College Football News Preview 2020: Previewing, predicting, and looking ahead to the Northwestern Wildcats season with what you need to know.
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– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Top Players | Key Players, Games, Stats
– What Will Happen, Win Total Prediction
– Schedule Analysis
– Northwestern Previews 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015
2019 Record: 3-9 overall, 1-8 in Big Ten
Head Coach: Pat Fitzgerald, 15th year, 99-79
2019 CFN Final Opinion Ranking: 95
2019 CFN Final Season Formula Ranking: 110
2019 CFN Preview Ranking: 47
No one knows what’s going to happen to the 2020 college football season. We’ll take a general look at where each team stands – doing it without spring ball to go by – while crossing our fingers that we’ll all have some well-deserved fun this fall. Hoping you and yours are safe and healthy.
5. College Football News Preview 2020: Northwestern Wildcats Offense 3 Things To Know
– It was one of the strangest disasters of the entire 2020 college football season on a national scale. The Northwestern offense, really, really didn’t work, averaging just 297 yards and 16 points per game, scoring 15 points or fewer seven times.
New offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian comes in from Boston College where he was Steve Addazio’s guy for a year, but he has NFL coaching experience. He has a ton of work to do.
The passing game was the least-efficient in the nation, averaging just nine yards per completion with six touchdown passes and 15 picks, averaging a mere 4.5 yards per throw. Clemson transfer Hunter Johnson was ineffective, and hurt. Aidan Smith was ineffective, and hurt. In all, the four quarterbacks thrown into the mix couldn’t get anything going, but junior Andrew Marty was able to lead the way to a win over Illinois to close things out.
Johnson is still the most talented prospect on the roster – he was a huge get for Clemson until that Trevor Lawrence guy showed up – but on the way is Peyton Ramsey, a transfer from Indiana who led the team with 2,454 yards and 13 touchdowns with five picks with seven rushing scores. However, when Michael Penix is healthy, he’s IU’s guy – and now Ramsey might be Northwestern’s guy.
CFN in 60 Video: Northwestern Wildcats Preview
– Bennett Skowronek took off for Notre Dame, but overall the other top seven wideouts are back. the pieces are there to get this thing going again. The receiving corps didn’t get any help from the spotty quarterback play, but there’s experience returning.
Senior Riley Lees came up with a breakout season with 51 catches for 430 yards and two touchdowns, and that was it. The No. 2 target – senior Ramaud Chiaokhiao-Bowman – only caught 17 passes for 188 yards.
– For all of the issues on offense, the line wasn’t all that bad. The ground game was decent, the pass protection wasn’t miserable, and the group was decent enough to consider it a plus going into the season with four starters back.
Drake Anderson was a relative positive, leading the team in rushing in his freshman season with 634 yards and three scores, and Evan Hull led the way scored four times and was second on the team with just 286 yards. Throw in the return of Isaiah Bowser – 2018’s leading rusher with 866 yards and six scores, but got hurt last year – and the backfield is set.
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: Northwestern Wildcats Defense 3 Things To Know
4. College Football News Preview 2020: Northwestern Wildcats Defense 3 Things To Know
– The defense did its part. Even with no help from the offense, the D was able to finish 25th in the nation overall, was great against the run, and allowed more than 24 points just four times. And now it’s about to be even better.
Start with the other side. The O should be a whole lot stronger – it can’t be any worse – and that alone will take some of the pressure off. Six of the top seven and nine of the top 11 tacklers are back. This will be a rock-solid sound D, and it all starts with the linebacking corps.
All-Big Ten performer Paddy Fisher is back after leading the way with 89 stops at his spot in the middle of the linebacking corps, but he’s not alone. No. 2 tackler Blake Gallagher returns on the weakside, No. 3 tackler Chris Bergin is back on the strongside, and they’re all seniors.
– The pass rush – experience-wise – is a different story. Joe Gaziano is done after leading the team with nine sacks, but he’s not the lone loss. Three of the four starters are done up front. Sophomore Eku Leota isn’t as big as Gaziano, but he can move. A true anchor has to emerge on the inside – it would be fantastic if one of the freshmen 310-pounders, either Jordan Butler or Te-Rah Edwards could rise up into the role.
– It was supposed to be a transitional period for the secondary last year, but it came through just fine. It was lit up by Ohio State and Minnesota – no shame there – and there weren’t enough interceptions, but it didn’t allow a 300-yard passing day and only gave up 6.6 yards per pass.
Travis Whillock came up with 78 tackles, Cam Ruiz is a good-sized corner who can hit, but the group has to come up with more big plays. Three starters return, but the defensive backs only came up with three picks.
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: Top Northwestern Wildcats Players
College Football News Preview 2020: Top Northwestern Wildcats Players
Best Northwestern Wildcats Offensive Player
RB Isaiah Bowser, Jr.
Left tackle Rashawn Slater should be an All-Big Ten performer, and the hope is for Peyton Ramsey to be terrific, but if Bowser is healthy, he’s the steady runner to take over the offense.
Drake Anderson is good, and there are other options, but the 6-1, 215-pound Bowser is the potential difference-maker. He came on at the end of his freshman year to finish with 866 yards and six scores – doing almost all of his work over the final eight games – but last year he couldn’t get going with a knee injury keeping him down.
