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1973 Northwestern

4–⁠7 (4–⁠4 Big Ten), coached by John Pont.

Schedule and results

Northwestern in 1973, game by game: won vs. Michigan State 14–10; lost at No. 8 Notre Dame 0–44; lost vs. Pittsburgh 14–21; lost vs. Ohio 12–14; won vs. Iowa 31–15; lost at Purdue 10–21; lost at No. 1 Ohio State 0–60; lost vs. Minnesota 43–52; won at Indiana 21–20; lost at Wisconsin 34–36; won vs. Illinois 9–6+16−60Won 14–10 vs. Michigan State+4Michigan StateLost 0–44 at No. 8 Notre Dame-44No. 8 Notre DameLost 14–21 vs. Pittsburgh-7PittsburghLost 12–14 vs. Ohio-2OhioWon 31–15 vs. Iowa+16IowaLost 10–21 at Purdue-11PurdueLost 0–60 at No. 1 Ohio State-60No. 1 Ohio StateLost 43–52 vs. Minnesota-9MinnesotaWon 21–20 at Indiana+1IndianaLost 34–36 at Wisconsin-2WisconsinWon 9–6 vs. Illinois+3Illinois
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 15vsMichigan StateW 14–⁠1040%
Sep 22at8Notre DameL 0–⁠4420%
Sep 29vsPittsburghL 14–⁠2163%
Oct 6vsOhioL 12–⁠1462%
Oct 13vsIowaW 31–⁠1561%
Oct 20atPurdueL 10–⁠2128%
Oct 27at1Ohio StateL 0–⁠6011%
Nov 3vsMinnesotaL 43–⁠5246%
Nov 10atIndianaW 21–⁠2038%
Nov 17atWisconsinL 34–⁠3634%
Nov 24vsIllinoisW 9–⁠641%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Beat Illinois 9–⁠6; unranked in the final AP poll; tied for 4th in the Big Ten.

In program history: The 99th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 133 on file).

Record
4–⁠7
Conference
4–⁠4 tied for 4th in Big Ten
AP final
Unranked
Points
188–⁠299
Coach
John Pont
Elo
1371 −38 this season
SP+ rating
-4.9 No. 83 of 123; offense No. 77, defense No. 85
SRS
2.4 No. 59 of 129 major-college teams
Recruiting class
—
Captain
Stan Key

Drafted in 1974

The 1974 draft
Rd 3Steve Craig TEMinnesota Vikings
Rd 5Pete Wessel DBOakland Raiders
Rd 7Mike Varty LBWashington Redskins

All-Big Ten

2 first team, 2 second team

First team

Second team

  • Mitch AndersonQBAP-2; UPI-2
  • Stan KeyRBAP-2

From Wikipedia’s 1973 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1973 Big Ten standings

Conference page
TeamConf.OverallAP final
Michigan7–⁠0–⁠110–⁠0–⁠16
Ohio State7–⁠0–⁠110–⁠0–⁠12
Minnesota6–⁠27–⁠4
Purdue4–⁠45–⁠6
Michigan State4–⁠45–⁠6
Illinois4–⁠45–⁠6
Northwestern4–⁠44–⁠7
Wisconsin3–⁠54–⁠7
Indiana0–⁠82–⁠9
Iowa0–⁠80–⁠11

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