1979 Northwestern Wildcats football team

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]

1979 Northwestern Wildcats football
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
Record1–10 (0–9 Big Ten)
Head coach
Captains
  • Kevin Berg[1]
  • Mike Fiedler
Home stadiumDyche Stadium
1979 Big Ten Conference football standings
ConfOverall
TeamW L TW L T
No. 4 Ohio State $ 8 –0 –011 –1 –0
No. 10 Purdue 7 –1 –010 –2 –0
No. 18 Michigan 6 –2 –08 –4 –0
No. 19 Indiana 5 –3 –08 –4 –0
Iowa 4 –4 –05 –6 –0
Minnesota 3 –5 –14 –6 –1
Michigan State 3 –5 –05 –6 –0
Wisconsin 3 –5 –04 –7 –0
Illinois 1 –6 –12 –8 –1
Northwestern 0 –9 –01 –10 –0
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll

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
DateOpponentSiteResultAttendanceSource
September 8at No. 7 Michigan
L 7–49100,790
September 15Wyoming*
W 27–22[4]
September 22Syracuse*
  • Dyche Stadium
  • Evanston, IL
L 21–5420,121
September 29at Minnesota
L 8–3833,998
October 6at No. 8 Ohio State
L 7–1687,406
October 13Iowa
  • Dyche Stadium
  • Evanston, IL
L 6–5827,224
October 20at Indiana
L 0–3030,086
October 27at No. 16 Purdue
L 16–2069,656
November 3Michigan State
  • Dyche Stadium
  • Evanston, IL
L 7–4220,193
November 10at Wisconsin
L 3–2868,229
November 17Illinois
  • Dyche Stadium
  • Evanston, IL (rivalry)
L 13–2919,217
  • *Non-conference game
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

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

Team players in the NFL
PlayerPositionRoundPickNFL club
Norm WellsGuard12330Dallas Cowboys

References
  1. "Year-by-Year Results" (PDF). 2007. p. 148. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 16, 2019. Retrieved March 14, 2019.
  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.
  4. "Wildcats break long losing streak". The Dispatch. September 16, 1979. p. 15 – via Newspapers.com.


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