Posted on insidenu.com:
https://www.insidenu.com/2017/11/28/16712264/nu-football-is-at-its-peak
With Saturday’s win against Illinois, we tied the program high for football wins in a four-year stretch:
Seasons Wins By Year 2014-17 31 5, 10, 7, 9 2009-12 31 8, 7, 6, 10 2012-15 30 10, 5, 5, 10 2008-11 30 9, 8, 7, 6 2007-10 30 6, 9, 8, 7
A year ago, I created a simple toy to give context on the state of the football program when answering a question like “What defines success this season?”
https://www.insidenu.com/2016/8/23/12618842/defining-success-for-northwesterns-2016-football-season
It’s a weighted moving average of wins (WMA Wins): 40% to the most recent season, then 30/20/10% to the seasons before that. (Caveat: Yes, there’s an advantage to today’s 12-game regular-season schedule, Remember, this is a simple toy.)
By the WMA Wins measure, which captures the current trend, we’re at an all-time high:
Seasons WMA Wins 2014-17 8.2 2009-12 8.0 2007-10 7.6 2012-15 7.5 2006-09 7.5 1993-96 7.4
Win the bowl game and WMA Wins moves to 8.6. The football program is at its peak and the basketball program hit its peak last season (this season TBD). We have a new lakefront sports facility coming soon plus the basketball arena renovation. This is the best time to be an NU sports fan.