1989 Northwestern Wildcats football team

1989 Northwestern Wildcats football
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	0–11 (0–8 Big Ten)
Head coach	Francis Peay (4th season)
Captains	Bob Griswold[1] Randy McClellan Tim O'Brien Derrill Vest
Home stadium	Dyche Stadium

1989 Big Ten Conference football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 7 Michigan $	8	–	0	–	0			10	–	2	–	0
No. 10 Illinois	7	–	1	–	0			10	–	2	–	0
No. 16 Michigan State	6	–	2	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
No. 24 Ohio State	6	–	2	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
Minnesota	4	–	4	–	0			6	–	5	–	0
Indiana	3	–	5	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Iowa	3	–	5	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Purdue	2	–	6	–	0			3	–	8	–	0
Wisconsin	1	–	7	–	0			2	–	9	–	0
Northwestern	0	–	8	–	0			0	–	11	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The 1989 Northwestern Wildcats team represented Northwestern University during the 1989 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their fourth year under head coach Francis Peay, the Wildcats compiled a 0–11 record (0–8 against Big Ten Conference opponents) and finished in last place in the Big Ten Conference.^[2]

The team's offensive leaders were quarterback Tim O'Brien with 2,218 passing yards, junior running back Bob Christian with 1,291 rushing yards, and Richard Buchanan with 1,115 receiving yards.^[3] Buchanan received first-team All-Big Ten honors from the Associated Press, and Christian received second-team honors.^[4]

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 9		at Duke*	Wallace Wade Stadium Durham, NC	L 31–41	15,220	[5]
September 16		Air Force*	Dyche Stadium Evanston, IL	L 31–48	27,334
September 23		Rutgers*	Dyche Stadium Evanston, IL	L 27–38
October 7	1:00 p.m.	at Indiana	Memorial Stadium Bloomington, IN	L 11–43	47,845
October 14	1:00 p.m.	Minnesota	Dyche Stadium Evanston, IL	L 18–20	26,849
October 21		at Wisconsin	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI	L 31–35	44,978
October 28	1:00 p.m.	Iowa	Dyche Stadium Evanston, IL	L 22–35	36,312
November 4	1:00 p.m.	Ohio State	Dyche Stadium Evanston, IL	L 27–52	28,236
November 11		at Purdue	Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IN	L 15–46	31,470
November 18	1:05 p.m.	at Michigan State	Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI	L 14–76	64,817
November 25	2:00 p.m.	No. 11 Illinois	Dyche Stadium Evanston, IL (rivalry)	L 14–63	31,017
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

Game summaries

At Duke

Air Force

Rutgers

At Indiana

Minnesota

At Wisconsin

Iowa

Ohio State

Ohio State Buckeyes (5–2) at Northwestern Wildcats (0–7)

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Ohio St	7	21	7	17	52
Northwestern	7	0	6	14	27

at Dyche Stadium, Evanston, Illinois

• Date: November 4
• Game time: 1:00 p.m.
• Game weather: Overcast, 45 °F (7 °C)
• Game attendance: 28,236
• Referee: John Nealon
• TV announcers (WOSU-TV): Jack Kramer and Paul Warfield
• Box Score

Game information

First quarter OSU – Carlos Snow 25-yard run (Pat O'Morrow kick), 9:04. Ohio St 7–0. Drive: 13 plays, 85 yards, 5:56. NW – Tim O'Brien 11-yard run (Ira Adler kick), 4:52. Tie 7–7. Drive: 9 plays, 61 yards, 4:12. Second quarter OSU – Scottie Graham 20-yard run (Pat O'Morrow kick), 5:05. Ohio St 14–7. Drive: 11 plays, 75 yards, 4:16. OSU – James Bryant 63-yard run (Pat O'Morrow kick), 2:04. Ohio St 21–7. Drive: 2 plays, 77 yards, 0:17. OSU – James Bryant 46-yard pass from Greg Frey (Pat O'Morrow kick), 0:59. Ohio St 28–7. Drive: 2 plays, 46 yards, 0:16. Third quarter OSU – Dante Lee 5-yard run (Pat O'Morrow kick), 5:20. Ohio St 35–7. Drive: 16 plays, 80 yards, 9:40. NW – Bob Christian 3-yard run (run failed), 2:46. Ohio St 35–13. Drive: 9 plays, 51 yards, 2:34. Fourth quarter OSU – Pat O'Morrow 19-yard field goal, 14:13. Ohio St 38–13. Drive: 9 plays, 80 yards, 3:33. OSU – Dante Lee 8-yard run (Pat O'Morrow kick), 10:49. Ohio St 45–13. Drive: 4 plays, 29 yards, 1:48. NW – Richard Buchanan 14-yard pass from Tim O'Brien (pass failed), 8:14. Ohio St 45–20. Drive: 9 plays, 78 yards, 2:35. OSU – Dante Lee 6-yard run (Pat O'Morrow kick), 1:15. Ohio St 52–20. Drive: 13 plays, 80 yards, 6:59. NW – Mark Benson 21-yard pass from Kevin Krebs (run good), 0:00. Ohio St 52–28. Drive: 8 plays, 73 yards, 1:15. Top passers OSU – Greg Frey – 8/10, 106 yards, TD NW – Tim O'Brien – 15/21, 172 yards, TD, INT Top rushers OSU – Dante Lee – 24 rushes, 157 yards, 3 TD NW – Bob Christian – 27 rushes, 144 yards, TD Top receivers OSU – James Bryant – 1 reception, 46 yards, TD NW – Richard Buchanan – 8 receptions, 101 yards, TD

