Predicting 2021 Big Ten season: How many wins for Penn State Football?

Pat Fitzgerald’s Northwestern Wildcats rolled to a 7-2 record last season, winning the Big Ten West and finding themselves in the Big Ten Championship Game. They may, however, come up just short of finding their way back to Indianapolis for the second consecutive season.

Northwestern will have to replace quarterback Peyton Ramsey, and they will turn to a competition between Hunter Johnson, and South Carolina transfer Ryan Hilinski. “Getting WR Stephon Robinson from Kansas is a huge help…”, according to collegefootballnews.com, as “the Wildcats have to replace their top four pass catchers.”

Northwestern very well could roll to a 6-0 start, in part due to their favorable front half of their schedule. However, the Wildcats run into a very difficult four game stretch, beginning in late October. In that stretch…Northwestern is at Michigan, home in back-to-back games against Minnesota and Iowa, then at Wisconsin.

One thing is for sure, Fitzgerald will always have his team ready to play, regardless of the opponent. As long as he is there, the Wildcats have a chance to beat almost anyone, and will almost always have a chance to win the Big Ten West.