What Place Will Northwestern Finish in the 18 Team B1G in 2024?

[DaCat]

NU starts with 3 non-conference games, vs Miami (OH), Duke, and E. Illinois.
The B1G schedule is: Washington, Indiana, Maryland, Wisconsin, Iowa, Purdue, dOSU, Michigan, Illinois.

A 3-0 start would be awesome, especially beating my other alma mater Duke would be sweet.

Going 6-3 in the B1G would seem to be a reasonable, though not easy, goal.

9-3 for the season would be very acceptable.

B1G wins: Indiana, Maryland, Wisconsin, Iowa, Purdue, Illinois.

 

[hoosboot]

NU starts with 3 non-conference games, vs Miami (OH), Duke, and E. Illinois.
The B1G schedule is: Washington, Indiana, Maryland, Wisconsin, Iowa, Purdue, dOSU, Michigan, Illinois.

A 3-0 start would be awesome, especially beating my other alma mater Duke would be sweet.

Going 6-3 in the B1G would seem to be a reasonable, though not easy, goal.

9-3 for the season would be very acceptable.

B1G wins: Indiana, Maryland, Wisconsin, Iowa, Purdue, Illinois.

That schedule is pretty tough. I hope I'm wrong, but I see 5-6 going into the Illini.

 

[DaCat]

Realistically the over and under seems to be 7 wins. But I can even see us getting to 10 wins if we get some good bounces our way. Our defense will keep us in games, and the new Lujan offense has a lot of upside. I think we’ll surprise a lot of people again!

 

[AdamOnFirst]

The schedule is NOT friendly and the roster is still in some transition. A bowl game would be pretty decent. 9 wins would be outrageous.

I’m worried there is a real possibility of a damaging setback into the 3-4 win area, but I’m optimistic that will be avoided.

 

[phatcat]

NU starts with 3 non-conference games, vs Miami (OH), Duke, and E. Illinois.
The B1G schedule is: Washington, Indiana, Maryland, Wisconsin, Iowa, Purdue, dOSU, Michigan, Illinois.

A 3-0 start would be awesome, especially beating my other alma mater Duke would be sweet.

Going 6-3 in the B1G would seem to be a reasonable, though not easy, goal.

9-3 for the season would be very acceptable.

B1G wins: Indiana, Maryland, Wisconsin, Iowa, Purdue, Illinois.

I would be less surprised by 0-3 than 3-0.

 

[DaCat]

I would be less surprised by 0-3 than 3-0.

Sorry to hear that

 

[gocats8992]

Our D is going to be better than last year. Our O is going to be determined by our QB play. How good can Wright or Lausch be?

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

NU starts with 3 non-conference games, vs Miami (OH), Duke, and E. Illinois.
The B1G schedule is: Washington, Indiana, Maryland, Wisconsin, Iowa, Purdue, dOSU, Michigan, Illinois.

A 3-0 start would be awesome, especially beating my other alma mater Duke would be sweet.

Going 6-3 in the B1G would seem to be a reasonable, though not easy, goal.

9-3 for the season would be very acceptable.

B1G wins: Indiana, Maryland, Wisconsin, Iowa, Purdue, Illinois.

Braun should get an extension 1 day after the season if this happens. I would demand it especially going into what I believe will be a very difficult 2025.

 

[JoeWildcat]

I would be very happy with seven wins. We can’t afford to stumble in the non conference games.

 

[DaCat]

Our D is going to be better than last year. Our O is going to be determined by our QB play. How good can Wright or Lausch be?

I think Mike Wright will absolutely thrive under the tutelage of new OC & QB coach Zach Lujan. The OL will be a work in progress but Lujan & OL coach O'Boyle will put in schemes that will take advantage of the strengths of our linemen. I'm expecting a quantum leap by our offense, led by the stellar play of QB Wright.

 

[Hkjb]

I'm guessing top 5. Normally I'd be more pessimistic - but Lujan and the O will be an X factor. We've done great things in the past when we innovated offensively - like the spread. Moreover, teams can't really scout us yet. The defense in the meanwhile is in great hands.

 

[rmndcat]

If we can get wins against Duke and Washington early, we can grind out a decent bowl bid. Wash at their place is a stretch goal, but plausible in a rebuilding year for them. And we just need to get the Duke monkey off our back.

 

[Sheffielder]

Braun should get an extension 1 day after the season if this happens. I would demand it especially going into what I believe will be a very difficult 2025.

