Randy Walker has a noble creed by which he lives: "My players have always been my heroes."

But Walker's players were not very heroic in his first season as Northwestern's coach.

The Wildcats finished the season with a 3-8 mark after they edged flimsy non-conference foes Texas Christian and Duke before getting past hapless Iowa by two points for Northwestern's lone conference win.

"This isn't rocket science," a verbose Walker said. "This is kind of old stuff.

"Good football teams first play good defense. Good football teams win the turnover ratio. Good football teams don't get penalized. Good football teams can rush the ball and stop the run. Those are all things that we don't do very well."

And so Walker is working to make his football players into heroes once again — just like Northwestern team that shook up the Big Ten and national college football scene in 1995 and 1996.

It starts with the offense. Particularly, it starts with Damien Anderson. On 306 attempts, the junior tailback carried the ball — and the Wildcats — 1,128 yards, supplemented with three touchdowns. Anderson just might be Walker's biggest hero.

"It doesn't get any better than that kid," Walker said.

But that kid wants to do just that.

"I've gotten bigger, faster and stronger and I feel with the new offense we are going to implement, it is going to open up a lot more things for me," Anderson said.

Things have done just that with Zak Kustok, in his first full season after transferring from Notre Dame, under center. Kustok has completed 44 passes in 74 attempts along with five touchdowns and three interceptions. Meanwhile, Anderson has rushed for 378 yards on 59 carries, capping his runs five times in the end zone. And with a healthy corps of receivers returning (Kustok's top two targets went down for a bulk of last season), Northwestern has been rebuilding its passing game that was once dormant after D'Wayne Bates' departure.

Sam Simmons, Jon Schweighardt and Teddy Johnson will amass the yardage from the air. Walker will have five returning offensive linemen leading the way as Kustok's protection.

Northwestern has nine starters returning from last season. Leading Northwestern's defense will be a fierce linebacking tandem with Napoleon Harris and Kevin Bentley.

Bentley was an All-Big Ten nominee last season after he compiled 148 tackles, the most in the Big Ten. He also had 10 tackles for loss, two sacks and two forced fumbles.

Harold Blackmon anchors the secondary and defensive end Dwayne Missouri leads the defensive line.

"I just want to be a force that on Sunday when they are figuring out who they are going to block, they say, 'If this guy does not get blocked, he is going to hurt us,' " Missouri said. "I think if I can do that, and get some pressure on the quarterback and cause a few more turnovers, I think the defense as a whole will be a lot better."