2016 Northwestern Wildcats football
Pinstripe Bowl champion
Pinstripe Bowl, W 31–24 vs. Pittsburgh
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
DivisionWest Division
Record7–6 (5–4 Big Ten)
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorMick McCall (9th season)
Offensive schemeSpread
Defensive coordinatorMike Hankwitz (9th season)
Base defenseMultiple 4–3
CaptainAustin Carr
Matthew Harris
Connor Mahoney
Anthony Walker
Home stadiumRyan Field
Seasons
← 2015
2017 →
2016 Big Ten Conference football standings
Conf Overall
Team   W   L     W   L  
East Division
No. 7 Penn State xy$   8 – 1     11 – 3  
No. 6 Ohio State x^   8 – 1     11 – 2  
No. 10 Michigan   7 – 2     10 – 3  
Indiana   4 – 5     6 – 7  
Maryland   3 – 6     6 – 7  
Michigan State   1 – 8     3 – 9  
Rutgers   0 – 9     2 – 10  
West Division
No. 9 Wisconsin xy   7 – 2     11 – 3  
Iowa   6 – 3     8 – 5  
Nebraska   6 – 3     9 – 4  
Minnesota   5 – 4     9 – 4  
Northwestern   5 – 4     7 – 6  
Illinois   2 – 7     3 – 9  
Purdue   1 – 8     3 – 9  
Championship: Penn State 38, Wisconsin 31
  • ^ – College Football Playoff participant
  • $ – Conference champion
  • x – Division champion/co-champions
  • y – Championship game participant
Rankings from AP Poll

The 2016 Northwestern Wildcats football team represented Northwestern University during the 2016 NCAA Division I FBS football season. They were led by Pat Fitzgerald who is in his 11th season as the team's head coach. The Wildcats home games were played at Ryan Field in Evanston, Illinois. They were members of the West Division of the Big Ten Conference.

Schedule

Northwestern announced its 2016 football schedule on July 11, 2013. The 2016 schedule consists of 7 home and 5 away games in the regular season. The Wildcats will host Big Ten foes Illinois, Indiana, Nebraska, and Wisconsin, and will travel to Iowa, Michigan State, Minnesota, Ohio State, and Purdue.[1]

The team will host all three non–conference games which are against the Duke Blue Devils from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), Illinois State Redbirds from the Missouri Valley Conference, and the Western Michigan Broncos from the Mid-American Conference (MAC).

DateTimeOpponentSiteTVResultAttendance
September 311:00 a.m.Western Michigan*
ESPNUL 21–2230,635
September 102:30 p.m.No. 10 (FCS) Illinois State*
  • Ryan Field
  • Evanston, IL
BTNL 7–930,748
September 177:00 p.m.Duke*
  • Ryan Field
  • Evanston, IL
BTNW 24–1334,464
September 246:30 p.m.No. 20 Nebraska
  • Ryan Field
  • Evanston, IL
BTNL 13–2440,284
October 111:00 a.m.at Iowa
ESPNUW 38–3167,047
October 152:30 p.m.at Michigan State
BTNW 54–4075,625
October 2211:00 a.m.Indianadagger
  • Ryan Field
  • Evanston, IL
BTNW 24–1435,417
October 292:30 p.m.at No. 6 Ohio State
ESPNL 20–24107,296
November 511:00 a.m.No. 8 Wisconsin
  • Ryan Field
  • Evanston, IL
ABCL 7–2142,016
November 1211:00 a.m.at Purdue
BTNW 45–1730,548
November 192:30 p.m.at Minnesota
BTNL 12–2938,162
November 2611:00 a.m.Illinois
BTNW 42–2130,022
December 281:00 p.m.vs. No. 23 Pittsburgh*
ESPNW 31–2437,918
  • *Non-conference game
  • daggerHomecoming
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game
  • All times are in Central time
Schedule Source:[2]

