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Northwestern beat Saturday's No. 21 Iowa 14-10 in Iowa City, winning the Big Ten West. The Northwestern players did not know it, however, because winning the division was not as easy as winning against the Hawkeyes. After Wisconsin lost to Penn State earlier in the day, the Wildcats knew they would win if they beat Iowa, but they also needed Purdue to be defeated by Minnesota.
Which, surprisingly, Purdue did, crashed 41-10. But that game was played while Northwestern was still playing, as his team celebrated their victory on the field, coach Pat Fitzgerald reunited his players in the middle of the field to give them breaking news.
The path to the first Northwest Division crown in school history was not a routine, it was a strange season for the Wildcats. They started the season with a 31-27 win over Purdue, but continued with three straight losses against Duke, Akron and Michigan. The defeat against Akron was the strangest of all. Zips got two touchdowns in the fourth quarter in the fourth quarter, which caused a superb surprise of 39-34.
The Wildcats also lost midfielder Jeremy Larkin, who retired from football due to a diagnosis of cervical stenosis. Entering Saturday's match against Iowa, he remained the team's top scorer this season, even though he's no longer playing since the Akron match.
Yet as odd as it may be, this loss to Michigan is the only loss to the Wildcats that the Wildcats suffered (their fourth loss to Notre Dame) to date. They were also quite dramatic, with none of their six wins this season having more than 14 points, and four of them scored or fewer.
In a season in which Northwestern created an ugly victory art form, he used the same formula to win his division.
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