The fourth of ten questions we're asking that will determine Northwestern's season.

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Northwestern's ability to defend its home field was crucial to their bowl run in last season, winning five of their six games at Ryan Field. The Wildcats excelled in Evanston and did it by razor-thin margins, winning four games by one score.

But, in 2024, Ryan Field is under intensive construction. Northwestern will have to try to replicate that foundation in five games lakeside at a temporary venue and twice at Wrigley Field, where they're yet to win.

Last season's matchup with Iowa was played on a single sideline with a goal line stand between the teams tearing the temporary grass to shreds. Commercial breaks were called as groundskeepers scurried to shore up the baseball fields temporary surface, but the damage was done and both teams struggled in that area for the remainder of f the fourth quarter. Will the site be more sustainable this time around?

Ryan Field was notorious for its long grass, stiff winds and its cozy crowds. The temporary site will be turf so the Wildcats can't count on the sod racking up any tackles. The winds will swirl with little opposition. Games could be ground to a halt at Ryan Field due to the elements, nearly a mile further inland with a litany of buildings and trees to break the wind. Now, all that will separate Big Ten football and Lake Michigan will be a few yards of shore, a handful of rows of bleachers and a tree line.

It will be an even cozier environment than Ryan Field with capacity dropping to roughly 15,000 seats. While it's sure to cause some complaints from visiting Power Four programs Duke, Indiana and Wisconsin, it's fine by head coach David Braun.

"If other fan bases have strong opinions about it, we're not concerned," Braun told ESPN's Adam Rittenberg in a recent profile on the temporary site. "At the end of the day, you want to create an environment that's yours and that creates a home-field advantage and is something that's really memorable."

Braun has put up "major six figures" of his own family's money into the project. Will Northwestern have the home field advantage that he envisions?

Braun's attitude and statement to Rittenberg, about as provocative as a young Big Ten coach can get, tip Northwestern's cards here. They're going to take pride in the adversity and play style that both locations will generate. There will surely be pleasant or calm days out on the lake, but the stands will not stretch over the existing tree line.

Keep in mind that the winds at Ryan Field, once held an Ohio State offense with CJ Stroud, Marvin Harrison Jr. and Emeka Egbuka to just 21 points. Now games will be a mile further east with far fewer obstacles to soften the whistling winds off the lake. Passing will be at a premium and special teams could turn suspect at a moment's notice. It's a good season to have one of the fastest quarterbacks in college football transfer in, to say the least.

Wrigley will be up for grabs for Ohio State, and last season's matchup with Iowa evidenced that a Chicago game is not guaranteed to be friendly for Chicago's Big Ten team. But, with just a few thousand tickets allotted to opposing fans of the 15,000, Northwestern can put their stamp on a home field advantage even as their traditional site is rebuilt. For Illinois, on Thanksgiving break, the Wildcats again have a chance to put a majority of their fans in the stands.

These venues won't just lend Northwestern a hand in terms of percentage of fans in the stands, their very surfaces and environments could tip the scales. A blustery day or uncertain footing can give the Wildcats an advantage to try and hang with the Buckeyes, win back-to-back games over Wisconsin for the first time since 2014-15, or snap their five-game losing streak to Duke.

The Wildcats avoided a true crisis of identity in their planning process by building a temporary site on campus. They won't have to bus players, fans and students out to SeatGeek Stadium or up to Lambeau Field, they'll play on their own campus or in their proclaimed second city.

They have avoided turning their two years without a permanent home stadium into a strain or a disadvantage. They've created a home field out of nearly thin air (and a nearby MLB ballpark).

Now, the question is: can they recreate the hostile environment that made their 2023 campaign so special?