Game summaries

Western Michigan

1 2 3 4 Total
Broncos 0 6 10 6 22
Wildcats 7 0 7 7 21

See also: 2016 Western Michigan Broncos football team

Illinois State

1 2 3 4 Total
#10 (FCS) Redbirds 0 6 0 3 9
Wildcats 0 0 0 7 7

See also: 2016 Illinois State Redbirds football team

Duke

1 2 3 4 Total
Blue Devils 0 7 0 6 13
Wildcats 7 0 10 7 24

See also: 2016 Duke Blue Devils football team

Nebraska

1 2 3 4 Total
#20 Cornhuskers 0 10 14 0 24
Wildcats 0 7 6 0 13

See also: 2016 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team

At Iowa

1 2 3 4 Total
Wildcats 10 7 14 7 38
Hawkeyes 7 14 3 7 31

See also: 2016 Iowa Hawkeyes football team

At Michigan State

1 2 3 4 Total
Wildcats 7 12 21 14 54
Spartans 14 3 14 9 40

See also: 2016 Michigan State Spartans football team

Indiana

1 2 3 4 Total
Hoosiers 3 0 9 2 14
Wildcats 14 10 0 0 24

See also: 2016 Indiana Hoosiers football team

At Ohio State

1 2 3 4 Total
Wildcats 0 10 7 3 20
#6 Buckeyes 10 7 0 7 24

See also: 2016 Ohio State Buckeyes football team

Wisconsin

1 2 3 4 Total
#8 Badgers 0 10 3 8 21
Wildcats 0 7 0 0 7

See also: 2016 Wisconsin Badgers football team

At Purdue

1 2 3 4 Total
Wildcats 7 7 21 10 45
Boilermakers 10 0 7 0 17

See also: 2016 Purdue Boilermakers football team

At Minnesota

1 2 3 4 Total
Wildcats 0 0 6 6 12
Golden Gophers 6 6 3 14 29

See also: 2016 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team

Illinois

1 2 3 4 Total
Fighting Illini 0 14 7 0 21
Wildcats 14 7 14 7 42

See also: 2016 Illinois Fighting Illini football team and Illinois–Northwestern football rivalry

Pittsburgh–Pinstripe Bowl

1 2 3 4 Total
#22 Panthers 3 7 7 7 24
Wildcats 0 14 7 10 31

See also: 2016 Pittsburgh Panthers football team and 2016 Pinstripe Bowl

Roster

2016 Northwestern Wildcats football team roster
Players Coaches
Offense
Pos. # Name Class
WR 2 Flynn Nagel So
RB 4 Solomon Vault Jr
WR 5 Charles Fessler  Fr
WR 6 Jelani Roberts So
QB 7 Matt Alviti  Jr
SB 9 Garrett Dickerson Jr
QB 10 T. J. Green  Fr
QB 11 Aidan Smith Fr
RB 12 Auston Anderson  So
RB 13 Warren Long Sr
QB 14 Lloyd Yates  Fr
WR 15 Macan Wilson  Jr
WR 16 Quinn Baker  Jr
QB 17 Daniel Kubiuk  So
QB 18 Clayton Thorson  So
SB 19 Jayme Taylor  So
RB 20 John Moten IV  Fr
RB 21 Justin Jackson Jr
WR 23 Steven Reese  Fr
RB 25 Corey Acker  Jr
JR 26 Chad Hanaoka So
RB 28 Jeremy Larkin Fr
RB 36 Jesse Brown Fr
SB 44 James Prather  So
SB 46 Eric Lutzen  So
SB 48 Cody Link Fr
OL 57 Cam Kolwich Fr
OL 59 J. B. Butler  So
OL 60 Jason Goosen Fr
OL 63 Ian Park  Sr
OL 64 Andrew Otterman  Fr
OL 65 Jared Thomas  Fr
OL 66 Nik Urban Fr
OL 68 Connor Mahoney (C)  Sr
OL 69 Brad North  Jr
OL 70 Shane Mertz  Sr
OL 71 Tommy Doles  So
OL 72 Blake Hance  So
OL 73 Gunnar Vogel Fr
OL 74 Graham Bullmore  Jr
OL 75 Ben Oxley  So
OL 76 Eric Olson  Sr
OL 77 Jesse Meyler Fr
OL 78 Adam Lemke-Bell  Fr
OL 79 Sam Coverdale  Jr
WR 80 Austin Carr (C)  Sr
WR 81 Ramaud Chiaokhiao-Bowman Fr
WR 82 Andrew Scanlan  Sr
SB 83 Heath Reineke  So
WR 84 Cameron Green  Fr
WR 85 Jack Tirmonia Fr
WR 86 Riley Lees Fr
SB 87 Eric Eshoo Fr
WR 88 Ben Skowronek Fr
WR 89 Cole Johnson  Jr
Defense
Pos. # Name Class
LB 1 Anthony Walker (C)  Jr
CB 3 Keith Watkins II  Jr
DL 7 Ifeadi Odenigbo  Sr
LB 10 Brett Walsh  So
CB 11 Matthew Harris (C)  Sr
DB 14 Jake Murray  Fr
S 16 Godwin Igwebuike  Jr
CB 17 Marcus McShepard  Jr
S 21 Kyle Queiro  Jr
DB 22 Parrker Westphal  So
CB 24 Montre Hartage So
DB 26 Brian Bullock Fr
DB 27 Roderick Campbell Fr
DB 28 Alonzo Mayo  Fr
DB 29 Trae Williams  Fr
LB 31 Tommy Vitale So
LB 32 Nate Hall  So
LB 34 Simba Short  Fr
LB 35 Tom Hruby Sr
LB 40 Paddy Fisher Fr
S 41 Jared McGee  So
LB 42 Joseph Jones  Sr
LB 45 Nathan Fox  Fr
DB 47 Joe Bergin  Fr
S 48 Tommy Odell  Jr
LB 49 Josh Roberts  Jr
LB 50 Jango Glackin Fr
LB 51 Jaylen Prater  Sr
LB 53 Cameron Queiro  So
DL 54 Trent Goens  Fr
DE 55 Mark Gooden Fr
DE 56 Xavier Washington Jr
DL 67 Tyler Lancaster  Jr
DL 90 C. J. Robbins  Sr
DL 92 Fred Wyatt  So
DL 93 Greg Kuhar  Sr
DE 94 Tommy Carnifax Fr
DL 95 Alex Miller Fr
DL 97 Joe Gaziano  Fr
DT 98 Jake Saunders Fr
DL 99 Jordan Thompson So
Special teams
Pos. # Name Class
K 8 Jack Mitchell  Sr
K, P 33 Matt Micucci  Sr
K, P 38 Drew Luckenbaugh Fr
K 38 Mason Weissenhofer  Fr
LS 43 Tyler Gillikin Fr
LS 52 Chaz Fitzpatrick  Sr
LS 58 Trevor Stroebel  Sr
P 96 Hunter Niswander Jr
Head coach
Coordinators/assistant coaches
  • Randy Bates (linebackers)
  • Jerry Brown (assistant head coach / defensive backs)
  • Adam Cushing (offensive line)
  • Mike Hankwitz (defensive coordinator)
  • Bob Heffner (superbacks)
  • Marty Long (defensive line)
  • Matt MacPherson (running backs / recruiting coordinator)
  • Mick McCall (offensive coordinator / quarterbacks)
  • Dennis Springer (wide receivers)
  • Chris Bowers (director of player personnel)
  • Cody Cejda (director of football operations)
  • Darby Dunnagan (director of video operations)
  • David Girardi (defensive graduate assistant)
  • Jay Hooten (director of sports performance for football)
  • Jacob Schmidt (director of player development)
  • Mike Jasinski (recruiting assistant)
  • Bryan Payton (recruiting assistant)
  • Christian Sarkisian (recruiting assistant)
  • Mike Kafka (offensive graduate assistant)
  • Steve Pursley (defensive graduate assistant)
  • Tim Brandon (offensive graduate assistant)
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • Injured Injured
  • Redshirt Redshirt

