Six years ago, as the COVID-19 pandemic continued to rage across the United States, the Northwestern Wildcats did the unthinkable amidst one of the strangest college football seasons of all time.
In what was the highest-ranked finish of Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald’s NU tenure, the ’Cats rolled to a 6-1 regular season, punching a ticket to the Big Ten title game and finishing the season at No. 10. This is the last time the Wildcats were ranked in the AP Top 25 Poll.
Six years later, Northwestern has finally returned to that same poll, ranking 25th after last Sunday. As they head to East Lansing to face Michigan State and Fitzgerald, the same man who last led them to the poll, it’s hard not to look back on the 2020 season.
Small expectations, big results
Northwestern’s 2019 season was disastrous. The team finished the season 3-9 as one of the worst offenses in the Power Five with only one win against a Big Ten opponent.
Following that season, few expected the team to make a splash in the 2020 season. Led by graduate quarterback Peyton Ramsey, who had just transferred from Indiana during the offseason, the Wildcats dominated Maryland 43-3. On defense, fourth-year linebackers Paddy Fisher and Blake Gallagher led the defensive front, while third-year defensive back Greg Newsome II and second-year safety Brandon Joseph patrolled the secondary.
The ‘Cats won close games against Iowa, Nebraska, Purdue and Wisconsin to start the season 5-0. However, a 29-20 upset loss to Michigan State (then 1-3), which saw the Wildcats go down 17-0 during the second quarter, dashed any hope of reaching a then four-team College Football Playoff.
After a big win against Illinois, the Wildcats would eventually lose 22-10 in the Big Ten Championship to Ohio State, slamming the door shut on their Cinderella run. Their consolation prize was a dominant 35-19 win against the Auburn Tigers in the Citrus Bowl.
Seven players on that roster were drafted into the NFL in the following years, including three first-rounders: Peter Skoronski, Rashawn Slater and Newsome.
A changing landscape
Since 2020, a lot has changed for both the ’Cats and college sports as a whole.
In 2021, a landmark court case against the NCAA opened the floodgates to allowing college football players to profit from their name, image and likeness (NIL) through brand deals and school connections. Ever since, NIL has become a dominant factor in recruiting high schoolers and transfer athletes, shaking up how teams like Northwestern acquire and retain talent.
Key contributors on the current team, like fourth-year quarterback Aidan Chiles, graduate linebacker Brayden Brus, fourth-year receiver Griffin Wilde and many more, have all come from the transfer portal.
And while the school has continued to spend around the same amount of money annually on the program, that will also likely change soon. While the school previously had a decentralized approach that focused on using money from boosters and supporters through the collective TrueNU, according to Sports Illustrated, the 2025 House v. NCAA decision allows teams to directly pay athletes a portion of their revenue.
As for coaching transitions, after a hazing investigation that saw allegations of sexual abuse and mistreatment in the program, Fitzgerald was fired in July 2023, leading to a lengthy legal battle. The coach filed a $130 million wrongful termination lawsuit that was later settled out of court. At the time of his firing, he was the longest-serving head coach in Northwestern history, taking the team to 10 bowl games in 17 years.
In Fitzgerald’s place, newly hired defensive coordinator David Braun became head coach of the program. Braun led the Wildcats to a 7-5 season, the most wins by a Northwestern first-year head coach since 1903, putting him en route to a bowl game appearance and a Big Ten Coach of the Year award.
Braun has led Northwestern to two bowl game wins in the last three seasons, going 19-19 in that stretch. He earned a contract extension through 2031 this September.
As the ’Cats look to keep their hot start going, they’ll hope to reach the heights of 2021 and beyond and continue to rank among the best in the nation. Beating Fitzgerald and Michigan State would be another step in the right direction.
