2020 Northwestern Wildcats football team

The 2020 Northwestern Wildcats football team represented Northwestern University during the 2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Wildcats played their home games at Ryan Field in Evanston, Illinois, and competed in the West Division of the Big Ten Conference. They were led by 15th-year head coach Pat Fitzgerald.

2020 Northwestern Wildcats football
Big Ten West Division champion
Citrus Bowl champion
Citrus Bowl, W 35–19 vs. Auburn
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
DivisionWest Division
Ranking
CoachesNo. 10
APNo. 10
2020 record7–2 (6–2 Big Ten)
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorMike Bajakian (1st season)
Defensive coordinatorMike Hankwitz (13th season)
Home stadiumRyan Field
(Capacity: 47,130)
Uniform
2020 Big Ten Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
Team W L    W L 
East Division
No. 2 Ohio State xy$^  5 0     7 1  
No. 12 Indiana  6 1     6 2  
Penn State  4 5     4 5  
Maryland  2 3     2 3  
Rutgers  3 6     3 6  
Michigan  2 4     2 4  
Michigan State  2 5     2 5  
West Division
No. 10 Northwestern xy  6 1     7 2  
No. 16 Iowa  6 2     6 2  
Wisconsin  3 3     4 3  
Minnesota  3 4     3 4  
Nebraska  3 5     3 5  
Purdue  2 4     2 4  
Illinois  2 6     2 6  
Championship: Ohio State 22, Northwestern 10
  • ^ College Football Playoff participant
  • $ Conference champion
  • x Division champion/co-champions
  • y Championship game participant
  • Note: Due to COVID-19, the Big Ten suspended the season on August 11, but later decided to begin play on October 24. In addition to the title game that was played on December 19, the conference seeded all remaining teams for "championship week" games.[1]
Rankings from AP Poll.

On August 11, 2020, the Big Ten Conference canceled all fall sports competitions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[2] However, on September 16, the Big Ten reinstated the season, announcing an eight-game season beginning on October 24.[3]

Previous season

The Wildcats finished the 2019 season 3–9, 1–8 in Big Ten play to finish in last place in the West Division.

Schedule

Northwestern had games scheduled against Tulane, Central Michigan, and Morgan State, but canceled these games on July 9 due to the Big Ten Conference's decision to play a conference-only schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[4]

DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
October 24, 20206:30 p.m.MarylandBTNW 43–30
October 312:30 p.m.at IowaESPNW 21–201,432
November 711:00 a.m.Nebraska
  • Ryan Field
  • Evanston, IL
BTNW 21–130
November 146:30 p.m.at PurdueNo. 23BTNW 27–20886
November 212:30 p.m.No. 10 WisconsinNo. 19
  • Ryan Field
  • Evanston, IL
ABCW 17–70
November 282:30 p.m.at Michigan StateNo. 8ESPNL 20–290
December 511:00 a.m.at MinnesotaNo. 14BTN/FS1No Contest
December 1211:00 a.m.IllinoisNo. 14
  • Ryan Field
  • Evanston, IL
ESPN2W 28–100
December 1911:00 a.m.vs. No. 4 Ohio StateNo. 14FOXL 10–223,178
January 1, 202112:00 p.m.vs. Auburn*No. 14ABCW 35–1913,039

[5]

Rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.
Week
Poll Pre 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Final 
AP RV none NR NR NR NR NR NR RV RV 23 19 11 16 15 15 10 
Coaches NR none NR NR NR NR NR NR RV RV 23 20 13 17 14 14  
CFP Not released 8 14 14 14 Not released

Game summaries

Maryland

Overall record Last meeting Result
1–0 2017 W, 37–21
Maryland Terrapins vs. Northwestern Wildcats – Game summary
1 2 34Total
Terrapins 3 0 003
Wildcats 14 16 7643

at Ryan FieldEvanston, Illinois

  • Date: October 24, 2020
  • Game time: 6:30 p.m. CDT
  • Game attendance: 0
  • TV: BTN
Game information

at Iowa

Overall record Last meeting Result
27–51–3 2019 L, 0–20
Northwestern Wildcats vs. Iowa Hawkeyes – Game summary
1 2 34Total
Wildcats 0 14 7021
Hawkeyes 17 3 0020

at Kinnick StadiumIowa City, Iowa

  • Date: October 31, 2020
  • Game time: 2:30 p.m. CDT
  • Game attendance: 1,432
  • TV: ESPN
Game information

