The Quad Blog over at the New York Times is running through its preseason college football capsules in what it calls The Quad Countdown. It’s worth checking out. Monday #60 Northwestern was featured with a few interesting factoids that I’ll pass along – enjoy these as you watch the clock crawl toward Thursday:
Tidbit: Northwestern and Penn State have the same Big Ten record over the last five years (19-21). This is the sixth-best mark in conference play since 2003, ahead of Minnesota and Michigan State (15-25), Indiana (9-31) and Illinois (8-32).
Tidbit (who knew edition): Only four Big Ten programs have had winning records against Northwestern since 1995: Ohio State (1-8), Michigan (3-8), Penn State (3-7) and Purdue (4-8). The Wildcats are at or above .500 against the rest of the conference: Indiana (7-2), Illinois (8-5), Iowa (6-5), Michigan State and Minnesota (5-4) and Wisconsin (5-5)
Tidbit (overtime edition): Northwestern is one of the best in the nation in overtime, tying Missouri for the most O.T. wins (8) in the F.B.S. since the division began playing the extra-session in 1996. The Wildcats are 7-0 at home and 4-0 in conference play when playing in overtime.
Michigan is also undefeated in overtime games since they added the rule, I actually witnessed the first four in person:
1. Alabama in the 2000 Orange Bowl
2. Penn State in 2002
3. MSU in the triple-overtime classic in 2004
4. Spartans again in 2005
5. Iowa in 2005
