Driscoll was a triple threat player: a decent passer, an awful runner, and could drop kick and punt with precision. [31], In 1991, Colorado offensive coordinator Gary Barnett, fresh from helping lead the Buffaloes to a share of the national championship, was hired as head coach. [5][6] Until Northwestern's first intercollegiate game against Lake Forest in 1882, football was played entirely as an intramural sport. Robert W. "Bob" Voigts became the head coach of NU starting in 1947. "[62] Northwestern stripes have not always appeared on NU football jerseys, though the team's current uniforms sport the pattern. Of importance, Scott helped raise money for a new football facility, Dyche Stadium.[16]. Seasons: 4 (1976 to 1979) Record (W-L-T): 19-22-0 Conferences: Ind Ranked in AP Poll: 0 Times (Preseason), 0 Times (Final), 0 Weeks (Total) Location: Natchitoches, Louisiana More School Info Northwestern originally competed as a football independent. [5] Despite the fact that there was no organized league, there was a growing interest for football on Northwestern's campus. Richard E. "Dick" Hanley was the head coach for the Wildcats for eight years, starting in 1927. [9] In 1896, along with six other schools, Northwestern became a charter member of the Western Conference, the predecessor of the Big Ten. [24], During the offseason, Stanford offensive coordinator Dennis Green was hired to replace Venturi, becoming the first black coach in the history of the Big Ten. [53] With the start of the 2014 season, the conference realigned the divisions geographically into West and East to accommodate the entry of Maryland and Rutgers, so the NU-Illinois rivalry became a regular divisional matchup instead of a crossover. Due to Barnett's success at Northwestern, he became a hot coaching commodity. Northwestern ultimately finished with a 10–2 record. 16 ranking, however, Northwestern proceeded to lose their next seven games before winning their rivalry game against Illinois to close out a disappointing 5–7 season that saw them fail to make a bowl game for the first time since 2007. Sources: #Northwestern’s 2021 home football game against #Purdue will be played at Chicago’s Wrigley Field. In Lou Saban's only year as head coach in 1955, the Wildcats had a winless season with a 0–8–1 record. Fitzgerald, a former star linebacker at Northwestern who twice won national Defensive Player of the Year honors, is the winningest coach in team history, with a 106-81 record in 15 seasons. During the following season, the nickname Wildcats was officially adopted by the university after the team's defense was described as a "wall of Purple wildcats" by Chicago Sun-Times writer Wallace Abbey. NU finished 7th in the final AP poll. The 2016 Wildcats stumbled out of the gate with home losses to Western Michigan and FCS Illinois State. The Wildcats entered the 2013 season ranked No. [33] Following two disappointing seasons, including a winless Big Ten slate in 1998, Barnett decided to leave Evanston to take the head coach position at Colorado. Northwestern football coach Pat Fitzgerald has agreed to a new 10-year contract with the school that stretches through the 2030 season. As the final seconds ticked off the clock, NU students rushed the field, tore down the goalposts, and heaved them into nearby Lake Michigan. The official 2020 Football schedule for the Northwestern University Wildcats Team Winning Streaks. [67], National and Big Ten awards as per the Big Ten Conference. 24 ranking in the AP Poll, the first since 2008. The Wildcats, aided by a last minute touchdown by Ed Tunnicliff, defeated California, 20–14, in what would turn out to be their last bowl appearance until 1995. They rebounded to win four straight, including a victory over No. 9 Nebraska. [23] Following a winless 1980 season, Northwestern president Robert Strotz dismissed athletic director John Pont and head coach Rick Venturi, who finished 1–31–1 in three seasons. Team Winning Streaks. The origins of the trophy derived from a wooden cigar store Indian named Sweet Sioux, which was stolen and replaced by a tomahawk. Coach Walker adapted the more passing based spread offenses to implement his desire to run the ball effectively.[35]. Most Recent Games and Any Score Since 1869. Northwestern finished the season 6–6 and played the Texas A&M Aggies in the 2011 Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas. [49] In April 2010, a deal was reached for the annual rivalry game to be played at Wrigley Field on November 20, 2010.