Northwestern Wildcats: CFN College Football Preview 2021
College Football News Preview 2021: Previewing, predicting, and looking ahead to the Northwestern season with what you need to know.
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– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Top Players | Key Players, Games, Stats
– What Will Happen, Win Total Prediction
– Northwestern Wildcats Schedule Analysis
– Northwestern Wildcats Previews
2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015
2020 Record: 7-2 overall, 6-2 in Big Ten
Head Coach: Pat Fitzgerald, 16th year, 106-81
2020 CFN Final Ranking: 10
2020 CFN Preview Ranking: 53
2019 CFN Final Ranking: 110
Northwestern Wildcats College Football Preview 2021: Offense
– Northwestern’s 2019 offense was just plain sad. It was among the most inept in college football, was dead-last in passing efficiency, and it averaged 297 yards and 16 points per game. The offensive line play got stronger, the quarterback play was better, and the 2020 version was night-and-day more efficient. It wasn’t that great, but it worked like the Northwestern offense is supposed to – it controlled games.
– The rise of Peyton Ramsey had a whole lot to do with that, but he’s done. Out goes the Indiana transfer to the NFL, and in comes South Carolina transfer Ryan Hilinski to battle with former Clemson transfer Hunter Johnson to keep it all going.
Getting WR Stephon Robinson from Kansas is a huge help – he was a nice playmaker in 2019 with over 16 yards per catch and eight scores – but the Wildcats have to replace their top four pass catchers. There’s size, and there’s promise – TE Charlie Mangieri caught a few touchdown passes and Bryce Kirtz is a quick target who can grow into a job – but the corps takes a massive hit.
– The running game has found its guy. Cam Porter didn’t do much for most of his freshman season, and then he ripped up Illinois and took over the offense over the last three games. No. 2 back Drake Anderson is leaving for Arizona and Isaiah Bowser is a Miami University RedHawk, but Bowling Green transfer Andrew Clair comes in after running for close to 2,000 yards with 13 scores over the last four years.
Three starters are back on a line that was good enough in pass protection to be a plus. There isn’t a ton of bulk and this group won’t blast away, but it’ll be solid around excellent all-star tackle Peter Skoronski.
– What You Need To Know: Defense
– Top Players | Key Players, Games, Stats
– What Will Happen, Win Total Prediction
– Northwestern Wildcats Schedule Analysis
NEXT: Northwestern Wildcats College Football Preview 2021: Defense
4. Northwestern Wildcats College Football Preview 2021: Defense
– The D turned it up several notches, leading the nation in pass efficiency defense and allowing 341 yards and 16 points per game. It wasn’t always a rock, but it was fantastic at getting off the field. But defensive coordinator Mike Hankwitz is gone, and in comes Jim O’Neil from the Las Vegas Raiders to keep it all going. It’s a Pat Fitzgerald defense. It’s going to be good no matter what, but …
– Only five starters are back. The linebacking corps gets gutted with Paddy Fisher and Blake Gallagher done. The secondary loses CB Greg Newsome to the Cleveland Browns, top pass rusher Eku Leota to Auburn, and S JR Pace is gone, too.
However, Chris Bergin is a smallish, solid tackler for the linebacking corps, Joe Spivak is a sound force in the interior, and the secondary has several nice parts even with the key losses.
– There’s a little bit of a next-man-up thing happening here – the program is used to finding linebackers who do big things when given the shot. Brandon Joseph should be an All-Big Ten safety and AJ Hampton is a good all-around corner. Again, though, in this super-senior year when so many teams are full of veterans, Northwestern not having four of its top six tacklers is a hit.
– What You Need To Know: Offense
– Top Players | Key Players, Games, Stats
– What Will Happen, Win Total Prediction
– Northwestern Wildcats Schedule Analysis
NEXT: Northwestern Wildcats College Football Preview 2021: Top Players
Northwestern Wildcats College Football Preview 2021: Top Players
Best Northwestern Wildcats Offensive Player
RB Cam Porter, Soph.
Tackle Peter Skoronski should be right here in the mix, too, but it’s Porter who took over the offense late in the year – and he’s why losing good backs Drake Anderson and Isaiah Bowser to the transfer portal doesn’t hurt so much.
The 5-10, 220-pound true sophomore didn’t do too much over his first six games – just eight carries for 32 yards – and then came the 142-yard, two-touchdown day against Illinois, a decent 61-yard performance against Ohio State, and the workhorse 33-carry effort for 98 yards and a score in the bowl win over Auburn. He needs more big runs, but he’ll settle the offense.
2. OT Peter Skoronski, Soph.
3. QB Ryan Hilinski, Soph.
4. C Sam Gerak, Sr.
5. WR Stephon Robinson, Sr.
Related
Northwestern Football Schedule 2021: Analysis, Best and Worst Case Scenarios
Best Northwestern Wildcats Defensive Player
S Brandon Joseph, Soph.
One of the nation’s best all-around safeties, the 6-1, 192-pounder came up with a huge redshirt freshman season with 52 tackles, six picks and two broken up passes in his nine games of work.
He’s not a massive hitter, but he’s always around the ball – he came up with two interceptions against both Iowa and Wisconsin – and he’s rock-solid against the run.
2. LB Chris Bergin, Sr.
3. DT Joe Spivak, Sr.
4. DE Adetomiwa Adebawore, Jr.
5. CB AJ Hampton, Jr.
Top Incoming Northwestern Wildcats Transfer
QB Ryan Hilinski, Soph.
