Northwestern Wildcats Ranked No. 24 in Week 7 AP Poll

After escaping East Lansing with a win over Pat Fitzgerald's Spartans, the Northwestern Wildcats remain ranked in the AP Poll.

The 'Cats came in at No. 24 in the Week 7 AP Poll, revealed on Sunday afternoon. Last week, Northwestern debuted at No. 25, and David Braun's team moved up one spot in the most recent ranking.

Northwestern advanced to 5-1 (2-1 B1G) with a 24-21 win over Michigan State. The Wildcats rallied from an eight-point deficit in the fourth quarter and scored 11 consecutive points to win the game. That included a 34-yard field goal from Jackson Kleather with two seconds remaining in regulation.

Star quarterback Aidan Chiles went 18-for-27 with 226 passing yards and a rushing touchdown against his former team.

Northwestern was one of six Big Ten teams to be ranked in the Week 7 AP Poll, following No. 3 Ohio State, No. 6 Indiana, No. 9 UCLA, No. 15 Iowa and No. 16 USC. Oregon also received the second-most votes among unranked teams.

Saturday was one of the most chaotic days in college football history from a rankings standpoint. Five top-10 teams went down, as No. 1 Georgia lost to unranked Auburn, No. 2 Notre Dame lost to No. 8 BYU, No. 5 Indiana lost to No. 4 Ohio State, No. 6 Alabama lost to No. 14 Tennessee and No. 7 Texas lost to unranked Florida.

Three other ranked teams fell to bring the grand total to eight: No. 13 Missouri against No. 9 Ole Miss, No. 16 Mississippi State against No. 22 LSU and No. 18 Oklahoma State against No. 20 Houston.

The chaos resulted in Miami (FL) moving up to the No. 1 ranking and BYU climbing to No. 2. Texas Tech, UCLA and Utah — the only other undefeated Power Four teams at 6-0 — came in at No. 8, No. 9 and No. 10, respectively. James Madison remained unranked despite being a perfect 7-0.

NU will look to clinch bowl eligibility on Saturday when the Wildcats host the struggling Rutgers Scarlet Knights, which beat Maryland to move to 2-4 (1-2 B1G) on the season.

Northwestern faces a pair of ranked opponents over the back half of its schedule: No. 15 Iowa on Nov. 7 and No. 3 Ohio State on Nov. 14. The 'Cats also play Oregon on the road on Oct. 31.