We are #21.
- Thread starter Catmosphere
- Start date
Apparently no other 5 loss teams made it into the top 25. Were there any 4 loss teams who didn't have to contend with a conference championship loss who ended up getting ranked above us? Based on the 247 projections, the contending 4 loss teams included West Virginia, Penn State, Iowa, Texas A&M and Washington. Of those, only Iowa ended up being ranked below Northwestern.
I like 247's projection at 18 for us better:
18. NORTHWESTERN (9-5)
(Photo: Jonathan Daniel, Getty)
The Wildcats lost only once during the regular season in Big Ten play, taking full advantage of a favorable schedule before getting blitzed in the final by Ohio State (13-1). No one picked Northwestern to win a Wisconsin-dominated division and a sparkling 4-2 mark vs. Top 25 teams. According to ESPN's William Weinbaum, "Northwestern's 31-20 Holiday Bowl win vs. Utah included the program's lowest-scoring first half of its 15 bowl appearances (trailed 20-3), its highest-scoring bowl quarter (28 points in third) and its first defensive shutout for a bowl half (28-0 in the second)."
https://247sports.com/LongFormArtic...a-Clemson-Ohio-State-Georgia-Texas-127445053/
I like 247's projection at 18 for us better:
18. NORTHWESTERN (9-5)
(Photo: Jonathan Daniel, Getty)
The Wildcats lost only once during the regular season in Big Ten play, taking full advantage of a favorable schedule before getting blitzed in the final by Ohio State (13-1). No one picked Northwestern to win a Wisconsin-dominated division and a sparkling 4-2 mark vs. Top 25 teams. According to ESPN's William Weinbaum, "Northwestern's 31-20 Holiday Bowl win vs. Utah included the program's lowest-scoring first half of its 15 bowl appearances (trailed 20-3), its highest-scoring bowl quarter (28 points in third) and its first defensive shutout for a bowl half (28-0 in the second)."
https://247sports.com/LongFormArtic...a-Clemson-Ohio-State-Georgia-Texas-127445053/
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Would've been nice to be in the 19ish range, but not really a big deal. 21 in the AP and 19-20 in the Coaches is a great finish to a year with a 1-3 start.
Those are solid end-of-year rankings.
We won 8 Big Ten games and beat another division champ in the bowl game. That's always going to be a great year.
Just needed to finish ranked and have people talking about us entering next year. Mission accomplished. With Hunter Johnson on board (and the way Lawrence looked last night at Clemson), expectations will be very high for us next year.
Everything is on the table for us next year, another shot at the West division and possibly more.
Next year, getting off to a quick start will be imperative given the difficulty of the first half of the schedule.
Those are solid end-of-year rankings.
We won 8 Big Ten games and beat another division champ in the bowl game. That's always going to be a great year.
Just needed to finish ranked and have people talking about us entering next year. Mission accomplished. With Hunter Johnson on board (and the way Lawrence looked last night at Clemson), expectations will be very high for us next year.
Everything is on the table for us next year, another shot at the West division and possibly more.
Next year, getting off to a quick start will be imperative given the difficulty of the first half of the schedule.
That does suck. Utah had an excellent team and played well with their freshman QB. I was impressed by the pursuit of their defense.
Probably because 247 doesn't really pay all that much attention.
2018 Non-Conference: Notre Dame, Duke, Akron
2019 Non-Conference: Stanford, UNLV, UMass
2018>2019
2018 Crossovers: @Michigan State, @Rutgers
2019 Crossovers: Michigan State, Ohio State
2019>2018
As an aside... why does it always seem like our Big Ten schedule is pretty consistently front-loaded? Michigan State/@Wisconsin/@Nebraska/Ohio State is sure a hell of a lot more daunting on paper than @Indiana/Purdue/Minnesota/@Illinois.
They are giving those B1G teams an easy start to the conference season by scheduling them against NU.
[humor]
we have three crossover games per year (9 B1G per year)
so 2018: vs Michigan, @Michigan St, @Rutgers
2019: Michigan St, vs Ohio St, @Indiana
So they're a lot more equal than you'd think but 2019 is probably slightly tougher
I took their comment to be about our schedule as compared to the schedules for the other teams in the division for 2018, so maybe I was off base. Though, either way you look at it, 2018 only or just our 2018 compared to 2019, I wouldn't consider our schedule either favorable or unfavorable.
Gives them a chance to schedule their homecoming against us. Which we love ruining, by the way.
Our schedule always seems front-loaded because we play Illinois in the last week of the season.
