Northwestern Wildcats
FBS
Big Ten Conference · NU
Team Vitals
+17.0
power · 2026 · #48 D1
+3.6 / +13.3
off / def (higher = better)
1–0
2026 record
124
roster (2026)
Team profile 2025 · vs 136 FBS teams
Percentile against every FBS team, from 2025 play with garbage time excluded. No 2026 game has been played yet, so this describes last season.
- Win rate 43%ile 0.538
- Offense (PPA/play) 38%ile 0.152
- Defense (PPA allowed) 48%ile 0.161
- Offensive success rate 57%ile 0.431
- Defensive success rate allowed 18%ile 0.447
- Explosiveness 18%ile 1.196
- Explosiveness allowed 85%ile 1.178
- Plays per game 39%ile 60.5
median · bars right of it are above the FBS average · pace is a style, not a grade
Upcoming 2026
| Date | Wk | Opponent | Site | Model Lean |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-09-19 | Wk 3 | Colorado FBS | HOME | Northwestern 59% |
| 2026-09-25 | Wk 4 | Indiana FBS | AWAY | Indiana 85% |
| 2026-10-02 | Wk 5 | Penn State FBS | HOME | Penn State 72% |
| 2026-10-10 | Wk 6 | Ball State FBS | HOME | Northwestern 86% |
| 2026-10-17 | Wk 7 | Michigan State FBS | AWAY | Michigan State 51% |
| 2026-10-24 | Wk 8 | Rutgers FBS | HOME | Northwestern 85% |
| 2026-10-31 | Wk 9 | Oregon FBS | AWAY | Oregon 75% |
| 2026-11-07 | Wk 10 | Iowa FBS | HOME | Iowa 64% |
| 2026-11-14 | Wk 11 | Ohio State FBS | AWAY | Ohio State 89% |
| 2026-11-21 | Wk 12 | Minnesota FBS | AWAY | Northwestern 69% |
| 2026-11-28 | Wk 13 | Illinois FBS | HOME | Northwestern 51% |
Recent Results
| Date | Season | Wk | Opponent | Result | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-09-05 | 2026 | Wk 1 | South Dakota State vs | W | 34–18 |
| 2025-12-26 | 2025 | Bowl | Central Michigan vs | W | 34–7 |
| 2025-11-29 | 2025 | Wk 14 | Illinois @ | L | 13–20 |
| 2025-11-22 | 2025 | Wk 13 | Minnesota vs | W | 38–35 |
| 2025-11-15 | 2025 | Wk 12 | Michigan vs | L | 22–24 |
| 2025-11-07 | 2025 | Wk 11 | USC @ | L | 17–38 |
| 2025-10-25 | 2025 | Wk 9 | Nebraska @ | L | 21–28 |
| 2025-10-18 | 2025 | Wk 8 | Purdue vs | W | 19–0 |
| 2025-10-11 | 2025 | Wk 7 | Penn State @ | W | 22–21 |
| 2025-10-04 | 2025 | Wk 6 | UL Monroe vs | W | 42–7 |
| 2025-09-27 | 2025 | Wk 5 | UCLA vs | W | 17–14 |
| 2025-09-13 | 2025 | Wk 3 | Oregon vs | L | 14–34 |
Season by Season
| Season | W | L | PF | PA | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | 0 | 34 | 18 | +16 |
| 2025 | 7 | 6 | 304 | 258 | +46 |
| 2024 | 4 | 8 | 214 | 316 | -102 |
| 2023 | 8 | 5 | 287 | 293 | -6 |
| 2022 | 1 | 11 | 165 | 340 | -175 |
| 2021 | 3 | 9 | 199 | 348 | -149 |
| 2020 | 7 | 2 | 222 | 143 | +79 |
| 2019 | 3 | 9 | 196 | 283 | -87 |
| 2018 | 9 | 5 | 339 | 325 | +14 |
| 2017 | 10 | 3 | 380 | 261 | +119 |
| 2016 | 7 | 6 | 338 | 289 | +49 |
| 2015 | 10 | 3 | 254 | 242 | +12 |
Injuries
Not an injury report. College football has no league-wide mandated one, and the ESPN feed we poll has carried the same three players all season — so an empty table here means nothing has been reported to us, not that the team is healthy. Nothing on this page, and nothing in our model, uses it.
Player grades 2026 season
Box production, opponent-adjusted, ranked within position (50 = positional average). OL rows are team-inferred — college football publishes no individual OL box stats. Full leaderboard →
| Player | Pos | Grade | Pos rank | G | 2026 season |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braden Turner | DB | 78 | #97 | 1 | 7 tkl · 3 PD |
| Robert Fitzgerald | DB | 77 | #113 | 1 | 14 tkl · 1 PD |
| Damon Walters | DB | 77 | #114 | 1 | 9 tkl · 1 PD · 1 INT |
| Brendan Flakes | DL | 72 | #225 | 1 | 4 tkl · 1.0 sacks · 1.0 TFL |
| Josh Fussell | DB | 71 | #237 | 1 | 5 tkl · 3 PD |
| Braydon Brus | LB | 67 | #240 | 1 | 7 tkl · 1.0 sacks · 1.0 TFL |
| Kobie McKinzie | LB | 66 | #264 | 1 | 9 tkl |
| Alex Honig | TE | 65 | #100 | 1 | 2 rec · 25 yds · 1 TD |
| Joseph Himon II | RB | 64 | #228 | 1 | 87 rush yds · 1 TD · 1 rec |
| Caleb Komolafe | RB | 63 | #259 | 1 | 46 rush yds · 1 TD · 2 rec |
| Griffin Wilde | WR | 60 | #494 | 1 | 3 rec · 104 yds |
| Montae Pate | DB | 59 | #834 | 1 | 5 tkl · 1 PD |
| Aidan Chiles | QB | 57 | #215 | 1 | 273 pass yds · 1 TD · 0 INT |
| Jackson Kleather | K | 57 | #133 | 1 | 2 FG · 4 XP · 10 pts |
| Luke Dehnicke | TE | 56 | #221 | 1 | 2 rec · 41 yds |
| Tyler Gant | DL | 52 | #1448 | 1 | 4 tkl |
| Gavin Sawchuk | RB | 52 | #595 | 1 | 69 rush yds |
| Drew Wagner | WR | 52 | #880 | 1 | 3 rec · 43 yds |
| Ore Adeyi | DB | 51 | #1404 | 1 | 2 tkl · 1 PD |
| Callen Campbell | DL | 48 | #1827 | 1 | 1 tkl |
| Jamaal Johnson | DL | 43 | #2267 | 1 | 2 tkl |
| Payton Roth | LB | 39 | #1453 | 1 | 2 tkl |
| Matthew Smith | LB | 39 | #1452 | 1 | — |
| Hayden Eligon II | WR | 38 | #1532 | 1 | 1 rec · 8 yds |
| Dominic Kirks | DL | 35 | #2789 | 1 | 1 tkl |
| Caden O'Rourke | DL | 35 | #2790 | 1 | 1 tkl |
| Jon Jon Stevens Jr. | DB | 33 | #2646 | 1 | 1 tkl |
| Amare Jordan | LB | 31 | #1678 | 1 | 1 tkl |
| Nikola Dugandzic | P | 24 | #258 | 1 | 5 punts · 24.0 yd avg |