The ‘Cats will be staying in the Midwest for postseason play.
On Sunday, Northwestern football announced that it would play the Central Michigan Chippewas in the GameAbove Sports Bowl, to be held at Detroit’s
Ford Field on Dec. 26 at 12:00 p.m. CT. The GameAbove Bowl, previously known as the Motor City Bowl, is played annually between a Big Ten and MAC team.
Northwestern, which finished 6-6 in the 2025 regular season, will be bowling after securing eligibility in a 38-35 win against Minnesota at Wrigley Field on Nov. 22. The Wildcats last played in the postseason during the 2023 SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl, where they defeated Utah 14-7. The GameAbove Bowl will also be Wildcat head coach David Braun’s second time playing in a bowl game in his three seasons as Northwestern’s leader.
The Chippewas finished their 2025 regular season with a 7-5 record, placing fifth overall in the MAC. They played two power-conference opponents, Pitt and Michigan, falling 45-17 to the Panthers and a whopping 63-3 to the Wolverines. At the helm of the team are a pair of defensive stars, lineman Michael Heldman and linebacker Jordan Kwiatkowski, both of whom were named 2025 MAC First-Team All-Defense.
Having won five consecutive bowl games dating back to the 2016 Pinstripe Bowl, Northwestern has a chance to tie Ohio University for the nation’s second-longest active bowl game victory streak. It last played in Detroit in the 2003 Motor City Bowl, where it lost 28-24 to Bowling Green.
Northwestern-Central Michigan is a rarely-seen matchup, with the two teams last meeting in 2010. In that contest, the Wildcats won 30-25.
Ford Field is about a four-hour, thirty-minute drive from Evanston. As the home to the NFL’s Detroit Lions, the stadium seats 65,000. But for those not able to watch the game in person, it will be broadcast on ESPN.
