Northwestern's Anything But an 'Easy Win' in 2025

When Northwestern started the year with a 23-3 loss to Tulane, almost every team in the Big Ten Conference looked at their schedule and gave themselves a mental win for the week they played them.

However, the only team to have a mental win become an actual win against the Wildcats since is nationally-ranked Oregon.

Otherwise, Northwestern has run through the league with some impressive and close wins. A 17-14 win over UCLA helped them bounce back from the loss to Oregon. They followed that up a few weeks later with a shocking 22-21 win over previously-ranked Penn State in Happy Valley.

Northwestern's 22-21 upset of Penn State in Happy Valley led to the firing of PSU coach James Franklin. | Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

Since then, they’ve tacked on a 19-0 shutout of Purdue, and with a win over Nebraska on Saturday, a lot of those “mental wins” will be getting toggled to potential losses.

“Momentum is a real thing,” Northwestern coach David Braun said. “In a day and age when you talk about analytics and numbers, which are all very important things that you need to utilize, momentum is real. It’s something that you can’t take for granted. It’s because we have been incredibly intentional about focusing on daily improvement.”

If they improve any more, Nebraska might need to call in sick on Saturday. The Wildcats have reeled off four-straight wins, and it’s thanks to a style of football that has given Nebraska fits already this season. Northwestern’s ground-and-pound approach has not only been efficient, but also a large consumer of game clock.

Northwestern has reeled off four-straight wins, and it's all thanks to their ability to dominate time of possession. | David Banks-Imagn Images

In their last two games, Northwestern has had the time-of-possession advantage. They had the ball nine more minutes than Penn State did, and last week against Purdue, the Wildcats had the ball for a full 15 minutes more than the Boilermakers – that’s an entire quarter of football in just one game.

“It’s awesome to see,” Braun said. “One thing I’ve learned over the years, just because you’re winning time of possession doesn’t mean you’re going to win the football game. Ultimately, when you’re able to consistently run the football and operate with efficiency on offense and sustain drives, it’s really easy to stand up here and talk about complementary football.”

A time of possession war is likely the last thing Nebraska wants after seeing Minnesota keep them under wraps just a week ago to the tune of 24-6. The Gophers didn’t really have any splash plays outside of a few long runs, but they were able to keep Nebraska’s defense on the field. It not only wore out the Blackshirts, but the Gophers ended many of those drives by putting more points on the board.

It was the deciding factor for Minnesota against the Huskers, and Northwestern’s been winning with the same formula.

“These last two weeks, that’s shown up, and it’s positioned our defense to play at the level that they’re playing right now, and it’s a credit to our offensive line, our backs, the way that (quarterback Preston’s (Stone) operating in the pocket,” Braun said. “It’s something that needs to continue. It’s who we are.”

Northwestern quarterback Preston Stone has helped keep the Wildcats even-keel amidst their four-game win streak. | Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

Saturday’s game against Nebraska kicks off a 5-game stretch to end the regular season, where Northwestern will likely need to upset a team to get to six wins. The Wildcats sit at 5-2, but it’s very possible they are viewed as underdogs in their final five games.

After their showdown with Nebraska, they square off against USC, Michigan, Minnesota and Illinois. They may avoid Indiana and Ohio State, but it’s not exactly the yellow-brick road in front of them to finish the year. It makes Saturday’s game against Nebraska a little bit more important for a Northwestern team that has some high hopes for the rest of this year.

“This team set out to do something really special this year,” Braun said. “The group has done an incredible job of taking a really isolated focus on the task at hand. I think what this team needs to continue to lean into is our time is waning as a group. It’s crazy to think we’re already past the midway point of the regular season.”

Northwestern is no stranger to Nebraska's gameday atmosphere. They hope to avenge a 17-9 loss in Lincoln just two years ago. | Kylie Graham-Imagn Images

The prep for Nebraska is complete, as the team is now traveling to Lincoln to get ready for the game itself. Braun said he is well aware of how Nebraska fared in Minneapolis last week, but he’s not putting a lot of stock in that given what he’s seen in Nebraska’s other six games.

“From Nebraska’s standpoint, that is an outlier,” Braun said. “Look at what Nebraska’s been able to achieve – really good football team that got off to a great 5-1 start. You take nuggets and observe objectively in the tape, but come back to what do we need to do to position ourselves for success on Saturday.”

What might be the tale of the game is if Northwestern can duplicate the pressure Minnesota had against Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola. The Husker signal caller was sacked nine times in Nebraska’s 24-6 loss to the Gophers, which prevented Raiola from having time to spread the ball around to his various weapons on the outside.

Northwestern defensive back Robert Fitzgerald celebrates after an interception against Purdue. | David Banks-Imagn Images

Braun said he’s confident in his defensive backfield heading into Lincoln, especially knowing the depth they’ll need to keep up with Nebraska’s desire to pass as much as they do.

“Nebraska is talented on the perimeter, and having the ability to have three guys that you really trust at that position is critical – whether it be just having the ability to rotate those guys a little bit or if someone gets a little dinged up,” Braun said.

Nebraska’s coaching staff came under fire this week for unbalanced play calling, with NU’s passing attempts more than doubling its rushing attempts. Husker offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen admitted the attack needs to be more balanced this week against Northwestern, and both he and his players have vowed they will.

Northwestern may be 7.5-point underdogs, but after Nebraska's last performance, many think the game is more of a toss-up. | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

If so, the match-up with Northwestern seems to be a pretty balanced one despite Vegas saying Nebraska’s a 7.5-point favorite as of Friday morning. What might ultimately swing the game is where Nebraska really hasn’t had any issues to this point – special teams. While you don’t hear many opposing coaches talk about that facet of the game week in and week out, what special teams coordinator Mike Ekeler’s been able to do in his first season back in Lincoln has caught the eye of Braun.

“Special teams at Nebraska this year have been a difference maker for them,” Braun said. “They’ve got a returner back there that’s scary with the ball in his hands. Arguably, you could say they won the Maryland game because of some of the things they were able to do on special teams, and we’re going on the road in arguably the best environment, most hostile environment in all of college football.”

Two years ago, Northwestern came to Lincoln to take on Nebraska coach Matt Rhule in his first season at the helm of the Huskers. NU only won five games that year, but that was one of them – a 17-9 win over Northwestern. Braun said a lot of the guys from that game are still members of the team, and he hopes it helps them get ready for the environment they’re about to walk into.

The Wildcats are honing in on their pre-snap process this week as they get ready to play in yet another hostile environment this weekend. | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

“Ultimately you’ve got to do a great job of handling your pre-snap process,” he said. “Specifically on offense, you’ve got to do a great job of responding as momentum shifts in a football game. It’s going to take four quarters. We’ve got to be at our best in the fourth quarter.”

That, ironically, is where Nebraska wasn’t even competitive just last week against Minnesota. After taking a 7-6 lead over Nebraska into halftime, it was all Minnesota in the second half as they scored 17-unanswered points to run away with it in Minneapolis.

Braun admitted his team hopes to have the same success against Nebraska Saturday, but he’s also cognizant of the fact that he’ll be trying to do it against one of the better head coaches in college football in his opinion.

“You give Minnesota a ton of credit for the way they performed and the way they closed that game out in the second half,” he said. “Coach Rhule has done an exceptional job at Nebraska having a chance to be around him for a couple years. There’s no one better in the country in terms of coaching fundamentals and technique. He’s coached a lot of different positions, worn a lot of different hats, found a lot of success at a lot of different places.”

The Huskers and Wildcats kick off at 11 a.m. CDT in Lincoln. The game will be televised nationally by FS1.

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