2019 Northwestern Wildcats football
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
DivisionWest Division
Record3–9 (1–8 Big Ten)
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorMick McCall (12th season)
Offensive schemeSpread
Defensive coordinatorMike Hankwitz (12th season)
Base defenseMultiple 4–3
Home stadiumRyan Field
Uniform
Seasons
← 2018
2020 →
2019 Big Ten Conference football standings
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.

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]

DateTimeOpponentSiteTVResultAttendance
August 313:00 p.m.at No. 25 Stanford*
FOXL 7–1737,179
September 142:30 p.m.UNLV*
BTNW 30–1437,714
September 2111:00 a.m.Michigan State
  • Ryan Field
  • Evanston, IL
ABCL 10–3140,114
September 2811:00 a.m.at No. 8 Wisconsin
ABCL 15–2476,825
October 53:00 p.m.at Nebraska
FOXL 10–1389,348
October 187:30 p.m.No. 4 Ohio State
  • Ryan Field
  • Evanston, IL
BTNL 3–5247,130
October 2611:00 a.m.No. 20 Iowadagger
  • Ryan Field
  • Evanston, IL
ESPN2L 0–2042,104
November 26:00 p.m.at Indiana
FS1L 3–3440,924
November 911:00 a.m.Purdue
  • Ryan Field
  • Evanston, IL
BTNL 22–2437,194
November 1611:00 a.m.UMass*
  • Ryan Field
  • Evanston, IL
BTNW 45–629,447
November 2311:00 a.m.No. 10 Minnesota
  • Ryan Field
  • Evanston, IL
ABCL 22–3830,246
November 3011:00 a.m.at Illinois
FS1W 29–1035,895

Source:[3]

Rankings

Further information: 2019 NCAA Division I FBS football rankings
Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked RV = Received votes
Week
PollPre123456789101112131415Final
APRV———————————————
Coaches25RV——————————————
CFPNot released——————Not released

Game summaries

At Stanford

See also: 2019 Stanford Cardinal football team
1 2 3 4 Total
Wildcats 0 0 0 7 7
No. 25 Cardinal 0 10 0 7 17

UNLV

See also: 2019 UNLV Rebels football team
1 2 3 4 Total
Rebels 7 7 0 0 14
Wildcats 10 6 7 7 30

Michigan State

See also: 2019 Michigan State Spartans football team
1 2 3 4 Total
Spartans 7 7 10 7 31
Wildcats 0 3 0 7 10

At Wisconsin

See also: 2019 Wisconsin Badgers football team
1 2 3 4 Total
Wildcats 3 0 0 12 15
No. 8 Badgers 7 0 7 10 24

At Nebraska

See also: 2019 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team
1 2 3 4 Total
Wildcats 0 3 7 0 10
Cornhuskers 7 3 0 3 13

Ohio State

See also: 2019 Ohio State Buckeyes football team
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 4 Buckeyes 7 24 7 14 52
Wildcats 3 0 0 0 3

Iowa

See also: 2019 Iowa Hawkeyes football team
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 20 Hawkeyes 7 3 7 3 20
Wildcats 0 0 0 0 0

At Indiana

See also: 2019 Indiana Hoosiers football team
1 2 3 4 Total
Wildcats 0 3 0 0 3
Hoosiers 10 14 7 3 34

Purdue

See also: 2019 Purdue Boilermakers football team
1 2 3 4 Total
Boilermakers 0 7 14 3 24
Wildcats 14 2 0 6 22

UMass

See also: 2019 UMass Minutemen football team
1 2 3 4 Total
Minutemen 3 3 0 0 6
Wildcats 0 21 3 21 45

Minnesota

See also: 2019 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 10 Golden Gophers 14 7 7 10 38
Wildcats 0 9 7 6 22

At Illinois

See also: 2019 Illinois Fighting Illini football team
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 McGowan 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 Eku 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
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 Injured
  • Redshirt Redshirt

Roster
Last update: October 13, 2019

References

  1. ^ Lesmerises, Doug (July 18, 2019). "Michigan named Big Ten football favorite in cleveland.com 2019 preseason poll". Cleveland.com.
  2. ^ Greenstein, Teddy (December 18, 2018). "Pat Fitzgerald 'not happy' after Big Ten schedules Ohio State-Northwestern for a Friday night". Chicago Tribune.
  3. ^ "2019 Northwestern Football Schedule". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved February 14, 2019.
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