Michigan vs. Northwestern 2025 Preview: Keys, Players, and Predictions

The Michigan Wolverines (7-2, 5-1) will head to Wrigley Field to face the Northwestern Wildcats (5-4, 3-3) this Saturday at Noon ET on Fox. Entering this Michigan vs. Northwestern preview, we’ll highlight the weekly quotes from both coaches, key players, and keys to the game for this 2025 matchup.

Michigan Wolverines vs. Northwestern Wildcats: 2025 College Football Preview

This will be the first time the Wolverines have ever played a game at Wrigley Field, and will be the third matchup for the George Jewett Trophy. Michigan is looking to come off the bye week strong after a disappointing performance versus Purdue, while Northwestern is looking to add another win and become bowl eligible for the second time in three years. Michigan is an 11.5-point favorite. 

Matchup History and Quotes

Michigan holds an all-time record of 60-15-2 over Northwestern, and a 3-0 record in the George Jewett Trophy game.

Ahead of this week’s matchup, Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore is trying to focus his team on taking each game one at a time. With just two games left before the Wolverines’ matchup with Ohio State, it is critical that they don’t start looking ahead. Moore had this to say ahead of this week’s game, and coming off strong off the bye week.

“Win today. If they’ve watched the film, they know that we’re playing a really good team. You don’t got to make anything up. You don’t got to say anything. This team’s a really good football team. They’re well coached, they’re tough, [and] they’re physical. They don’t really beat themselves. [And], they play at a high level. They play with great intensity. They’re well coached, again, but they execute in all three phases.”

Michigan needs to execute at all three levels to win this game. They must take every game with the same intensity they would approach Ohio State, and beat a quality Northwestern team to keep their playoff hopes alive.

Northwestern head coach David Braun is heading into his third season as the Wildcats’ head coach. Braun is looking for his team to rebound after a disappointing second season, during which they won only four games. Braun believes in his Northwestern team to beat Michigan, but he believes they’ll need to be able to push Michigan’s defense around. He had this to say about Michigan’s defense.

“They’re problems. Really good players. [Barham] specifically, just twitchy and active, high motor. All three present problems at the end of the day. You got to find this happy balance between being aware and understanding, like positioning your team for success, but you can also fall into a trap of over-game planning for guys like that. And then, not being in rhythm as an offense, not being as sound as you want to be, and ultimately, there’s a lot of good football players on that Michigan team that can be really disruptive. But those [Rod Moore and Derrick Moore], high-end Big Ten football players that have bright futures.”

Michigan has a lot of talented players on their defense. The Wildcats’ offense certainly has their work cut out for them if they want to stay in this game.

Key Players for Michigan

Bryce Underwood will look to show more consistency this week versus Northwestern. While the play-calling hasn’t helped him much, he has been missing throws that he typically makes these past two weeks. However, Underwood is still immensely talented and fully capable of carrying this Michigan passing attack.

Jordan Marshall will be Michigan’s starting running back for the foreseeable future after Justice Haynes was spotted in a boot on the sidelines against Purdue. He was later found to have undergone surgery on his foot. However, Marshall carried the offense versus Purdue with three touchdowns, and is capable of handling the bulk of Michigan’s carries.

Wide receiver Andrew Marsh continues to have an outstanding freshman season and will be a big piece in this week’s passing attack.

Left tackle Blake Frazier was thrown into the fire after Evan Link went down for the season and truly excelled against Purdue allowing zero pressures. 

Defensively, Derrick Moore continues to shine and will be an integral piece of the Wolverines’ pass rush and rush defense. Rayshaun Benny and TJ Guy, both preseason standouts, had great games against Purdue, particularly defending the Purdue rushing attack. Another standout was safety Mason Curtis, who saw significant playing time and played exceptionally well, allowing only one catch for seven yards and making four tackles. Cornerback Jyaire Hill added another great game to his outstanding season, only allowing one catch for six yards. 

Key Players for Purdue

Northwestern quarterback Preston Stone came in as a transfer from SMU last season and has been solid this season, throwing for 11 touchdowns and nine interceptions.

Running back Caleb Komolafe is the driver of this team’s offense. He currently has 726 rushing yards, eight touchdowns, and 5.1 yards per attempt.

Wider receiver Griffin Wide has also been quite good for the Wildcats, totaling almost 600 receiving yards and five touchdowns.

The best player on the Northwestern offense is left tackle Caleb Tiernan. Tiernan has allowed just eight pressures this season, becoming one of the best pass protectors in the nation.

Defensively, edge rusher Michael Kilbane is the star of the Wildcats’ defense, totaling 28 pressures and four sacks this season. He’s the engine and leader of the Northwestern defense, and plays tirelessly on every snap. Anto Saka is another talented edge rusher for the Wildcats with 20 pressures and four sacks. In the secondary, safety Robert Fitzgerald is the team’s best player. He is an excellent run defender and one of Northwestern’s few players who do not struggle with missed tackles. 

Keys for Michigan to Win

The Michigan defense needs to force Preston Stone to make mistakes. Stone is prone to turning the ball over, with nine interceptions and six fumbles. Michigan will undoubtedly be able to take advantage of Northwestern being loose with the football. If Michigan can get extra possessions by winning the turnover battle, they could put this game away quickly.

Northwestern is one of the worst tackling teams, having 107 missed tackles in just nine games. Michigan will need to try to get their playmakers at receiver out in space, particularly Andrew Marsh and Semaj Morgan, who have excellent yards after catch ability. While Jordan Marshall is limited in space, he is capable of forcing missed tackles of his own in the run game, particularly at the line of scrimmage, where the Wildcats struggle to wrap up. 

Northwestern ranks 124th in college football in opposing third-down conversion percentage at 47-percent. If Michigan can find itself in third-and-short and third-and-medium situations, they should find it fairly easy to move the chains and keep drives going. Michigan needs to ensure they are consistently facing third-and-long situations like they have been in the past two games.