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1958 Northwestern

5–⁠4 (3–⁠4 Big Ten), coached by Ara Parseghian.

Schedule and results

Northwestern in 1958, game by game: won vs. No. 10 Washington State 29–28; won vs. Stanford 28–0; won at Minnesota 7–3; won vs. No. 19 Michigan 55–24; lost at No. 7 Iowa 20–26; won vs. No. 5 Ohio State 21–0; lost at No. 7 Wisconsin 13–17; lost vs. No. 8 Purdue 6–23; lost at Illinois 20–27+31−17Won 29–28 vs. No. 10 Washington State+1No. 10 Washington StateWon 28–0 vs. Stanford+28StanfordWon 7–3 at Minnesota+4MinnesotaWon 55–24 vs. No. 19 Michigan+31No. 19 MichiganLost 20–26 at No. 7 Iowa-6No. 7 IowaWon 21–0 vs. No. 5 Ohio State+21No. 5 Ohio StateLost 13–17 at No. 7 Wisconsin-4No. 7 WisconsinLost 6–23 vs. No. 8 Purdue-17No. 8 PurdueLost 20–27 at Illinois-7Illinois
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below; orange marks an upset win.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 27vs10Washington StateW 29–⁠2835%
Oct 4vsStanfordW 28–⁠046%
Oct 11atMinnesotaW 7–⁠335%
Oct 18vs19MichiganW 55–⁠2441%
Oct 25at7IowaL 20–⁠2620%
Nov 1vs5Ohio StateW 21–⁠031%
Nov 8at7WisconsinL 13–⁠1731%
Nov 15vs8PurdueL 6–⁠2340%
Nov 22atIllinoisL 20–⁠2739%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Lost to Illinois 27–⁠20; unranked in the final AP poll; 7th in the Big Ten.

In program history: The 60th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 133 on file).

AP poll, week by week

  1. Wk 5: 17
  2. Wk 6: 8
  3. Wk 7: 11
  4. Wk 8: 4
  5. Wk 9: 13
  6. Wk 10: 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 1958.

Record
5–⁠4
Conference
3–⁠4 7th in Big Ten
AP final
Unranked peak No. 4
Points
199–⁠148
Coach
Ara Parseghian
Elo
1483 +101 this season
SP+ rating
—
SRS
18.2 No. 10 of 112 major-college teams
Recruiting class
—
Captains
James Andreotti and Willmer Fowler
Most valuable player
Ron Burton

Drafted in 1959

The 1959 draft
Rd 5Andy Cvercko CGreen Bay Packers

All-Big Ten

2 first team, 1 second team

First team

Second team

From Wikipedia’s 1958 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1958 Big Ten standings

Conference page
TeamConf.OverallAP final
Iowa5–⁠18–⁠1–⁠12
Wisconsin5–⁠1–⁠17–⁠1–⁠17
Ohio State4–⁠1–⁠26–⁠1–⁠28
Purdue3–⁠1–⁠26–⁠1–⁠213
Indiana3–⁠2–⁠15–⁠3–⁠1
Illinois4–⁠34–⁠5
Northwestern3–⁠45–⁠4
Michigan1–⁠5–⁠12–⁠6–⁠1
Minnesota1–⁠61–⁠8
Michigan State0–⁠5–⁠13–⁠5–⁠1

Ordered by conference winning percentage, then conference wins. Division splits and tiebreakers aren’t applied.