1979 Northwestern Wildcats football team

1979 Northwestern Wildcats football
Conference	Big Ten Conference
1979 record	1–10 (0–9 Big Ten)
Head coach	Rick Venturi (2nd season)
Captain	Kevin Berg
Captain	Mike Fiedler
Home stadium	Dyche Stadium
Seasons

1979 Big Ten football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#4/4 Ohio State †	8	–	0	–	0			11	–	1	–	0
#10/10 Purdue	7	–	1	–	0			10	–	2	–	0
#18/19 Michigan	6	–	2	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
#19/16 Indiana	5	–	3	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
Iowa	4	–	4	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Minnesota	3	–	5	–	1			4	–	6	–	1
Michigan State	3	–	5	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Wisconsin	3	–	5	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Illinois	1	–	6	–	1			2	–	8	–	1
Northwestern	0	–	9	–	0			1	–	10	–	0
† – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll / Coaches' Poll

The 1979 Northwestern Wildcats team represented Northwestern University during the 1979 Big Ten Conference football season. In their second year under head coach Rick Venturi, the Wildcats compiled a 1–10 record (0–9 against Big Ten Conference opponents) and finished in last place in the Big Ten Conference.

The team's offensive leaders were quarterback Mike Kerrigan with 961 passing yards, Jeff Cohn with 426 rushing yards, and Todd Sheets with 614 receiving yards.

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result
September 8	at No. 7 Michigan	Michigan Stadium Ann Arbor, MI	L 7–49
September 15	Wyoming*	Dyche Stadium Evanston, IL	W 27–22
September 22	Syracuse*	Dyche Stadium Evanston, IL	L 21–54
September 29	at Minnesota	Memorial Stadium Minneapolis, MN	L 8–38
October 6	at No. 8 Ohio State	Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH	L 7–16
October 13	Iowa	Dyche Stadium Evanston, IL	L 6–58
October 20	at Indiana	Memorial Stadium Bloomington, IN	L 0–30
October 27	at No. 16 Purdue	Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IN	L 16–20
November 3	Michigan State	Dyche Stadium Evanston, IL	L 7–42
November 10	at Wisconsin	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI	L 3–28
November 17	Illinois	Dyche Stadium Evanston, IL (Sweet Sioux Tomahawk)	L 13–29
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Roster

1979 Northwestern Wildcats football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class QB 12 Kerrigan, MikeMike Kerrigan 3.0 !So T 55 Reitz, PhilPhil Reitz 7.0 !Sr T 75 Taylor, RobRob Taylor 3.0 !So	Defense Pos. # Name Class LB 80 Hinton, ChrisChris Hinton 1.0 !Fr DT 74 Wells, NormNorm Wells 7.0 !Sr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class	Head coach Rick Venturi Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

Team players in the NFL

Player	Position	Round	Pick	NFL club
Norm Wells	Guard	12	330	Dallas Cowboys