Northwestern Football Preview 2026: The Wildcats Look the Part
NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...
You know that line about dressing for the job you want? Welcome to 2026 Northwestern football.
No, it’s not Ohio State, but it got Chip Kelly as its offensive coordinator.
No, it’s not Oregon, but it got its share of great transfers, with several good enough to have ended up in Eugene, or Los Angeles, or Ann Arbor, or Bloomington.
Northwestern Looks Like a Big Ten Program
No, the fancy schmancy redo on the stadium isn’t quite finished yet, but that’s dropping in early October, and all of a sudden, Northwestern will go from the most gorgeous setting in college football – the makeshift mini-stadium on the lake – to an NFL-caliber palace.
Now all Northwestern has to do is start winning more football games.
The schedule might have something to do with that, but for now, the 2026 program looks like it’s about to take another step up.
Northwestern Quick Hits
- Head Coach: David Braun (4th year, 19-19)
- Best Case / Worst Case: A decent bowl game/Too many problems under the weight of a nasty schedule
- Key Player: Aidan Chiles, QB Sr.
- 2025 Record: 7-6
- Biggest Question: Can the offense be more explosive under Chip Kelly?
– 2026 Northwestern Schedule Analysis
Northwestern Key 2025 Stats
- Eighth in the nation in fewest penalty yards, averaging 33.8 yards per game
- Time of Possession: Northwestern 32:18, Opponents 27:41
- Tied for second-worst in the nation in punt returns, averaging 1.8 yards per try
Offense
Welcome to Evanston, Chip Kelly.
The legendary college football head coach and offensive coordinator won a national title as Ohio State’s OC, and left for the Las Vegas Raiders.
Now he’s in charge of Northwestern’s offense with plenty of work to do, and plenty of new parts joining the mix.
What’s Working
The Wildcats upgraded at quarterback. Preston Stone was a nice idea at quarterback last season, and he wasn’t bad, but he threw 12 picks and didn’t add enough to the ground game.
In comes Aidan Chiles, a star recruit for Oregon State, who left for Michigan State, and now should settle into the gig at Northwestern. He’s a great combination of youth and experience, with the dynamic style to take things up several notches.
West Virginia veteran Nicco Marchiol is almost certainly the main backup, but he’s good enough to start.
There’s a whole lot to like at running back. Leading rusher Caleb Komolafe is back after running for 941 yards and 11 scores.
No. 2 back Joseph Himon II is also back, and in from Florida State comes fifth-year senior Gavin Sawchuk, with 1,463 yards and 19 touchdowns of experience at Oklahoma and then FSU.
Northwestern has a receiving corps. No, it’s not the best group of pass catchers in a loaded Big Ten, but it should do more in the Kelly offense.
6-2 Griffin Wilde had an All-Big Ten season, catching 71 passes for 880 yards and eight scores. 6-4 Hayden Eligon was second with 37 grabs, and slot man Drew Wagner is back to be a short-range option.
What Needs Work
Now it all has to come together. The skill spots were deep and talented, there’s an elite assistant handling the attack, and now the expectations are jacked.
It’s an offense that came up with just 346 yards and 23.4 points per game, with most of the parts back to do more, but …
The offensive line is doing some shifting. It’s a young overall group with upside, but it’ll take fall camp to fully settle the lineup.
Ezomo Oratokhai will play either center or guard, Anthony Birsa will play wherever Oratokhai doesn’t, and everything will fill in from there.
Running means everything. Even though the Wildcats are better overall, they still don’t have the elite talent. They have to control the clock and the tempo, and that starts by grinding it out – that isn’t always how a Chip Kelly offense rolls.
The Wildcats were 5-0 when running for 199 yards or more, and 2-6 when they didn’t.
Player to Watch
Caleb Komolafe, RB Jr.
No, the 5-11, 210-pounder doesn’t have to do it all himself, but he did a great job of taking over the offense at times over the second half of the season.
He hit the 100-yard mark four times, averaged five yards per carry, and can catch, too. He’ll take plenty of pressure off everyone else.
Defense
Last year’s defense was solid under coordinator Tim McGarigle, and this version has a slew of good veterans to build around.
The portal built up the depth, especially up front, but now there have to be more big plays behind the line and even more done against the run.
What’s Working
The overall results were good enough. There were problems in several areas, but blow off the minor negatives. The Wildcats allowed just under 20 points per game, and … that’s it. Don’t allow points. That’s what defenses are supposed to do – don’t worry about how it happens.
The line restocked the shelves. It doesn’t help to lose top pass rusher Aidan Hubbard, but Michael Kilbane has all-star talent at one end, the tackle rotation is solid, and coming in is Glory Stephen-Wangboje (Sacred Heart) at tackle and Jamaal Johnson (UCF) at one end.
