50 Fun Facts About Northwestern Wildcats Football

Before they became the Wildcats in 1924, what were Northwestern's teams unofficially called?

Fighting Methodists was the unofficial name and The Purple the official one until a Chicago sportswriter likened the 1924 team to wildcats after a loss to the University of Chicago.

Northwestern hosted the first final of which event in 1939, yet never played in it until 2017?

The NCAA basketball tournament crowned Oregon its first champion at Northwestern's Patten Gymnasium. The Wildcats finally qualified 78 years later and beat Vanderbilt 68–66 in their debut.

Which future baseball owner spent 1955 as an assistant coach on Northwestern's winless football team?

George Steinbrenner worked under head coach Lou Saban through an 0–8–1 season, moved on to Purdue's staff, and led the group that bought the New York Yankees in 1973.

Northwestern's 2005 champion women's lacrosse team caused a stir by wearing what to the White House?

Flip-flops on several players in the team photo with President Bush made national news, and the squad later auctioned the sandals for charity.

Which 1940s Northwestern quarterback took the Cleveland Browns to ten straight league title games?

Otto Graham arrived at Northwestern on a basketball scholarship in 1940 before football became his main sport. He won seven of those ten title games.

Which Emmy-winning Northwestern alumna's son, Charlie Hall, played basketball for the Wildcats?

Julia Louis-Dreyfus met her husband, comedian Brad Hall, while both were Northwestern students, and their younger son Charlie later suited up for the Wildcats.

Which Tennessee quarterback threw four touchdown passes against Northwestern in the 1997 Citrus Bowl?

Peyton Manning passed for 408 yards in the 48–28 win over a Northwestern team that had just won a share of its second straight Big Ten title.

At which Chicago venue did Northwestern face Illinois in 2010, with all offense aimed at one end zone?

Wrigley Field left the east end zone about a foot from the right-field wall, so both offenses drove west in the ballpark's first college football game since 1938.

Which top-ten team did 28-point underdog Northwestern upset 17–15 to open its 1995 season?

Notre Dame had beaten Northwestern 14 straight times, and the upset began a 10–2 run to the Wildcats' first Big Ten title in 59 years.

After each Northwestern touchdown, cheerleaders do one of what for every point on the scoreboard?

Push-ups are counted out to match Northwestern's running total, and students join in by hoisting classmates into the air in the stands.

Which lakefront Illinois city just north of Chicago is home to Northwestern football?

Evanston borders Chicago's north side on Lake Michigan, close enough that Northwestern markets itself as the big city's own Big Ten team.

Which name does Northwestern's costumed wildcat mascot, first drawn for the school in 1933, go by?

Willie existed only as a drawing until 1947, when fraternity members first dressed up as the wildcat for the Homecoming parade.

Which live animal, named Furpaw, was Northwestern's football mascot in the early 1920s?

A bear cub named Furpaw was kept caged as the team's mascot until a poor 1923 season convinced the players that it was bad luck.

Which name did Northwestern's Ryan Field carry from its 1926 opening until a 1997 renaming?

Dyche Stadium honored William Dyche, an 1882 graduate and former local mayor who oversaw the building project; the later name honors the family of Aon founder Patrick Ryan.

Until USC arrived in 2024, Northwestern had spent decades as the Big Ten's only what?

Private university status set Northwestern apart from 1946, when the University of Chicago left the Big Ten; it was also long the league's smallest school, with about 8,000 undergraduates.

Which unbeaten team did Northwestern beat 20–14 in the 1949 Rose Bowl, its first bowl game?

California fell to Ed Tunnicliff's late touchdown run on a trick play, and Northwestern did not win another bowl game until the 2012 season.

Which coach, hired from Colorado's staff, took Northwestern to the Rose Bowl after the 1995 season?

Gary Barnett won a string of national coach of the year awards after a 10–2 season, two more wins than his first three Northwestern teams had managed combined.

Which Northwestern linebacker won the Nagurski Trophy and Bednarik Award in both 1995 and 1996?

Pat Fitzgerald was the first two-time winner of both awards, and at 31 he became major college football's youngest head coach when Northwestern promoted him in 2006.

Which future NFL head coach led Northwestern when its record 34-game losing streak ended in 1982?

Dennis Green, hired from Stanford's staff, saw the streak end against Northern Illinois, after which students tore down the goalposts and threw them into Lake Michigan.

Which team beat Northwestern in the Big Ten Championship Game in both 2018 and 2020?

Ohio State won 45–24 and then 22–10, the second after Northwestern led at halftime; both trips followed Big Ten West division titles.

In 2014, Northwestern football players petitioned a federal board for the right to form what?

A labor union for scholarship athletes was the aim of the campaign fronted by quarterback Kain Colter; the National Labor Relations Board dismissed the petition in August 2015.

In which European capital did Northwestern beat Nebraska to open 2022, its first game played abroad?

Dublin's Aviva Stadium hosted the 31–28 win, which turned out to be Northwestern's only victory of the entire 2022 season.

In 2017 Northwestern became the first FBS team ever to win three consecutive games in which fashion?

In overtime, Northwestern beat Iowa, Michigan State and Nebraska on successive Saturdays, part of an eight-game winning streak that closed a 10–3 season.

Which sportswear brand's first Big Ten deal put Northwestern in its uniforms from 2012?

Under Armour took over in 2012–13 and went on to produce the Gothic uniforms that Northwestern football first wore in 2014.

Which no-huddle attack powered Northwestern's 54–51 win over Michigan and its 2000 Big Ten co-title?

