Based on what? Outside of yesterday, how many Northwestern games have you watched? Explain to us all why Northwestern should have come to Tampa and simply rolled over and played dead.
Are you shitting me?
Lets take a look at some teams NW lost to this season. Those teams would be Syracuse (4-8; a team who had to find somebody on their baseball team to be their QB this season), Minnesota (6-6; a team that *gasp* Iowa State just beat in a *gasp* bowl game), Michigan St (6-6; meh), and Penn St (10-2; fair enough). Now, lets look at some teams they beat. Towson (2-9), Eastern Michigan (0-12), Purdue (5-7), Miami of Ohio (1-11), Indiana (4-8), Iowa (10-2; miracle), Illinois (3-9), Wisconsin (9-3). They are 9 whopping points from 6-6 with a fairly cupcake schedule. Don't try to get into a Prowler-esqe "dude, La Tech is a REALLY good team" argument here.
Northwestern is an extremely one dimensional team. You almost couldn't have asked to play a more one dimensional team. Their ONLY playmaker is Kafka. Their 1st and 2nd team RBs COMBINED didn't even have 500 yards of rushing this season. They are ranked 93rd in rushing offense in the country. Its not that they just try and try and try to run the ball, even if it isn't working, and you still have to defend against it. No, they just throw the living piss out of the ball. How much easier is it to gameplan when you KNOW they are not going to run the ball? Even if they do run the ball, its Kafka that you have to worry about. AU did a good job on Ingram with putting 8 guys in the box and saying "Fuck pass defense, if Ingram thinks about thinking about scratching his nuts, blow him up". Its not like the offense can't key on one person with Northwestern. Kafka is all they have that resembles anything of a football player.
There is no sense in even going further. If you REALLY thought this should be as much of a game as it was, especially with AU up by two scores and totally dominating them, then you are a dumbass. Did I expect Northwestern to just come in, throw in their third teamers, and say fuck it? No. But I certainly didn't expect AU to win by less than 14 points. I had said they would win by 21, and it looked like you guys were well on your way. When I saw AU open up and fake the fake quick kickoff that worked against Alabama I was like "Really, seriously? Is that going to be necessary to beat Northwestern?" Apparently I was mistaken. Apparently the coaches and talent level of Northwestern and Auburn are nearly equal.