[50]. Biggest Year-To-Year Improvements Biggest Year-To-Year Declines Biggest Improvements Each ... Streaks. Biggest Year-To-Year Improvements Biggest Year-To-Year Declines Biggest Improvements Each ... Streaks. [18] The Wildcats won a share of the Western Conference title in both 1930 and 1931, tying with Michigan and Michigan/Purdue, respectively. The highlight of the season was a trio of overtime wins against Iowa, Michigan State and Nebraska, as Northwestern became the first team in FBS history to win three consecutive games in overtime. Northwestern faced off against No. Pat Fitzgerald (seen by many before the tragedy as Walker's eventual successor once his contract expired) was promoted from linebackers coach and recruiting coordinator to head coach on July 7, 2006. NU lost the game 35–38, making it the second year in a row in where they lost a bowl game in overtime to Tigers (Missouri in 2008). After Northwestern beat Wyoming on September 15, 1979, the Wildcats began a streak of notoriety, and lost all remaining games during that season. Walker's death was not the team's only loss; the Wildcats also had to replace their offensive coordinator, offensive line coach, and Brett Basanez, the team's former four-year starter at quarterback and holder of dozens of school records. View the 2021 Northwestern Football Schedule at FBSchedules.com. They achieved a ranking of No. The following year, Ara Parseghian was named head coach. [52] The Sweet Sioux Tomahawk permanently remains in Evanston. Northwestern Football: 3 Reasons for Optimism About the Wildcats in 2021 By Gabe Salgado , 1/28/21, 10:00 AM EST Despite the loss of key personnel, the … After Driscoll's career, the team declined during the World War I years. Shelton Eppler passed for 306 yards and ran for the winning score as Northwestern State came from 14 … [18] In his very first season at Northwestern, Waldorf was named college football's first national coach of the year. Anderson also finished second nationally in rushing yards (behind LaDanian Tomlinson). Listed below are the records for Northwestern for each year in their history. Northwestern students also sing the fight song after scoring. [63] Previously, the team was either known as the Purple or the Fighting Methodists. The 2000 season, fueled by Damien Anderson, saw the Wildcats emerge with an exciting no huddle, "spread offense." Visit ESPN to view the Northwestern Wildcats team schedule for the current and previous seasons. When NU stunned Notre Dame as a 28-point underdog in 1995, the Chicago Sun-Times billed it as the "Upset of the Century.". [22] Agase would finish his career at Northwestern with a record of 32–58–1, which ranks first in total losses. The untimely death of defensive back Rashidi Wheeler, during preseason workout drills, cast a cloud over the season. [45] The Wildcats were invited to the 2010 Outback Bowl vs. the Auburn Tigers. 1 prep player who brought 120,000 spectators to Soldier Field for a high school football game,[19][20] as well as future legend Otto Graham to try out for football.[21]. The previous high was 26 wins from 1903-05. However, the Wildcats were blown out by the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the Alamo Bowl 66–17. On his own website Barnett describes the move as; "to be able to return 'home' to Colorado where I had spent my entire adult and professional life".[34]. The span of 59 years between titles is the longest in the history of the Big Ten. 49,256) Promise returned with the arrival of Northwestern's first true star, John "Paddy" Driscoll in 1915. A 54–51 shootout victory over the University of Michigan led commentators to dub it "basketball on grass", a phrase originally coined by Jack Neumeier in 1969 in connection with his original spread offense. [14] The committee recommended for the school to promote athletics, and for alumni to actively recruit high school football players to attend NU and join the team. Northwestern is a charter member of the Big Ten Conference and has competed in the league since the conference's establishment in 1896. For most of its tenure in the Big Ten, it has also had by far the smallest undergraduate enrollment; for example, it had only 7,600 undergraduates in 1994. 1955, the year before Ara Parseghian came to Northwestern, was a major low in the history of the university's football program. Back-to-back losses to Wisconsin and Penn State to start Big Ten play left the Cats at 2–3 overall, but the squad closed the season on an eight-game winning streak, capped by a win over the Kentucky Wildcats in the Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl. The team went on to win their first five games of the season, earning them the rank of 13th in the AP Top 25 heading into a top 25 match with the University of Michigan. Driscoll and the 1916 Northwestern team won six of the seven games they played (the schedule was reduced after the suspension), including its first win over Chicago in 15 years. The 2021 Big 12 college football schedule … Championships: 8. [56] Notre Dame leads the series 38–9–2. 1936, 1995, 1996, 2000), 1930: Frank Baker (End), Fayette Russell (, This page was last edited on 4 February 2021, at 02:58. In 2001, after being named head coach at Bowling Green, Urban Meyer had his staff visit Evanston to learn from Walker and Wilson. In 2004, the Wildcats beat then-ranked No. [63] In 1923, however, the team had a bad season and decided the mascot was bad luck. The low point was the October 21 home loss to Michigan State, in which the Spartans staged the largest comeback in Division I-A history. The subsequent 1996 season lived up to expectations, with the Wildcats repeating as Big Ten Champions (sharing the title with Ohio State). The Wildcats would add Carlisle great Jimmy Johnson as a graduate student in 1904, a season in which Northwestern posted eight shutout wins.