Every year, I'm asked how often Northwestern has beaten [insert school here] for recruits in that year's class. Usually, that school is Illinois, which is understandable. So I decided to take a look at how often Northwestern beat its fellow schools for recruits this year.
I didn't count how often NU and another school both lost out on a prospect, because the point of this was to see how much fans could say, "We got more guys we both wanted than you did." I used 247's 2015 offers page to find the current data, and I'll update as the year goes on.
As of now, the usual suspects are at the top of the table. So far, the Wildcats have done the best against Boston College, Illinois and Syracuse, and the worst against Penn State and Notre Dame. They have a positive plus/minus against 28 schools, a negative plus/minus against 12 schools and are tied with one. If you find anything I missed, please comment below.
| Opponent | Wins for NU | Wins for Opponent | Total | Plus/Minus |
| Boston College | 6 | 0 | 6 | +6 |
| Illinois | 4 | 0 | 4 | +4 |
| Syracuse | 4 | 0 | 4 | +4 |
| Cincinnati | 3 | 0 | 3 | +3 |
| West Virginia | 3 | 0 | 3 | +3 |
| Wake Forest | 3 | 0 | 3 | +3 |
| Indiana | 3 | 0 | 3 | +3 |
| Purdue | 2 | 0 | 2 | +2 |
| Georgia Tech | 2 | 0 | 2 | +2 |
| Vanderbilt | 2 | 1 | 3 | +1 |
| Iowa State | 1 | 0 | 1 | +1 |
| Boise State | 1 | 0 | 1 | +1 |
| Alabama | 1 | 0 | 1 | +1 |
| California | 1 | 0 | 1 | +1 |
| Colorado | 1 | 0 | 1 | +1 |
| Miami | 1 | 0 | 1 | +1 |
| Washington | 1 | 0 | 1 | +1 |
| Washington State | 1 | 0 | 1 | +1 |
| UConn | 1 | 0 | 1 | +1 |
| Pittsburgh | 1 | 0 | 1 | +1 |
| Rutgers | 1 | 0 | 1 | +1 |
| Duke | 1 | 0 | 1 | +1 |
| Iowa | 1 | 0 | 1 | +1 |
| Louisville | 1 | 0 | 1 | +1 |
| Michigan State | 1 | 0 | 1 | +1 |
| Minnesota | 1 | 0 | 1 | +1 |
| Kentucky | 1 | 0 | 1 | +1 |
| Mississippi State | 1 | 0 | 1 | +1 |
| Utah | 1 | 0 | 1 | +1 |
| Missouri | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Rice | 0 | 1 | 1 | -1 |
| Texas | 0 | 1 | 1 | -1 |
| UCLA | 0 | 1 | 1 | -1 |
| Michigan | 0 | 1 | 1 | -1 |
| Ole Miss | 0 | 1 | 1 | -1 |
| Auburn | 0 | 1 | 1 | -1 |
| Clemson | 0 | 1 | 1 | -1 |
| Arizona State | 0 | 1 | 1 | -1 |
| Tennessee | 1 | 2 | 3 | -1 |
| Oklahoma State | 0 | 1 | 1 | -1 |
| Notre Dame | 1 | 3 | 4 | -2 |
| Penn State | 0 | 3 | 3 | -3 |