NU is ranked 25th in AP poll
- Thread starter freewillie07
- Start date
Why? I mean, we want to win every week but the pressure isn’t that much bigger.
Chiles was funny in the postgame. With a completely unemotional poker face when asked if he was excited to play Michigan State next week, he said “Real excited. Don’t I look excited?”.
it was hilarious.
I hope it's not.
Chiles return to Michigan State and Fitz facing his former team are individual stories that while important yes, shouldn't overshadow that it's Northwestern vs Michigan State and Northwestern has a far superior team.
On paper, this game should not be close.
In the Braun era, I feel like we haven't played down to poor opponents much.
An absolute strength of Brauns's that was an inexplicable yet predictable weakness of Fitz's.
Whether we are really the 25th best team in the country or not, I'm not sure. That said, I think this goes to show the effect of running up the score differential in the mind of voters. None of our wins are over terribly good teams at this point, but the fact that we won those games by 20+ points matters. Fitz never got this. So nice to see this new coaching staff understanding that you play to the max all the time.
I don't think NU has been "running up the score". They simply have an effective offense that capitalizes on opportunities. NU forced 7 turnovers against Colorado and 2 against PSU. Turnovers + effective offense = points.
Also a different mindset about ball control and clock management. In previous years NU would get a lead and sit on it, burning clock to keep the defense off the field and protect the lead. This year NU is scoring quickly and then scoring again. It is really a wonder that the Defense has only given up 16.2 point per game because they have been on the field a lot.
The offense keeps scoring those darn TD's and giving the other team the ball back with kickoffs.
Yes, I think this is right. Running up the score probably wasn't the right way to phrase it, but the ability to keep scoring points at a high level was something we never saw during the Fitz era. It matters to poll voters I think. Fitz would have beaten Ball State by 6-10 points. Voters want to see these 30+ point wins over lower level opponents.Also a different mindset about ball control and clock management. In previous years NU would get a lead and sit on it, burning clock to keep the defense off the field and protect the lead. This year NU is scoring quickly and then scoring again. It is really a wonder that the Defense has only given up 16.2 point per game because they have been on the field a lot.
The offense keeps scoring those darn TD's and giving the other team the ball back with kickoffs.
I’m worried more about winning one on the road. 1-5 the last six games away.
We've had tough road schedules since the conference expanded in 2024 so I wouldn't be worried per se.
@purdue and @Maryland in 2024 were the only "easy" road games that we've had since 2024 (and we won both of those). 2025 was all tough road games (and we won the Penn State game).
This year we got Indiana, Ohio State, Oregon, Minnesota, and Michigan State.
Michigan State is probably the most favorable matchup of the past 2 years for us on the road. If we want to do something special this year, have to take two or three of these on the road.
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