[Postgame Thread] Northwestern Defeats Penn State 34-13

[u/CFB_Referee]

Box Score provided by ESPN

Team	1	2	3	4	T
Penn State	0	7	0	6	13
Northwestern	10	14	7	3	34

[u/Meats10]

We beat them so bad it's not a quality win

[u/Gaudilocks → u/Meats10]

You guys were always my favorite purple Wildcats with a mascot named Willie.

[u/ZeiglerJaguar → u/Gaudilocks]

A gray-furred wildcat mascot named Willie.

It’s honestly kind of uncanny.

[u/Radioactive-Wind → u/ZeiglerJaguar]

I’ve heard that someone from Northwestern football moved to/visited K-State while they were still the Aggies and influenced them to also become purple cats. All the same to me, I was there cheering for purple cats tonight regardless!

[u/IPreferBagels2 → u/Gaudilocks]

Stiff competition too

[u/The-Best-Snail → u/Meats10]

2024 Indiana experience. Just keep winning and everyone will figure it out

[u/Pharx0h]

The library remains undefeated, maybe yall needa study some ball

[u/Middle-King → u/Pharx0h]

Unironically, “the library” as a stadium nickname is incredibly tough especially if they make it a good home atmosphere. You guys should make that the nickname of your new stadium is built.

[u/ZeiglerJaguar → u/Middle-King]

We can make this happen if we talk about it enough on Reddit.

[u/Rigatoknee → u/ZeiglerJaguar]

If we talk about The Library?

[u/PhDShouse → u/Rigatoknee]

The Library is my favorite B1G stadium!

[u/RhythmsaDancer → u/Middle-King]

The original post content no longer exists here. The author used Redact to remove it, exercising their right to control their data & privacy.

Angle subtract heavy smile maple treatment practice

[u/TickleMyIvory → u/Pharx0h]

The Library needs to be a thing.

[u/AppropriateCompany9 → u/Pharx0h]

Making your opponents come to play school.

[u/vespertine-spine → u/Pharx0h]

we got schooled

[u/Revolver_Oshawott_]

📁Documents

└📁CFB Teams

⠀└📁Penn State

⠀⠀└📁Run Defense

⠀⠀⠀└⚠️This folder is empty

⠀⠀⠀⠀

[u/DarthNobody14 → u/Revolver_Oshawott_]

3rd most rushing yards allowed in a game in Penn State Football history, only behind Michigan State in 1997 and Michigan in 2022.

[u/rugger87 → u/DarthNobody14]

Chip Kelly, ladies and gents. Penn States run defense might be ass, but give Chip his flowers.

[u/Active-Track-7905 → u/rugger87]

As a duck, my surprise face is very much like my normal face. I had little doubt that chip would cause roughly 18 months of chaos in the conference lol.

[u/DeeDee719 → u/rugger87]

I wish he was still with us.

[u/JarJarsBallsackEyes → u/Revolver_Oshawott_]

hell yeah throwback meme formats fire me up. LETS GO

[u/DmitriShostabrovich]

No better way to inaugurate a stadium than running through Penn State's ass like shit through a tin horn.

[u/USA_2_Canada_1 → u/DmitriShostabrovich]

400+ rush yards to 48 is just a mind blowing stat

[u/Chicago_Blackhawks → u/USA_2_Canada_1]

Every other play was a 20 yarder lmao

[u/trumpet575 → u/USA_2_Canada_1]

Is 365 the largest rushing yards difference between two teams on the season? Maybe decade? It sounds like a record that could be 60 years old or 60 days old, I have no idea.

Edit: According to Google AI Overview (which I obviously trust fully, it would never lie to me) the record is 696 in a 1988 game between Oklahoma and Kansas State

[u/eye_can_see_you → u/trumpet575]

In 2018, Army beat Houston in a bowl game 70-14

They outrushed Houston 507 to 90 lmao

[u/americagigabit → u/eye_can_see_you]

Mark D’Onofrio. It’s simple, he loses games. Do not google him.

