1956 Northwestern
4–4–1 (3–3–1 Big Ten), coached by Ara Parseghian. Share
Schedule and results
- Biggest winBeat Purdue 14–0Nov 17
By 14 points, its widest win.
| Date | Opponent | Result | Elo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 29 | vs Iowa State | W 14–13 | 53% |
| Oct 6 | vs Tulane | L 13–20 | 41% |
| Oct 13 | at 17Minnesota | T 0–0 | 19% |
| Oct 20 | at 8Michigan | L 20–34 | 15% |
| Oct 27 | at Indiana | L 13–19 | 34% |
| Nov 3 | vs 6Ohio State | L 2–6 | 16% |
| Nov 10 | at Wisconsin | W 17–7 | 24% |
| Nov 17 | vs Purdue | W 14–0 | 35% |
| Nov 24 | vs Illinois | W 14–13 | 47% |
Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.
How it ended: Beat Illinois 14–13; unranked in the final AP poll; 6th in the Big Ten.
In program history: The 76th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 133 on file).
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 1956.
- Record
- 4–4–1
- Conference
- 3–3–1 6th in Big Ten
- AP final
- Unranked
- Points
- 107–112
- Coach
- Ara Parseghian
- Elo
- 1435 +56 this season
- SP+ rating
- —
- SRS
- 7.3 No. 40 of 111 major-college teams
- Recruiting class
- —
- Captain
- Ted Ringer
- Most valuable player
- Al Viola
All-Big Ten
2 first teamFirst team
Bob McKelverRBAP-1; UP-2- Al ViolaOGAP-2; UP-1
From Wikipedia’s 1956 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).
1956 Big Ten standings
Conference page| Team | Conf. | Overall | AP final |
|---|---|---|---|
 Iowa | 5–1 | 9–1 | 3 |
| Michigan | 5–2 | 7–2 | 7 |
| Minnesota | 4–1–2 | 6–1–2 | 12 |
 Michigan State | 4–2 | 7–2 | 9 |
| Ohio State | 4–2 | 6–3 | 15 |
| Northwestern | 3–3–1 | 4–4–1 | |
| Purdue | 1–4–2 | 3–4–2 | |
| Illinois | 1–4–2 | 2–5–2 | |
| Wisconsin | 0–4–3 | 1–5–3 | |
| Indiana | 1–5 | 3–6 |
Ordered by conference winning percentage, then conference wins. Division splits and tiebreakers aren’t applied.