No big leap, but Tennessee ends year with clear growth in N'western rout

Hunter Niswander does not have the biggest leg in college football. His average punt distance ranked 122nd in the NCAA. Now, to be fair, Niswander had to punt the ball 78 times this year thanks to Northwestern's offensive issues, and some of those

For decades, Northwestern was the scourge of the Big Ten, if not all of college football. The Wildcats went 47 years between bowl games, lost an NCAA record 34 straight games from 1979-82 and averaged two wins per season from 1971-95. Gary Barnett 

With Northwestern's regular season over, and only the bowl game remaining, it's time to evaluate the Wildcats' 2015 season. We'll be going position by position and doling out grades to every Northwestern player that was a significant contributor this year.

Tennessee entered the season with high expectations of becoming the best team in the SEC East. As the No. 23 Volunteers concluded their season with a 45–6 drubbing of No. 13 Northwestern in the Outback Bowl, they can confidently say they accomplished 

"You win 10 games, it's a darn good football season." – "There's three games where we didn't win the line of scrimmage," Fitzgerald said. "It was today, Iowa and Michigan. I think there's a theme there." – "We're killing it in recruiting," Fitzgerald