Northwestern appeared in the AP Top 25 on Sunday at No. 25, the program’s first ranking since the 2020 season. It is the first ranked team of David Braun’s four-year tenure.
The Wildcats are 4-1 overall and 1-1 in the Big Ten, and the resume holds up better than the record suggests.
How They Got Here
Northwestern opened with a 34-18 win over South Dakota State on September 5, then beat Colorado 41-7 on September 19. The lone loss came on the road at No. 5 Indiana, 29-23 on September 25, which is the kind of defeat that helps a poll case rather than hurting it.
The result that changed the season came October 2, when Northwestern beat Penn State 34-13 in the debut of the rebuilt Ryan Field. Beating Penn State by three touchdowns in your new building is the sort of thing that gets a program taken seriously.
They followed it with a 45-14 homecoming win over Ball State on October 10.
The Home Split Is Stark
Northwestern is 4-0 at home and 0-1 on the road. That is a small sample, but it is the number that will determine whether this ranking lasts.
The Wildcats travel to Michigan State on October 17. A road win there starts to look like a season rather than a nice stretch at home.
Braun’s Arc Is Unusual
Braun took over Northwestern in 2023 under circumstances no coach wants, elevated from defensive coordinator as an interim after the program’s hazing scandal, and had the interim tag removed during that season. He had never been an FBS head coach.
Getting a program ranked four years after inheriting it mid-crisis is a real achievement, and it has happened quietly because Northwestern plays in a conference where the attention goes elsewhere.
Where It Sits in the Poll
The Week 7 AP Top 25 has Georgia at No. 1, Miami at No. 3, Ohio State at No. 4, Indiana at No. 5, Alabama at No. 6, Texas at No. 7, Ole Miss at No. 9, Texas Tech at No. 10, Missouri at No. 13, Tennessee at No. 14, Mississippi State at No. 16, LSU at No. 22 and Northwestern at No. 25.
One note on the record books: some outlets described this as Northwestern’s first ranking since 2021, others since 2020. Both are defensible. The Wildcats last appeared in the final poll of the 2020 season, which was published in January 2021. The cleanest phrasing is first ranked since the 2020 season.
What Comes Next
The schedule does not get easier, and a Big Ten record of 1-1 with Indiana already in the loss column means the path to anything bigger runs through road games.
Michigan State on Saturday is the test. Northwestern has not had to win one away from Evanston yet this year, and the one time it tried, against a top-five team, it lost by six.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.