Unofficial Results
and Games Page
Created
8/10/01;
Updated
1/15/06

 



NU Unofficial Games
and Results
NU's official football results (which can be found in the media guide)  include the dates of each game, the opponent played, the location and the score.  Prior to the 2002 media guide, for many games between 1882 and 1937 much of this information was missing.   In 2001, using Walter Paulson's book Tale of the Wildcats, James Howell's Web site research, old copies of the Daily Northwestern, Syllabus, Chicago Tribune, and other schools' media guides, HailToPurple.com filled in many of the holes that were in the Northwestern football media guide's official history and game-by-game results.

In 2002, after over 40 years of incomplete date and location information, NU updated its history.  NU also included, for the first time ever, many of the "unofficial games" that used to be listed in the unofficial games section below.  Significantly, this changed many of NU's official season records of its earliest years.

Even with this comprehensive update by NU, there are still some discrepancies and some information not given in the official history.

Unofficial Games:

Here is a list of games NU either played or might have played.  These games are not on NU's official list of games, nor are they included on my game-by-game Adobe file (see below for the game-by-game file).  My opinion is that the 1876, 1879, 1880, and 1903 games listed, as well as the October 8, 1892 game should all make their way into NU's official history.  The other 1892 games listed and the 1899 game are too uncertain to be considered official. 

1876: Game with The Chicago Football Club on Feb. 22, the first ever game between NU and a team from outside the school, and possibly the first football game played in the Chicago area.  Game was played on the NU campus.   Chicago Football Club won, three goals to nothing (numerical scoring was not used in football until 1884). [source: Chicago Tribune, Feb. 23, 1876 and Chicago Times, Feb. 23, 1876]. 

HailToPurple.com discovered the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Times articles regarding the 1876 football game with Chicago Football Club in August 2002 and reported about them a week later.  NU recognizes this game but does not include it in its official records, despite the fact that it was a fully-organized game with an external competitor and despite the other such games (eg., against the Chicago Wanderers club) that NU does consider official.

Update: In 2005 ESPN published its College Football Encyclopedia, edited by Michael MacCambridge (a Northwestern alumnus).  The Encyclopedia does, in fact, list the February 22, 1876 game with the Chicago Football Club and does extend the NU football team history to that point.  Even more incredibly, in the Encyclopedia's Annual Review section (p. 1138), only five major college football teams can trace their team's history earlier: Princeton, Rutgers, Columbia, Yale, and Harvard.  Northwestern is next, and the next college from the Midwest is Michigan in 1879.

1879: Possible game vs. Evanston H.S. (the forerunner to Evanston Township H.S.)  Date and score unknown.  Played at NU, Evanston H.S. won.  NU used the game as a practice for an upcoming game vs. Racine College, which was canceled. [source: Robert Pruter, Ill. High School Assoc.]

1880: Game vs. Lake View H.S. Date, outcome and score all unknown.  Only one half played [source: The Story of Northwestern, by Ward, 1924]

1892: Three games not in NU's records.  While the official record for 1892 is 5-3-2, with the unofficial games, the record would be 7-4-2.

  • Sept. 30 vs. Lake View H.S. at Sheppard Field.  NU won 14-10.  NU has no record of ever playing Lake View. [sources: Howell; NU football programs; NU Syllabus]
  • One other H.S. game in September.  Opponent and score not known, but was an NU win. [source: NU football programs; however, not shown in contemporary sources.]
  • Oct. 8 vs. Chicago Athletic Association, played on the Club's grounds in Chicago.  NU lost 10-0.  NU has no record of this game. [source: NU Syllabus; Howell; Chicago Tribune].   The Tribune account of the game leaves no doubt that the team that played the C.A.A. was indeed NU's varsity team, listing every player (the list matches the varsity players at the time).
1899: Game vs. Lake Forest Academy (Prep) not included in official records.  Played at L.F.A. Oct. 4.  NU won 24-5.  However, confidence is rather low that this was NU Varsity; it was more likely the NU scrubs team, and should therefore remain unofficial.

1903: The Sept. 19 game vs. N. Division H.S. was actually the first game of a double-header.  The second game was with the Marshall Field Wholesalers team, and the final score was  0-0.   NU would occasionally play early season double-headers, with the varsity taking one game and the "scrubs" taking another  (an example of this occured on Sept. 30,1903,  when the varsity took on the Alumni in an official game, and the scrubs played W. Division H.S.).  However, for the two Sept. 19 games, Coach McCornack divided his teams equally; in other words, there was no "scrubs team," but two equal varsity squads playing.  The Marshall Fields Wholesaler game does not appear in the records.

Early 1900's and early 1990's: Several other games with alumni teams are (rightly) not kept in NU's official records, since they were considered scrimmages at the time they were played and were never meant to be counted as official.

Unofficial Results and Game Locations:

There are some discrepancies between NU's official history and other sources where it is clear that the other sources are correct.  I have changed this information on my game-by-game list to match the other (contemporary) sources.  The most important error is the outcome of the 1903 Chicago Dental game:

1903: Official results show a loss to Chicago Dental, 10-11.  Contemporary souces reveal that the game was won by NU, 18-11.  The Chicago Tribune account of the game follows:
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.

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.  HailToPurple.com discovered the Tribune account in May 2003; when NU was informed of the error in its records, it did not respond.

Update: 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!


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 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, they count 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 make these changes in my game-by-game Adobe file.

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.

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."


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.