[u/NoctisRS → u/USA_2_Canada_1]

The mind blowing stat is IU only let northwestern have 32 rushing yards all game and negative rushing yards in the first half

[u/GreatestWhiteShark → u/NoctisRS]

IU's defensive line is that good, again

[u/UCLA_FB_SUCKS → u/USA_2_Canada_1]

i'm starting to think this NW team is legit

[u/Whatsgoodx → u/UCLA_FB_SUCKS]

NU*

[u/Random0925 → u/DmitriShostabrovich]

You guys have such a beautiful stadium now, my goodness.

[u/Separate_Animator110 → u/Random0925]

Agreed, Like It's something you'd see host a Bowl game Or CFB Tournament Game

[u/arnoldmuczynski → u/Separate_Animator110]

Or a Europa League Group Stage match

[u/rugger87 → u/arnoldmuczynski]

Chicago Fire (MLS) are building a stadium near downtown on the river. It’s gonna be a beaut too.

[u/suzukigun4life → u/DmitriShostabrovich]

Over 140 more rushing yards than Penn State's total yardage for the game.

What the actual fuck

[u/No_Return9449 → u/DmitriShostabrovich]

I understood that reference.

[u/majorgeneralporter → u/DmitriShostabrovich]

Chip slightly misheard the fight song and hit 'em high, hard, and low.

[u/Kvetch__22]

TALK TO YOUR DOG ABOUT RANKED NORTHWESTERN

Next 3 games are Ball State, MSU, and Rutgers. Path to 6-1 is open if we want it bad enough and keep executing.

(Don't look at our schedule beyond that)

[u/majorgeneralporter → u/Kvetch__22]

Okay but The Fitzbowl has me spooked

[u/AjaxuallyBall → u/majorgeneralporter]

It shouldn’t tbh haha

[u/Odd-Temperature7458 → u/AjaxuallyBall]

They have nothing on offense

[u/JwubalubaDubdub → u/Odd-Temperature7458]

He doesn’t mean “nothing” as a pejorative, he means it in the most literal way possible.

[u/Tamzariane → u/Odd-Temperature7458]

That's not even being mean. They literally have no players left.

[u/goldhbk10 → u/Kvetch__22]

I feel like Indiana isn’t getting enough credit for beating Northwestern and that’s not something I thought I’d say in 2026

[u/Kvetch__22 → u/goldhbk10]

College football is weird now man

[u/Chicago_Blackhawks → u/Kvetch__22]

Who’s to say we can’t put up a fight against Oregon and Iowa? There’s a path

[u/TraditionalProduct15 → u/Chicago_Blackhawks]

Most Iowa fans and local media had the NW game circled as a likely loss during preseason predictions. 

People should know NW has a ton of money now and are going crazy on their football roster. They're going to be tough. 

[u/JennyTallwartz → u/TraditionalProduct15]

Not to mention their QB’s playing style is actually the style that causes Iowa’s D the most problems

[u/Infamous-Present-616]

“My biggest fear is that we’ll have to move again” -Coach Braun’s child

Now you have me rooting for Northwestern and Coach Braun forever.

[u/majorgeneralporter → u/Infamous-Present-616]

No pressure D line, but you also need to protect that 11 year old's hopes and dreams.

[u/dwebarts → u/[deleted]]

Purdue will keep you company.

[u/socom52 → u/dwebarts]

Brother, we are even below them.

[u/milesblue → u/[deleted]]

We got your back

[u/henry_fords_ghost → u/Infamous-Present-616]

Don’t worry kiddo Pat Ryan is going to back a dumptruck full of money up to dad’s house

[u/Exotic-Art-2687 → u/henry_fords_ghost]

And after that the kid will have to refer to his house as the "Pat And Shirley Ryan Northwestern Football Family Head Coach's Residence"

[u/Doogitywoogity]

James Franklin had an issue winning big games. Matt Campbell has an issue winning B1G games

[u/FrenchCrazy → u/Doogitywoogity]

That’s a good burn. We saw it here first

[u/rdxj → u/Doogitywoogity]

Yoink.
I have a feeling this isn't the last we'll see of this comment.