The secondary is loaded with options. It joins the receiving corps as one of the most experienced areas, helped by the transfer portal gets at corner.
Leading tackler Robert Fitzgerald is back at one safety gig – he’s one of the best open-field hitters in the Big Ten – and versatile option Braden Turner will do a little of everything in a nickel role, or at corner.
What Needs Work
The line might be fine, but the losses hurt. Again, Hubbard is done, and so is interior pass rusher Carmine Bastone. Making things harder is the loss of Anto Saka to Texas A&M, which is a problem because …
The pass rush needs to be stronger. There was a steady stream of sacks, but the big plays behind the line didn’t explode until the bowl win over Central Michigan. There’s pressure, but sacks haven’t been a big thing at Northwestern for a while.
After coming up with 18 in the regular season last year, pushing past 25 would make life a little bit easier.
Bad things happened when teams ran on the Wildcats. Just like the offense made things better when it ran well, the defense did its job when it held up against good ground attacks.
The Wildcats went 7-1 when allowing fewer than 155 yards and 0-5 when allowing 155 or more.
Player to Watch
Robert Fitzgerald, S Sr.
It’s not always a plus when your safety is making all the plays, but it’s nice to have someone back there as a last line of defense.
Fitzgerald grew into the job, and in his fourth season, he made 115 stops with six tackles for loss, a pick, and four broken up passes.
Keys to the Season
Even though this is a better team with far more depth than past Wildcat teams enjoyed, it still has to always do the little things right.
There can’t be a problem with penalties, or turnovers – the 21 were too many – or the time of possession battle, Northwestern still has to go full Northwestern.
But more than anything else, the Wildcats have to score. They only put up more than 22 points four times, and won all four.
Player Who Needs To Shine
Aidan Chiles, QB Sr.
It seems like he’s been around for a decade, but he’ll only be 20 going into the season. There might be other options, but the season depends on him being great.
He’s dangerous on the move, but he couldn’t move the Michigan State offense last year, threw 11 picks in 2024, and only got in a little bit of work at Oregon State.
Biggest Concern
Turnovers
This isn’t a team that can get away with multiple mistakes, and that will have to start with Chiles.
The margin for error this season will be thin, and that means there can’t be multiple turnovers. The Wildcats went 1-5 last year and were 2-11 over the last two seasons when turning it over two times or more.
Biggest Game
Penn State, October 2
This is it. It took several years to get it up and going, but this is the grand unveiling of the new and improved Ryan Field after undergoing renovations that pushed well past $800 million.
The Wildcats start the Big Ten season at Indiana the week before, and the next conference game is in East Lansing against Michigan State and former head coach Pat Fitzgerald.
Transfer Portal
The Wildcats did a wonderful job.
They managed to keep most of the top players around, loaded up with parts to improve the skill spots, add to the depth, and make a big statement as a program.
Almost every unit was improved in some way, or at least the team adequately filled the gaps.
Best Signing
Aidan Chiles, QB (Michigan State)
No, he hasn’t been the superstar so far he was expected to be, but if it all comes together and he finds a groove in the Chip Kelly offense, he could be a game-changing signing.
Biggest Loss
Anto Saka, EDGE (Texas A&M)
No, even with 12 sacks in three years, he wasn’t the team’s top pass rusher. And no, he hasn’t done much of anything against the run, but as a specialist for the Texas A&M line, look out.
Other Names to Know
- Luke Dehnicke, TE (Minnesota-Duluth)
- Grant Seagren, OT (Oklahoma State)
- Nicco Marchiol, QB (West Virginia)
CFN Season Prediction
The 2023 schedule was relatively easy, and Northwestern went 8-5.
There was a problem in 2024 going 4-8, but the schedule turned into a killer, and last year, even with the close battles and good fights, it took a miraculous win over Minnesota to end up with a winning season.
This year’s team is the deepest yet under David Braun, and that should be just enough to find a way to get to six wins.
CFN Prediction: 6-6
There isn’t a true layup on the slate, and that includes the opener against South Dakota State.
Fine, so that’s a win, and Ball State should be a win, too, but hosting Colorado won’t be a breeze, and a home date against Rutgers will be a bit of a fight.
At Indiana, at Oregon, at Ohio State – that’s three losses. At Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa, Penn State, at Michigan State …
It’ll be another Northwestern season. It’ll scratch, claw, and find a way to get to a bowl game, even if it takes a little bit of magic.
Related: Big Ten Football Win Totals 2026: Spring Predictions for All 18 Teams
This story was originally published by College Football News on May 29, 2026, where it first appeared in the College Football section. Add College Football News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos