I would be remiss to not to begin this contextualization with the final graph from my article last week:
“It’s worth noting that the last time Northwestern played at Penn State’s Homecoming game was in 2014,
and the Wildcats won handedly 29–6. Beating James Franklin in both his first Penn State Homecoming and what very well could be his last would make for some pretty satisfying bookends. That 2014 ‘Cats team finished 5–7 with just three conference wins, a trajectory that feels oddly familiar eleven seasons later (just saying). ”
Said bookends are feeling real satisfying right now, although boy, do I wish they came with a $49 million payout like the one James Franklin just signed off on. However, I can’t fully relish in this since I decided I didn’t want to be wrong in our group predictions, yet fittingly ended up being wrong anyway.
Take that as a lesson, ladies and gentlemen. Hedging your bets should be reserved for betting, not for ardent sportswriters like myself.
Assuming things go right this weekend (in what theoretically is the last-ever home football game at Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium), the ‘Cats will be right at that five-win mark, and it would not be out of the question for this team to pull out another upset or two away from home.
This was one of those games worth being bold for. While on paper, Penn State was a clear favorite, many signs pointed to the game trending toward being as tight as it was. Northwestern’s 22-21 victory was not just a fluky upset or a happy accident of plus-scheming. Wildcat head coach David Braun said after the game that his team expected to win, and it was clear on the field that the players believed that.
As has been the case throughout the season so far, actions spoke louder than words, and those actions are what have propelled NU to its best stretch of play since 2023. The Wildcats entered Beaver Stadium as 21.5-point underdogs and losers of three straight to the Nittany Lions, and they left with one of the program’s most improbable victories of the century.
The upset in recent college football history that is closest statistically to Saturday’s game was when the fellow Wildcats of Arizona beat No. 2 Oregon in Eugene in 2014, which had an identical point spread. That Oregon team ended up making the National Championship game, which is juxtaposed by former No. 2 Penn State’s slim playoff hopes being dashed by NU for good.
Nationally, this was the greatest win since, well, last week, when UCLA shocked the same Penn State team in Pasadena as a 24.5-point underdog. But while that upset felt like a symptom of a collapsing powerhouse in Happy Valley (and newfound life for the Bruins), Northwestern’s win was different: it was defiant. That aforementioned 2014 team may have done the same in a much bigger blowout, but they were only 10-point underdogs back then.
The current iteration of the Wildcats were certainly not supposed to hang with Penn State in front of 100,000 fans on homecoming weekend. Yet there they were, celebrating under the lights as a stunned sea of white and navy blue stripes watched in disbelief. This team didn’t just spoil Penn State’s “Stripe Out.” It buried the remains of a once-stable program and, in the process, dug up something long dormant in its own.
The parallels to history are impossible to ignore. This is especially true since these types of wins don’t come often for the ‘Cats, which makes each one we do get all the more special. The last time Northwestern overcame a spread this large was nearly thirty years ago, when the 1995 Wildcats entered South Bend as 27-point underdogs and stunned No. 9 Notre Dame to launch their legendary Rose Bowl run.
They followed that up with trademark wins over No. 7 Michigan (+17), No. 24 Wisconsin and, ironically, No. 12 Penn State. In doing so, those Wildcats redefined what Northwestern football could be.
Saturday’s win may not carry the same long-term implications, but it captured a similar spirit. That 1995 team shocked the nation; this 2025 squad reminded everyone that Northwestern can still shock anyone, anywhere. The memory of that season is particularly fitting this week, as the 1995 Rose Bowl team returns to Ryan Field for its 30th anniversary celebration.
In the decades since, only a handful of upsets have captured the hearts of Northwestern fans in a similar fashion, embodying the spirit of the so-called Cardiac ‘Cats. There were the 2000 shootouts over Michigan (+7.5) and Wisconsin (+16.5), the famous “33 game” versus Ohio State (+11.5) — for context, Northwestern broke a 33-year losing streak to OSU in overtime courtesy of a game-winning touchdown by No. 33 Noah Herron on his 33rd carry for their 33rd point of the contest — the 2009 road win at Iowa (+15) and the unforgettable OT thriller at Notre Dame in 2014 (+17).
Those games each carried weight in their own right, but few match the combination of stakes, setting and symbolism that this one does. A double-digit (and three-score) underdog winning in the toughest environment in the Big Ten on a weekend meant for Penn State celebration will always stand apart.
And the timing only amplifies its meaning. For Northwestern, still in the process of rebuilding its culture and identity under David Braun, this was validation. For Penn State, it marked the end of an era, with Franklin’s firing sealing the game’s place in both programs’ histories.
The Wildcats have not had many chances to make positive national noise in recent years, but this one reverberated far beyond Happy Valley. It reminded fans that Northwestern football, when at its best, is defined by resilience, not reputation.
So while it might not carry the same stakes as 1995, it deserves a spot in the same conversation. Northwestern at Penn State this weekend was not only one of the greatest wins of the 2020s/Braun era, it was one of the greatest in modern program history. Thirty years after the first renaissance, the Wildcats found a way to make the echoes of 1995 feel brand new again.