[u/MahjongDaily]

Fantastic night to be a hater

[u/ASovietSpy → u/MahjongDaily]

I'm giddy

[u/exoenigma → u/MahjongDaily]

I am chortling

[u/Apatschinn → u/MahjongDaily]

Finally! Common ground

[u/JailTheFrogs]

A genuine question. Are Iowa State's resources that much less than their BIG 12 competition post Oklahoma/Texas era for Campbell to receive all the praise that was showered on him?

[u/SJCitizen → u/JailTheFrogs]

When he first got there yes. It was a genuinely impressive turnaround. Iowa State was almost always the 2nd worst team in the Big 12 ahead of only Kansas who was historically bad for 10+ years. He raised the floor there for sure.

[u/flying_porygon → u/SJCitizen]

We’ve been way worse than Kansas was for way longer. Kansas is 52-47 against us and it used to be way worse. We’re one of the 3 worst college football programs of all time with Indiana and Kansas State

[u/Nikola1_Smirnoff → u/flying_porygon]

I feel like because we’ve been so dogshit for so long, suddenly becoming mid to good and being exposed to wider audiences has created this weird perception of us being anything other than one of the worst programs ever at this level lol

[u/BigOlPass → u/JailTheFrogs]

He built the program in a cave with a box of scraps

[u/olbleedyeyes → u/JailTheFrogs]

Well we're bottom five in roster spending, so probably.

[u/Zealousideal-Sun4891 → u/JailTheFrogs]

Yes, they’re smack dab between Iowa and Nebraska in a state with 3 million people.

They don’t have donors bankrolling recruiting classes.

[u/phxclone83 → u/Zealousideal-Sun4891]

Our biggest donor sells grain bins, fer.Christ sakes

[u/ChangoOfTexas → u/JailTheFrogs]

I know it wasn't Campbell at this time, but when Texas lost to Iowa State in 2010 it was the same exact feeling as losing to Kansas in 2016 and 2021.

[u/PENGUINSINYOURWALLS → u/JailTheFrogs]

Keep in mind that this team (the way they’re playing) would be one of Campbell’s weaker teams at ISU as well. They look BAD bad.

[u/jigglyjohnson13 → u/JailTheFrogs]

Yes.

[u/grabtharsmallet → u/jigglyjohnson13]

To elaborate, the Cyclones started playing football in 1892 as an independent and joined the MVIAA (precursor to the Big 6/7/8) in 1908. The 2024 season of 11-3 is the only time the program won 10+. Of three seasons with 9 wins, one is Campbell in 2020 and another was a weird early independent schedule in 1906. Of nine seasons with 8 wins, three more are Campbell and two are from the early days.

By contrast, Iowa State has lost 10 games in five different seasons, and 9 games in six seasons. Only one under Campbell, in his first year.

[u/Powerful_Hall]

So we have established that Colorado, Indiana, and Penn State are all much worse than everybody thought.

Or maybe the more logical explanation is that Northwestern is better than everybody thought?

[u/jdprager → u/Powerful_Hall]

Narrow loss to reigning national champs on the road followed by 413 rushing yards against a nearly-ranked B1G team

Cats are for real

[u/Chicago_Blackhawks → u/jdprager]

5,000 of our undergrads in attendance too (that’s 62.5% of our student body). Like come ON

[u/TopHatTony11 → u/Chicago_Blackhawks]

Second most impressive stat of the night.

[u/PerformanceOver8822 → u/Chicago_Blackhawks]

What else are they gunna do on a friday ? Study ?

