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Northwestern

Wildcats · Big Ten

Head coach David Braun Year 3 with Northwestern

Year-3 HCs (2015-2024) averaged -0.10 W vs SP+ expected · n=21

Season Projection · 2026 W0

10,000 sims
5.5
Expected wins
5-7
Proj record
3 to 8
Win range (90%)
#54 (32–78)
Final rank (90%)
0%
Make playoff
0%
Win conference

Path to Glory

Tap a win or a loss on each pivotal game to see how the playoff probability shifts. Leave any game unset to average across both outcomes.

Make the playoff

0%

Baseline projection.

  • at Illinois
    Away · Nov 28
  • vs Iowa
    Home · Nov 7
  • vs Penn State
    Home · Oct 3
  • at Minnesota
    Away · Nov 21
  • at Michigan State
    Away · Oct 17

Pivotal games are the 5 with the largest playoff-probability swing, ranked by the model. Math: chained Bayesian log-odds update from the conditional simulation set; gets the directionally right answer but won't perfectly capture cross-game correlations until the full Monte Carlo pipeline lands.

Returning production · 2025

56 PCI
  • Quarterback 33% (2/6 players)
  • Offensive line 65% (11/17 players)
  • Skill (RB/WR/TE) 64% (18/28 players)
  • Front 7 (DL/LB) 65% (22/34 players)
  • Secondary 79% (15/19 players)
  • Special teams 57% (4/7 players)

PCI weights returning production by position group (QB/OL heaviest). 70%+ is healthy continuity; 45-70% is a normal rebuild; below 45% is a meaningful turnover.

Situational efficiency · 2025

FBS percentile rank
  • 3rd-down conversion 43.6% 88th — strong
  • Red-zone TD rate 8.3% 11th — bottom tier
  • 4th-down aggression 42.3% 75th — strong
  • Late & close 5.0 yds/play 49th — average

Percentile is across all FBS teams with play-by-play data for the season. "Late & close" is yards per play in Q4+ with a one-score margin — a proxy for clutch offensive performance.

Schedule

Full 2026 slate. Tap a row for the matchup breakdown.

Latest Stories

  • Recap

    Northwestern: 2025 Week 16 recap

    Northwestern sits at No. 51 in GIE's current ratings after a 20–13 road loss to Illinois in Week 14, dropping to 7–6 on the season. The defeat underscores the Wildcats' struggle to close out competitive games—a pattern that's defined…

More coming

Per-team pages get the full treatment in Phase 3: current rating, season projection histogram, schedule with win probabilities, and live overlays on Pylon stream days. For now, this page exists so stories and news have a permanent home as content rolls in.