[11]. [7] In 1891, with the popularity of football increasing, Sheppard Field—complete with a grandstand—was built at Northwestern and dedicated in 1892. In the 1970 and 1971 seasons, Northwestern finished second in the Big Ten, with overall records of 6–4 and 7–4. Starting with the 1995 season, the clockface of the Rebecca Crown Tower on the NU campus would change from white to purple following an NU win . 1959 Northwestern Statistics. Coach Walker's offense revolutionized college football. Barnett made good on that boast in 1995. [37] However, the season went downhill from there. The sleeve striping was such a fixture of the program that the pattern eventually became known as "Northwestern stripes. Since 2009, the schools have competed for the Land of Lincoln Trophy. Founded in 1876, the Northwestern Football mascot is the Wildcat, a term coined by a Chicago Tribune reporter in 1924, after reporting on a football game where the players appeared as "a wall of purple wildcats". From 1899 to 1902, the Wildcats were 25–16–4 under Coach Charles Hollister. The Wildcats did not make the postseason again until December 26, 2003, when they lost to Bowling Green by a score of 28–24 in the Motor City Bowl. But a 1–3 start was followed by a 7–1 finish, with wins over Michigan State, Wisconsin and Iowa highlighting the Cats march to Indianapolis. Northwestern: 1909-1909: Bill Horr: 1: 5: 1: 3: 1: 0.3: Northwestern: 1910-1912: Charles Hammett: 3: 18: 6: 10: 2: 0.389: Northwestern: 1913-1913: Dennis Grady: 1: 7: 1: 6: 0: 0.143: Northwestern: 1914-1918: Fred Murphy: 5: 33: 16: 16: 1: 0.5: Northwestern: 1919-1919: Charlie Bachman: 1: 7: 2: 5: 0: 0.286: Northwestern: 1920-1921: Elmer McDevitt: 2: 14: 4: 10: 0: 0.286: Northwestern: 1922-1926: Glenn Thistlethwaite: 5: 39: 21: 17: 1: 0.551: Northwestern: … Conference Record: 4-3. Northwestern began the year with a 1–3 record after winning its conference road opener against Purdue but falling to non-conference foes Duke and Akron, as … Before the beginning of the 2007 season, Northwestern showed potential for improvement upon the previous year's record. Seasons: 127 (1892 to 2020) Record (W-L-T): 545-670-40 Adjusted Record (W-L-T): 546-669-40 Conferences: Big Ten, Western, Ind. [6] From 1882 to 1887, the team mostly practiced and did not play teams outside of NU. In 2018, Northwestern captured the Big Ten West division title for the first time in school history, finishing with an 8–1 mark in conference play. The jersey was considered one of the first modern football uniforms, and was soon replicated across football. Coincidentally, it was Coach Walker's Miami Redhawks, who handed NU their only regular season loss during the miracle 1995 season. Following the season Coach Walker and offensive coordinator, Kevin Wilson, visited Rich Rodriguez and Tommy Bowden at Clemson to learn from the offense that they were running. 8 Notre Dame Fighting Irish, along with other unbelievable wins over No. All-time Winning Streaks All-time Losing Streaks Team vs. [30], Northwestern's former woes were in part due to the indifference of the school's administration in the 1970s and early 1980s, which resulted in a lower level of talent than that found at its larger, public opponents in the Big Ten. He also made a trip to meet with Mike Martz from the St. Louis Rams to pick up ideas. There have been 29 head coaches since the inaugural team in 1882, with Pat Fitzgerald being the current head coach. 3 in the nation and their first Big Ten title since 1936. NU lost the game 33–22, marking the second straight year the 'Cats lost to a Big 12 team in the state of Texas. 6 Michigan. Following a winless 1921 season, Northwestern set up a committee to investigate the problem with Northwestern's football team. [47] They had 9 consecutive bowl losses which tied them with Notre Dame for the longest bowl losing streak of all time, which they ended in the 2013 Gator Bowl. [17] The final game of the series, a 38-7 NU win in 1926,[59] helped transfer the Chicago football focus from the Maroons to the Wildcats, where it remained until the Chicago Bears gained popularity in the mid-1950s[60] Chicago dropped football in 1939 and withdrew from the Big Ten in 1946.[61]. The Wildcats have appeared in 16 bowl games, posting a record of 6–10. [8] Also in 1892, the university chose royal purple as the school's official color, and the team recorded its first significant win, beating Michigan 10–8. During these years, Northwestern compiled a record of 33–39–1. [51] From 1947 through 2008, the teams competed for the Sweet Sioux Tomahawk Trophy, since retired as part of a ruling by the NCAA requiring Illinois to purge Native American imagery from their athletics. Northwestern School History; ... College Football Scores. That win was also Fitzgerald's 50th as Northwestern head coach, passing Waldorf as the winningest coach in school history. The team was nicknamed the "Cardiac Cats" for many dramatic, last second victories, including a 17–16 comeback