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David Braun may be one of two Big Ten football coaches facing the biggest odds to win the conference championship this season, but the Wildcats earned a relatively surprising ranking Thursday from Fox Sports’ RJ Young.
The national college football analyst listed Northwestern at No. 55 on his “Ultimate 136” list. The Wildcats outranked five Big Ten opponents: Rutgers (No. 62), Minnesota (No. 69), Maryland (No. 76), Michigan State (No. 97) and Purdue (No. 99).
“Former South Dakota State offensive coordinator Zach Lujan will partner with former SMU QB Preston Stone and look to improve an offense that was among the worst in the Big Ten last year,” Young wrote. “Stone will be throwing the ball to former South Dakota State WR Griffin Wilde this year, but can they produce points for a team that opens the season with two of their first three games coming against Tulane and Oregon?”
Whether Preston Stone will be able to produce this fall is arguably the biggest question the Wildcats are currently facing.
Stone was named Northwestern’s player to watch by David Pollack, and some have low expectations for the quarterback. On3’s Andy Staples left the SMU transfer out of the top-10 on his conference quarterback rankings last month.
This season, the Wildcats face -192 odds to go over 3.5 wins and +154 odds to go under 3.5. Despite the addition of Stone, Northwestern is projected to finish 17th of 18 Big Ten teams.
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Braun must lead his team through games against four ranked conference opponents this fall: No. 7 Oregon (Week 3), No. 2 Penn State (Week 6), No. 14 Michigan (Week 10) and No. 12 Illinois (Week 12).
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Publish date : 2025-08-16 13:10:00
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