CollegeFootballDigestfrom CooperSearch

1983 Northwestern

2–⁠9 (2–⁠7 Big Ten), coached by Dennis Green.

Schedule and results

Northwestern in 1983, game by game: lost vs. No. 19 Washington 0–34; lost at Syracuse 0–35; won at Indiana 10–8; lost vs. Wisconsin 0–49; lost at No. 15 Iowa 21–61; lost at No. 13 Michigan 0–35; won vs. Minnesota 19–8; lost at Purdue 17–48; lost vs. Michigan State 3–9; lost at No. 10 Ohio State 7–55; lost vs. No. 4 Illinois 24–56+11−49Lost 0–34 vs. No. 19 Washington-34No. 19 WashingtonLost 0–35 at Syracuse-35SyracuseWon 10–8 at Indiana+2IndianaLost 0–49 vs. Wisconsin-49WisconsinLost 21–61 at No. 15 Iowa-40No. 15 IowaLost 0–35 at No. 13 Michigan-35No. 13 MichiganWon 19–8 vs. Minnesota+11MinnesotaLost 17–48 at Purdue-31PurdueLost 3–9 vs. Michigan State-6Michigan StateLost 7–55 at No. 10 Ohio State-48No. 10 Ohio StateLost 24–56 vs. No. 4 Illinois-32No. 4 Illinois
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 10vs19WashingtonL 0–⁠3425%
Sep 17atSyracuseL 0–⁠3530%
Sep 24atIndianaW 10–⁠828%
Oct 1vsWisconsinL 0–⁠4934%
Oct 8at15IowaL 21–⁠6114%
Oct 15at13MichiganL 0–⁠359%
Oct 22vsMinnesotaW 19–⁠856%
Oct 29atPurdueL 17–⁠4833%
Nov 5vsMichigan StateL 3–⁠941%
Nov 12at10Ohio StateL 7–⁠557%
Nov 19vs4IllinoisL 24–⁠5612%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Lost to Illinois 56–⁠24; unranked in the final AP poll; tied for 8th in the Big Ten.

In program history: The 124th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 133 on file).

Record
2–⁠9
Conference
2–⁠7 tied for 8th in Big Ten
AP final
Unranked
Points
101–⁠398
Coach
Dennis Green
Elo
1286 −86 this season
SP+ rating
-21.8 No. 103 of 108; offense No. 99, defense No. 101
SRS
−20.3 No. 108 of 112 in Division I-A
Recruiting class
—
Captains
Mike Guendling and Todd Jenkins

Drafted in 1984

The 1984 draft
Rd 2Mike Guendling LBSan Diego Chargers
Rd 5John Kidd PBuffalo Bills

All-Big Ten

1 first team, 2 second team

First team

Second team

  • Ricky EdwardsRBAP-2
  • Keith CruiseDLAP-2; UPI-2

From Wikipedia’s 1983 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1983 Big Ten standings

Conference page
TeamConf.OverallAP final
Illinois9–⁠010–⁠210
Michigan8–⁠19–⁠38
Iowa7–⁠29–⁠314
Ohio State6–⁠39–⁠39
Wisconsin5–⁠47–⁠4
Purdue3–⁠5–⁠13–⁠7–⁠1
Michigan State2–⁠6–⁠14–⁠6–⁠1
Indiana2–⁠73–⁠8
Northwestern2–⁠72–⁠9
Minnesota0–⁠91–⁠10

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