Nebraska

Overall record Last meeting Result
5–8 2019 L, 10–13
Nebraska Cornhuskers vs. Northwestern Wildcats – Game summary
1 2 34Total
Cornhuskers 0 13 0013
Wildcats 7 0 7721

at Ryan FieldEvanston, Illinois

  • Date: November 7, 2020
  • Game time: 11:00 a.m. CST
  • Game attendance: 0
  • TV: BTN
Game information

at Purdue

Overall record Last meeting Result
32–51–1 2019 L, 22–24
Northwestern Wildcats vs. Purdue Boilermakers – Game summary
1 2 34Total
No. 23 Wildcats 7 10 7327
Boilermakers 3 7 3720

at Ross-Ade StadiumWest Lafayette, Indiana

  • Date: November 14, 2020
  • Game time: 6:30 p.m. CST
  • Game attendance: 886
  • TV: BTN
Game information

Wisconsin

Overall record Last meeting Result
36–60–5 2019 L, 15–24
Wisconsin Badgers vs. Northwestern Wildcats – Game summary
1 2 34Total
No. 10 Badgers 7 0 007
No. 19 Wildcats 7 7 0317

at Ryan FieldEvanston, Illinois

  • Date: November 21, 2020
  • Game time: 2:30 p.m. CST
  • Game attendance: No in-person attendance
  • TV: ABC
Game information
I've been watching Northwestern play and honestly, they got a bunch of Rece Davises out there running around.

Joey Galloway, ESPN analyst

at Michigan State

Overall record Last meeting Result
20–38 2019 L, 10–31
Northwestern Wildcats vs. Michigan State Spartans – Game summary
1 2 34Total
No. 8 Wildcats 0 6 7720
Spartans 10 7 01229

at Spartan StadiumEast Lansing, Michigan

  • Date: November 28, 2020
  • Game time: 2:30 p.m. CST
  • Game attendance: 0
  • TV: ESPN
Game information

at Minnesota (Cancelled)

Overall record Last meeting Result
36–54–5 2019 L, 22–38
Northwestern Wildcats vs. Minnesota Golden Gophers – Game summary
1 2 34Total
No. 14 Wildcats 0 0 000
Golden Gophers 0 0 000

at TCF Bank StadiumMinneapolis, Minnesota

  • Date: December 5, 2020
  • Game time: 11:00 a.m. CST
  • TV: BTN/FS1

Illinois

Overall record Last meeting Result
53–55–5 2019 W, 29–10
Illinois Fighting Illini vs. Northwestern Wildcats – Game summary
1 2 34Total
Fighting Illini 3 0 0710
No. 14 Wildcats 0 14 14028

at Ryan FieldEvanston, Illinois

  • Date: December 12, 2020
  • Game time: 11:00 a.m. CST
  • TV: ESPN2
Game information

vs. Ohio State

Overall record Last meeting Result
14–63–1 2018 L 24–45
Northwestern Wildcats vs. Ohio State Buckeyes (Big Ten Championship Game) – Game summary
1 2 34Total
No. 14 Wildcats 7 3 0010
No. 4 Buckeyes 3 3 7922

at Lucas Oil StadiumIndianapolis, IN

  • Date: December 19, 2020
  • Game time: 11:18 a.m. CST
  • Game weather: Overcast (game played indoors)
  • Game attendance: 3,178
  • Referee: Mark Kluczynski
  • TV announcers (FOX): Gus Johnson (play-by-play), Joel Klatt (analyst), and Jenny Taft (sideline)
Game information

vs. Auburn

Overall record Last meeting Result
0–1 2010 L 35–38
Northwestern Wildcats vs. Auburn Tigers (Citrus Bowl) – Game summary
1 2 34Total
Auburn 0 6 7619
No. 14 Wildcats 14 0 71435

at Camping World StadiumOrlando, FL

  • Date: January 1st, 2021
  • Game time: 12:00 p.m. CST
  • Game weather: Mostly Sunny
  • Game attendance: 13,039
  • Referee: Jerry Magallanes
  • TV announcers (ABC): Dave Flemming (play-by-play), Rod Gilmore (analyst), Paul Carcaterra (sideline reporter)
Game information

References

  1. Stevens, Matthew. "Big Ten To Play A "Championship Weekend" 9th Game Of 2020 Season". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
  2. "Big Ten Statement on 2020-21 Fall Season". bigten.org. August 11, 2020. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
  3. "The Big Ten Conference Adopts Stringent Medical Protocols; Football Season to Resume October 23-24, 2020". bigten.org. September 16, 2020. Retrieved September 16, 2020.
  4. Myerberg, Paul. "Big Ten football reduces season schedule to only conference games, maybe setting stage for others to follow". USA TODAY. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  5. "2020 Northwestern Football Schedule". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved February 29, 2020.
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