The magic of David Braun’s first season leading the Northwestern Wildcats has fully dissipated now. Absolutely no one, at all, expected the Wildcats to finish above .500 in the Big Ten, and to make (and win) a bowl game, but a huge credit to Braun and his staff for making that happen. Expectations weren’t sky high for the Cats entering this season, but thus far, Northwestern is underperforming. Today’s effort at Kinnick Stadium was brutally awful, as the Iowa Hawkeyes beat them 40-14 in a game that was even uglier than that final score sounds.
it’s too bad because this trip to Iowa City was one of the few winnable games left on the schedule, and they need a few more wins because they’re now underwater at 3-5, 1-4 in the league. In the preseason, the over/under on Northwestern Wildcats wins totals, at a given online casino games provider, was 5.5. To hit the over on that proposition, and thus win six to become bowl eligible will be a tremendous challenge.
Up next is a trip to league doormat Purdue, so you got to like your chances there. The Boilermakers are one of the worst teams in all the power four, and head coach Ryan Walters may not return next season.
But then comes a visit from #4 Ohio State, to the Cats’ temporary home of Wrigley Field. You can expect the Friendly Confines to have a lot more scarlet and grey, than purple and black, on that Saturday. With the Buckeyes trying to earn a College Football Playoff berth, you are likely to see the Northwestern Wildcats as four touchdown underdogs, or thereabouts.
Then comes a trip to Michigan, which is very winnable. The Wolverines are experiencing one of the worst national championship defending seasons in recent memory.
Like the Wildcats, Michigan has tried out multiple quarterbacks this season but ultimately found the same result. Neither team has any real passing game to speak of. Northwestern will likely be underdogs here, and that is understandable, given their sorry history against Michigan, especially so in Ann Arbor.
However, I actually like their chances here, because I think Braun can easily outcoach Sherrone Moore, a man who is currently in way over his head.
So if these predictions hold, it gets you to five wins heading into the season finale, the arch-rivalry game against Illinois, which will be at Wrigley Field this season. Anything can happen in a rivalry game, but your 2024 Illinois Fighting Illini have been a much better football team than your 2024 Northwestern Wildcats.
And for what it is worth, the team with the better record typically does emerge victorious in this Land of Lincoln Hat trophy game.
Also, NU kept the Illini out of a bowl game last season, when they beat them on their own field, on senior night. Illini coach Bret Bielema has a great track record in “revenge games,” so this Northwestern would have to pull off a major upset, at a venue that will be overwhelmingly orange and blue, in order to get the W here.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network, the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America and RG.org. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.