The spread stretched defenses with extra receivers so Northwestern could run the ball. Damien Anderson finished second in the nation in rushing, and Urban Meyer sent his Bowling Green staff to study it.

Which nickname did Northwestern's 1996 Big Ten co-champions earn for a string of last-second wins?

Cardiac Cats suited a team that trailed sixth-ranked Michigan 16–0 entering the fourth quarter and won 17–16 on a last-second field goal.

Northwestern's first postseason win since 1949 came against Mississippi State in which January 2013 game?

The Gator Bowl win, 34–20, snapped a run of nine straight bowl defeats, which had tied the longest losing streak in bowl history.

The Land of Lincoln Trophy, played for by Northwestern and Illinois, is a bronze replica of what?

A stovepipe hat like the one Abraham Lincoln wore makes up the trophy, which was designed by Dick Tracy cartoonist Dick Locher.

Which trophy, originally a carved wooden figure, did Northwestern and Illinois contest until 2008?

The Sweet Sioux Tomahawk replaced a cigar-store statue that was stolen, and it stayed with Northwestern for good after the Wildcats won the last game played for it.

The trophy for the Northwestern–Michigan game honors George Jewett, the Big Ten's first what?

African American player George Jewett starred for Michigan before transferring to Northwestern in 1893, where he broke the same barrier; the trophy was created in 2021.

Which coach had Northwestern atop the AP Poll during the 1962 season, then left after 1963?

Ara Parseghian was 32 and the Big Ten's youngest coach when he was hired in late 1955, and he went 36–35–1 at a school that kept tight curbs on football scholarships.

Which later Northwestern coach's Miami of Ohio team handed the 1995 Wildcats their only regular-season loss?

Randy Walker won 59 games at Miami before Northwestern hired him for 1999. His 2000 team shared the Big Ten title, and he died suddenly in 2006 at the age of 52.

Which future Big Ten coaching great spent 1956 and 1957 as a defensive assistant at Northwestern?

Bo Schembechler followed a fellow Miami of Ohio man who had just become Northwestern's head coach, and he stayed through a winless 1957 season before his long run at Michigan.

Which Northwestern running back finished fourth in the 1995 Heisman voting with 1,785 rushing yards?

Darnell Autry made the cover of Sports Illustrated after a win over Penn State, and he placed seventh in the following year's Heisman vote.

Which Northwestern coach received college football's first national coach of the year award in 1935?

Pappy Waldorf won it in his first season at Northwestern and delivered the Big Ten title, with a 6–0 league record, in his second.

Why did Northwestern's trustees suspend varsity football for the 1906 and 1907 seasons?

The sport's brutality had been studied by a special committee, and when football came back in 1908 the weakened program struggled for years.

A 1928 Northwestern football jersey gave its name to which uniform feature copied across the sport?

Sleeve stripes in a narrow-wide-narrow pattern became known as Northwestern stripes, and the school later painted the same design in its stadium's end zones.

Which Northwestern campus landmark has turned from white to purple after football wins since 1995?

The clock tower stays purple for the whole offseason if Northwestern wins its final game, a twist added in 1997.

Which Northwestern quarterback became the Denver Broncos' starter the season after Super Bowl 50?

Trevor Siemian was the first quarterback to start a season opener for the defending Super Bowl champions without ever having thrown an NFL pass.

Which Northwestern lineman, the fourth pick in 1983, was traded to the Colts in the John Elway deal?

Chris Hinton went on to seven Pro Bowls and joked that he would always be known as the guy traded for Elway.

Which former Northwestern baseball player managed the New York Yankees to the 2009 World Series title?

Joe Girardi was a two-time All-Big Ten pick and a three-time Academic All-American at Northwestern before he reached the major leagues as a catcher.

Which Northwestern golfer, the 1999 NCAA individual champion, later spent 56 weeks as world number one?

Luke Donald, an Englishman, first reached the top of the ranking in May 2011 by winning the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.

Which former Duke guard and associate head coach took over Northwestern men's basketball in 2013?

Chris Collins, whose father Doug coached in the NBA, guided Northwestern to a school-record 24 wins in the 2016–17 season.

Which point guard left Northwestern in 2024 as the men's basketball program's career scoring leader?

Boo Buie passed John Shurna's 2,038 points in February 2024, during a fifth season he had chosen to come back for.

Northwestern basketball coach Bill Carmody, hired in 2000, was a leading practitioner of which system?

The Princeton offense came with him: Carmody spent 14 years at that school as an assistant to Pete Carril and four more as the Tigers' head coach.

Which body retroactively named Northwestern's 1930–31 men's basketball team the national champion?

The Helms Athletic Foundation looked back and picked champions for earlier seasons; its selections are listed by the NCAA but are not recognized as official national titles.

Which Northwestern women's team won its first NCAA title in 2021 and added two more by 2025?

Field hockey also reached the national final in 2022 and 2023, so Northwestern played in five straight championship games.

Which 1970 All-American fullback from Northwestern later co-hosted the TV show American Gladiators?

Mike Adamle co-hosted the show from 1989 to 1996, anchored sports on Chicago television, and spent 2008 with WWE as an announcer and the general manager of Raw.

Which Northwestern tackle went to the Los Angeles Chargers in the first round of the 2021 NFL draft?

Rashawn Slater became the Chargers' starting left tackle as a rookie and was voted a Pro Bowl starter in that first season.

Which Northwestern defensive back became national television's first Black sports analyst at CBS?

Irv Cross was a two-time Pro Bowl cornerback before joining The NFL Today, the pregame show he co-hosted from its start.