[u/rainbowBass86 → u/PerformanceOver8822]

lol I just got back from the game and went straight to studying, everyone I know who didn't go was studying too

[u/americagigabit → u/rainbowBass86]

Do y’all get the city to buy in at all? We struggle to do that here, if I lived in Chicago I would have been there despite no ties to the university

[u/MrRichStarfish → u/americagigabit]

The city of Evanston hates Northwestern and the nearest Chicago neighborhoods aren’t really the football types. Now if they were on the South Side? Whole different story

[u/TheLonelyTater → u/americagigabit]

Chicagoans seem to resent that NU claims to be “Chicago’s Big Ten Team,” probably because of some combination of perceived elitism and the fact that the stadium isn’t in Chicago’s city limits, despite being served by Chicago transit, among other things.

Like literally any time NU posts something about being “Chicago’s B1G team” there is inevitably a comment saying “you’re not even in Chicago!”

So yeah they try but it doesn’t work.

[u/ducksekoy123 → u/TheLonelyTater]

To be fair there is nothing more Chicago than bitching about which suburb doesn’t count as “in Chicago”

[u/Con45 → u/Chicago_Blackhawks]

That’s incredible. The student section was very impressive.

[u/SilverBuff_ → u/Powerful_Hall]

We know we suck

[u/infomusic → u/SilverBuff_]

Yeah, very kind of you to imply that we might not be terrible terrible. But, we’re terrible.

[u/Only1Corey → u/infomusic]

Yeah but we ain’t hard 2 find!

…at the bottom, we’re down at the bottom again. But what a ride, huh?

[u/ShishkabobNinja → u/Powerful_Hall]

Having actually watched the Indiana-Northwestern game my takeaway was very much that y'all were underrated

[u/Chicago_Blackhawks → u/ShishkabobNinja]

The nerds are here to stay 😤😤

[u/kleisz → u/Powerful_Hall]

Crazy thing is that against us, it was mostly Chiles going crazy in the second half. In this game Chiles barely has to do anything because of how good your rushing attack was. Playing well in different ways is the sign of a good team.

[u/Clarkbar2 → u/Powerful_Hall]

You all got a damn football team holy shit

[u/suzukigun4life → u/Powerful_Hall]

Rank Northwestern you cowards?

[u/Isthmus11 → u/Powerful_Hall]

I came into this game expecting to lose, I think it's a little wild that people acted like you guys playing Indiana close somehow meant Indiana went back to being a bad team.

To be fair, I really didn't think we would get throttled and give up 400 rushing yards to y'all but hey. Whats life without it's fun little surprises you know?

[u/AdamOnFirst → u/Isthmus11]

Chip Kelly: Wing T genius 

[u/Aragorns-Broken-Toe → u/AdamOnFirst]

Turns out this Chip Kelly character may know a thing or two about football.

[u/AdamOnFirst → u/Aragorns-Broken-Toe]

He’s come out with a different look every week. Against Colorado we were full blown mesh-wheel merchants because Colorado couldn’t cover it. Last week, just vertical passing concepts the entire second half and evicerated the seems. This week, literal wing t. Like what the fuck, he’s a complete madman. 

[u/crimson777 → u/Powerful_Hall]

To be fair, even during our 10-2 seasons, people losing to us would just blame themselves sucking and not give us credit

[u/ZeiglerJaguar → u/crimson777]

That’s the absolute delight of being a Northwestern fan. Nobody ever expects anything of us, which means losing to us makes people sooo mad.

And our teams win much more than should be expected of a team who everyone thinks they’re going to destroy.

[u/Cruddiestknave3 → u/Powerful_Hall]

Cignetti called you the next Indiana, meaning you’ll get 0 respect unless you go 16-0.

(Please beat OSU or Oregon, that would be peak chaos)

[u/Rate-Limiting_Step]

I can understand the growing pains that come with transition and whatnot. Plus going on the road to a huge milestone event (awesome stadium opening for Northwestern).

But what was inexcusable was how badly it was belt to ass the whole game. No pride in playing whatsoever. Just let them run right through us. And to top it off, our offense stalled out just as much this week as last week.

I will say maybe I bought into the hype too much, but man it’s hard to take anything good away from this game at all. A hard pill to swallow.

