It was a little closer against Michigan State than they would have liked, but a win is a win. The loss to Indiana doesn't hurt at all, but they're going to have to play better against the middling teams to have a shot against the good teams.

Close one vs your old coach and the breakup surely didn’t motivate him at all. Go destroy Rutgers next week and move on. You have a tough end to the schedule.

First underwhelming game

surprising not rip this season, anything here on is a success

0.875, +10

Down 5 - played bad, Indiana loss looks worse

Didn't expect them to struggle against the Spartans

For a while it looked like Michigan state was going to win this game at home. However Northwestern found just enough offense to survive and get out of East Lansing with a win. A rather unimpressive win but a win all the same.

Only loss is to Indiana

5-1; win over Penn State plus road win at Michigan State; only loss is at Indiana.

Northwestern technically didn't lose, but as is the case with Miami, a close win against an opponent this bad isn't much better. The Wildcats drop a lot in my estimation because they had so few meaningful results before their 24-21 escape at MSU; the close loss at Indiana was the only real data point, and that also looks a little worse now. Still, they're 5-1 and should roll to bowl eligibility with a win over Rutgers this week, and the remaining schedule should provide a baseline of at least eight wins. How far NW can fly above that depends on how good they actually are; I'm ready to find out.

[5-1, 2-1 B1G] (-) | SOR: #19 | Notable Results: W 34-18 vs FCS #5 South Dakota State [5-2], L 23-29 @ #5 Indiana [6-1], W 24-21 @ Michigan State [2-5] |

There is nothing to see here, no close games against the hapless Spartans led by their own coach here, nope.

I've cooled on my confidence on Northwestern after realizing that the best part of their resume was a loss to Indiana. no other ranked wins and a three point win over Michigan State isn't really a resume worth putting a team in the mid to upper 10's for.

LW: 19 | Tier 3 | W Michigan State

.759 rating, 5-1, SOS .551 (-1)

Power: 21, SoR: 22; LW: 13

22. Northwestern — Score: 0.150 | Results: 1.090, SOS Rank: #49, Quality: 0.028, Recency: 0.000 | T10W: 0, T25W: 0, T50W: 0, Off Rk: #22, Def Rk: #24

+1; they keep finding ways to win somehow

Dropped out: 15 Missouri, 21 Mississippi State, 25 Wisconsin

Northwestern had 1 quality win over South Dakota State (I consider the top 2 FCS teams as quality wins), but they lost in a not very close game, and here they are. The close loss to Indiana still looks good. They are behind Boise State because Boise has played a more difficult schedule. Northwestern's FBS Opp Win% is only 44%

0.71192

Score 67.66 (▲ 2.39) | Place Change: ▲ 8 | Previous Rank: 32nd | Wins Composite Rank: 19th | SoS Composite Rank: 52nd | Margin of Victory Rank: 19th | Penalties Composite Rank: 86th | Yardage Composite Rank: 58th | Turnover Composite Rank: 7th | 3rd/4th Down Conversion Rank: 34th | Other Stats Rank: 80th

38.97 - Indiana loss hurts Northwestern, but not by enough to overcome other changes (see below).

Notable omissions: (#27) Florida, SEC confusion meant some had to be left out. (#28) Mizzou, see Florida. (#29) Wake Forest, hurt by Miami (FL) tie.
Other omissions. (#40) SMU, still not convinced, though their record keeps them afloat.

Final ranked team falls in the same category as many others here, close loss to a better team but no standout wins to speak of.

Also Considered: USC, Miss St, Missouri, SMU

Why'd you struggle against MSU? kinda ruined the optics i had for you...

up from 15th, 10th–23rd in 8 of 10 brackets
Northwestern has the thinnest résumé in this group: 20 rule wins, the only top-40 one being Penn State (34-13). Its only loss, 29-23 at Indiana, gives it rule losses to Indiana, Ohio State and Texas. It’s the strong in simulated games (85% against the field, 58% against the top 25). That makes up for the light résumé. This week’s 24-21 win at Michigan State moved it up one spot.

The better Wildcats

+1 - Forced to reward bye week because of chaos

Tier 4.

Our second Wildcat team in the top 25. This team found a way to grind out a conference win on the road.

71.61

Close win over Michigan State. I like Northwestern this year - they've been producing offensively and it's been fun to watch - but they didn't win this game quite convincingly. Last week, I had them at #23. They have moved up, but this is partially due to teams ahead of them moving down.

Well it was incredibly ugly win against your former coach, but a win nonetheless. Enjoy the semi-bye week against Rutgers (I don’t care that they won last week, they still suck).

1 loss to #9 Indiana, best win VS #76 Colorado

5-1 (23-29 @ Indiana)

-5

Big slide on the win as they struggle to put away a bad team. Again, Big 10 looking shaky after the top two.

Survive a close one with Michigan State but beating the Big 10 will never be easy. With so many teams dropping, they rise to top 20.

(+2)

NEW
W (5-1) A +3 vs MI State (unranked)
--
--
--
--
--

722