Everything is changing in Evanston, Illinois. Northwestern has their first season without Pat Fitzgerald since 2006. The Wildcats have won just four games in the last two seasons. A whole culture change is approaching. What is in store for the 2023 Northwestern Wildcats?
Offense
The Wildcats offense was abysmal last season. Northwestern brought in Ben Bryant from Cincinnati to change the tides of their offense. This offense last season averaged under 14 points per game, which was one of the worst offenses in the country. Northwestern is going to shake things up, though. Cam Porter is going to be the lead back for the Wildcats this year. Porter averaged 3.3 yards per carry last season and needs to have better production in 2023.
The Wildcats needed to add some production at the wide receiver position. Northwestern brought in A.J. Henning (Michigan) and Cam Johnson (Arizona State) in to help this team take a step forward. The Wildcats are going to need their new quarterback and their new wide receivers to get chemistry early on. Northwestern is going to be without star left tackle Peter Skoronski who got drafted in the first round in the NFL. Only bringing back one starter from the offensive line is going to be a struggle for the Wildcats. They do bring back Josh Priebe, who goes from left guard to left tackle. With a lack of experience up front, the Wildcats are going to struggle to get some chemistry. They need to get some chemistry and I think right tackle Caleb Tiernan is going to be a leader for this offensive line.
Defense
This defense has some strengths and some weaknesses. One weakness of this team is the defensive line. Defensive ends Aidan Hubbard and Sean McLaughlin are going to need to improve the team’s pass rush. If they can apply pressure, I think the Wildcats can improve as a whole defensively. The linebacker core has experience and will be an influential part of this defense. They bring back Bryce Gallagher and Xander Mueller who were the two leading tacklers on the team last season. The duo had 187 tackles combined and 15.5 tackles for a loss. These two will need to use their experience to be just as good as they were last year.
In the secondary, this group is the strength of this defense. They are led by senior safety Rod Heard II who was used in a plethora of roles last year. Northwestern also has Garnett Hollis Jr and other experienced players such as Coco Azema and Jeremiah Lewis. This secondary needs to create more turnovers this year. If the Wildcats can create more turnovers, they will give themselves a better chance at getting more wins in 2023.
Win Total Bet
The Wildcats win total bet is set at 3.5 on the FanDuel Sportsbook, with the odds on the over set at -110 and the under set at -110 as well. I think this team can get to four wins if everything goes according to plan. However, putting my money on them getting four wins is not something that I would recommend doing. I hope that David Braun can get this team back to its winning days. They can get to the four win mark, but I don’t know about higher than that. Stay away from the win total, though, as they could easily screw you out by getting to three wins.
Schedule Predictions
Loss at Rutgers (0-1)
Win vs UTEP (1-1)
Win at Duke (2-1)
Loss vs Minnesota (2-2)
Loss vs Penn State (2-3)
Win vs Howard (3-3)
Loss at Nebraska (3-4)
Win vs Maryland (4-4)
Loss vs Iowa (4-5)
Blowout Loss at Wisconsin (4-6)
Loss vs Purdue (4-7)
Loss at Illinois (4-8)