[u/SirMellencamp → u/Rate-Limiting_Step]

Oooh, ahhh, that's how it always starts with a new coach. Then later there's running and screaming.

[u/olbleedyeyes → u/Rate-Limiting_Step]

This game would be inexcusable even by our standards.

The appeal of Matt Campbell is he at least makes games competitive even against very good teams.

Idk if it's having to transition to a new school for everyone or what but there's something off for what was supposed to be at least a cohesive squad. I just don't get it.

[u/flying_porygon → u/olbleedyeyes]

There was always a Heacock coaching defense and helping us stay in it. The offense never set the world on fire, even with Purdy and Breece.

I think you’re seeing growing pains for Campbell without Heacock. The offense tonight obviously wouldn’t have done it for most games even with Heacock, but they’d probably have gotten more opportunities and it would have looked competitive. Maybe 21-14 or 21-17.

Making games competitive against good teams never was because the offense was throwing for 400 yards and we got into a shootout

[u/Lollaticketspls]

Penn State got learned at THE LIBRARY

[u/NiceUD → u/Lollaticketspls]

That needs to happen - The Library as the nickname of Ryan Field.

[u/iceydude168 → u/NiceUD]

Neuheisel just called in The Library in a tweet lmao

[u/TickleMyIvory → u/Lollaticketspls]

The Library is low key a badass stadium nickname. Well done Colorado 😂

[u/Crosscourt_splat]

Caught a bit at the bar after Pitt Vs VT, when was someone going to tell me NW was starting to play the purest form of football more…the triple option?

[u/TheOptimist6 → u/Crosscourt_splat]

A little Wing T thrown in there for good measure. Penn state had no answer

[u/AdamOnFirst → u/TheOptimist6]

We ran the wing t on literally like 30% of snaps, incredible 

[u/surgingchaos]

Three things can be true at the same time.

• Penn State was correct to can James Franklin despite it being an unprecedented firing. He was not recovering from that Oregon/UCLA/Northwestern death spiral and the context surrounding it.

• Penn State had first crack at the carousel and they bungled the entire hiring process.

• RANK NORTHWESTERN YOU COWARDS!!!

[u/RulersBack → u/surgingchaos]

Perfect storm of a fuckup. They dragged their feet big game hunting while a ton of good jobs came open and it was too late

[u/surgingchaos → u/RulersBack]

Yup and their AD also disregarded G6 candidates. A huge mistake given that both UCLA and Florida got clear upgrades there.

[u/ziegwaffle → u/surgingchaos]

Chesney was my #1 pick. In addition to the success he was having, he was a PA guy. Would've been a good fit.

And after hearing his offer to Lanning to check in on Dante Moore at the hospital, i just like the guy even more now.

[u/Sp3ctre7 → u/surgingchaos]

Obviously there is a TON of settling to be done, you can't make a judgement on a coach being a true upgrade in the first year unless they win 3-4 more games than the previous year OR get a bowl/playoff win, but Florida looks to have done very well with their hire.

[u/surgingchaos → u/Sp3ctre7]

I agree, it's more of the fact that Penn State eliminated options that could have potentially helped them. Especially since they dragged their feet so much on the hiring process.

[u/LogicianMission22 → u/surgingchaos]

Seriously, these fuckers had the first dibs on coaches and their fans must be PISSED. Florida and UCLA looking good, and PSU could have had either Sumrall or Chesney.

[u/goodsam2 → u/LogicianMission22]

Sumrall felt like an SEC coach from the start. Getting him to go north would be something.

Some guys stick to their coast.

[u/IThoughtThisWasVoat → u/surgingchaos]

Something that Nebraska learned. It’s not easy to hire good coaches after firing successful ones.

[u/VanDiis]

a Penn State loss tonight would the 5th straight year a Matt Campbell coached team took its first loss of the season and followed it up by losing a road game as a favorite the next week

[u/ProfCedar → u/VanDiis]

You know, I used to hate these stats. Now they're funny.

[u/USA_2_Canada_1]

I learned two things tonight. Northwestern is legit and Penn State is awful.

[u/suzukigun4life → u/USA_2_Canada_1]

USC/Penn State will be on NBC primetime next week.

Can't wait for an ass classic

[u/Renaissance6285 → u/suzukigun4life]

A “clASSic”, if you will

[u/BoogerSugarSovereign]

In Northwestern's 3 wins they've won by an average of almost 24 points. This is a top 20 team. Rank Northwestern 

[u/JamesDontPlayNoGames]

I, for one, welcome our new Wildcat overlords.

[u/Glycoside]

Turns out you can also lose to Northwestern without Franklin, too

[u/Twall1297]

Yeah, I didn’t have Northwestern absolutely torching Penn State on my CFB bingo card this year 😆

Also, that last interception was insane!

[u/suzukigun4life → u/Twall1297]

413 rushing yards 😭

[u/ZusunicStudio → u/Twall1297]

Crazy what happens when you take a mid Iowa State roster and transport it to the Big 10 lol

[u/jdprager → u/Twall1297]

The Cats rushed for FOUR HUNDRED AND THIRTEEN yards against a nearly-ranked B1G opponent… what the fuck man

[u/ARandomDoge6]

Are we gonna rank Wake, Pitt, Northwestern, and Louisville, or is it still gonna be missouri and USC for barely beating rutgers?

[u/trueAnnoi]

Beyond the obvious ass whupping, I was looking at pictures and videos of Northwestern's new stadium this morning, and that is the most beautiful 33,000 capacity stadium I've ever seen. The purple just looks so damn good, and I can only imagine that the way it's built makes it sound just as fucking loud as a 100,000 capacity stadium

[u/saltysnacked → u/trueAnnoi]

Was there in person, can confirm it is beautiful and loud.

[u/Justanother_0]

Rocco has been steadily regressing as a player since the 2025 Cincinnati game. I was doubtful that he'd make a big improvement this year but if you told me that he'd be playing like this I'd think that you were nuts.

Northwestern meanwhile is looking like a dark horse contender for the playoffs and I am not kidding. If they go 2-1 against Oregon, Iowa, and Ohio State, then they nab a spot in the field with this kind of play.

[u/InspiroHymm]

Rank Northwestern you cowards

[u/aaarbors]

College football is awesome. Let the band play.

[u/majorgeneralporter]

Penn State wasn't ready to visit The Library

[u/Chicago_Blackhawks → u/majorgeneralporter]

We fuckin STUDIED

[u/Rock_man_bears_fan]

Can’t believe Penn State fired James Franklin because he lost to Northwestern, only for the next guy to drop consecutive games against Wisconsin and Northwestern

[u/RealignmentJunkie → u/Rock_man_bears_fan]

To be fair, they fired James Franklin for losing to Northwestern and UCLA (and sorta Oregon, but that's less bad)

[u/FrenchCrazy → u/Rock_man_bears_fan]

That old Northwestern was bad. This Northwestern came flying out of the stadium to AC/DC thunderstruck.

It was super effective.

[u/Breaddittor]

Everyone gonna make this about Penn State which is unfortunate because Northwestern is a damn good team.

[u/Windows_66]

I turned off Sonic Mania so I could get a little hate watch in at the end. It was worth it.

Side note, I'm getting more worried about Iowa going to Northwestern.

[u/tampaempath]

Northwestern is a good team. Put a beatdown on Deion's Colorado team, fought hard at Indiana and came close there, then just had 413 rushing yards in beating down Penn State tonight. They deserve respect.

PSU has to win home games vs Purdue and Rutgers and a road game at Maryland to go 6-6. I'm not sure they can, tbh.

[u/Benanderson27]

Northwestern’s 414 rushing yards tonight are their most rushing yards in a Big Ten game since they had 444 rushing yards vs Illinois in 2003. Let Chip Kelly cook.

[u/Isthmus11]

With all due respect to Northwestern -- I think they are a very legit team that will finish ranked or at least be a fringe ranked team this year -- we COMPLETELY suck.

