ESPN's Bill Connelly released a list of 100 games throughout history that explain college football in 2026, and Northwestern was mentioned a few times. Connelly's article was divided into several sections: Making Legends, Innovations, Postseason Drama, Upsets, Frustrating Finishes, TV Rules, Realignment's Effects and Classic Endings.

Here's where two of the Wildcats' historical outings landed and what Connelly said about them:

"After consulting with [Rich] Rodriguez after a poor first season, Northwestern head coach Randy Walker and offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson elected to shift their power running game to a spread formation. They experimented with tempo, too. The Wildcats leaped from 110th to 10th in scoring offense, and against traditional old Michigan, they rushed for 332 yards, threw for 322 and snapped the ball 90 times. They scored 18 fourth-quarter points to beat the Wolverines in a thriller and snagged a share of the Big Ten title."

"Gary Barnett famously took the Purple to Pasadena in 1995, but the journey began in South Bend, where the Wildcats took down the mighty Fighting Irish as 28-point underdogs. The NU defense stuffed a late fourth-down attempt, and the rushing of Darnell Autry (160 yards on the day) ran out the clock."  

You can check out the full story here. What other Northwestern games should have made the list?