2019 Northwestern Wildcats football team

2019 Northwestern Wildcats football
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Division	West Division
2019 record	3–9 (1–8 Big Ten)
Head coach	Pat Fitzgerald (14th season)
Offensive coordinator	Mick McCall (12th season)
Defensive coordinator	Mike Hankwitz (12th season)
Home stadium	Ryan Field (Capacity: 47,130)
Uniform
Seasons ← 2018 2020 →

2019 Big Ten Conference football standings
v t	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
East Division
No. 3 Ohio State xy$^		9	–	0					13	–	1
No. 9 Penn State		7	–	2					11	–	2
No. 18 Michigan		6	–	3					9	–	4
Indiana		5	–	4					8	–	5
Michigan State		4	–	5					7	–	6
Maryland		1	–	8					3	–	9
Rutgers		0	–	9					2	–	10
West Division
No. 11 Wisconsin xy		7	–	2					10	–	4
No. 10 Minnesota x		7	–	2					11	–	2
No. 15 Iowa		6	–	3					10	–	3
Illinois		4	–	5					6	–	7
Purdue		3	–	6					4	–	8
Nebraska		3	–	6					5	–	7
Northwestern		1	–	8					3	–	9
Championship: Ohio State 34, Wisconsin 21
^ – College Football Playoff participant $ – Conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions y – Championship game participant Rankings from AP Poll

The 2019 Northwestern Wildcats football team represented Northwestern University during the 2019 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Wildcats played their home games at Ryan Field in Evanston, Illinois and competed in the West Division of the Big Ten Conference. They were led by 14th-year head coach Pat Fitzgerald. They finished the season 3–9, 1–8 in Big Ten play to finish in last place in the West Division.

Previous season[]

The 2018 Wildcats team made the school's first ever appearance in the Big Ten Championship Game by winning the West Division with a conference record of 8–1. They fell to Ohio State in that game, and went on to defeat Utah in the Holiday Bowl to finish the season at 9–5 and ranked 21st in the final AP Poll.

Preseason[]

Preseason Big Ten poll[]

Although the Big Ten Conference has not held an official preseason poll since 2010, Cleveland.com has polled sports journalists representing all member schools as a de facto preseason media poll since 2011. For the 2019 poll, Northwestern was projected to finish in fourth in the West Division.^[1]

Media poll (West Division)
Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Nebraska	198 (14)
2	Iowa	194.5 (14)
3	Wisconsin	172.5 (4)
4	Northwestern	142.5 (1)
5	Purdue	110.5
6	Minnesota	100 (1)
7	Illinois	34

Schedule[]

Northwestern will open its 2019 schedule with two non-conference games, first on the road against Stanford of the Pac-12 Conference, and then the season home opener against UNLV of the Mountain West Conference. Northwestern's third non-conference game, against independent UMass, will be played in November.

In Big Ten Conference play, Northwestern will play all fellow members of the West Division, and draws Michigan State, Ohio State, and Indiana from the East Division. Northwestern's game against Ohio State, a rematch of the 2018 Big Ten Championship Game, will be played on a Friday night, a decision by the Big Ten Conference which drew ire from Northwestern officials and head coach Pat Fitzgerald.^[2]

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 31	3:00 p.m.	at No. 25 Stanford*	Stanford Stadium Stanford, CA	FOX	L 7–17	37,179
September 14	2:30 p.m.	UNLV*	Ryan Field Evanston, IL	BTN	W 30–14	37,714
September 21	11:00 a.m.	Michigan State	Ryan Field Evanston, IL	ABC	L 10–31	40,114
September 28	11:00 a.m.	at No. 8 Wisconsin	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI	ABC	L 15–24	76,825
October 5	3:00 p.m.	at Nebraska	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE	FOX	L 10–13	89,348
October 18	7:30 p.m.	No. 4 Ohio State	Ryan Field Evanston, IL	BTN	L 3–52	47,130
October 26	11:00 a.m.	No. 20 Iowa	Ryan Field Evanston, IL	ESPN2	L 0–20	42,104
November 2	6:00 p.m.	at Indiana	Memorial Stadium Bloomington, IN	FS1	L 3–34	40,924
November 9	11:00 a.m.	Purdue	Ryan Field Evanston, IL	BTN	L 22–24	37,194
November 16	11:00 a.m.	UMass*	Ryan Field Evanston, IL	BTN	W 45–6	29,447
November 23	11:00 a.m.	No. 10 Minnesota	Ryan Field Evanston, IL	ABC	L 22–38	30,246
November 30	11:00 a.m.	at Illinois	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL (Land of Lincoln Trophy)	FS1	W 29–10	35,895
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll and CFP Rankings (after November 5) released prior to game All times are in Central time

Source:^[3]

Rankings[]

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Final
AP	RV	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
Coaches	25	RV	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
CFP	Not released										NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	Not released

Game summaries[]

at Stanford[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Wildcats	0	0	0	7	7
No. 25 Cardinal	0	10	0	7	17

UNLV[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Rebels	7	7	0	0	14
Wildcats	10	6	7	7	30

Michigan State[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Spartans	7	7	10	7	31
Wildcats	0	3	0	7	10

at Wisconsin[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Wildcats	3	0	0	12	15
No. 8 Badgers	7	0	7	10	24

at Nebraska[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Wildcats	0	3	7	0	10
Cornhuskers	7	3	0	3	13

Ohio State[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 4 Buckeyes	7	24	7	14	52
Wildcats	3	0	0	0	3

Iowa[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 20 Hawkeyes	7	3	7	3	20
Wildcats	0	0	0	0	0

at Indiana[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Wildcats	0	3	0	0	3
Hoosiers	10	14	7	3	34

