Northwestern
1-0Big Ten · David Braun, year 4 (20-19) · Lanny and Sharon Martin Stadium · 12,023 · 9,574 avg in 2026
LastW 34–18 vs South Dakota State · Sat Sep 5 · Aidan Chiles 273 pass yds, 1 TD, 18 rush yds
Nextvs Colorado · Sat Sep 19 · 7:30 pm ET · Lanny and Sharon Martin Stadium · Northwestern by 3.5 · series 1-1, last win 1951 · Game preview
Updated Tue Sep 15 · through week 1
All 60 stats
FBS rankings · 2026 season · all stats vs 136 FBS programs
| Player | # | G | Cmp/Att | Pct | Yds | Y/A | TD | INT | Rate | ZPR | QBR | Adj ANY/A | Sack% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| +0.44 EPA/play | — | 1 | 14 / 24 | 58.3 | 273 | 11.4 | 1 | 0 | 167.6 | — | — | — | — | |
Yards by week → | ||||||||||||||
| Player | # | G | Tot | Solo | Ast | TFL | Sack | PD | INT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 1 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| 33 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Player | # | G | Tot | PD | INT | TFL | Sack |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 1 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 21 | 1 | 9 | 1 | 1 #22 FBS | 0 | 0 | |
| 9 | 1 | 7 | 3 #10 FBS | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| 13 | 1 | 5 | 3 #10 FBS | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 4 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Player | # | G | FG M/A | FG% | XP M/A | Pts | Long |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 90 | 1 | 2/2 | 100 | 4/4 | 10 | 38 |
| Player | # | G | No | Yds | Avg | Long | In20 | TB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 92 | 1 | 5 | 120 | 24 | 37 | 0 | 1 |
Net average is unavailable — CFBD's punting feed carries gross yards only, with no return-yardage or touchback deduction.
2026 stat leaders · Northwestern
through 1 game
2026 stat leaders · NorthwesternRobert Fitzgerald leads Northwestern with 14 tackles through 1 game.
How They Play · 2025Northwestern fields a limited methodical, ball-control offense behind a leaky, bend-don't-break defense.
Percentile vs all FBS, based on this season's per-game production. Bar = where this team ranks — right is better.
Northwestern reads strongest in explosive plays allowed (top 19%) and rushing epa (top 38%); the crux lives in explosive plays, where Northwestern sits at the 10th percentile.
offense · strengths lead
defense · higher bar = harder to play against
hidden math · special situations
Home-field advantage · Northwestern · 2018–present · FBS opponents
Northwestern is worth +4.4 points more at home than on the road.
Middle of FBS, 57th percentile of 133 programs
49% at home, 34% away against FBS opponents since 2018 (18–19 home, 13–25 away). Interval ±4.3.
Our model gives every stadium the same flat 2.3-point home edge — per-team modelling was tested and did not survive scrutiny (why) — and the books use about 3. Against the closing line, Northwestern has beaten the number by −4.3 more at home than away over 62 games — inside the ±7.7 that many games can resolve. Results here cannot tell the flat number apart from the building, and that is the honest reading of nearly every FBS stadium.
Lanny and Sharon Martin Stadium seats 12,023. Visitors cover a median 327 miles to get here since 2018 — 45th-shortest of 135 FBS venues, inside the ordinary range. For the home side it is genuinely home ground: 28% of the 2026 roster (38 of 138 located players) grew up inside 100 miles of the stadium.
Edge = half the gap between average home margin and average road margin, FBS opponents only, non-neutral games since 2018; the interval is 95%. Market line: closing spread, seasons with lines on file. Trip length is straight-line miles from the visiting team's campus to the venue, measured across all 42 home games since 2018.
More in this tab
Tendency drift
Season by season
How Northwestern’s current staff calls plays, year over year
Ratings
Comparable teams
Most similar programs · Northwestern
Most similar programs · NorthwesternReads like
Matched on how the programs are built — tier, prestige band, kind of fanbase, conference, voice and roster size — not on this season's stats. A calibration, not a prediction.
Conditions
59°F average kickoff temp; 6% of games had measurable precipitation; 11 mph average wind.
Based on 66 home games with weather data.