CHICAGO-Despite the fact that Northwestern’s 2016 season was “way below our expectations,” head coach Pat Fitzgerald is looking to capitalize on the momentum generated by the close of the year to vault into 2017.

Fitzgerald, speaking at Day 2 of Big Ten Media Days at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place, said that the Wildcat team that finished the season was much different than the one that started it. After beginning the year 1-3, Northwestern turned things around and won six of its last nine games, including an upset of Pittsburgh in the Pinstripe Bowl.

“The guys realize that in our last nine games we weren’t undefeated but we got back to playing our brand our football,” said Fitzgerald. “That carried into the ends of the season and through bowl season.”

It was Northwestern’s offense that led the charge last season, and the 12th-year head coach figures that it will again be the catalyst for 2017.

Through the first four games of 2016, the offense showed about as much horsepower as a roomba in averaging 16.3 points through what should have been the easiest part of the schedule. But the Wildcat engine started purring shortly afterward as Northwestern averaged 30.3 points per game in going 6-3 to close out the year, including three games where it scored more than 40 points.

“(We want to) carry that momentum into 2017, with players like Clayton Thorson and Justin Jackson,” said Fitzgerald. “Obviously, with that type of star power in the backfield, we have a great opportunity to be excited.”

Penn State and maybe Ohio State are the only two Big Ten programs that can rival Northwestern’s dynamic QB-RB combo. Thorson threw for 3,182 yards and a school-record 22 touchdowns last season, while Jackson ran for 1,524 yards and 15 TDs and could this year become just the second Big Ten back to rush for more than 1,000 years for four straight seasons (Wisconsin’s Ron Dayne is the other).

Fitzgerald’s goal is to build on Thorson’s and Jackson’s firepower and “try to win a bowl game in back-to-back years for the first time in (school) history.”

Looking back, Fitzgerald blames no one but himself for last year’s sleepy start, which featured losses to Western Michigan from the MAC, Illinois State from the FCS (gulp) and Nebraska, and a win over Duke. The team was “banged up” coming out of fall camp, so “I took my foot off the pedal,” said Fitzgerald.

The results were disastrous, including a 7-point output against Illinois State that featured just 86 yards rushing on 31 carries.

“We were really inconsistent in the first month, which is very inconsistent for our program,” he said. “I take that responsibility on my shoulders.”

When Fitzgerald slammed his foot back down on the accelerator, his team kicked it into gear, losing only to Big Ten West title winner Wisconsin, playoff participant Ohio State and Minnesota the rest of the way. Only the loss to the Gophers, on the road, could be considered a clunker.

Then the Wildcats went out and beat the favored Panthers, 31-24, with Jackson’s career-high 224 yards and three touchdowns paving the way.

“Now (the momentum) carried over into offseason workouts and into spring ball,” he said.

That momentum extends beyond the field, too.

The Walter Athletic Complex, Northwestern’s future practice facility, is quickly rising on the lakefront and will open the spring of 2018, Fitzgerald confirmed. His team this fall will practice exclusively at the neighboring Hutcheson Field, with its breathtaking views of Lake Michigan.

Fitzgerald can already see the impact of the new digs.

“You see where our recruiting is at, it’s at an all-time high,” he said. (Fitzgerald can’t talk about recruiting because of NCAA rules, but the Wildcats are already just about finished with their 2018 class, with 16 commitments.) “For our program, from the standpoint of university support, (it’s) one of the last few pieces of the puzzle,” he said. “It gives us a chance to compete in recruiting that we’ve never had.”

The giddy coach even claimed that the Northwestern basketball program’s historic run to its first-ever NCAA Tournament berth added to the Wildcats’ surge.

“We never had that before,” he said. “Our guys are so close to the basketball players, to see that has been a real positive.”

So the outlook is very sunny in Evanston. The Wildcats are the consensus choice to finish second to Wisconsin in the Big Ten West, but they will get their shot at the Badgers in the Big Ten opener on Sept. 30. If all that momentum carries over, Northwestern could contend for a conference title for the first time under Fitzgerald and perhaps ride the wave all the way to Indianapolis for the Big Ten championship game.

And Fitzgerald made it clear that he doesn’t expect another slow start this season.

“I’m not going to let happen what happened last year again,” he said.

Fitzgerald made it clear that no single player will be able to fill the shoes of Anthony Walker Jr. One of the best linebackers in Northwestern history, Walker left the program a year early, after the Pinstripe Bowl, and is now an Indianapolis Colt.

The coach thinks, however, that the linebacker corps is in good shape. He expects “a great competition between (Nathan Fox) and (Paddy Fisher)” for Walker’s middle linebacker job to continue into fall camp. But he emphasized that the Wildcats will use a team approach to replace the defense’s bell cow for the last two seasons.

“Brett Walsh right now is the leader in that room from the standpoint of what he’s had to overcome throughout his career and the production he’s had. Nate Hall is really dynamic. He’s a special athlete,” said Fitzgerald about his expected starting outside linebackers.

“Warren Long moved from running back and he’s a physical presence out there. Jango Glackin has had a good offseason.”

Northwestern is not only replacing Walker this season. Offensively, the Wildcats must also fill the void left by Austin Carr, who led the Big Ten in catches (90), yards (1,247) and touchdown catches (12) and won the Richter-Howard Receiver of the Year award.

Again, Fitzgerald says that it will take more than one player to amass those kinds of numbers.

“From an experience standpoint, you probably talk about Flynn Nagel,” said Fitzgerald about Northwestern’s slot receiver. “He’s had an increased role both years that he’s been with us.” He also mentioned superback Garrett Dickerson “from an inside perspective and chemistry with Clayton.”

But Fitzgerald mused that no one really knows for sure who will emerge as the star receiver(s) of the 2017 season.

“Last year at this time, nobody asked me about Austin Carr,” recalled Fitzgerald. “That’s kinda cool about college football. You have new guys step up, new faces, new opportunities.”

He continued, “We have a handful of guys that could really step up. We’re more athletic, maybe just a little bit less experienced. Sometimes that’s not a bad thing. They don’t know what they don’t know, and that’s okay.”

Fitzgerald used his time at the podium to inject his voice into the targeting debate.

Despite the fact that he was a physical linebacker who didn’t shy away from contact, Fitzgerald is in favor of protecting players. In fact, he’d like to see rules makers take a harder line with players who are flagged for targeting multiple times.

“We have to make sure young men when they violate the rule are held accountable,” he said. “We need to take a look at repeat offenders.”

He thinks that the NCAA should consider levying additional sanctions against players or perhaps teams who continue to draw penalties for helmet-to-helmet contact.

“If you see a young man or maybe even a team has multiple targeting fouls, we need to look at that,” he said. “Why is that happening?”