1986 Northwestern
4–7 (2–6 Big Ten), coached by Francis Peay. Share
Schedule and results
- Biggest winBeat Princeton 37–0Sep 27
By 37 points, its widest win.
| Date | Opponent | Result | Elo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 6 | vs Duke | L 6–17 | 51% |
| Sep 20 | vs Army | W 25–18 | 29% |
| Sep 27 | at Princeton | W 37–0 | 52% |
| Oct 4 | vs Indiana | L 7–24 | 50% |
| Oct 11 | at Minnesota | L 23–44 | 24% |
| Oct 18 | vs Wisconsin | L 27–35 | 50% |
| Oct 25 | at 11Iowa | L 20–27 | 11% |
| Nov 1 | vs Purdue | L 16–17 | 54% |
| Nov 8 | at 11Ohio State | L 9–30 | 8% |
| Nov 15 | vs Michigan State | W 24–21 | 25% |
| Nov 22 | at Illinois | W 23–18 | 25% |
Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.
How it ended: Beat Illinois 23–18; unranked in the final AP poll; tied for 8th in the Big Ten.
In program history: The 97th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 133 on file).
- Record
- 4–7
- Conference
- 2–6 tied for 8th in Big Ten
- AP final
- Unranked
- Points
- 217–251
- Coach
- Francis Peay
- Elo
- 1389 +13 this season
- SP+ rating
- -11.5 No. 78 of 101; offense No. 82, defense No. 76
- SRS
- −6.8 No. 74 of 105 in Division I-A
- Recruiting class
- —
- Defensive coordinator
- Bob Junko
All-Big Ten
2 first team, 1 second teamFirst team
Rich BorresenTEAP-2; UPI-1- John DuvicKAP-1; UPI-2
Second team
- Bob DirkesLinemen-outside linebackersAP-2
From Wikipedia’s 1986 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).
1986 Big Ten standings
Conference page| Team | Conf. | Overall | AP final |
|---|---|---|---|
 Michigan | 7–1 | 11–2 | 8 |
| Ohio State | 7–1 | 10–3 | 7 |
| Iowa | 5–3 | 9–3 | 16 |
| Minnesota | 5–3 | 6–6 | |
| Michigan State | 4–4 | 6–5 | |
| Indiana | 3–5 | 6–6 | |
| Illinois | 3–5 | 4–7 | |
| Northwestern | 2–6 | 4–7 | |
| Purdue | 2–6 | 3–8 | |
| Wisconsin | 2–6 | 3–9 |
Ordered by conference winning percentage, then conference wins. Division splits and tiebreakers aren’t applied.