It’s debatable. Kansas WR Stephon Robinson might end up playing the biggest role if Hilinski doesn’t lock down the starting quarterback job – he’ll have to battle with Hunter Johnson and others for it.
However, the former South Carolina starter – he hit 58% of his throws for 2,391 yards and 11 touchdowns in his 13 games – has the size, the arm, and the experience to step in for Peyton Ramsey and make the new group of receivers produce.
NEXT: Northwestern Wildcats College Football Preview 2021: Keys To The Season
Northwestern Wildcats College Football Preview 2021: Keys To The Season
Northwestern Wildcats Biggest Key: Offense
More from the downfield passing game would be nice, but that’s asking for something out of character to the overall scheme of what the program does.
Seven. That’s how many pass plays went more than 25 yards. 95 teams had 12 or more and 18 had 30 or more.
More than anything else, the offense can’t afford to make mistakes. The offense got away with turnovers against Iowa because it got bailed out by the defense, but that didn’t work after giving it up four times in the less to Michigan State. It would’ve taken something crazy to get by Ohio State, but the three giveaways didn’t help.
No, the offense can’t take a slew of big chances, and this year’s team doesn’t have the veteran receiving corps to do it. Everything worked just fine last year only averaging 10.2 yards per catch, but …
It would be nice. The offense failed to average more than ten yards per catch in four of the nine games, but good things happen to this program when there’s a tinge of a downfield air show.
It’s not asking for the world to average over 12 yards per catch – . Northwestern is 9-1 over the last four seasons – and 5-0 over the last three. when it does.
Northwestern Wildcats Biggest Key: Defense
Get … off … the … field. Few teams in college football – at least among the Power Five programs – have to own the time of possession and turnover battle more than Northwestern.
Of course every team would like to be great at third down D. Northwestern? It allowed offenses to convert 41% of the time in 2019 and came up with 14 takeaways – and the team was miserable.
Last year? 19 takeaways in just nine games and teams converted fewer than 30% of their third down tries.
It all ties together. The offense doesn’t take chances and needs to capitalize on every opportunity, and the defense has to give the O those shots. That’s going to be harder for the defense to do without a slew of top defenders from last year, which means …
Northwestern Wildcats Key Player To A Successful Season
DE Adetomiwa Adebawore, Jr.
Northwestern has got to find more of a pass rush. That’s not necessarily the style of Pat Fitzgerald to sell out and make big things happen behind the line, but it’s not totally crazy – the 2017 D generated 32 sacks.
It would be a big plus to come up with more than 1.56 sacks per game, but the Wildcats need someone to make that happen with Eku Leota off to Auburn.
Rushing the passer isn’t really Adebawore’s game – he’s a big playmaker against the run who can occasionally get behind the line when asked to – but he’s the veteran on the outside. He needs to generate more than two sacks.
Northwestern Wildcats Key Game To The 2021 Season
Michigan State, Sept. 4
It’s not like one game will prove that 2021 Northwestern can keep it all going despite the loss of so many parts from the 2020 team, but beat Michigan State for the first time in three seasons – and at home, too, in the opener – and it would be a massive moment to kick things off.
Lose, and there’s an issue in the Big Ten with road games at Nebraska, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Illinois to go along with home dates against Minnesota and Iowa to worry about.
– Northwestern Wildcats Schedule Breakdown & Analysis
2020 Northwestern Wildcats Fun Stats
– Time of Possession: Northwestern 31:13 – Opponents 28:34
– Rushing TDs: Northwestern 16 – Opponents 5
– 3rd Quarter Scoring: Northwestern 56 – Opponents 17
NEXT: Northwestern Wildcats College Football Preview 2021: What Will Happen, Season Prediction
Northwestern Wildcats College Football Preview 2021: What Will Happen, Season Prediction
Obviously Pat Fitzgerald deserves every benefit of every doubt as one of the best head coaches in all of football. NASCAR this thing up and give everyone the same equipment to work with, and he might just be the best of the whole lot considering what he’s doing with the the restrictions of producing Big Ten championship-appearance teams in two of the last three seasons.
There was a time when just going to a bowl game was a big deal in Evanston, much less win it, but the Cats have gone bowling in ten of the last 13 years, won five of their last six, and took down four in a row.
With that said, it also takes a whole lot of things to go right for the team to be fantastic.
Set The Northwestern Wildcats Regular Season Win Total At … 7.5
It helps to have experience, and this year’s team is missing the super-senior element that most others in the Big Ten are enjoying.
It helps when the rest of the Big Ten West is struggling – particularly Wisconsin – and …
Whatever. You don’t come up with five winning seasons in six years at Northwestern without having something figured out.
From 1925 to 1931, Northwestern had six winning seasons in seven years. That’s the only era pre-1905 that’s more successful than this current one, and that’s very, very debatable considering the level of competition now.
And now in his 16th season at the gig, Fitzgerald has his groove.
He’s got the facilities, the recruiting has been solid for who the program can get. and the style of play is rock-solid. Northwestern knows what it has to do to win with what it has to play with.
But again, there’s a lot missing with a whole new slew of starting receivers, a new quarterback, and a ton of new parts on defense.
The Purdue game is at Wrigley Field, meaning the last three games are outside of Evanston, dates with Michigan, Wisconsin and Nebraska are all on the road, and there can’t be any slips against a Minnesota here and a Rutgers there.
There are enough winnable games to come up with another winning season and bowl appearance, but a third trip to the Big Ten Championship in four years?
Don’t put it past Fitzgerald, but that would be one heavy lift.
– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Top Players | Key Players, Games, Stats
– Northwestern Wildcats Schedule Analysis
