Northwestern Wildcats football

Northwestern University athletics logo

Basic Information

Head Coach: Pat Fitzgerald
Stadium: Ryan Field
Conference: Big Ten
All-Time Win/Loss/Tie Record as of 2006: 449-596-44
Big Ten Championships: 1903, 1926, 1930, 1931, 1936, 1995, 1996, 2000
Trophy Game: Sweet Sioux Tomahawk - University of Illinois

History

The Northwestern University football team is in the NCAA Division I, with evidence of organization in 1876. The 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." Northwestern achieved an all-time high rank of #1 during the 1936 and 1962 seasons, which has thus far not been duplicated. Northwestern has won one bowl game, the Rose Bowl, in 1949. After that, the team has languished in decades of mediocrity. The team achieved notoriety with a 34-game losing streak from 1979-1982, the longest in Division I-A college football. Upon setting the new record in 1981 (thanks to a 61-14 home loss to Michigan State), students rushed the field to "celebrate," and chanted "we're the worst!" A win over Northern Illinois University finally broke the losing streak.

Northwestern's woes are in part due to the talent level, which typically is not like that found at larger, public institutions. However, Northwestern consistently is among the leaders in graduation rate; they were 100% in 1998 and 2002, and consistently are in the 90th percentile. Despite the stricter academic standards, there have been notable athletes, such as Napoleon Harris, who was valedictorian of his high school class, and the Oakland Raiders' first-round draft pick in 2002.

Northwestern holds the all-time records for Division I-A losses, points allowed, and negative point differential (amount opponents have outscored them by). They are also on the losing end of the greatest comeback in Division I-A history, blowing a 38-3 lead in the third quarter of a 41-38 loss to Michigan State on October 21, 2006.

File:Northwestern si 1963.jpg

Northwestern Football graces the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1963, ranked #1

Traditions

The students and the Northwestern University Wildcat Marching Band generally sit in one section near the goal line. The cheerleaders and marching band lead the students with certain cheers, such as "Go U, NU," and "Let's go 'Cats!" In a tradition called the "Growl", started by the marching band in the 1960's, the students extend their arms and make a claw with their hands like that of a wildcat while screaming to intimidate and confuse opposing teams' offenses.

Cheerleaders, along with Willie the Wildcat and the marching band's "SpiriTeam", perform pushups after every touchdown, equal to Northwestern's cumulative score. The student section will follow suit, usually hoisting selected fellow students up into the air while in the stands, counting out the number of NU points on the scoreboard. Northwestern students also sing the fight song after scoring. The "Alma Mater" (the traditional school song, different from the fight song, "Go U Northwestern") is usually sung at the end of the game and played by the marching band at halftime.

Other notable traditions include the jiggling of keys before every kickoff, the origin of this tradition is unclear, but was probably borrowed from another school. Some people have claimed that jingling of keys was to insinuate that the opposing school's graduates would one day be parking the cars of the Northwestern graduates. Another version claims the tradition began in the 1940s when Northwestern students had vehicles, while their state school opponents weren't fortunate enough to enjoy such luxuries. The generic "State School" chant is also employed.

The cheerleaders used to perform the "Gator Chomp," but that was subsequently dropped during the 1999 season due to complaints that Northwestern was mimicking the University of Florida. Another previous tradition was the tossing of marshmallows into the tubas of the marching band.

In terms of preseason training camp, the football team usually spends time at Camp Kenosha, Wisconsin.

The Wildcats and the University of Illinois battle yearly for the Sweet Sioux Tomahawk Trophy. The winner of the annual game retains the trophy.

The Gary Barnett Era

It was during the 1995 season, under head coach Gary Barnett and the trio of quarterback Steve Schnur, running back Darnell Autry, and linebacker Pat Fitzgerald, when a dramatic turnaround was accomplished. "Expect Victory" was the motto, even as Northwestern began the season as 28-point underdogs. A shocking 17-15 season-opening win over the heavily favored Notre Dame Fighting Irish, along with other unbelievable wins over Michigan (19-13) and Penn State (21-10), catapulted the team into the national spotlight and made them media darlings. Northwestern achieved a ranking of #3 in the nation and a Big Ten Championship. They faced off against USC in the Rose Bowl. The Cinderella season came to an abrupt halt with the Wildcats losing 41-32.

