** 2021 Opponent Previews : Northwestern (Game 6) **

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Saunders

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CollegeFootballNews: Northwestern Wildcats 2021 Preview

Obviously Pat Fitzgerald deserves every benefit of every doubt as one of the best head coaches in all of football. NASCAR this thing up and give everyone the same equipment to work with, and he might just be the best of the whole lot considering what he’s doing with the the restrictions of producing Big Ten championship-appearance teams in two of the last three seasons. There was a time when just going to a bowl game was a big deal in Evanston, much less win it, but the Cats have gone bowling in ten of the last 13 years, won five of their last six, and took down four in a row. With that said, it also takes a whole lot of things to go right for the team to be fantastic.
SET THE NORTHWESTERN WILDCATS REGULAR SEASON WIN TOTAL AT … 7.5

Offense | Defense | Top Players | Keys To The Season | Season Prediction
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Athlon Sports: #47 Northwestern Wildcats Preview

A return to Indianapolis seems unlikely with so much personnel turnover, but Northwestern always should be a factor in the Big Ten West. Recruiting is improving, and Northwestern is producing first-day draft picks for the first time in the Fitzgerald era. If the Wildcats find an answer at quarterback and develop a downfield passing game, they won't over-stress their defense. The transition from Hankwitz to O'Neil will be fascinating, as will a new-look LB corps. Northwestern misses Ohio State and Penn State on the schedule and should start strong before a defining midseason stretch of Michigan (road), Minnesota (home), Iowa (home) and Wisconsin (road).

Predicted Record (From magazine): 7-5 (4-5 Big Ten)

https://athlonsports.com/college-football/northwestern-football-wildcats-prediction-preview-2021
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The Athletic: Everything points upward as Northwestern aims to reload after second division title in 3 years

In some ways, nothing has made Pat Fitzgerald’s life easier than this spring’s NFL Draft. Northwestern had its first first-round draft pick since 2005, its first offensive player drafted in the first round since 1983 and its first first-round draft duo in Rashawn Slater and Greg Newsome.

Ask the 15-year Wildcats head coach what it means, and he sums it succinctly:

“That you can have it all at Northwestern,” Fitzgerald said. “You can get a top-10 education, be a top-10 football team and be a first-round draft pick. What else more do you want?”

https://theathletic.com/2657876/2021/06/18/everything-points-upward-as-northwestern-aims-to-reload-after-second-division-title-in-3-years/
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More Coming soon...

 
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Got out tix yesterday so looks like the wife and I will be making the trip to Lincoln for this one also besides heading down to Champaign to watch us against the Illini here in 11 days.  Last home game for me was Texas back in 2010 with my dad who has since passed.  Will be a special game for me.


 
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These are both pretty bad for them imo. They lost a ton of skill players to graduation/transfer, Porter and Hull were the only 2 with any excitement. Now it's just Hull. And Johnson must have talent and definitely could have developed over the last couple years, but he was terrible in 2019. I don't know who he's throwing to, and they went 3-9 the last time they had subpar QB play. I know they always overachieve, but I am beyond skeptical of them this year. 

 
Husker in WI said:
These are both pretty bad for them imo. They lost a ton of skill players to graduation/transfer, Porter and Hull were the only 2 with any excitement. Now it's just Hull. And Johnson must have talent and definitely could have developed over the last couple years, but he was terrible in 2019. I don't know who he's throwing to, and they went 3-9 the last time they had subpar QB play. I know they always overachieve, but I am beyond skeptical of them this year. 
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They don't always over-achieve.  They have random years of over-achievement, typically followed by down years.  I know Northwestern is a media darling, but their style of football typically isn't conducive to have "great" seasons back-to-back.  Since they play so many close games, it's unrealistic that they will win those close games at the same percentage year after year.  There will almost always be that regression to the mean.

EDIT:  Fitzgerald has won 10 games (or similar winning percentage) 4 times in his career (including his 7-2 season in 2020).  He has gone 5-7, 7-6, and 9-5 (which was then followed with a 3-9 season) in the previous years.  Northwestern will most likely be middle of the pack (or below) in the Big Ten West in 2021.

 
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ColoradoHusk said:
They don't always over-achieve.  They have random years of over-achievement, typically followed by down years.  I know Northwestern is a media darling, but their style of football typically isn't conducive to have "great" seasons back-to-back.  Since they play so many close games, it's unrealistic that they will win those close games at the same percentage year after year.  There will almost always be that regression to the mean.

EDIT:  Fitzgerald has won 10 games (or similar winning percentage) 4 times in his career (including his 7-2 season in 2020).  He has gone 5-7, 7-6, and 9-5 (which was then followed with a 3-9 season) in the previous years.  Northwestern will most likely be middle of the pack (or below) in the Big Ten West in 2021.
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Either way, can we win the game without it being close is my question lol

 
hskrfan4life said:
Either way, can we win the game without it being close is my question lol
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I think that answer is yes.  If it's a close game, those are typically 50-50 ball games.  Frost has gone 1-2 against Northwestern with all of those games being close games.  NU could very well be 3-0 or 0-3.  If it's a close game, I don't think it favors either team.  However, I think Nebraska has the better opportunity of making it a 10+ point game than Northwestern does.  That's why I would put NU's win probability higher than Northwestern in this game.

 
ColoradoHusk said:
They don't always over-achieve.  They have random years of over-achievement, typically followed by down years.  I know Northwestern is a media darling, but their style of football typically isn't conducive to have "great" seasons back-to-back.  Since they play so many close games, it's unrealistic that they will win those close games at the same percentage year after year.  There will almost always be that regression to the mean.

EDIT:  Fitzgerald has won 10 games (or similar winning percentage) 4 times in his career (including his 7-2 season in 2020).  He has gone 5-7, 7-6, and 9-5 (which was then followed with a 3-9 season) in the previous years.  Northwestern will most likely be middle of the pack (or below) in the Big Ten West in 2021.
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Alright frequently overachieve, not always.. But honestly with their talent level, you could argue even the 5-7 years are sort of overachieving. They find/develop gems like Rashawn Slater and Greg Newsome occasionally, but for the most part they are an FCS school athletically. And yet since 2015 they've been top-2 in the (admittedly weak at times) West 4 out of 6 years. But yeah, if they're even average this year he'll have earned that 10 year extension. At least one of NW, Illinois, or Purdue (or us, honestly) will hit some bad breaks early and totally implode this year.

 
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