1997: Michigan 23, Northwestern 6

Materials: WH Video, full broadcast via j bakkar, articles

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[Robert Kalbach via UM Bentley Library]

By Week 5 of the 1997 season there were no more doubts as to whether Michigan’s defense was elite. But the offense—and its achingly conservative playcalling—made fans wonder how it would hold up over a season. All it would take is for a particularly bad offensive showing and a few lucky breaks for a scrappy opponent to put an L on the board. And if recent history was any indication, the next foe was a highly likely candidate to do just that.

It was difficult to believe, but in 1995 and 1996, Northwestern was not only the darling of the Big Ten, but all of college football. The nation was gaga over Gary Barnett’s Cinderella Wildcats, led by all-American linebacker Pat Fitzgerald. They weren’t particularly talented, but those Northwestern teams were hardscrabble, made few mistakes, and on the field got a reputation for, well, exploring the blurry edges between gamesmanship and unsportsmanlike behavior. These weren’t your grandpappy’s gentlemanly purple warriors: the Barnett Cats went to class on the weekdays, then on Saturday they took your lunch money.

En route to two consecutive Big Ten Championships, Northwestern defeated Michigan twice, each time ruining the maize and blue’s undefeated records.

"I don't think it's the R-word as revenge, I think it's the R-word as respect," said U-M fifth-year quarterback Brian Griese on what his teammates hoped to achieve in game #5 of the 1997 season. "We want to make them respect us. We gave away the game both years. They had no reason to respect us.

"Anybody who goes through this week of practice and is not fired up and ready for this team, they don't have red blood in their body. They've won the Big Ten championship the last two years, and we've lost to them the past two years, and if that's not enough motivation for somebody then I don't know what is."

Those teams were embodied by Fitzgerald, who was tough, smart, and knew what you were going to do before you did it. But Fitzgerald was gone now, and nobody knew what was left. Northwestern pummeled Oklahoma 24-0 to start the season in that year’s Pigskin Classic, but then lost to Wake Forest, Rice, Purdue, and Wisconsin while also barely scraping past lowly Duke.

[After THE JUMP: how to cheat a cheater]