Northwestern jumped to No. 16 in the College Football Playoff rankings after beating Wisconsin, moving the Wildcats closer to the possibility of a New Year's Six bowl. The New Year's Six bowls — this year, the Sugar, Fiesta, Rose and Peach bowls — are the most prestigious bowls outside of the Playoff, and they're assigned by the selection committee. If NU does sneak in, it would go to one of the bowls with at-large spots, the Fiesta and Peach bowls.
With only Illinois standing in the way of a 10-2 season, NU does have a chance to sneak into one of those top tier bowl games.