1979 Northwestern Wildcats football team

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1979 Northwestern Wildcats football
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
1979 record1–10 (0–9 Big Ten)
Head coach
Captains
  • Kevin Berg[1]
  • Mike Fiedler
Home stadiumDyche Stadium
Seasons
← 1978
1980 →
1979 Big Ten Conference football standings
  • v
  • t
 Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
No. 4 Ohio State $ 8 – 0 – 0 11 – 1 – 0
No. 10 Purdue 7 – 1 – 0 10 – 2 – 0
No. 18 Michigan 6 – 2 – 0 8 – 4 – 0
No. 19 Indiana 5 – 3 – 0 8 – 4 – 0
Iowa 4 – 4 – 0 5 – 6 – 0
Minnesota 3 – 5 – 1 4 – 6 – 1
Michigan State 3 – 5 – 0 5 – 6 – 0
Wisconsin 3 – 5 – 0 4 – 7 – 0
Illinois 1 – 6 – 1 2 – 8 – 1
Northwestern 0 – 9 – 0 1 – 10 – 0
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1979 Northwestern Wildcats team represented Northwestern University during the 1979 Big Ten Conference football season. In their second year under head coach Rick Venturi, the Wildcats compiled a 1–10 record (0–9 against Big Ten Conference opponents) and finished in last place in the Big Ten Conference.[2]

The team's offensive leaders were quarterback Mike Kerrigan with 961 passing yards, Jeff Cohn with 426 rushing yards, and Todd Sheets with 614 receiving yards.[3]

Northwestern's 21–54 loss to Syracuse on September 22 began what would eventually become a 34-game losing streak, the longest in FBS history. They wouldn't win another game until September 25, 1982.

Schedule[]

DateOpponentSiteResult
September 8at No. 7 Michigan
L 7–49
September 15Wyoming*
W 27–22
September 22Syracuse*
  • Dyche Stadium
  • Evanston, IL
L 21–54
September 29at Minnesota
L 8–38
October 6at No. 8 Ohio State
L 7–16
October 13Iowa
  • Dyche Stadium
  • Evanston, IL
L 6–58
October 20at Indiana
  • Memorial Stadium
  • Bloomington, IN
L 0–30
October 27at No. 16 Purdue
L 16–20
November 3Michigan State
  • Dyche Stadium
  • Evanston, IL
L 7–42
November 10at Wisconsin
L 3–28
November 17Illinois
  • Dyche Stadium
  • Evanston, IL (Sweet Sioux Tomahawk)
L 13–29
  • *Non-conference game
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Roster[]

1979 Northwestern Wildcats football team roster
Players Coaches
Offense
Pos. # Name Class
QB 12 Mike Kerrigan So
T 55 Phil Reitz Sr
RB 30 Jeff Cohn Fr
T 75 Rob Taylor So
Defense
Pos. # Name Class
LB 80 Chris Hinton Fr
DT 74 Norm Wells Sr
Special teams
Pos. # Name Class
Head coach
Coordinators/assistant coaches
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • Injured Injured
  • Redshirt Redshirt

Team players in the NFL[]

Player Position Round Pick NFL club
Norm Wells Guard 12 330 Dallas Cowboys

References[]

  1. ^ "Year-by-Year Results" (PDF). 2007. p. 148. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2019-03-16. Retrieved 2019-03-14.
  2. ^ "1979 Northwestern Wildcats Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved February 22, 2016.
  3. ^ "1979 Northwestern Wildcats Stats". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved February 22, 2016.
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