DENTISTS SCORE TWICE NORTHWESTERN ELEVEN SHOWS POORLY ON DEFENSE --- Methodists Win from Chicago Dental by a Total of 18-11, the Los- ers Being Handicapped by Lack of Condition-- One Touchdown Against McCornack's Pupils Is Made on a Lucky Run Across Field, but Other Results from Straight, Steady Gains --- In a game which showed Northwestern weaker than even the most pessimistic feared, the Methodist school yesterday allowed the Chicago Dental college eleven to make two touchdowns, scoring only three itself, so that the final score was 18-11.  One of the touchdowns made by the Dental college was scored on a run of 105 yards, but the other was made by straight playing, the dental backs pushing the ball by line bucks the length of the field. The game opened with Northwestern in possession of the ball, and the backs pushed it steadily down the field until within ten yards of the goal line.  Then Blair fumbled and Baird got it and ran the length of the field.  He was closely pursued by McCann, but the Northwestern quarter was pushed out of the way by Craber, and Baird carried the ball over. In the second half Sayler returned Colton's kickoff to the twenty-five yard line, and then, by gains through the line which repeatedly netted five to ten yards, the Dental school backs pushed the ball steadily down the field.  A run of fifteen yards around the left end by Longacre brought the ball to within two yards of the Northwestern line, and Barlow carried it over. Northwestern's gains were made by straight line bucking for the most part, the only end runs being  by McCann, who scored one touchdown on a thirty yard run.  The dentists played a hard, fierce game, but were handicapped by lack of training. The playing of Northwestern was such as to discourage the Methodist rooters.  While gaining sometimes with apparent ease, the backs played an erratic game, and the line men gave them little support.  The game was played on a slippery field, and this accounts, in part, for the slowness of the purple team. Colton played the best game, but he was not always to be depended upon.  On the defense the team was weaker than on offense, the only redeeming feature being the work of Kafer in stopping plays and of Colton in backing up the forwards. Northwestern 18 - Chicago Dental college 11 Touchdowns -- Baird, McCann [2], Barlow, Blair.  Goals -- Colton [2]; Gilbreth.

It's apparent that the Tribune has the correct score, but flubbed on its reporting of the goals scored in the game, which the Chronicle appears to have correct.  In this game, touchdowns were worth five points (TDs would not be worth six points until 1912).  For NU, quarterback George McCann scored two touchdowns, and fullback Charles Blair scored one TD, for a total of 15 points.  Chauncey Colton kicked all three P.A.T.s successfully, for a total score of 18 for NU.  John Gilbreth, while playing for NU, likely did not kick a P.A.T.

For Chicago Dental, the two touchdowns by Barlow and Baird, and one successful P.A.T. by Barlow would total 11 points.

Clearly the game was a "moral loss" for NU, since it was assumed prior to the game that Chicago Dental would not even threaten to score, not to mention score twice.  However, NU did obviously win the game.  The record for 1903, NU's first Big Ten title season, should be 10-1-3, not 9-2-3.

Update:

<>NU has corrected this record!  The 2009 media guide now lists the win, and credits NU with 10 wins in 1903.

The 2005 ESPN Encyclopedia lists NU's 1903 season as 10 wins, one loss, and three ties.  It shows the Chicago Dental game as an 18-11 NU win.

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Some discrepancies in the official NU records are by choice.  For instance, any NU home games that the team played off-campus used to be listed with the actual site where they were played.  NU now lists all such games as having been played at a neutral location.  In reality, the only times NU has played on a truly neutral field are in its bowl games and in one game with Purdue in 1931. 

The 1997 Pigskin Classic is one example that shows that most games listed as neutral should either be regarded as home (or away) off-campus games.  At the time, the Pigskin Classic was played at a host team's school.  NU hosted Oklahoma at Soldier Field.  Even though NU officially lists the game as having been played on a neutral field, it counts NU's 24-0 victory in the school's 12-game record home winning streak!  I do not list out here the other examples of off-campus sites, but I do list them at the bottom of the Home Sites page.

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Other discrepancies include:

1882: Paulison's Tale of the Wildcats describes NU's first intercollegiate games with Lake Forest, and mentions that NU's first game was a loss at Lake Forest, followed by a win at home.  These locations have been used by other sources ever since.  The 2005 ESPN Encyclopedia also uses these locations.  NU's official record simply leaves the locations blank.  Unfortunately, Paulison mixed up the locations in his description.  The only surviving contemporary source for these games is the NU student newspaper, which clearly shows that the first game was a loss played at NU, followed by a win at Lake Forest.

1886: Chicago Tribune article shows the Harvard Prep game occured Oct. 30 at Evanston (32-4 Harvard win).

1890-1891: Wisconsin games were both on Thanksgiving.  In 1890 Thanksgiving was Nov. 27; in 1891 it was Nov. 26.

1892: The dates of the two Wisconsin games are swapped in the official records.

1898: Location of Michigan game given as Neutral.  Game was on campus, at Sheppard Field.

1900: The date of the game with Knox is Saturday, Nov. 3.

1903: Score vs. N. Division H.S. should be 22-5.   Lombard score should be 23-0. Naperville game was played on Sept. 26.

1905: N. Division H.S. game was played at NU.

1905: Official records have NU playing at Beloit.  Other sources also have Beloit as an away game, possibly because of NU's records.  The Beloit game, however, was the Dedication Game for Northwestern Field!  The game program and the contemporary reports of the game confirm this, and that the game was indeed played at Northwestern Field  In fact, Chicago Tribune accounts show that every game except for the season finale at Minnesota was a home game.

1917: Chicago game was played at Chicago.

1929: Previously, NU's records gave no dates for the 1929 games with Cornell (IA) and Butler.  Beginning in 2002 NU lists the 1929 Cornell game as Sept. 28 and Butler on Oct. 5.  These games were NU's only official "double header," and were BOTH played on Oct. 5.  NU played no game on Sept. 28.

1931: Iowa game was away.

1932: Notre Dame game shown as neutral.  This game was played at Notre Dame Stadium and was an away game.

1933: Indiana game listed as neutral.  This game was a home game played at Dyche Stadium.

1995: Indiana game was played on Sept. 30.

1997: Wisconsin and Michigan dates should be Oct. 4 & 11.

2004: Minnesota game played on Sept. 25.  Media guide shows Sept. 23.

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In addition to the corrections I've entered onto my game-by-game results list, there are further discrepancies between Northwestern's official records and other sources (despite which, the information in the media guide was still used).  I did not, for instance, add any game to the game-by-game list if the official NU list makes no reference to the game whatsoever (I consider these games unofficial, and list them above).  Other discrepancies are listed in the Adobe game-by-game file in orange.

Among the facts listed in orange is the 1994 MSU game.  NU officially considers the Michigan State game an NU loss.  Michigan State violated NCAA eligibility rules that year and was forced to forfeit all games.  The Big Ten, Mich. St., and the NCAA recognize MSU's forfeiture and credit NU with a "win."

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Game-By-Game Results:

Click the following link to view the current "work in progress" list of NU games (Note: this file is NOT a Web page, but an Adobe Acrobat file, which may be downloaded or simply invoked to view online.) history.pdf. 

Last update to the Adobe game-by-game file: December 2004.