1948 Northwestern Wildcats football
Rose Bowl champion
Rose Bowl, W 20–14 vs. California
ConferenceBig Nine Conference
Ranking
APNo. 7
Record8–2 (5–1 Big Nine)
Head coach
MVPArt Murakowski
CaptainAlex Sarkisian[1]
Home stadiumDyche Stadium
Seasons
← 1947
1949 →
1948 Big Nine Conference football standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
No. 1 Michigan $ 6 – 0 – 0 9 – 0 – 0
No. 7 Northwestern 5 – 1 – 0 8 – 2 – 0
No. 16 Minnesota 5 – 2 – 0 7 – 2 – 0
Ohio State 3 – 3 – 0 6 – 3 – 0
Iowa 2 – 4 – 0 4 – 5 – 0
Purdue 2 – 4 – 0 3 – 6 – 0
Indiana 2 – 4 – 0 2 – 7 – 0
Illinois 2 – 5 – 0 3 – 6 – 0
Wisconsin 1 – 5 – 0 2 – 7 – 0
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1948 Northwestern Wildcats football team represented Northwestern University in the 1948 Big Nine Conference football season. The Wildcats won their first Rose Bowl in school history.

Northwestern finished the season with an 8–2 record, losing only to perennial powerhouses Michigan, 28–0, and Notre Dame, 17–12.[2] Northwestern blanked UCLA, 19–0, Purdue, 21–0, and Syracuse, 48–0. The Wildcats rallied from three turnovers and a 16-point deficit to defeat Minnesota, 19–16, and beat Ohio State, 21–7, Wisconsin, 16–7, and Illinois, 20–7.[2] Big Nine Conference rules prevented conference champion Michigan from making a successive trip to the Rose Bowl, so second-place Northwestern won the bid instead.

Schedule

DateOpponentRankSiteResultAttendanceSource
September 25at UCLA*
W 19–055,156
October 2Purdue
W 21–037,000
October 9No. 8 MinnesotaNo. 3
  • Dyche Stadium
  • Evanston, IL
W 19–1647,000
October 16at No. 4 MichiganNo. 3
L 0–2887,782
October 23Syracuse*No. 10
  • Dyche Stadium
  • Evanston, IL
W 48–035,000
October 30Ohio StateNo. 9
  • Dyche Stadium
  • Evanston, IL
W 21–747,000[3]
November 6at WisconsinNo. 10
W 16–745,000[4]
November 13at No. 2 Notre Dame*No. 8
L 7–1259,305
November 20IllinoisNo. 7
  • Dyche Stadium
  • Evanston, IL (rivalry)
W 20–747,000
January 1vs. No. 5 California*No. 7
W 20–1493,000
  • *Non-conference game
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Rankings

See also: 1948 NCAA football rankings
Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
( ) = First-place votes
Week
Poll12345678Final
AP3 (21)3 (25)109108777

Roster

  1. 10 Bob Nelson
  2. 11 Loran "PeeWee" Day (halfback and safety)
  3. 14 Gene Miller
  4. 15 Ed Tunnicliff(halfback)
  5. 16 Tom Worthington (halfback)
  6. 19 Bob Meeder
  7. 20 Lloyd Hawkinson
  8. 21 Don Burson (quarterback)
  9. 22 Frank Aschenbrenner (halfback)
  10. 23 Pat Keefe (quarterback)
  11. 25 John Yungwirth
  12. 26 Jim Farrar (extra points)
  13. 29 Dick Flowers (quarterback)
  14. 30 Art Murakowski (fullback)
  15. 32 Armandy Cureau
  16. 33 Ralph Rossi
  17. 34 Gasper Perricone (fullback)
  18. 36 George Hlebasko
  19. 37 George Sundheim
  20. 42 Johnny Miller
  21. 54 Alex Sarkisian (center). (team captain)
  22. 55 Chuck Petter
  23. 56 Ray Wietecha
  24. 57 Dick Price
  25. 60 Lawrence "Fatso" Day (linemen)
  26. 61 Francis De Pauw
  27. 62 Richard Anderson
  28. 63 Bob Nowicki(guard)
  29. 67 Ed Nemeth (left guard)
  30. 68 Jim Parseigan
  31. 69 LeRoy Pantera
  32. 70 Joe Sewell
  33. 73 Bill Ford
  34. 71 Bill Forman (tackle)
  35. 74 Steve Sawle (tackle)
  36. 75 Rudy Cernoch (tackle)
  37. 77 George Maddock (kick offs)
  38. 78 Paul Barkal
  39. 79 Dick Eggers
  40. 80 Charles Hagmann (end)
  41. 82 Burton Keddie (end)
  42. 83 Don Stonesifer (end),
  43. 85 Joe Zuravleff (end)
  44. 87 Al Thomas
  45. 88 Littrell Clark
  46. 97 Paul Balog

Awards and honors

1949 NFL draft

Player Position Round Pick NFL club
George Sundheim Back 12 115 New York Giants

[5]

References

  1. ^ "Year-by-Year Results" (PDF). 2007. p. 147. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 16, 2019. Retrieved March 14, 2019.
  2. ^ a b "A History of Football at Northwestern: Bob Voights: 1947-1954". Northwestern University Archives. Archived from the original on August 28, 2008. Retrieved July 17, 2008.
  3. ^ Liska, Jerry (October 31, 1948). "Northwestern Trims Bucks, Fans Rose Bowl Hopes". Springfield News-Sun. p. 1. Retrieved October 17, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Northwestern Whips Wisconsin, 16 to 7: Fumbles By Wildcats and Badgers; N.U. Leads Only 2-0 at Half Time". Chicago Tribune. November 7, 1948. p. 2-1 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  5. ^ "Reference at www.pro-football-reference.com". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Archived from the original on October 30, 2010. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
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