2. OT Rashawn Slater, Sr.
3. QB Peyton Ramsey, Sr.
4. WR Riley Lees, Sr.
5. RB Drake Anderson, Soph.
Best Northwestern Wildcats Defensive Player
LB Paddy Fisher, Sr.
The latest great Northwestern linebacker, the 6-4, 246-pound big hitter followed up two straight 100+ tackle seasons with an 88-stop campaign with a sack and six tackles for loss. He can get behind the line, but his game is about holding up between the hashmarks and eating everything up.
Great from the start, he’s not in his fourth year as the leader and star of the D. Expect All-Big Ten honors and a third 100-tackle season in the last four.
2. LB Blake Gallagher, Sr.
3. S Travis Whillock, Sr.
4. LB Chris Bergin, Sr.
5. CB Cam Ruiz, Jr.
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: Northwestern Wildcats Keys To The Season
College Football News Preview 2020: Northwestern Wildcats Keys To The Season
Biggest Key To The Northwestern Wildcats Offense
Start hitting a few downfield passes again. It was so, so painful.
The offense just didn’t go anywhere, especially after defenses had no fear whatsoever of getting burned deep. Northwestern finished dead last in the nation in yards per completion, hitting just nine yards per completion and a pathetic 4.5 yards per throw.
No one else in the nation averaged fewer than 5.2 yards per pass.
It’s not like the offense was all that great the year before with Clayton Thorson winging it around, but at least there was a wee bit of a passing game. The Wildcats went from getting over 3,000 yards through the air, to just 1,404.
How bad was it? The Wildcats failed to hit 100 passing yards in four of their last seven games.
Biggest Key To The Northwestern Wildcats Defense
The veteran defense has to come up with more big plays. The 2018 defense was a takeaway machine at times, coming up with 26 on the season with two or more in seven games.
Last year the defense came up with multiple takeaways in five games, but it only generated six turnovers in the final eight games and went through a four-game stretch with no turnovers. It only came up with one fumble recovery over the final eight games.
The program has won its last 11 games when it came up with three turnovers or more. Considering the offense isn’t going to be 2019 LSU all of a sudden, the defense is going to have to do its part to give the other side more easy chances.
Key Northwestern Wildcats Player To A Successful Season
QB Peyton Ramsey, Sr.
Or Hunter Johnson, or Aidan Smith, or Andrew Marty, or anyone who can get the miserable passing game working again. It was supposed to be Johnson last year, but he got banged around early and was never able to produce.
Johnson still might be the guy – he’s got the talent – but Ramsey is the veteran who has done it already hitting 66% of his passes for 6,581 yards with 42 touchdowns at Indiana. He also ran for 832 yards and 14 scores.
The problem? Interceptions. He threw 23 in his his three seasons, but he improved his downfield passing and was able get the team to a bowl game. At the very least, he provides a veteran option.
Key Game To The Northwestern Wildcats Season
at Michigan State, Sept. 5
This is a winnable game for a Northwestern team that has a whole lot of experience, should be far healthier than it ever was after Week One of last year, and should have a salty attitude.
Michigan State is in a rebuilding mode under new head man Mel Tucker, and in this strange season, this isn’t going to be your normal season opener, especially in the Big Ten.
The Wildcats were whacked 31-10 in last year’s meeting, but before that it won three straight in the series. Pull this off on the road, and it’ll be a big-time morale booster to show that 2019 might have been a bad aberration.
– Northwestern Wildcats Schedule Breakdown & Analysis
2019 Northwestern Fun Stats
– Passing TDs: Opponents 17 – Northwestern 6
– Punt Returns: Northwestern 8.29 yards – Opponents 2.82
– Northwestern Scoring First 3 Quarters: 118 – 4th Quarter: 78
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: Northwestern Wildcats Win Total Prediction, What Will Happen
1. College Football News Preview 2020: Northwestern Wildcats Win Total Prediction, What Will Happen
No one around the Northwestern program likes to admit it, but there’s going to be an occasional clunker.
The depth just isn’t there compared to the biggest of the Big Ten big boys, and at a place like Northwestern it takes a perfect storm – to be more fair, a perfect plan – to get something like the 2018 run to the Big Ten Championship game.
So when something goes wrong – like getting beaten up and battered in a brutal opener against Stanford that ruined the seasons of both teams – it’s harder to get past that.
But even when things aren’t perfect, there’s never any reason under Pat Fitzgerald to expect anything less than a bowl appearance.
There was a time not all that long ago when going to a bowl was a big deal for the program, but after going to four straight before last season, it has become the low-level bar.
Expect this to be a rebound season. Fitzgerald is terrific at fixing the glitches, and he’s about to do that with a much healthier, much better offense to go along with a strong season from the D.
Set The Northwestern Wildcats Regular Season Win Total At … 6.5
Bet at BetMGM Win Total Line: 5.5
Let’s just go with the assumption that last year was a blip.
The Wildcats aren’t going to be world-beaters, but they can beat Tulane, Central Michigan, Maryland, Morgan State, and Illinois. Even if they only win four of those, expect it to do what it does when things are working and mucks it up on the way to a few stunning wins.
There’s no Michigan or Ohio State to deal with, and there’s certainly a shot it can win on the road at Purdue Michigan State, or at home against Nebraska.
And expect a fifth bowl appearance in six seasons.
– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Top Players | Key Players, Games, Stats
– Schedule Analysis