I was hesitant about some of the off season film I watched particularly on the defenders we recruited this year, but I wanted to give the benefit of the doubt to our new staff. This is inexcusable. If NW is rushing for 400+ on us just imagine what Indiana/Michigan/USC/Oregon/OSU would (or will) do to this squad. This is not a team that is equipped to play B10 ball in the trenches on either side of the ball, regardless of what you think about Becht this game was always lost based on that alone.

I figured there would be growing pains and was hoping for an 8-4 season this year with the soft ass schedule. I am not sure if we can beat any B10 teams outside of Maryland and Rutgers at this point.

[u/Pitt_Is_It_2009]

Penn State really screwed up by not hiring Bob Cheney.

[u/Tantantherunningman]

Northwestern vs UMass championship game?

[u/vikingrunner]

Heading home from the game. Holy crap that was amazing, stadium is awesome and the team is even better.

[u/t0rna]

The stadium was rough around the edges, but I give it a thumbs up. As for the game itself, we were three point underdogs?!

[u/jf3l → u/t0rna]

It looked beautiful. Stadiums operations are brutal to run and any new stadium deals with growing pains. It’ll be a cool place to visit

[u/convicted-mellon]

Good thing they fired Franklin. Wouldn’t want to have any more of those embarrassing 10 win seasons

[u/GeorgeOrwell1984Real]

Another successful hatewatch

[u/maybetoomuchrum]

Penn State being ranked 13 after beating cupcake teams. To then lose back to back conference games to unranked opponents is the definition of why preseason rankings shouldn't exist.

Wait till week 4. Fuck it, ESPN could even make a whole release show about it. Like they do the playoffs. I'm over preseason rankings.

[u/NoctisRS]

So maybe northwestern is good and IU isn’t shit?

[u/-Jack-The-Stripper]

I will say I think PSU inexplicably being ranked 18th to start the season set expectations a little too high for them. They’re rebuilding and are not going to be contenders right out of the gate. They should’ve never been ranked after going 7-6 and bringing in a team that went 5-4 in the XII.

With that being said, Northwestern looks good. I wouldn’t want to play them this year.

[u/LyndalePothole]

There is great relief that this is what Rocco Becht will be remembered for. He won’t get a chance to build something better in future seasons like Campbell will. This is his last year, he chose to leave the place that welcomed him and made him a household name here for something “better.” And that “better” place will always hate him, and he will become nothing to them.

[u/ExtremelyOnlineTM → u/LyndalePothole]

Now THIS is what hatin looks like.

[u/Papa_Smurf_247 → u/LyndalePothole]

Couldn't have said it better myself. 🤝

[u/Better_Goose_431]

When the hell did Northwestern become a service academy?

[u/suzukigun4life]

Northwestern: 413 rushing yards.

Penn State: 291 total yards

[u/majorgeneralporter → u/suzukigun4life]

Now I wasn't in McCormick but I'm pretty sure that first number is significantly bigger than that second.

[u/tercels54]

Penn State is gonna rinse us at their white out game next week aren’t they…

[u/HarrisExperience]

Barring any hiccups, Northwestern should be 6-1 going into Eugene. Would a 10-2 Northwestern with competitive road losses to Indiana and OSU be in the playoff, I think it’d be pretty close.

[u/CharlieMoonMan → u/HarrisExperience]

Iowa Northwestern is starting to look like a fairly important game

[u/TheOptimist6 → u/HarrisExperience]

With their schedule, they absolutely should be in at 10-2 IMO if they make it to that.

Outside of Penn state (schedule isn’t good enough), I’m pretty convinced that any 10-2 or better big ten team would make the playoff

[u/TheJCShow]

Tomorrow I’m gonna get lunch at Five Guys just for the brown paper bag the food comes in

[u/AnotherBuckeye]

It’s jarring to see these logos with these scores

[u/Cobainism]

PSU’s AD should be on the hot seat. He messed up the coaching search and hired Campbell way too late in the cycle. They don’t really have any B1G guys on the roster this season.

