This week's picks

Penn State vs. Northwestern 2026 Recap

College Football Charts
Data updatedOct 31, 2026
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Picks two teams at random. Any FBS team can come up.

How we picked it

How we picked it

Three ratings look at a team in three different ways. The numbers' pick is the team at least two of them favor.

Where the game is won

Where the game is won

Each row puts one team's unit against the unit it faces, by national rank out of all FBS teams. An edge is a gap of 25 spots or more.

Ratings: SP+ via CFB Update; PRIME via primecfb.com. Box and play stats computed from CollegeFootballData.com play data (via the public cfbfastR files), FBS games only for scoring. Rushing yards here exclude sacks, so they run higher than official totals. Ranks are out of 138 FBS teams.

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Penn State at Northwestern, Week 5

Final: Penn State 13, Northwestern 34. Elo pick: Penn State (missed).

Penn State and Northwestern: team pages with every stat and national rank. Every Week 5 game, graded.

Penn State at Northwestern, Week 5: questions people ask

Who won Penn State vs. Northwestern, and what was the score?

Northwestern beat Penn State 34–13 on Fri, Oct 2 at Ryan Field.

Did Elo get Penn State at Northwestern right?

No. Elo picked Penn State, close to a coin flip going in. Northwestern won by 21.

What decided Penn State at Northwestern?

Northwestern won with the lower success rate, 51% to Penn State's 53%. Northwestern hit more big plays: 16% of its plays were explosive (runs of 12+ yards, passes of 16+), to 8%. Penn State turned it over twice to Northwestern's 1.

Penn State vs. Northwestern player stats: who had the big game?

Rocco Becht (Penn State) threw for 243 yards, Caleb Komolafe (Northwestern) ran for 188 yards, and Chase Sowell (Penn State) had 68 receiving yards.

Who didn't play in Penn State at Northwestern?

Penn State played without Koby Howard (top receiver). Northwestern played without Luke Dehnicke (No. 2 receiver).

What's the Northwestern–Penn State series record now?

Penn State leads 16–7.