It’s here- the “circle the date on the calendar” moment for Northwestern University and their football program. Friday night sees the Wildcats move into their new $875,000,000 home, after saying goodbye to their temporary domicile, Northwestern Medicine Field, at Martin Stadium on Sept. 19. The Cats sent the venue off in style, blowing out “Coach Prime” Deion Sanders and his Colorado Buffaloes, 41-7.
Now comes The Jeffersons moment, the ‘Cats have been waiting almost three years for, as they are “moving on up.”
David Braun, at his weekly news conference, says the New Ryan Field will be “transformational for the football program and the university” pic.twitter.com/Es1qDijxuf
— Paul M. Banks (@PaulMBanks) September 28, 2026
Northwestern Wildcats vs Penn State Nittany Lions
FRIDAY, October 2nd, 7 pm CST
New Ryan Field Opener | Evanston, IL
FOX (Connor Onion, Robert Griffin III, Alexa Landestoy)
WGN 720 AM (Dave Eanet, Ted Albrecht)
Spread: PSU -2.5, O/U 48.5
Can Pat Ryan Get the Wheels in Motion to Fix the Chicago Bears Stadium Search Mess? go here for that
“I truly believe it’s the best stadium in all of football and ultimately, I think it’s right-sized to our community. We’re not trying to be the biggest, but it’s the intimacy. It’s the sight lines for our fans,” said Northwestern head coach David Braun, during a summertime media tour of the new facility.
“It’s ultimately the environment that we have an opportunity to create for our players.”
The first guest in the house that Pat Ryan built will be the Penn State Nittany Lions, who were just dropped from the national rankings, after blowing a 17-0 lead, and losing their homecoming game to the Wisconsin Badgers.
Penn State Nittany Lions (3-1, 0-1) Preview
It might be beyond the scope of this game, but PSU has a program level problem right now. Yes, they’re still drawing a ton of fans every home game, given how their stadium holds 106,000+ so credit them for that.
However, they now have all these massive patches of empty seats in Beaver Stadium, which means in reality, they’re actually drawing 70-80,000 or so.
This is a bigger story and issue than anything on the field, in my opinion, and a bigger threat to program (and therefore institutional and community) health.
Entire sections empty on Homecoming for a Big Ten opener with basically perfect weather. https://t.co/2Nsk5hJ7UG
— Chris Buchignani (@buchignani) September 27, 2026
There is an enthusiasm gap in Happy Valley right now, and there are many reasons for that. This team has substantially less talent than in recent years. They don’t have future NFL talent like most of James Franklin’s teams did.
Franklin lost almost every single big game he coached in, but he really was an elite recruiter.
These Nittany Lions won’t be reaching the CFP final four like the 2024 edition did.
Their coaching search dragged on for a long while, making one wonder just how far Matt Campbell was from the top of their list.
Are you a Penn State fan who bailed on going to yesterday’s game, or gave up your season tickets?
There were swaths of empty seats inside Beaver Stadium on Saturday, and we’re curious why fans are suddenly staying away …
— NittanyCentral (@NittanyCentral) September 27, 2026
And now they feel like Iowa St. east. Although there are far worse things to be. Still, hotels in central Pennsylvania are not stopping their price gouging on PSU game days, despite the fact that the quality of football has diminished.
That’s a huge story in colllege football that goes very underreported- hotel price gouging on home game weekends. It’s everywhere now, and it’s extremely egregious; “late stage capitalism” at its absoute worst.
A Champaign area Motel 6 should not legally be allowed to charge $500 per night because the Illini are hosting Purdue.
This phenomenon is hurting PSU attendance.
Quarterback Rocco Becht #3 followed Campbell to State College from Ames.
He’s got a 9-1 TD-INT ratio and a middle round/day three NFL Draft projection.
Their offense heavily involves the tight ends, which is the position group where the most NFL Draft talent on this team lies. Benjamin Brahmer #18 has the highest draft stock on this team, and a huge part of their offense revolves around him.
His back-up, Andrew Rappleyea #87, has a lot of talent as well. On defense, the main guy to watch is linebacker Tony Rojas #13.
Northwestern Wildcats (2-1, 0-1) Preview
Earlier this month, head coach David Braun was given a new contract extension, conveying just how much the University believes he’s the right guy to lead the program as the New Ryan Field era begins.
Asked what he is most excited for at the new Ryan Field, Braun responded: “Everything.”
The roof of the new venue was designed to prevent crowd noise from escaping the venue, and instead retain it within the stadium.
“As great the lakefront was, just structurally it didn’t hold acoustics or sound like New Ryan Field will.”
Northwestern offensive coordinator Chip Kelly, one of the finest offensive minds in the sport, praised the team’s new home
“This place is so well thought out,” he said at a July on-field media opp.
“With Pat giving us a tour, and how it’s structured and sight lines for everybody.”
“Obviously, you’re coming in on the first level and I think the wind up there was around 19 mph gusting and you don’t really feel it while you’re on the field,” Kelly continued.
“So, just really the details that they have, it’s an amazing place.”
Kelly has done an amazing job with senior quarterback Aidan Chiles, who is rated the third highest QB in the nation, according to Pro Football Network, right now.
Chiles went 22-of-29 for 293 yards and three total TDs in the narrow loss at Indiana last week. After a slow start in the first half, Chiles took it up in the second, going 17-of-21 passing for 237 yards, two TD passes and a rushing TD after halftime.
We’re only three games into the season, but Chiles is doing things at NU that haven’t been done since the days of Brett Basanez or C.J. Bacher.
Kelly and Chiles are teaming up to lead an offense that is more effective and effiicent that anything we saw under Dan Persa, Clayton Thorson or Peyton Ramsey.
And last week, they found a new weapon in third-year tight end Luke Dehnicke, who had seven receptions, 140 yards (20 ypc) in Bloomington.
Northwestern came close to ending IU’s nation’s best 19 game winning streak. The defending champions are now at 20 games, obviously, and with Rutgers next, they’ll naturally hit 21, or “Black Jack.”
Braun emphasized the no morale victories, no pride in keeping it close theme yesterday at his weekly press conference. There is no glory in spread covering at the home of the champs.
And no, he did not actually reference covering the spread.
“My hope is that we continue to build this program and continue to find the right young men to be a part of this football program that down the road when we go on the road against the top five team,” said Braun.
“If we come up short, that the narrative is no, Northwestern should win those football games….”
Friday night is all about the stadium itself, but what attendees really want is winning, exciting football.
The actual product, ultimately means much more than the packaging.
It may be the smallest capacity-wise, but you can’t deny that the new Ryan Field is without a doubt the nicest stadium in all of college football. The nerds at Northwestern delivered!!
pic.twitter.com/BLvj3YwW6V— Stass🎾 (@studiostassi) September 25, 2026
Prediction: Northwestern Wildcats 31, Penn State Nittany Lions 28
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, Ratings and RG. 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 and the Washington Post.