1983 Northwestern Wildcats football team

The 1983 Northwestern Wildcats team represented Northwestern University during the 1983 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their third year under head coach Dennis Green, the Wildcats compiled a 2–9 record (2–7 against Big Ten Conference opponents) and finished in a tie for eighth place in the Big Ten Conference.^[2]

1983 Northwestern Wildcats football
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	2–9 (2–7 Big Ten)
Head coach	Dennis Green (3rd season)
Captains	Mike Guendling[1] Todd Jenkins
Home stadium	Dyche Stadium
Seasons ← 1982 1984 →

1983 Big Ten Conference football standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 10 Illinois $	9	–	0	–	0			10	–	2	–	0
No. 8 Michigan	8	–	1	–	0			9	–	3	–	0
No. 14 Iowa	7	–	2	–	0			9	–	3	–	0
No. 9 Ohio State	6	–	3	–	0			9	–	3	–	0
Wisconsin	5	–	4	–	0			7	–	4	–	0
Purdue	3	–	5	–	1			3	–	7	–	1
Michigan State	2	–	6	–	1			4	–	6	–	1
Indiana	2	–	7	–	0			3	–	8	–	0
Northwestern	2	–	7	–	0			2	–	9	–	0
Minnesota	0	–	9	–	0			1	–	10	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The team's offensive leaders were quarterback Sandy Schwab with 1,838 passing yards, Ricky Edwards with 561 rushing yards, and Ricky Edwards with 570 receiving yards.^[3] Punter John Kidd received first-team All-Big Ten honors from both the Associated Press and the United Press International.^[4][5]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 10	No. 19 Washington*	Dyche Stadium Evanston, IL	L 0–34	26,165
September 17	at Syracuse*	Carrier Dome Syracuse, NY	L 0–35	25,979
September 24	at Indiana	Memorial Stadium Bloomington, IN	W 10–8	40,347
October 1	Wisconsin	Dyche Stadium Evanston, IL	L 0–49	32,180
October 8	at No. 15 Iowa	Kinnick Stadium Iowa City, IA	L 21–61	66,125
October 15	at No. 13 Michigan	Michigan Stadium Ann Arbor, MI (rivalry)	L 0–35	103,914	[6]
October 22	Minnesota	Dyche Stadium Evanston, IL	W 19–8	21,411
October 29	at Purdue	Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IN	L 17–48	60,134
November 5	Michigan State	Dyche Stadium Evanston, IL	L 3–9	27,463
November 12	at No. 10 Ohio State	Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH	L 7–55	88,703
November 19	No. 4 Illinois	Dyche Stadium Evanston, IL (rivalry)	L 24–56	52,333
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Personnel

• QB Sandy Schwab, Soph.
• DL Tom Flaherty, Soph.

References

1. "Year-by-Year Results" (PDF). 2007. p. 149. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 16, 2019. Retrieved March 14, 2019.
2. "1983 Northwestern Wildcats Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved February 22, 2016.
3. "1983 Northwestern Wildcats Stats". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved February 22, 2016.
4. "Illini Puts 6 On All-Big Ten Team". Sarasota Herald-Tribune (AP story). December 1, 1983. p. 15B.
5. Barry Minkoff (November 22, 1983). "All-Big Ten". The Bryan Times (UPI story). p. 12.
6. Joe Lapointe (October 16, 1983). "U-M wins easily, but Bo fumes: Coach raps his offense". Detroit Free Press. pp. 1H, 8H – via Newspapers.com.