Ryan Field (Evanston, Ill.) — One hundred years to the day after football was first played on this site, Northwestern debuted the most expensive college football stadium ever built. The new $870 million Ryan Field is modeled after NFL and European soccer stadiums and is designed to bring fans closer to the action.
And there was plenty of action on FOX College Football Friday as Northwestern rolled up 506 yards of total offense in a 34-13 rout of Penn State. Last week, when the Wildcats scared national champion Indiana on the road, Hoosiers coach Curt Cignetti said afterward, “Northwestern is a good football team. I tried to tell everybody that. Nobody wanted to believe me, but two years ago, if somebody said Indiana at this point in the season was a good football team, nobody would have believed it.”
On Friday, the young Wildcats nearly broke ground on their new stadium. Let’s take a look back at a historic night at Ryan Field.
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The Wildcat faithful were out early. After all, it had been 1,049 days since Northwestern played a game at old Ryan Field. For the past two years and earlier this season, the team played at the school’s soccer and lacrosse facility.
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Walking off the field into the broadcast booth, FOX Sports game analyst and former Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III got a warm welcome from Wildcats fans. Purple and pink go together.
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Penn State redshirt freshman QB Alex Manske warms up before the game. Perspective no. 2 in Iowa originally committed to Iowa State before following head coach Matt Campbell to the Nittany Lions. That trip was nothing compared to what happened next. In routine testing, he was found to have a heart problem—specifically, an enlarged aortic root and an enlarged ascending aorta. Manske underwent open-heart surgery in March and, under the watchful eye of Penn State’s staff, returned to the field for preseason camp in August.
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The national anthem was electric, with a full flag and flyover.
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After notching an early 10-0 Northwestern lead, the Nittany Lions recovered a Wildcats fumble by running back Gavin Sawchuk (No. 27) at his own 34-yard line and scored five plays later to make it 10-7.
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Northwestern running back Joseph Himon II (No. 6) answered with a 38-yard run.
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Himon then added another run, scrambling for the end zone with 1:55 to go in the first half, to extend Northwestern’s lead to 24-7. Overall, Himon ran for a game-high 162 yards on 10 carries.
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After winning a national championship with Ohio State in 2024 before a less successful stint with the Las Vegas Raiders last year, offensive coordinator Chip Kelly is back in the college realm this season with Northwestern. His Wildcats offense is off to a promising start, averaging 33 points per game. Last year, the team averaged 23.4 points.
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Quarterback Aidan Chiles, a transfer from Michigan State, has been a big hit with the Wildcats. On Friday night, he took every opportunity to fire up the student section.
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Of course, the so-called “Wall of wild cats” does not need much encouragement. Students stand for the entire game — there are no seats in the section — and hit the aluminum bleachers. Pat Ryan Jr., CEO of Ryan Sports Development and the son of Ryan Field’s namesake, told FOX Sports College sports writer Ben Portnoy, “It’s a set of aluminum bleachers that are at a 33-degree angle, 65% slope, and what you’re going to see is you can put 00 of the area’s best students.2. Normally 50 will bring thunder.” Mission accomplished.
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The Nittany Lions were sluggish in the first half, but remained poised to bounce back after the break.
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But it was more of the same in the second half, highlighted by this acrobatic 31-yard catch by Wildcats receiver Griffin Wilde late in the third quarter. Three plays later, Northwestern scored again for a 31-7 lead. Earlier this season, Wilde surpassed 1,000 career yards in just his 15th game, the fastest Northwestern receiver to do so since D’Wayne Bates, the program’s all-time rushing leader, did it in 13 games in 1995-96.
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Matt Campbell, the winningest coach in Iowa State history, has started his tenure at Penn State with two straight losses in Big Ten play. There’s still time to recover, but this night belonged to the Wildcats — and young Ryan Field.