I would agree with this. We're definitely moving into an era where the average B1G team should consider 5-4 a success, including us, and I think that's just fine. We're in the middle with Indiana, Maryland, Wisconsin, Iowa, Purdue, Illinois...so for us to sweep them would be pretty impressive.

 

[AdamOnFirst]

If we can get wins against Duke and Washington early, we can grind out a decent bowl bid. Wash at their place is a stretch goal, but plausible in a rebuilding year for them. And we just need to get the Duke monkey off our back.

If we beat Duke and Washington we can get HYPED

The schedule will still buzzkill us, but we will be strong and ready to do some damage

 

[CoralSpringsCat]

I'm guessing top 5. Normally I'd be more pessimistic - but Lujan and the O will be an X factor. We've done great things in the past when we innovated offensively - like the spread. Moreover, teams can't really scout us yet. The defense in the meanwhile is in great hands.

Our opponents will be watching a ton of SDSU film from the last couple of seasons.

 

[Just Gary]

This was a little hard to judge because none of us really know how well Wright or any of the other QBs will do with the new offense. But optimistically I think we will middle of the pack and finished tied with several teams at 4-5 or 5-4 in conference play. Also we will either be 2-1 or 3-0 in OOC depending on how the new field can give us an advantage over Duke (a 50-50 game on neutral field). That means somewhere between 6-6 to 8-4. Although that can be “somewhere 10-17”, my guess is that Oregon, Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan will be anywhere from 9-0 to 7-2. I can see Iowa and USC at 6-3. Then there is a bunch of schools that can finish either 4-5 or 5-4. I include in that Wisconsin, Washington,, Nebraska, Minnesota, Illinois, Rutgers, Maryland, and ourselves. Then there are the schools that will struggle (Indiana, Purdue, Michigan State, UCLA). That could mean that we could be tied with others anywhere from 7-14 in a league with so many teams bunched in the middle.

I also think that we should stop scheduling P4 teams and go to 3 easy OOC games because 5-4 or 4-5 is probably the normal outcome in the league. Some years we may do better and some years worse but I think it will be hard to get to 6 or 7 wins in the league with a lot of toss up games.

 

[phatcat]

3 easy OOC

There is no such thing for us. Even last year, we were tied with a dreadful UTEP team midway through Q3, and, IIRC, Trey Tyus had to rescue us v Howard with a couple of late first downs.

I know it affects bowl eligibility, but gimme 12 conference games.

 

[mickbula]

There is no such thing for us. Even last year, we were tied with a dreadful UTEP team midway through Q3, and, IIRC, Trey Tyus had to rescue us v Howard with a couple of late first downs.

I know it affects bowl eligibility, but gimme 12 conference games.

We play up or down to our competition 🤪! Look at covid year how well we played. I agree go to all big 18 games!

 

[Just Gary]

There is no such thing for us. Even last year, we were tied with a dreadful UTEP team midway through Q3, and, IIRC, Trey Tyus had to rescue us v Howard with a couple of late first downs.

I know it affects bowl eligibility, but gimme 12 conference games.

The fact is we won those two games no matter how close it was and lost the game against a P4 school by a lot. Maybe some years we win that P4 game but it is riskier than if we schedule a G5 or FBS school. Since we will be playing a tougher conference schedule (and at this point it is 9 conference games not 12), it is in our best interest to make the non-conference games as easy as possible. It does not guarantee us 3 wins but it gives us a better chance.

Ohio State will play Akron, Western Michigan, and Marshall this year. It is not an accident that they are not playing a OOC P4 school.

 

[phatcat]

The fact is we won those two games no matter how close it was and lost the game against a P4 school by a lot. Maybe some years we win that P4 game but it is riskier than if we schedule a G5 or FBS school. Since we will be playing a tougher conference schedule (and at this point it is 9 conference games not 12), it is in our best interest to make the non-conference games as easy as possible. It does not guarantee us 3 wins but it gives us a better chance.

Ohio State will play Akron, Western Michigan, and Marshall this year. It is not an accident that they are not playing a OOC P4 school.

Let's talk after this year's non con. Good chance we will lose to the two non P4. I'm sure you don't need a list of hairballs we've coughed up, but SIU Akron Illinois State, WMU and a weaker Miami OH team come to mind.

 

[DaCat]

Let's talk after this year's non con. Good chance we will lose to the two non P4. I'm sure you don't need a list of hairballs we've coughed up, but SIU Akron Illinois State, WMU and a weaker Miami OH team come to mind.

All under Fitz. Let’s see if Braun can craft a better record against non-P4.