Northwestern football fans are among the happiest in the country.
In ESPN’s recently released Fan Happiness Index Ranking, Northwestern fans placed ninth among 128 FBS programs and second in the Big Ten behind Ohio State. You all earned the “elated” label given to only the Top 25.
The ranking is built from six categories: program power, rivalry dominance, coaching stability, recruiting trend, revenue growth and Twitter buzz. You can read more about how ESPN derived these categories and their definitions under the “methodology” tab.
Northwestern’s program power - based on results from the last five years and current FPI - is fourth in the Big Ten behind Ohio State, Wisconsin and Penn State.