Purdue[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Boilermakers	0	7	14	3	24
Wildcats	14	2	0	6	22

UMass[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Minutemen	3	3	0	0	6
Wildcats	0	21	3	21	45

Minnesota[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 10 Golden Gophers	14	7	7	10	38
Wildcats	0	9	7	6	22

at Illinois[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Wildcats	3	7	7	12	29
Fighting Illini	0	7	3	0	10

Roster[]

2019 Northwestern Wildcats football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class WR 4 Berkeley Holman  So WR 5 Jace James So RB 6 Drake Anderson  Fr QB 7 Andrew Marty  So WR 8 Kyric McGowen Jr QB 10 T. J. Green  Sr QB 11 Aidan Smith  Jr WR 12 J. J. Jefferson So QB 13 Jason Whittaker  Fr WR 14 Malik Washington Fr QB 15 Hunter Johnson  So WR 16 Zac Krause Fr WR 17 Bryce Kirtz Fr WR 18 Genson Hooper Price Fr WR 19 Riley Lees  Jr RB 20 John Moten IV  Sr RB 22 Connor Newhouse Fr WR 23 Raymond Niro III  Fr RB 25 Isaiah Bowser So RB 26 Evan Hull Fr RB 36 Jesse Brown  Jr RB 39 Marcus Cisco Fr SB 45 Tommy Carnifax  Jr OL 52 Sam Gerak  So OL 54 Conrad Rowley Fr OL 56 Sam Stovall  Fr OL 57 Cam Kolwich  Jr OL 61 Jason Goosen  Jr OL 63 Dom D'Antonio Fr OL 65 Jared Thomas  Sr OL 66 Nik Urban  Jr OL 69 Charlie Schmidt  Fr OL 70 Rashawn Slater Jr OL 73 Gunnar Vogel  Jr OL 74 Payne He'Bert  Fr OL 75 Connor Foster Fr OL 76 Ethan Wiederkehr  So OL 77 Jesse Meyler  Jr OL 79 Zachary Franks Fr SB 80 Trey Pugh Jr WR 81 Ramaud Chiaokhiao-Bowman  Jr WR 82 Braeden Heald  Fr SB 82 Alex Oelsner  So SB 83 Trent Goens  Sr WR 84 Will Lansbury  So WR 85 Jack Kennedy Fr WR 86 Wayne Dennis Jr. Fr SB 86 Cody Link  Jr SB 87 Thomas Gordon Fr WR 88 Ben Skowronek Sr WR 89 Preston Bacon Fr SB 89 Charlie Mangieri So	Defense Pos. # Name Class DB 1 Joe Bergin  Sr DB 2 Greg Newsome II So DB 3 Trae Williams  Sr DB 7 Travis Whillock  Jr DB 9 Roderick Campbell Sr DB 10 Jeremiah McDonald  Fr DB 11 A. J. Hampton  Fr DB 13 J. R. Pace Jr DB 16 Brandon Joseph Fr DB 18 Cameron Ruiz  So DB 21 Cameron Mitchell Fr DB 22 Bryce Jackson  So DB 23 Donovan Sermons  So DB 24 Rod Heard Fr DB 26 Brian Bullock  Jr DB 27 Coco Azema Fr LB 28 Chris Bergin Jr CB 29 Tyler Haskins Fr LB 31 Jaylen Rivers  Fr LB 32 Bryce Gallagher Fr LB 33 Michael Jansey Jr. Fr LB 35 Erik Mueller Jr LB 40 Peter McIntyre  So LB 41 Grayson Mann  Fr LB 42 Paddy Fisher  Jr LB 44 Khalid Jones  Fr DL 46 Devin O'Rourke  Fr LB 47 Troy Hudetz Jr DL 49 Adetomiwa Adebawore Fr DL 50 P. J. Spencer Fr LB 51 Blake Gallagher Jr DL 53 Andrew Leota  Fr DE 55 Mark Gooden  Jr DL 68 Wyatt Blake  Fr DL 78 Luka Trifunovic Fr DT 90 Jake Saunders  Jr DL 91 Samdup Miller Jr DL 92 Willy Boatman  Fr DL 93 Joe Spivak Jr DE 94 Jason Gold Jr. Fr DL 95 Alex Miller Sr DE 96 Trevor Kent  So DL 97 Joe Gaziano  Sr DL 98 Duke Olges Fr DE 99 Earnest Brown IV Jr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K 14 Charlie Kuhbander Jr K, P 15 Trey Finison Fr P 17 Daniel Kubiuk  Sr P 34 Andrew David Fr P 37 Cody Gronewold  So K, P 38 Drew Luckenbaugh  Jr LS 43 Tyler Gillikin  Jr LS 48 Peter Snodgrass  So P 90 Jake Genyk  Fr	Head coach Pat Fitzgerald Coordinators/assistant coaches Kurt Anderson (Offensive Line) Lou Ayeni (Running Backs / Recruiting Coordinator) Jeff Genyk (Special Teams Coordinator) Mike Hankwitz (Defensive Coordinator) Bob Heffner (Superbacks) Marty Long (Defensive Line) Matt McPherson (Associate Head Coach / Defensive Backs) Mick McCall (Offensive Coordinator / Quarterbacks) Tim McGarigle (Linebackers) Dennis Springer (Wide Receivers) Cody Cejda (Director of Football Operations) Darby Dunnagan (Director of Video Operations) Jay Hooten (Director of Sports Performance for Football) Jacob Schmidt (Director of Player Development) Bryan Payton (Director of Recruiting Communications) Jonny Kovach (Director of Recruiting Operations) Todd McShane (Director of Scouting) John Holloway (Assistant Director of Football Operations) Kevin Koch (Defensive Graduate Assistant) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster Last update: October 13, 2019

References[]