The college football offseason is almost over as we are halfway through July. The season will get going in about a month and a half, and college football fans everywhere are eager for the new beginning. College football fever is rampant across the country as we get closer to the season, but also because of the new EA Sports NCAA 25 video game that just came out in mid July. All in all, it’s an exciting time to be a college football fan, and one fan base that is excited for the season is Northwestern football fans. The Wildcats have a big season ahead of them.
This college football season is going to be a big one for a number of reasons. The sport is going through big changes, and some of those changes are going to be seen for the first time this season. Let’s take a look at what some of them are.
First off, there are going to be some new rules seen this year in college football, and some fans aren’t really in favor of them. Perhaps the biggest change is the addition of the two-minute warning. Fans have already started getting sick at all of the commercials that are happening in today’s era of college football, and the two-minute warning is another way for tv networks to get more commercial times in.
The bigger changes, however, come with conference realignment and the expanded College Football Playoff. College football is going to look completely different next year because of those two things. California schools playing in the Atlantic Coast Conference? Yeah, things are changing.
Conference realignment has shaken things up big time in college football. The power five is no longer a thing as the Pac-12 is essentially dead. Every team left for a new conference except for Oregon State and Washington State. Those two teams have scheduling alliances with the Mountain West.
Every other Pac-12 school found a new home. Utah, Colorado, Arizona and Arizona State are now in the Big 12. Oregon, Oregon State, USC and UCLA joined the Big Ten. Lastly, Cal and Stanford joined the ACC (makes a ton of sense, right?).
The other big change with conferences comes in the SEC. Oklahoma and Texas are both leaving the Big 12 and they will join the SEC. The Big Ten and the SEC are loaded with good teams and seem on the verge of forming two super conferences.
This season, we will also see 12 teams make the College Football Playoff. For about a month, the College Football Playoff will be happening. Some people aren’t in favor of the big expansion, but there will be more marquee college football games, and it’s hard to be too upset about that.
All in all, this is going to be one of the biggest college football seasons of all time. The game is changing, and this is the start of a new era.
Can Northwestern football surprise more people this year?
The Northwestern football team was one of the biggest surprises of the 2023 college football season. The Wildcats came into the year with maybe the lowest expectations out of any power five school. They had just lost Pat Fitzgerald because of a hazing scandal, and they were being led by interim head coach David Braun after a 1-11 season the year prior. There was absolutely nothing that suggested anything positive happening to Northwestern last year. However, they had a very successful year.
Northwestern football played Iowa last year at Wrigley Field, and the Hawkeyes won a close battle, 10-7. If the Wildcats had won that game, they would've ended up winning the West division and going to the Big Ten title game.
Northwestern finished the regular season with a 7-5 overall record and a 5-4 mark in conference play. That was an incredibly impressive season based off of preseason expectations.
The Wildcats went on to play Utah in the Las Vegas Bowl, and they finished out the season with a bowl victory. Northwestern football won the game 14-7 to finish the year with an 8-5 overall record.
The job that David Braun did with that team is nothing short of incredible. Nobody expected the Wildcats to win more than 2-4 games last year, and he got them to eight and they won a bowl game. Now, he is officially the head coach of the Wildcats.
Northwestern football once again has a lot of doubters heading into this season, but David Braun and his Wildcats are hoping to once again prove the masses wrong. One thing that will help with that is returning talent. Here are the three best players that Northwestern has coming back from last year.
1. Bryce Kirtz, WR
Northwestern football fans are thrilled that they will get to watch Bryce Kirtz suit up for the Wildcats again this season. Northwestern didn't have a great passing attack last season, but Kirtz put up big receiving numbers. He finished the season with 49 receptions for 701 yards and five touchdowns. He was the most explosive weapon on this offense, and that will likely be the case again in 2024. It should be a big year for the fifth year senior.
2. AJ Henning, WR
The wide receiver room is looking good for Northwestern football. AJ Henning played his first season with the Wildcats last year after spending the first three years of his college career with the Michigan football team. Henning was a great weapon for Northwestern in 2023 as he hauled in 45 receptions for 418 yards and four touchdowns. Henning made a big impact last year, and with another offseason under his belt, he should be able to have another good year in 2024.
3. Cam Porter, RB
Cam Porter is certainly going to be one of the most important players on this Northwestern team as he is going to be the starting running back. The Wildcats will be breaking in a new quarterback this year, so Porter will hopefully be able to take some of the pressure off of him by finding success in the run game. Porter rushed for 651 yards and four touchdowns on 166 carries last season. Expect his numbers to go up in 2024.
Nobody expected anything from Northwestern last year, and we all saw what happened. There is a lot of confidence in that locker room heading into the 2024 season.
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