After winning Big Ten West division last season, Northwestern prepared to prove itself again
Maybe it was the 47-year wait between bowl games, a numbing stretch that ran from 1949-95.
Maybe it was the 23 straight losing seasons, starting in 1972 and extending through 1994.
Maybe it's the ongoing perception that strong academic schools are ultimately destined to fail on the football field.
Whatever the reason, Northwestern sure isn't being viewed as a team that can be as good - or better - than last season, when the Wildcats won the West division and played in their first Big Ten championship game.
"It is what it is," head coach Pat Fitzgerald said. "We're not great clickbait, I guess, so picking us first isn't real sexy. But we'll just earn it. We'll just earn it. That's what's so great about football. The West gets knocked. I enjoy it.
"We'll just continue to control what we can control, but it's always fun to read this time of year how we stink. I should actually get better at golf because I don't know why I coach. I should just golf."
With Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State and Penn State all playing in the East, the West has been viewed as a lightweight in the Big Ten since the conference split into geographic divisions in 2014.
Over the last five seasons the East has won the Big Ten championship game in Indianapolis five times, with Ohio State claiming three titles and Penn State and Michigan State one each.
Northwestern lost to Ohio State 45-24 last season and will look to change that outcome this year despite being picked to finish fourth in the West in a preseason media poll compiled by the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
"Personally, I love it," star linebacker Paddy Fisher said. "I like being the guy that's under the radar, that's not accounted for. It makes you play with that chip and I love playing with that chip. We all do.
"We really don't care. We just want to play football."
Heading into training camp, the big story for the Wildcats is who replaces departed quarterback Clayton Thorson.
TJ Green played in five games for NU last season, and redshirt freshman Andrew Marty was a big-time prep recruit coming out of Cincinnati.
Odds are, Hunter Johnson will be under center for Northwestern at some point this season, likely very early.
A Clemson transfer, Johnson was rated the top QB in the nation in 2016, his senior season at Brownsburg (Ind.) High School.
"Clayton was a great leader for us," defensive lineman Joe Gaziano said. "You can't really replace a guy like that, a guy who has the most career starts at Northwestern, the winningest quarterback in program history. We have a lot of different guys competing for that job heading into camp. Hopefully, the competition brings out the best in everybody."