Wildcats Daily

Did Northwestern Crack The Top 25 In The Coaches or AP Polls?

Northwestern lost a lot of talent from last year's Big Ten West Championship squad, but that doesn't mean 2021's squad didn't collect votes in either polls. Spoiler alert, they did.

Jack Savage

Did Northwestern Crack The Top 25 In The Coaches or AP Polls?
Did Northwestern Crack The Top 25 In The Coaches or AP Polls? /

The Wildcats narrowly missed out on the Top 25 in the preseason USA Today Coaches Poll, collecting 120 points from across the 65 head coaches who each receive a vote, which places them just outside at No. 27. Utah is ranked No. 26 with 145 points, while Ole Miss grabs the last spot in the ranking, with 149 points at No. 25. 

Coach Fitzgerald and company are no strangers when it comes to having to work their way into the top 25. Last year in the Coaches Poll, they didn't receive a single vote heading into the season, so what did they do? They won the Big Ten West, beat Auburn in the Citrus Bowl and finished tenth in the Coaches Poll, their first top ten finish since 1995's Rose Bowl team.

Five Big Ten teams were voted into the first rendition of the Coaches Poll – No. 4 Ohio State, No. 15 Wisconsin, No. 17 Indiana, No. 18 Iowa and No. 20 Penn State. Northwestern placed sixth in its conference among the Coaches Poll, with Michigan being the only other Big Ten team who received votes, with a total of 30 points, good for No. 33. 

The complete Coaches Poll is as follows, including the total number of points each team collected:

1. Alabama (1,621)

2. Clemson (1,508)

3. Oklahoma (1,481)

4. Ohio State (1,435)

5. Georgia (1,386)

6. Texas A&M (1,286)

7. Notre Dame (1,139)

8. Iowa State (1,131)

9. North Carolina (999)

10. Cincinnati (979)

11. Florida (870)

12. Oregon (842)

13. LSU (664)

14. USC (655)

15. Wisconsin (654)

16. Miami (575)

17. Indiana (573)

18. Iowa (554)

19. Texas (427)

20. Penn State (422)

21. Washington (404)

22. Oklahoma State (216)

23. Louisiana-Lafayette (153)

24. Coast Carolina (150)

25. Ole Miss (149)

On the flip side of that, the preseason AP Poll was not as generous to the Wildcats as the Coaches Poll was. Northwestern received a total of just eight votes from the Associated Press (a total of 62 members from the media), placing them at No. 33. However, just like the Coaches Poll last year, the preseason 2020 AP Poll did not have the Wildcats ranked at all, and they also ended up finishing tenth in the final AP Poll (once again, their first top ten finish since 1995's Rose Bowl team).

Five Big Ten teams were voted into the first rendition of the AP Poll – No. 4 Ohio State (also receiving one first place vote), No. 12 Wisconsin, No. 17 Indiana, No. 18 Iowa and No. 19 Penn State. Northwestern placed seventh in its conference, right behind Michigan, who landed at No. 32 with a total of 12 votes.

The full AP poll is as follows, along with the number of first place votes:

1. Alabama (47)

2. Oklahoma (6)

3. Clemson (6)

4. Ohio State (1)

5. Georgia (3)

6. Texas A&M

7. Iowa State

8. Cincinnati

9. Notre Dame

10. North Carolina

11. Oregon

12. Wisconsin

13. Florida

14. Miami (FL)

15. USC

16. LSU

17. Indiana

18. Iowa

19. Penn State

20. Washington

21. Texas

22. Coastal Carolina

23. Louisiana-Lafayette

24. Utah

25. Arizona State

It is clear that the coaches have a lot more faith in the Wildcats than the national media does. Either way, these preseason rankings are probably not exactly on the forefront of the Northwestern coaching staff's and player's minds, as they prepare for their opener against Michigan State, which is two and a half weeks away. Just as we have seen many times before, Coach Fitzgerald will happily embrace the challenge of proving both polls wrong and letting their play on the field decide their ranking.

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Jack Savage
JACK SAVAGE

Jack Savage is a Reporter and Contributor for Wildcats Daily on Sports Illustrated's FanNation Network. Savage is a UCLA alum and is currently pursuing his MSJ at Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism.

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