Northwestern enters Halloween weekend with a chance to make a major statement in the College Football Playoff race. The 6-1 Wildcats travel to Oregon with a 21% chance to reach the 12-team playoff, according to the A to Z Sports College Football Playoff Predictor.

An upset at Autzen Stadium would more than double Northwestern’s playoff probability to 44%. And if the Wildcats can finish the regular season 10-2, the model gives them a 74% chance to make the CFP.

But Northwestern’s playoff path isn’t just about beating Oregon. The Wildcats also have important rooting interests across the Big Ten and SEC, including Ohio State at USC and Auburn at Ole Miss.

Here’s who Northwestern fans should root for in Week 9 and what those results could mean for the Wildcats’ playoff chances.

Northwestern at Oregon is the big swing game

Northwestern offensive coordinator Chip Kelly is heading back to his old stomping grounds at Autzen Stadium, where he built his college football fame years ago.

The timing could work in his favor. The Ducks are struggling quite a bit. Quarterback Dante Moore is out for the rest of the season, and the offense is about as inefficient as it gets. Oregon needed an 18-play drive averaging three yards per play, eating nine minutes off the clock, to score the touchdown that beat Nebraska.

It wasn’t pretty. But it counted, and Dylan Raiola got his revenge against his former school in the Cornhuskers.

Now Northwestern has a chance to make the entire college football world take it seriously. Autzen is still a tough place to play, no matter what the Ducks’ offense looks like.

Here’s what’s at stake:

– Current playoff odds: 21% 

– Odds with a win at Oregon: 44% 

– Northwestern’s chance to win the game: 42%

That’s basically a coin toss on the road. It’s winnable, and it would be a big-time message from a program that doesn’t usually get to send one in late October.

Who should Northwestern root for in CFB Week 9?

Ohio State upset by USC

The other game to circle is out west on Halloween night: Ohio State at USC.

A Trojans win over the Buckeyes would boost Northwestern’s playoff odds by three percentage points. Buckeye’s starting QB Julian Sayin is out for some time (elbow), and the Wildcats need Ohio State to lose games so they can keep climbing the Big Ten ladder. The Buckeyes have losable games across the rest of the schedule because nobody is quite sure about the quarterback situation.

Then there’s a game that won’t move the needle much. However, Northwestern should take all the help it can get right now.

Auburn road dawg in at Ole Miss

How about the SEC? Northwestern fans should be rooting for Auburn to upset Ole Miss. That would hand Trinidad Chambliss and the Rebels their third loss.

That result bumps the Wildcats’ playoff odds by four percentage points. But look at the big picture. Northwestern needs as many SEC teams with three losses as possible, rather than two losses.

Other Big Ten Rooting Interests 

The same goes for the Big Ten. Iowa beating Wisconsin would be a good Week 9 outcome. If Maryland can get a bump from its interim coach after the firing and knock off Illinois, that helps Northwestern’s odds too.

Mapping Northwestern’s path to 10-2

Let’s zoom in on the Wildcats’ remaining schedule and leave everything else alone for a second. Here are the Playoff Predictor’s win probabilities:

– Week 9 at Oregon: 42% 

– Week 10 vs. Iowa: 60% 

– at Ohio State: 16% 

– at Minnesota: 72% 

– vs. Illinois: 74%

Plug in a win at Oregon and a home win over Iowa in Week 10. Now Northwestern is 8-1 with a 63% chance to make the playoff.

Then comes the trip to Columbus. If the Wildcats somehow win at Ohio State to get to 9-1, their playoff odds jump to 95%. We don’t know what the Buckeyes will truly look like three weeks from now, and Northwestern can absolutely win that game.

But let’s treat it like a loss for the sake of conversation. At 8-2, Northwestern sits at a 48% chance with two winnable games left. Win both and finish 10-2, and the Wildcats have a 69% chance on their own.

That’s where the outside help comes in. The more three-loss SEC teams and Big Ten contenders there are, the better a 10-2 Northwestern looks.

The Wildcats also have something working for them already. Their only loss came at Indiana in a game they very much could have won. That’s about as impressive as a loss gets, and it’s doing Northwestern some justice in these projections.

Northwestern doesn’t need to run the table to make the College Football Playoff. A 10-2 finish could be enough, with the A to Z Sports CFP Predictor giving the Wildcats a 69% chance to reach the postseason in that scenario.

But the Wildcats’ playoff path gets considerably easier with an upset at Oregon and some help elsewhere in the Big Ten and SEC.

Want to see how different results could change Northwestern’s playoff chances? Test the scenarios yourself using the A to Z Sports College Football Playoff Predictor.