Roster
Last update: November 7, 2016

Awards and honors

Weekly Awards
Player Award Date Awarded Ref.
Ifeadi Odenigbo Co-Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week October 3, 2016 [3]
Justin Jackson Big Ten Co-Offensive Player of the Week October 17, 2016 [4]
Solomon Vault Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week October 17, 2016 [4]
John Moten IV Co-Big Ten Freshman of the Week November 12, 2016 [5]
John Moten IV Big Ten Freshman of the Week November 29, 2016 [6]
Austin Carr Richter-Howard Receiver of the Year November 30, 2016 [7]

References

  1. ^ "B1G RELEASES NINE-GAME CONFERENCE SCHEDULES FOR 2016, 2017" (Press release). Northwestern University Department of Athletics. July 11, 2013. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
  2. ^ "2016 Northwestern Wildcats Football Schedule". FB Schedules. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
  3. ^ "Big Ten Football Players of the Week". www.bigten.org. Big Ten Conference. October 3, 2016. Archived from the original on October 5, 2016. Retrieved November 16, 2016.
  4. ^ a b "Big Ten Football Players of the Week". www.bigten.org. Big Ten Conference. October 17, 2016. Archived from the original on November 17, 2016. Retrieved November 16, 2016.
  5. ^ "Big Ten Football Players of the Week". www.bigten.org. Big Ten Conference. November 14, 2016. Archived from the original on November 14, 2016. Retrieved November 16, 2016.
  6. ^ "Big Ten Football Players of the Week". www.bigten.org. Big Ten Conference. November 29, 2016. Archived from the original on November 30, 2016. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
  7. ^ Pereles, Zach (November 30, 2016). "Austin Carr wins Richter-Howard Receiver of the Year award". Inside NU. Retrieved December 16, 2016.
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