The ‘Cats might be a win or two away from getting serious consideration for the AP Top 25 for the first time since 2023. Four straight wins, including a shutout of Purdue and a victory over the preseason
No. 2 in Penn State, have given NU some much-needed momentum following a lackluster 1-2 start to the season.
Momentum is all the more important for Northwestern heading into Week Nine, as ahead of it is its toughest stretch of games yet. All five of its remaining opponents have received Top 25 votes this season from the Associated Press, four of whom received votes this past Sunday (with three of the four making the cut).
The only outlier in this week’s group were the Nebraska Cornhuskers, whose loss to Minnesota last week booted them out of their Week Eight No. 25 spot. The Gophers seemed to have the ‘Husker offensive line flustered, as Dylan Raiola was pummeled for nine sacks and finished with the fourth-lowest QBR of his career at 39.4. As a team, Nebraska mustered only 213 yards of total offense to Minnesota’s 339.
What does last week’s upset mean for Northwestern?
Simply put, it means that this game is very much winnable — a sentiment that many found laughable just a couple weeks ago.
Sound familiar?
Yep. Just like two weeks ago, when the ‘Cats beat the Nittany Lions.
‘Cats faithful know the opportunity is there, but how does Northwestern capitalize?
1. Win off the edge
The Cornhusker offensive line is one that can be described as lackluster, to say the least, as it has allowed teams to get to Raiola 22 times over its last four games.
Seven times against then-No. 21 Michigan, five against Michigan State and only one against Maryland preceding the aforementioned nine sacks last week.
Meanwhile, the ‘Cats have weapons in their own in Anto Saka and Aidan Hubbard that are nothing short of menacing to any opposing Big Ten quarterback. Saka is a consistent threat, despite his largely quiet season, while Hubbard has performed in the upper echelon of the conference in 2025.
With Brendan Flakes’ name moving up on the scouting report with his increase in production on the interior, either Saka or Hubbard will find themselves with favorable one-on-one opportunities when both are on the field together in passing situations.
Northwestern doesn’t need to win every rep on third and long like Michigan or Minnesota, but winning on a solid 40% of them bodes well for its chances at a win. Psychologically, Raiola is under pressure to “do it all himself,” as his line disappointed him for the third time this season a week ago.
A fourth disappointment seems all the more likely after Raiola’s last outing, especially since he’s against a Northwestern roster that knows when to rotate in its best rushers. All the ‘Cats have to do is prove his doubters right by exploiting his lack of protection.
2. Trust the offensive line
Keep it simple. Run the ball.
Northwestern ranks sixth in the Big Ten in rushing yardage per game at 190.1, while Nebraska has the fourth-worst rushing defense in the conference, allowing 156.3 yards a game. The only teams below it are a struggling Penn State squad, a UCLA defense that still remains an issue despite the team’s recent success and a bottom-of-the-barrel team in Rutgers.
A large part of the rushing attack is Northwestern’s offensive line, which has proven to be one of the nation’s best, as it has received top-ten PFF grades in multiple weeks of the season. With one of the Big Ten’s best backfield duos in Caleb Komolafe and Joseph Himon II, the ‘Cats can pound the rock essentially every play and win.
Seriously. They’re that good.
Zach Lujan had a hand in sparking NU’s hot streak by stacking the workload of his running backs — a trend that started against No. 6 Oregon early in the season and began to reap its own benefits in the UCLA win. From there, the ‘Cats have seen nothing but success in gaining chunk yardage, and that’s in large part due to Caleb Tiernan and Ezomo Oratokhai winning on the line (Tiernan off the edge, Oratokhai on the interior) to widen the B-gap for their backs to chug on through.
Do that against Nebraska, and the win streak extends to five straight games come Saturday.
3. Take away Raiola’s favorite targets
It’s a bit scary to look at Nebraska’s offensive numbers whenever they do succeed.
291.1 passing yards per game. That’s second in the conference and 17th nationally.
However, there’s one major flaw: the passing game revolves around two receivers — Nyziah Hunter and Jacory Barney Jr. Dane Key has a stake in the receiver room as well, but most of his money is made in the red zone. The pairing of Hunter and Barney is defensive coordinator Tim McGarigle’s biggest headache heading into the Week Nine matchup.
“Headache” is a term that could be overstating the issue here, as the resolution is extremely simple for Northwestern: stick your best athletes on their best athletes.
That means utilizing Ore Adeyi and Josh Fussell — a top cornerback duo in the Big Ten that can hold their own against any receiver corps.
David Braun likes to place his bets on Fussell against any team’s WR1 — a bet that’s hit in every single week thus far — and it would be unlikely for that trend to be discontinued this deep into Northwestern’s run.
As for Adeyi, he has struggled in a season hindered by injury, but whenever fresh, he has provided some much-needed support on the boundary. Giving McGarigle the option to rotate between two graduate corners in Adeyi and Fred Davis II shores up two-thirds of the field with Fussell factored into the scheme, playing into Northwestern’s hands, as the linebacker corps in Mac Uihlein, Braydon Brus and Jack Sadowsky V has begun to show cohesiveness in leading the defensive unit during Northwestern’s win streak. Each win seems to show new improvements in defending the pass game.
Epilogue: Week Nine, and what’s to be expected
Another Northwestern win won’t come nearly as easily as it did last week against Purdue. In fact, the ‘Cats are likely in for another dogfight, reflective of what happened in Happy Valley the week before.
That’s not a bad thing. Northwestern has won both of its games that were decided by one score or less. If NU does its job in harassing Raiola to no end, mark the ‘Cats down as bowl-eligible in 2025.
