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1982 Northwestern

3–⁠8 (2–⁠7 Big Ten), coached by Dennis Green.

Schedule and results

Northwestern in 1982, game by game: lost at Illinois 13–49; lost at Indiana 0–30; lost vs. Miami (OH) 13–27; won vs. Northern Illinois 31–6; lost at Iowa 7–45; won vs. Minnesota 31–21; lost at Purdue 21–34; lost vs. Michigan 14–49; lost at Wisconsin 20–54; won at Michigan State 28–24; lost vs. Ohio State 28–40+25−38Lost 13–49 at Illinois-36IllinoisLost 0–30 at Indiana-30IndianaLost 13–27 vs. Miami (OH)-14Miami (OH)Won 31–6 vs. Northern Illinois+25Northern Illino…Lost 7–45 at Iowa-38IowaWon 31–21 vs. Minnesota+10MinnesotaLost 21–34 at Purdue-13PurdueLost 14–49 vs. Michigan-35MichiganLost 20–54 at Wisconsin-34WisconsinWon 28–24 at Michigan State+4Michigan StateLost 28–40 vs. Ohio State-12Ohio State
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 4atIllinoisL 13–⁠4917%
Sep 11atIndianaL 0–⁠3024%
Sep 18vsMiami (OH)L 13–⁠2719%
Sep 25vsNorthern IllinoisW 31–⁠634%
Oct 2atIowaL 7–⁠4518%
Oct 9vsMinnesotaW 31–⁠2125%
Oct 16atPurdueL 21–⁠3432%
Oct 23vsMichiganL 14–⁠4914%
Oct 30atWisconsinL 20–⁠5416%
Nov 6atMichigan StateW 28–⁠2424%
Nov 13vsOhio StateL 28–⁠4018%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Lost to Ohio State 40–⁠28; unranked in the final AP poll; tied for 8th in the Big Ten.

In program history: The 119th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 133 on file).

Record
3–⁠8
Conference
2–⁠7 tied for 8th in Big Ten
AP final
Unranked
Points
206–⁠379
Coach
Dennis Green
Elo
1308 +21 this season
SP+ rating
-14.3 No. 97 of 109; offense No. 53, defense No. 105
SRS
−11.9 No. 90 of 113 in Division I-A
Recruiting class
—
Captains
Chris Hinton and Rich Raffin

Drafted in 1983

The 1983 draft
Rd 1Chris Hinton OGDenver Broncos

All-Big Ten

1 first team, 2 second team

First team

Second team

  • Ricky EdwardsRBUPI-2
  • Jon HarveyTEAP-2; UPI-2

From Wikipedia’s 1982 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1982 Big Ten standings

Conference page
TeamConf.OverallAP final
Michigan8–⁠18–⁠4
Ohio State7–⁠19–⁠312
Iowa6–⁠28–⁠4
Illinois6–⁠37–⁠5
Wisconsin5–⁠47–⁠5
Indiana4–⁠55–⁠6
Purdue3–⁠63–⁠8
Northwestern2–⁠73–⁠8
Michigan State2–⁠72–⁠9
Minnesota1–⁠83–⁠8

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