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1959 Northwestern

6–⁠3 (4–⁠3 Big Ten), coached by Ara Parseghian.

Schedule and results

Northwestern in 1959, game by game: won vs. No. 2 Oklahoma 45–13; won at No. 5 Iowa 14–10; won vs. Minnesota 6–0; won at Michigan 20–7; won at Notre Dame 30–24; won vs. Indiana 30–13; lost vs. No. 9 Wisconsin 19–24; lost at No. 19 Michigan State 10–15; lost at Illinois 0–28+32−28Won 45–13 vs. No. 2 Oklahoma+32No. 2 OklahomaWon 14–10 at No. 5 Iowa+4No. 5 IowaWon 6–0 vs. Minnesota+6MinnesotaWon 20–7 at Michigan+13MichiganWon 30–24 at Notre Dame+6Notre DameWon 30–13 vs. Indiana+17IndianaLost 19–24 vs. No. 9 Wisconsin-5No. 9 WisconsinLost 10–15 at No. 19 Michigan State-5No. 19 Michigan StateLost 0–28 at Illinois-28Illinois
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below; orange marks an upset win.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 26vs2OklahomaW 45–⁠1328%
Oct 3at5IowaW 14–⁠1026%
Oct 10vsMinnesotaW 6–⁠074%
Oct 17atMichiganW 20–⁠761%
Oct 24atNotre DameW 30–⁠2446%
Oct 31vsIndianaW 30–⁠1373%
Nov 7vs9WisconsinL 19–⁠2456%
Nov 14at19Michigan StateL 10–⁠1546%
Nov 21atIllinoisL 0–⁠2850%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Lost to Illinois 28–⁠0; unranked in the final AP poll; 5th in the Big Ten.

In program history: The 25th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 133 on file).

AP poll, week by week

  1. Wk 1: 10
  2. Wk 2: 10
  3. Wk 3: 2
  4. Wk 4: 2
  5. Wk 5: 2
  6. Wk 6: 2
  7. Wk 7: 2
  8. Wk 8: 2
  9. Wk 9: 6
  10. Wk 10: 8

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 1959.

Consensus All-AmericanRon Burton, RB

Record
6–⁠3
Conference
4–⁠3 5th in Big Ten
AP final
Unranked peak No. 2
Points
174–⁠134
Coach
Ara Parseghian
Elo
1564 +75 this season
SP+ rating
—
SRS
15.4 No. 11 of 112 major-college teams
Recruiting class
—
Captains
James Andreotti, Ron Burton, Gene Gossage and Mike Stock

Drafted in 1960

The 1960 draft
Rd 1Ron Burton RBPhiladelphia Eagles
Rd 4Jim Andreotti CDetroit Lions

All-Big Ten

4 first team, 2 second team

First team

Second team

From Wikipedia’s 1959 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1959 Big Ten standings

Conference page
TeamConf.OverallAP final
Wisconsin5–⁠27–⁠36
Michigan State4–⁠25–⁠4
Purdue4–⁠2–⁠15–⁠2–⁠2
Illinois4–⁠2–⁠15–⁠3–⁠113
Northwestern4–⁠36–⁠3
Iowa3–⁠35–⁠4
Michigan3–⁠44–⁠5
Indiana2–⁠4–⁠14–⁠4–⁠1
Ohio State2–⁠4–⁠13–⁠5–⁠1
Minnesota1–⁠62–⁠7

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