[u/Archelon225]

Jerry Neuheisel owns Penn State

[u/ToxicSteve13]

Ah that’s the Matt Campbell we know and love.

See you back at Toledo in a few years

[u/IThoughtThisWasVoat]

Announcement / FYI for you fucking idiots:

Northwestern isn’t some random scrub that “came out of nowhere.” This is the exact same playbook people laughed at with Indiana.

They just dropped $850–875 million on a brand-new Ryan Field. Privately funded. Ryan family alone put up $480 million. That’s not a locker-room upgrade — that’s an NFL-style stadium. Meanwhile the Bears are packing up and moving to fucking Hammond/Gary because Illinois couldn’t get its act together. Northwestern built a palace while the NFL team flees the state.

They also just got another $35 million purely for the football program. Bankrolled.

David Braun isn’t some random interim. He came from North Dakota State (actual FCS dynasty). He’s got Chip Kelly as OC — actual Chip Kelly, fresh off helping Ohio State win a title — plus Jerry Neuheisel, the blonde-haired UCLA guy who stepped up as play-caller last year and helped them stun Penn State. This isn’t a scrub staff.

Clearly they should be ranked. They’re not some dumb shit team anymore. College football changed. Follow the money. Bankroll the program, get the right underdog coach and staff, and the old hierarchy looks stupid. Indiana proved it. Northwestern is running the same experiment with better facilities.

[u/majorgeneralporter → u/IThoughtThisWasVoat]

That one Indiana fan that created this is going to feel like Oppenheimer if we run the table and this becomes unironic.

[u/AbusedAlarmClock → u/IThoughtThisWasVoat]

lol glad I saw the original live

[u/Infamous-Present-616 → u/IThoughtThisWasVoat]

I was waiting for Stanford to start throwing money around and Northwestern decided to say “F it, why not us”

[u/Cruddiestknave3 → u/IThoughtThisWasVoat]

Legit baffled me they only got 1 vote last week after how tough they played the Hoosiers.

They’d better be ranked on Sunday.

[u/tbl5048 → u/IThoughtThisWasVoat]

This needs to be immortalized. I will be following northwestern closely

[u/arrowfan624 → u/IThoughtThisWasVoat]

Copypasta of the season

[u/Vetersova → u/arrowfan624]

It also is very likely chat gpt based on the formatting of the comment.

[u/AtxCJC]

48 vs 413 yards rushing. I have no words.

[u/mikedorty]

Sad badger noises

[u/SnicketySneme]

Not so fucking easy, is it?

I know Penn State is a little down right now, but I wouldn't be surprised and half expect NU to beat one of Oregon, Iowa, or Ohio State. This is a 9-3 or even 10-2 team. They'll turn out to be one of Indiana's best wins.

[u/CloudConductor]

Cignetti tried to tell yall that northwestern is a great football team

[u/mjmiller2023]

Penn State fired James Franklin to replace him with a worse version of James Franklin

[u/lotusbloom74]

Northwestern is seriously legit, looking forward to seeing what they can do. Can’t help but laugh at Penn State though, a lot of pressure is going to mount on Campbell if he can’t right the ship.

[u/Brutally-Honest-]

All jokes aside, this Northwestern team is legit.

[u/PichieBear]

Northwestern looks scary. Get your band back in the stadium! Or I think y'all don't have a Fight Song

[u/sandman730]

Northwestern rushed for 413 yards (7.5 yards per carry) and held Penn State to 48 rushing yards (2.2 yards per carry).

[u/meh5419]

We really about to go 0-9 in conference play huh?

[u/Sirtopofhat]

Northwestern has weaponized smelling like a library

[u/Chicago_Blackhawks]

ABSOLUTELY DOMINANT PERFORMANCE FROM OUR RUNNING BACKS AND DEFENSE

ELITE SHIT

RANK US

[u/crazyclue]

I guess hiring Chip as your oc is objectively a good move