over No. Northwestern Wildcats head football coach Pat Fitzgerald has agreed to a new 10-year contract that will keep him at the school through the 2030 season. [63], Before the 4th quarter of Northwestern football games a video screen plays the song "Put Your Hands Up in the Air" by Danzel, preceded by an announcement by a local celebrity. Conferences. Visit ESPN to view the Northwestern Wildcats team schedule for the current and previous seasons 25 ranking in the Coaches' Poll. Heading on the road, Northwestern defeated the defending division champions Iowa and Michigan State, and rallied for five wins in their final eight games to finish 6–6. Winsipedia - Database and infographics of Wisconsin Badgers vs. Northwestern Wildcats football series history and all-time records, national championships, conference championships, bowl games, wins, bowl record, All-Americans, Heisman winners, and NFL Draft picks Lynn O. [17] In 1933, the NU athletic department and an ad agency, created the first image of Willie the Wildcat, though he did not come to life until 1947 when Alpha Delta fraternity members dressed up as the mascot. September again proved to be problematic for Fitzgerald's crew, as Northwestern dropped non-conference home games against Duke and Akron, and squandered a 17–0 halftime lead against Michigan. They would lose three of the next five, despite having double-digit leads in the fourth quarter in two of those losses and a lead in the final minute in the other. A win against Illinois in the final game gave the Wildcats a 4–8 record for the year and saved them from finishing last in the Big Ten. "Expect Victory" was the motto, even as Northwestern began the season as 28-point underdogs. Bowl Record: 16 Bowls, 6-10, .375 W-L% (Major Bowls) Ranked in AP Poll: 7 Times (Preseason), 13 Times (Final), 189 Weeks (Total) Stadium: Ryan Field (cap. EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) — Northwestern and coach Pat Fitzgerald have agreed to a new contract through the 2030 season. The Northwestern Wildcats football team represents Northwestern University as a NCAA Division I college football team and member of the Big Ten Conference based near Chicago in Evanston, Illinois. [citation needed] Northwestern and Chicago share the city of Chicago – representing the "north side" and the "south side", respectively. That game became an ESPN Instant Classic and was representative of the season, which saw frequent high scores and dramatic finishes. [41] On October 7, quarterback C. J. Bachér broke Brett Basanez's school record for single-game passing yards by throwing for 520 yards in a victory over Michigan State. [42] Another strong performance in a win against Minnesota earned Bachér Big Ten Conference Offensive Player of the Week honors for the second week in a row.[43]. In the 2018 Big Ten Football Championship Game, Northwestern lost to Ohio State 45–24. ESPN.com's Mark Schlabach stated that Northwestern had the 7th-easiest schedule in college football,[38] and SI.com's Steve Megargee claimed that Indiana was the only Big Ten school with an easier schedule. Another key factor to NU's gridiron improvement was the leadership of NU President Walter Dill Scott[15] Scott, who was a guard on NU's football team as an undergrad during the 1890s, was a strong supporter of athletics. The endzones at Ryan Field also sport the pattern. Led by the trio of quarterback Steve Schnur, running back Darnell Autry, and linebacker Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern accomplished one of the most dramatic one-season turnarounds in college football history. [74], US News & World Report University Rankings, 2011/, Northwestern University Wildcat Marching Band, List of Northwestern Wildcats football seasons, Learn how and when to remove this template message, Sporting News College Football Coach of the Year, Category:Northwestern Wildcats football players, Northwestern Wildcats football statistical leaders, "Northwestern University's Guide to Using Marks, Colors, Trademarks, and Logos", "Wildcat Nickname History | HailToPurple.com", "Notre Dame and Miami (Fla.) Receive 2009 Academic Achievement Award", "ESPN Classic – 'Automatic Otto' defined versatility", ‘The Longest Losing Streaks in College Football History’, http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4179/is_19990121/ai_n11718169/, http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1997-01-07/sports/9701070092_1_northwestern-coach-gary-barnett-lions-officials, http://www.garybarnettfoundation.org/career.htm, Smart Football "Former Northwestern Coach Randy Walker's effect on the spread", "Teammates say Wheeler took supplements before death", "Miami (Ohio) RedHawks, NCAA Football, Northwestern Wildcats – CBSSports.com", "SI.com – Big Ten schedule rankings – Jun 21, 2007", "Tyrell Sutton Named to Maxwell Award Watch List", "Northeastern at Northwestern - 2007-09-01 - College Football - Yahoo! Conf. The team, coached by Lou Saban, finished with a record of 0-8-1 -- the worst (at that time) in the history of Northwestern football.
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