BREAKING NEWS: Ryan Hilinski and his girlfriend welcome the birth of twins…

Hoosier Huddle’s ‘At First Glance’ series continues on as this week we preview the Hoosiers’ week six clash against the former Big Ten West’s Northwestern Wildcats. Stay

tuned with us all summer long as we preview each opponent on Indiana’s 2024 schedule – and catch back up with any previews you may have already missed at the bottom of this article

The 2022 Northwestern Wildcats finished the season 1-11 and amidst a player hazing and harassment scandal by their longtime head coach Pat Fitzgerald. By the time the dust was settling entering the next season, it

was sure to be too late; Fitzgerald was let go just weeks before the 2023 season kicked off, the Wildcats program rushed into a hire of David Braun, and three weeks into the season, Northwestern’s sole win came against a lowly UTEP team. Clearly, the rebuild was on.

Northwestern finished the regular season 6-3, including three straight wins to finish the year against Big Ten West foes Wisconsin, Purdue, and Illinois. They were able to finish the year second in the Big Ten West and earned a bowl bid to the Las Vegas Bowl; their hot streak continued, as their defense stifled Kyle Whittingham’s Utes, and somehow a program that seemed lost just a few weeks before had finished the year 8-5 with a postseason victory.