COLLEGE FOOTBALL : Power to the Purple : Ho, Hum: Northwestern Celebrates Another Trip to Pasadena--47 Years Later

Gary Barnett kept his promise. He’s taking the Purple to Pasadena.

Northwestern, one of the biggest losers in college football, is going to the Rose Bowl. For this season at least, athletics overshadow academics in Evanston.

Shake your head and blink your eyes, but the picture remains the same. The Wildcats, 10-1 and 8-0 in the Big Ten, are champions of the conference and, for only the second time in school history and the first since 1949, the football team is going to a bowl game. They will play USC on New Year’s Day.

The Wildcats got the help they needed Saturday from No. 18 Michigan, which shocked No. 2 Ohio State, 31-23.

For three ooh- and aah-filled hours, 16 Northwestern players squirmed in their seats or paced in a small auditorium about 100 yards from Dyche Stadium in Evanston, Ill.

Barnett, the youthful coach, moved around like the host at a party and was photographed countless times in various poses as he reacted to plays on a large screen from the game at Ann Arbor.

When a late interception finally secured the Wolverines’ victory, the players exchanged hand slaps and hugs and enjoyed this latest chapter in an improbable, nearly unbelievable season.

“It’s incredible,” said junior linebacker Pat Fitzgerald, the team’s defensive star who will sit out the Rose Bowl because of a broken leg.

“We took a program that nobody said could win and we turned out Big Ten champions and we’re going to the Rose Bowl. The sweet thing is that we did everything right. We worked hard. We did everything honestly.

“We set a new echelon for the rest of the country. You can have an outstanding academic institution and still play good football.”

USC Coach John Robinson called Northwestern’s Rose Bowl season “great for college football,” but added he wasn’t surprised by the Wildcats’ success.

“I’m not amazed by the Michigan-Ohio State result--that’s always a close game,” he said.

“And I’m not amazed that Northwestern is in the Rose Bowl. They earned their way. Everyone knows they’re one of the best teams in the country. It might have been amazing if you’d said last August that they were going to the Rose Bowl, but not now.

“I think it’s great. In the last couple of years, you can see sudden surges in a lot of programs--Wisconsin, Oregon, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Northwestern. It shows what a couple of good recruiting

classes can do for a program.”

Trojan fullback Terry Barnum said USC’s best effort will be necessary to beat Northwestern on New Year’s Day.

“Just look at their first game,” he said. “They beat Notre Dame at South Bend, something we didn’t come close to doing.”

USC offensive tackle John Michels spent Saturday afternoon at his parents’ San Diego home, watching Ohio State-Michigan--studying defensive linemen he expected to line up against on Jan. 1.

“Like a lot of people, I kind of expected it’d be Ohio State,” he said. “I’ve since had a call from someone who told me I’ll be up against a Northwestern guy who’s 6-7 and 285, so I’m sure I’ll be busy.”

The Wildcats accepted the Rose Bowl invitation immediately after the Michigan game and then the players were handed roses. A boom box was brought into the auditorium and the school’s fight song blared long and loudly.

“There are no words to describe it,” said Barnett, who stood up during a basketball game when he took the job nearly four years ago and promised he would “Take the Purple to Pasadena.”

In his first three seasons, the Wildcats won only eight games, two fewer than they won during this 10-1 season.

“I feel like we delivered, and that’s fulfilling,” he said. “We needed a little help to do it but we got it.”

“Ten other teams wish they were where we are now,” Fitzgerald said. “Even bigger is that we’re just the second team in school history to go to a bowl game, and that’s the Rose Bowl and that makes it even greater.

“Hopefully, we can eliminate the negative connotations about Northwestern in the past and write a new history about the Cats.”

Minutes after Northwestern had clinched the Big Ten title and the trip to Pasadena, fans took to the streets in Evanston, shouting and honking horns in celebration.

“We’ve been talking about going to any bowl for 20 years,” Northwestern alumnus Rob Long told the Chicago Tribune. Long watched the Michigan- Ohio State game at a sports bar and afterward bought a dozen roses and gave them to anyone who would take one.