CollegeFootballDigestfrom CooperSearch

1989 Northwestern

0–⁠11 (0–⁠8 Big Ten), coached by Francis Peay.

Schedule and results

Northwestern in 1989, game by game: lost at Duke 31–41; lost vs. Air Force 31–48; lost vs. Rutgers 27–38; lost at Indiana 11–43; lost vs. Minnesota 18–20; lost at Wisconsin 31–35; lost vs. Iowa 22–35; lost vs. Ohio State 27–52; lost at Purdue 15–46; lost at Michigan State 14–76; lost vs. No. 11 Illinois 14–63+7−62Lost 31–41 at Duke-10DukeLost 31–48 vs. Air Force-17Air ForceLost 27–38 vs. Rutgers-11RutgersLost 11–43 at Indiana-32IndianaLost 18–20 vs. Minnesota-2MinnesotaLost 31–35 at Wisconsin-4WisconsinLost 22–35 vs. Iowa-13IowaLost 27–52 vs. Ohio State-25Ohio StateLost 15–46 at Purdue-31PurdueLost 14–76 at Michigan State-62Michigan StateLost 14–63 vs. No. 11 Illinois-49No. 11 Illinois
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 9atDukeL 31–⁠4131%
Sep 16vsAir ForceL 31–⁠4836%
Sep 23vsRutgersL 27–⁠3840%
Oct 7atIndianaL 11–⁠4315%
Oct 14vsMinnesotaL 18–⁠2039%
Oct 21atWisconsinL 31–⁠3539%
Oct 28vsIowaL 22–⁠3529%
Nov 4vsOhio StateL 27–⁠5225%
Nov 11atPurdueL 15–⁠4637%
Nov 18atMichigan StateL 14–⁠769%
Nov 25vs11IllinoisL 14–⁠6316%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Lost to Illinois 63–⁠14; unranked in the final AP poll; 10th in the Big Ten.

In program history: The 129th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 133 on file).

Record
0–⁠11
Conference
0–⁠8 10th in Big Ten
AP final
Unranked
Points
241–⁠497
Coach
Francis Peay
Elo
1252 −153 this season
SP+ rating
-23.5 No. 99 of 103; offense No. 43, defense No. 103
SRS
−18.2 No. 97 of 106 in Division I-A
Recruiting class
—
Captains
Bob Griswold, Randy McClellan, Tim O’Brien and Derrill Vest

All-Big Ten

1 first team, 1 second team

First team

  • Richard BuchananWRAP-1; UPI-2

Second team

  • Rob ChristianRBAP-2

From Wikipedia’s 1989 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1989 Big Ten standings

Conference page
TeamConf.OverallAP final
Michigan8–⁠010–⁠27
Illinois7–⁠110–⁠210
Ohio State6–⁠28–⁠424
Michigan State6–⁠28–⁠416
Minnesota4–⁠46–⁠5
Iowa3–⁠55–⁠6
Indiana3–⁠55–⁠6
Purdue2–⁠63–⁠8
Wisconsin1–⁠72–⁠9
Northwestern0–⁠80–⁠11

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