Northwestern Wildcats

The Wildcats went 6-6 in 2025, and one unit on Northwestern every game returned 3.81; the 22-21 win at Penn State at +800 paid more than that on its own. Against the spread they went 7-4 with a push.

One price

Northwestern’s moneyline was posted for all 12. Take out the 8.0 units from Penn State, a 20.5-point underdog that day, and the other 11 games lost 4.19. On the road the moneyline came to 4.0 units across five games, and only eight FBS teams made more away.

October

Four covers in four, three wins, 7.81 units: 42-7 over UL Monroe at -13.5, the Penn State win, 19-0 over Purdue at -3.5, and a 21-28 loss at Nebraska that still beat a 7.5-point line. November went the other way: one win in four, one cover, a push and 2.47 units down. The push was a 13-20 loss at Illinois at +7.

Favorite and underdog

Favored five times, Northwestern won all five and covered three; 17-14 over UCLA at -6.5 and 38-35 over Minnesota at -4.5 were the misses. As an underdog it went 1-6 straight up and 4-2 with a push against the number, covering against Oregon at +24.5 and Michigan at +10.5 in defeat.

That makes seven covers in 11 decided games. Twenty-seven FBS teams covered a larger share; two matched. At home the Wildcats covered five of seven.

Six games went over and six under. The season ended with a 34-7 bowl win over Central Michigan.

Questions and answers