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1978 Northwestern

0–⁠10–⁠1 (0–⁠8–⁠1 Big Ten), coached by Rick Venturi.

Schedule and results

Northwestern in 1978, game by game: tied at Illinois 0–0; lost at Iowa 3–20; lost vs. Wisconsin 7–28; lost at No. 16 Colorado 7–55; lost vs. Arizona State 14–56; lost at Indiana 10–38; lost vs. Minnesota 14–38; lost at Ohio State 20–63; lost at No. 14 Purdue 0–31; lost vs. No. 7 Michigan 14–59; lost vs. No. 16 Michigan State 3–52+7−49Tied 0–0 at Illinois0IllinoisLost 3–20 at Iowa-17IowaLost 7–28 vs. Wisconsin-21WisconsinLost 7–55 at No. 16 Colorado-48No. 16 ColoradoLost 14–56 vs. Arizona State-42Arizona StateLost 10–38 at Indiana-28IndianaLost 14–38 vs. Minnesota-24MinnesotaLost 20–63 at Ohio State-43Ohio StateLost 0–31 at No. 14 Purdue-31No. 14 PurdueLost 14–59 vs. No. 7 Michigan-45No. 7 MichiganLost 3–52 vs. No. 16 Michigan State-49No. 16 Michigan State
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 9atIllinoisT 0–⁠035%
Sep 16atIowaL 3–⁠2030%
Sep 23vsWisconsinL 7–⁠2842%
Sep 30at16ColoradoL 7–⁠5512%
Oct 7vsArizona StateL 14–⁠5623%
Oct 14atIndianaL 10–⁠3823%
Oct 21vsMinnesotaL 14–⁠3832%
Oct 28atOhio StateL 20–⁠638%
Nov 4at14PurdueL 0–⁠319%
Nov 11vs7MichiganL 14–⁠598%
Nov 18vs16Michigan StateL 3–⁠5212%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Lost to Michigan State 52–⁠3; unranked in the final AP poll; 10th in the Big Ten.

In program history: The 130th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 133 on file).

Record
0–⁠10–⁠1
Conference
0–⁠8–⁠1 10th in Big Ten
AP final
Unranked
Points
92–⁠440
Coach
Rick Venturi
Elo
1236 −120 this season
SP+ rating
-28.2 No. 133 of 133; offense No. 113, defense No. 133
SRS
−20.3 No. 130 of 138 in Division I-A
Recruiting class
—
Captains
Pat Geegan and Mike Kranz

All-Big Ten

1 second team

Second team

  • Pat GeeganDBAP-2

From Wikipedia’s 1978 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1978 Big Ten standings

Conference page
TeamConf.OverallAP final
Michigan7–⁠110–⁠25
Michigan State7–⁠18–⁠312
Purdue6–⁠1–⁠19–⁠2–⁠113
Ohio State6–⁠27–⁠4–⁠1
Minnesota4–⁠45–⁠6
Wisconsin3–⁠4–⁠25–⁠4–⁠2
Indiana3–⁠54–⁠7
Iowa2–⁠62–⁠9
Illinois0–⁠6–⁠21–⁠8–⁠2
Northwestern0–⁠8–⁠10–⁠10–⁠1

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