File:Northwestern si 1995.jpg

Northwestern Football returning to the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1995

The subsequent 1996 season lived up to expectations, with the Wildcats repeating as Big Ten Champions (Co-Champions). The team was nicknamed the "Cardiac Cats" for many dramatic, last second victories, including a 17-16 comeback over the University of Michigan. Down 16-0 entering the fourth quarter, the Wildcats scored 17 unanswered points, culminating with heart-stopping fourth down conversions and a last second field goal to complete the comeback. They earned an invitation to the Citrus Bowl, only to come up short against the Peyton Manning-led University of Tennessee, 48-28.

The Randy Walker Era

After Barnett was signed away by the Colorado Buffaloes following the 1998 season, Coach Randy Walker (formerly of Miami University in Ohio) was called to lead the team. Coach Walker's emphasis on offense, and especially the running back position (him having been an excellent running back in college), has been Northwestern's philosophy to date. The 2000 season saw the Wildcats emerge with an exciting "spread offense." The spread offense emphasizes many wide receivers to spread out the defense, thus allowing more cracks in the defense for running or passing plays. A 54-51 victory over the University of Michigan had commentators nickname it "basketball on grass." That game became an ESPN Instant Classic and was representative of the season, which appeared to be simply to score more than the opponents. The high-scoring offense usually was enough to overcome the porous defense, and the Wildcats earned their third Big Ten title in six years (co-champions). However, the Wildcats were destroyed by the Nebraska Cornhuskers 66-17 in the Alamo Bowl. 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. In 2004, the Wildcats beat Ohio State for the first time since 1971, but that victory was the season's only highlight. The 2005 season was Northwestern's best since 2000, ending up as #25 ranked team in the BCS poll. The team appeared in the AP and Coach's polls for the first time since October 2001. The Wildcats earned an invitation to the Sun Bowl, only to lose to UCLA, 50-38.

Northwestern University record

Year	Overall	Big 10 / place	Bowl Game
1999	3-8	1-7 / 10th	None
2000	8-4	6-2 / 1st (T)	Alamo Bowl
2001	4-7	2-6 / 10th (T)	None
2002	3-9	1-7 / 10th (T)	None
2003	6-7	4-4 / 7th	Motor City Bowl
2004	6-6	5-3 / 4th	None
2005	7-5	5-3 / 3rd	Sun Bowl

2006 Season

Randy Walker died unexpectedly on June 29, 2006 of an apparent heart attack at the age of 52. 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. 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 three-year starter at quarterback and holder of dozens of school records. Hence, the 2006 season was a departure from the previous years' successes. The season began with a win at Miami University, Walker's alma mater, an emotional game that featured several tributes to the late coach^[1]. However, the season went downhill from there. 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. 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.

Date	Opponent	Site	Result
August 31, 2006	Miami (Ohio)	Yager Stadium · Oxford, OH	W, 21-3
September 9, 2006	New Hampshire	Ryan Field · Evanston, IL	L, 34-17
September 16, 2006	Eastern Michigan	Ryan Field · Evanston, IL	W, 14-6
September 22, 2006	Nevada	Mackay Stadium · Reno, NV	L, 31-21
September 30, 2006	Penn State	Beaver Stadium · University Park, PA	L, 33-7
October 7, 2006	Wisconsin	Camp Randall Stadium · Madison, WI	L, 41-9
October 14, 2006	Purdue	Ryan Field · Evanston, IL	L, 31-10
October 21, 2006	Michigan State	Ryan Field · Evanston, IL	L, 41-38
October 28, 2006	Michigan	Michigan Stadium · Ann Arbor, MI	L, 17-3
November 4, 2006	Iowa	Kinnick Stadium · Iowa City, IA	W, 21-7
November 11, 2006	Ohio State	Ryan Field · Evanston, IL	L, 54-10
November 18, 2006	Illinois	Ryan Field · Evanston, IL	W, 27-16

Bowl Games

Year	Game	Opponent	Result
1948	Rose Bowl	California	W, 20-14
1995	Rose Bowl	USC	L, 32-41
1996	Citrus Bowl	Tennessee	L, 28-48
2000	Alamo Bowl	Nebraska	L, 17-66
2003	Motor City Bowl	Bowling Green	L, 24-28
2005	Sun Bowl	UCLA	L, 38-50