2007 Northwestern Wildcats football team

The 2007 Northwestern Wildcats football team represented Northwestern University in the Big Ten Conference during the 2007 NCAA Division I FBS football season. Pat Fitzgerald, in his second season at Northwestern, was the team's head coach. The Wildcats played their homes games at Ryan Field in Evanston, Illinois.

2007 Northwestern Wildcats football
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
2007 record6–6 (3–5 Big Ten)
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorGarrick McGee (2nd season)
Defensive coordinatorGreg Colby (6th season)
Captains
  • Tonjua Jones[1]
  • Adam Kadela
  • Reggie McPherson
  • Trevor Rees
Home stadiumRyan Field (Capacity: 47,130)
2007 Big Ten Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
Team W L    W L 
No. 5 Ohio State $  7 –1     11 –2  
No. 18 Michigan  6 –2     9 –4  
No. 20 Illinois %  6 –2     9 –4  
No. 24 Wisconsin  5 –3     9 –4  
Penn State  4 –4     9 –4  
Iowa  4 –4     6 –6  
Purdue  3 –5     8 –5  
Indiana  3 –5     7 –6  
Michigan State  3 –5     7 –6  
Northwestern  3 –5     6 –6  
Minnesota  0 –8     1 –11  
  • $ – BCS representative as conference champion
  • % – BCS at-large representative
Rankings from AP Poll

Before the beginning of the 2007 season, Northwestern showed potential for improvement upon the previous year's record. ESPN.com's Mark Schlabach stated that Northwestern has the seventh easiest schedule in college football,[2] and SI.com's Steve Megargee claimed that Indiana was the only Big Ten school with an easier schedule.[3] Running back Tyrell Sutton was one of 64 players in college football to be put on the Maxwell Award watch list for the nation's best college football player.[4]

The Wildcats began the season with their first shutout since 1997 in a 27–0 win against the Northeastern Huskies.[5] On October 7, quarterback C. J. Bachér broke Brett Basanez's school record for single-game passing yards by throwing for 520 yards in a victory over Michigan State. Bachér went on to be named the Walter Camp National Offensive Player of the Week and the Big Ten Conference Offensive Player of the Week.[6] Another strong performance in a win against Minnesota earned Bachér Big Ten Conference Offensive Player of the Week honors for the second week in a row.[7]

Schedule
DateTimeOpponentSiteTVResultAttendance
September 111:00 amNortheastern*
BTNW 27–016,199
September 811:00 amNevada*
  • Ryan Field
  • Evanston, IL
BTNW 36–3117,653
September 157:00 pmDuke*
  • Ryan Field
  • Evanston, IL
BTNL 14–2023,716
September 222:30 pmat No. 8 Ohio State
ABC/ESPNL 7–58105,178
September 2911:00 amMichigan
  • Ryan Field
  • Evanston, IL
BTNL 16–2840,604
October 611:00 amat Michigan State
BTNW 48–41 OT67,378
October 1311:00 amMinnesota
  • Ryan Field
  • Evanston, IL
BTNW 49–48 2OT23,314
October 196:00 pmat Eastern Michigan*
ESPNUW 26–1410,000
October 2711:00 amat Purdue
BTNL 17–3558,237
November 311:00 amIowa
  • Ryan Field
  • Evanston, IL
ESPN2L 17–2830,173
November 1011:00 amIndiana
  • Ryan Field
  • Evanston, IL
ESPNCW 31–2820,466
November 1711:00 amat No. 20 Illinois
ESPNL 22–4154,116
  • *Non-conference game
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game
  • All times are in Central time

References
  1. "Year-by-Year Results" (PDF). 2018. p. 93. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2019-03-16. Retrieved 2019-03-14.
  2. ESPN - Easy schedules should help these teams succeed - College Football
  3. SI.com - NCAA Football - Big Ten schedule rankings
  4. "Tyrell Sutton Named to Maxwell Award Watch List :: Sutton one of only 10 Big Ten players on list". Archived from the original on 2011-09-28. Retrieved 2007-11-03.
  5. NCAA Football - Northeastern Huskies/Northwestern Wildcats Recap Saturday September 1, 2007 - Yahoo! Sports
  6. "C.J. Bachér Named Big Ten's Offensive Player of the Week: Fans can also vote for C.J.; one of four nominees for the AT&T All-America Player of the Week award". Archived from the original on 2011-09-28. Retrieved 2007-11-03.
  7. "Big Ten Honors Quarterback C. J. Bachér Again With Offensive Player of the Week Award: Bachér also one of four nominees for the AT&T All-America Player of the Week award; fans can vote for C.J.!". Archived from the original on 2011-09-28. Retrieved 2007-11-03.
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