** 2023 Opponent Preview : Northwestern (Game 7) **

Saunders

Saunders

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HuskerOnline: Northwestern Spring Review

Vaccher: “My prediction is that it will be an entertaining game. Beyond that, it’s very difficult to say. Nebraska has a new head coach, a new coaching staff, new systems and a new quarterback. Northwestern will be running a new defense under first-year coordinator David Braun, and Pat Fitzgerald has turned over half of his coaching staff. So there’s not a lot of carryover from last season – which is a good thing for two teams that combined to 4-14 in the Big Ten last year.”

“I think the Huskers have an edge in overall talent, and they have home-field advantage, so I would make them the early favorites. But who knows? Northwestern is coming off of its worst season since 1989, winning its season opener and then losing 11 straight games, the longest active streak in the nation. I don’t have to tell you who that lone win came against.”

2023 win-loss expectation for Northwestern

Vaccher: “Defensively, there is hope for improvement under new coordinator David Braun if he can plug holes up front. Offensively, some questions were answered with portal additions like Ben Bryant and AJ Henning, but the unit still lacks consistency and doesn’t have much big-play potential.”

“The Wildcats’ schedule isn’t bad: they have a manageable non-conference slate (UTEP, Duke and Howard) and traded Ohio State for Rutgers in the crossovers. If they just take care of the football – they had the worst turnover margin in the nation last year at -1.58 per game – they should be able to get back to respectability. There’s nowhere to go but up, right? I think a bowl game is probably a stretch, but they should be in the 4-8 or 5-7 range this season.”

https://www.on3.com/teams/nebraska-cornhuskers/news/nebraska-opponent-spring-review-northwestern/
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CollegeFootballNews: Northwestern 2023 Preview

So how has this all gone so terribly, terribly wrong? There’s a bit of a sliding scale for a program with just 48 winning seasons in 129 years of college football, but Northwestern appeared to be well past the painful dark days. Pat Fitzgerald ran with what Gary Barnett and Randy Walker set in motion with ten bowl appearances in 13 seasons and two runs to the Big Ten Championship game. Northwestern has three or fewer wins in three of its last four seasons, going just 1-8 in Big Ten play in all three. What happened?

https://collegefootballnews.com/cfn/northwestern-wildcats-college-football-preview-2023-breakdown-prediction-top-players-win-total
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CollegeFootballNews: Northwestern 2023 Game By Game Prediction

2023 CFN Preseason Prediction: 3-9
2022 Record: 1-11

Aug 26 OPEN DATE
Sept 2 at Rutgers L
Sept 9 UTEP W
Sept 16 at Duke L
Sept 23 Minnesota L
Sept 30 Penn State L
Oct 7 Howard W
Oct 14 OPEN DATE
Oct 21 at Nebraska L
Oct 28 Maryland L
Nov 4 Iowa L
Nov 11 at Wisconsin L
Nov 18 Purdue W
Nov 25 at Illinois L

https://collegefootballnews.com/cfn/northwestern-football-schedule-2023-game-predictions-scores
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More to come...

 
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Never thought I’d say this, but I’m really interested to see how things go for Northwestern this year. I’m very eager to see how bullet proof Fitz really is if they have another 3-9 or worse season. I think they’re really missing Hankwitz. 

 
The suspension isn't a big deal. However, the more information that comes out, the more someone needs a fall guy. Oh, look, he only won 1 game last year. Oh, look, he only won 1 conference game in 3 of the past 4 years.

If you may be close to replacing the guy anyhow, and you need a fall guy.....well, we aint talking about Lee Majors, now are we.

 
brophog said:
I think someone may be looking for a new coach soon.
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It's a really bad look to have suspended him 2 weeks in the summer when they aren't even in camp, then have more come out immediately after.  Feels like both the coach and AD need to be canned if this is all true and they knew/ easily should have known this was going on.

 
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