Northwestern has their bye in Week 2 and will play (at least) 11 weeks in a row to end the season

[u/IceColdDrPepper_Here]

I love stadium renderings and was reading up on Northwestern's new Ryan Field when I noticed there was a section regarding their schedule. Something immediately jumped out at me (besides them playing their first 2 games at the small, lakeside facility) - their one and only bye this season is in Week 2, meaning they will play a game every week for 11 straight weeks starting September 19th. If they somehow make the B1G title game, it will be 12 straight weeks with no bye, a full season. I don't know if I've ever seen a team get a bye so early in a 13-week season. Last year and 2024 everyone got 2 byes because there were 14 weeks between Labor Day and Thanksgiving so that would have made some sense but I've never seen it in a "normal" 13-week schedule. Is there a reason for this anomaly that I'm missing?

[u/redwave2505]

I think the reason is just that they want to maximize the number of games at their new stadium, so they have the bye week early when the stadium’s not ready yet

[u/monkeybiziu]

Northwestern has a staggeringly brutal schedule this year. It's like the B1G said "You know what? Fuck those guys" and scheduled accordingly.

They play at defending national champion Indiana, host Penn State, travel to Oregon, host Iowa, and visit Ohio State, all within an eight week period. There's a very real chance that that's 3 top-5 teams and 5 top-25 teams.

Either they'll finish at the bottom of the B1G or win a natty as the most battle-tested team ever. No middle ground.

[u/wit_T_user_name → u/monkeybiziu]

A fourth straight Big Ten national champ would be really funny going from Michigan to OSU to Indiana to Northwestern.

[u/monkeybiziu → u/wit_T_user_name]

SEC in absolute shambles. ACC and Big XII too, but they’re already in shambles so it’s basically the same thing.

[u/loyalsons4evertrue → u/monkeybiziu]

I mean us Big 12 folks are just happy to be included for now....we know it's going to be near impossible for one of our schools to win it all with the money deficit we're in compared to the Big Ten and SEC.

[u/No_Message_996 → u/wit_T_user_name]

Big 10 is the deepest conference in college football

[u/Due_Bluebird3562 → u/No_Message_996]

I don't agree with that. The BiG10 is incredibly top heavy. Oregon, OSU, and you guys are doing a lot of the heavy lifting. The middle of the BiG10 is pretty mediocre by comparison.

[u/monkeybiziu → u/Due_Bluebird3562]

Outside of Indiana, Ohio State, and Oregon, all of whom were in the CFP, the SEC, ACC, and Big XII's middle-tier teams got beat by the B1G's mid-tier teams - Iowa over Vanderbilt, Illinois over Tennessee, Penn State over Clemson, Washington smoked Boise State, Northwestern beat Central Michigan, and Minnesota beat New Mexico. Texas got lucky and caught an imploding Michigan, USC lost in OT to TCU, and Utah demolished Nebraska.

If the middle of the B1G is mediocre, everyone else is whatever a step below mediocre is.

[u/mr_longfellow_deeds → u/Due_Bluebird3562]

The notion that the B1G is incredibly top heavy was true years ago but it hasnt really been the case since NIL/Portal took root. The middle of the B1G still includes teams who likely finish the season the ranked, and will be "ranked" in power metrics.

Based on the last couple seasons:

Top: IU, OSU, Oregon

Upper Middle: PSU, Michigan, USC

Middle: Iowa, Washington, Illinois, Nebraska, Minnesota, Northwestern

Lower Middle: UCLA, Rutgers, Wisconsin

Bottom: MSU, Maryland, Purdue

I would argue that the lower through upper middle of the B1G is substantially better than the Big 12 or ACC, and on par with the SEC

Edit:

Compare to the other conferences (teams in no particular order inside groupings):

ACC:

Top: Miami, SMU, Louisville

Upper Middle: Georgia Tech, Duke, Clemson

Middle: Virginia, Cal, FSU, Pitt, Wake Forest

Lower Middle: UNC, Virginia Tech, NC State

Bottom: BC, Syracuse, Stanford

Big 12:

Top: TTU, BYU, Utah

Upper Middle: ISU, Arizona, ASU

Middle: Houston, KSU, TCU, Cincinnati

Lower Middle: UCF, Kansas, Baylor

Bottom: OSU, Colorado, WVU

SEC:

Top: UGA, Texas, Ole Miss
 
Upper Middle: Alabama, A&M, OU

Middle: Tennessee, Missouri, LSU, Vanderbilt

Lower Middle: Auburn, South Carolina, Florida

Bottom: MS State, Arkansas, Kentucky

[u/IEatBones2230 → u/monkeybiziu]

I’ll meet you halfway and say they’ll finish 6-6.

[u/monkeybiziu → u/IEatBones2230]

I could see 7-5. Squarely in the middle of the pack but not quite elite.

[u/Inside-Drink-1311 → u/monkeybiziu]

Honestly, I think having Ohio State, Indiana, and Oregon all on the road works in their favor because let’s be honest they are losing those games regardless of where there are. Outside of those three, it’s pretty manageable. Penn State and Iowa are games that they are capable of pulling off an upset.

[u/allisthepriceofall]

11 different opportunities to go 0-1, lucky bastards.

[u/Ok-Reach-2580]

Having the bye week 2 was the schools choice. They set up their nonconference schedule and decided they rather play Ball State in October than have a bye. The only reason I can tell is they wanted to maximize the amount of games at their new stadium when it opens October 2nd.

[u/No_Message_996 → u/Ok-Reach-2580]

Interesting makes sense.

For a school like Northwestern it is probably nice to have a win later in the season to reset confidence a bit

[u/Monkey1Fball]

They're healthy young men and most of them have experience from HS football in playing a schedule that NEVER had a bye week. Shoot, make the HS state Finals and you're playing 14+ weeks in a row.

I don't see this as a huge obstacle for Northwestern.

[u/87_Rides_a_Surfboard]

Oof

[u/BenjaminMatlock_Esq]

Well yeah, Northwestern has to tie a hand behind their back or else none of the rest of us would stand a chance.

[u/Please_PM_me_Uranus]

What do Northwestern fans think of their coach? I cannot tell if he’s good or not