1945 Northwestern
4–4–1 (3–3–1 Western Conference), coached by Pappy Waldorf. Share
Schedule and results
- Biggest upsetBeat No. 4 Purdue 26–14Oct 27
Purdue was ranked No. 4, above it.
| Date | Opponent | Result | Elo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 22 | vs Iowa State | W 18–6 | 48% |
| Sep 29 | vs Indiana | T 7–7 | 40% |
| Oct 6 | vs Michigan | L 7–20 | 34% |
| Oct 20 | at 5Minnesota | L 7–30 | 25% |
| Oct 27 | vs 4Purdue | W 26–14 | 29% |
| Nov 3 | at 6Ohio State | L 14–16 | 21% |
| Nov 10 | at Wisconsin | W 28–14 | 44% |
| Nov 17 | vs 7Notre Dame | L 7–34 | 32% |
| Nov 24 | vs Illinois | W 13–7 | 62% |
Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.
How it ended: Beat Illinois 13–7; unranked in the final AP poll; tied for 4th in the Western Conference.
In program history: The 49th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 133 on file).
AP poll, week by week
- Wk 4: 20
Players on this team
Before 2004 our records hold honors and the draft; these are the players whose college years here, from their Wikipedia articles or their honors, include 1945.
- Record
- 4–4–1
- Conference
- 3–3–1 tied for 4th in Western Conference
- AP final
- Unranked peak No. 20
- Points
- 127–148
- Coach
- Pappy Waldorf
- Elo
- 1505 +58 this season
- SP+ rating
- —
- SRS
- 14.9 No. 17 of 101 major-college teams
- Recruiting class
- —
- Captain
- Max Morris
- Most valuable player
- Dick Conners
All-Big Ten
4 first teamFirst team
Max MorrisE- Jim LectureOG
- Paul SchuetzOG
- Dick ConnorsRB
From Wikipedia’s 1945 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).
1945 Western Conference standings
| Team | Conf. | Overall | AP final |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indiana | 5–0–1 | 9–0–1 | 4 |
| Michigan | 5–1 | 7–3 | 6 |
| Ohio State | 5–2 | 7–2 | 12 |
| Purdue | 3–3 | 7–3 | |
| Northwestern | 3–3–1 | 4–4–1 | |
| Wisconsin | 2–3–1 | 3–4–2 | |
| Illinois | 1–4–1 | 2–6–1 | |
| Minnesota | 1–5 | 4–5 | |
 Iowa | 1–5 | 2–7 |
Ordered by conference winning percentage, then conference wins. Division splits and tiebreakers aren’t applied.