Northwestern University, 4-3, Northern Illinois University, 4-4, and University of Illinois, 3-4, football teams all have similar-looking overall won-loss records. That, however, is where the comparisons end for the three college football teams.
Northwestern, 4-1 in the Big Ten Conference, leads the Big Ten West Division.
Northern Illinois is 4-0 in Mid-American Conference play and tied with Western Michigan for the top spot in the West Division.
Illinois is only 1-3 in the Big Ten and has to prove itself viable.
In retrospect, Northwestern’s season-opening victory at Purdue looks pretty good, given the Boilermakers’ 49-20 surprise trouncing at Ohio State Saturday. Yet,
Northwestern struggled to beat woeful Rutgers, 18-15, Saturday.
Northwestern will play host to Wisconsin at 11 a.m. Saturday. If the Wildcats topple the Badgers then another strong finish to the season just like last season is in sight. If favored Wisconsin wins, then the Wildcats might need to concentrate on beating Minnesota and Illinois in late November to reach the requisite six victories for bowl-eligibility. Notre Dame and Iowa will follow Wisconsin on the Northwestern schedule.
Northern Illinois will be at Brigham Young University at 2:30 p.m. Saturday . The fourth game of a brutal four-game non-conference schedule has seen the Huskies fall to Iowa, Utah, and Florida State.
Illinois is at Maryland at 2:30 p.m. Saturday. The Illini are double-digit underdogs to the Terrapins who beat Texas early in the season, but was shut out, 23-0, by Iowa Saturday.
The Northern Illinois picture is a strange one. Preseason nods went to the Huskies and Toledo Rockets to battle it out for MAC West honors. Toledo, however, has dropped MAC games to Eastern Michigan and Buffalo and faces rugged Western Michigan Thursday, Oct. 25 night in Kalamazoo, Mich..