At Purdue

Northwestern Wildcats (0–8) at Purdue Boilermakers (1–7)

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Northwestern	0	7	8	0	15
Purdue	32	0	0	14	46

at Ross–Ade Stadium, West Lafayette, Indiana

• Date: November 11, 1989
• Game attendance: 31,470
• ^[6]

Purdue snapped a streak of 10 straight games without a first quarter point.^[7]

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Northwestern	Passing	Tim O'Brien	15/40, 213 Yds, 2 TD
	Rushing	Bob Christian	21 Rush, 59 Yds
	Receiving
Purdue	Passing	Eric Hunter	11/24, 263 Yds, 3 TD
	Rushing	Eric Hunter	9 Rush, 55 Yds
	Receiving	Rod Dennis	4 Rec, 146 Yds, 3 TD

Scoring summary

Quarter Time Drive Team Scoring information Score Plays Yards TOP NW PUR 1 13:25 Purdue Blocked punt returned 35 yards for touchdown by Rick Smith, Larry Sullivan kick good 0 7 1 2:02 Purdue 37-yard field goal by Larry Sullivan 0 10 1 Purdue Rod Dennis 39-yard touchdown reception from Eric Hunter, Larry Sullivan kick good 0 17 1 2 Purdue Larry Coleman 6-yard touchdown run, 2-point run good 0 25 1 1:02 Purdue Rod Dennis 46-yard touchdown reception from Eric Hunter, Larry Sullivan kick good 0 32 2 7:38 Northwestern Richard Buchanan 13-yard touchdown reception from Tim O'Brien, kick good 7 32 3 6:32 Northwestern Greg Fischer 6-yard touchdown reception from Tim O'Brien, 2-point pass good 15 32 4 11:23 Purdue Calvin Williams 44-yard touchdown reception from Eric Hunter, Larry Sullivan kick good 15 39 4 1:51 Purdue Rod Dennis 57-yard touchdown reception from Jeff Lesniewicz, Larry Sullivan kick good 15 46 "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. 15 46

At Michigan State

Illinois

Roster

1989 Northwestern Wildcats football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class TE 82 Mike Allaway WR 13 Mark Benson WR 1 Richard Buchanan Jr G 66 Tobin Buckner WR 6 Lester Carney RB 34 Bob Christian Jr TE 84 David Cross RB 22 Eric Dixon WR 45 Greg Fischer TE 86 Bob Griswold OT 77 Stan Holsen QB 4 Kip Kelly QB 15 Kevin Krebs WR 7 Randy McClellan G 65 Todd McClish C 61 Kurt Minko WR 81 Chip Morris WR 25 Pat New FB 30 Butch Newhouse QB 11 Tim O'Brien RB 28 Steve Rosholt RB 5 Terry Smith G 62 Brian Tichy OT 76 Derrill Vest RB 46 Curt Zipfel	Defense Pos. # Name Class DT 96 Darryl Ashmore DE 85 Frank Boudreaux DE 75 John Broeker DB 20 David Eaton DL 57 Ed Feaster DL 44 Dan Freveletti DB 24 Greg Gill LB 60 Thomas Homco DB 41 John Ivlow DB 36 Dwight James DL 91 Mike Lowe LB 9 David Sanderson LB, P 54 Ed Sutter DB 47 Terry Thomas DB 49 Sheridan Wilks LB 33 Matt Witt	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K 17 Ira Adler P 14 Matt Dzierwa	Head coach Francis Peay Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

References

1. "Year-by-Year Results" (PDF). 2007. p. 149. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 16, 2019. Retrieved March 14, 2019.
2. "1989 Northwestern Wildcats Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved February 22, 2016.
3. "1989 Northwestern Wildcats Stats". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved February 22, 2016.
4. "Indiana's Thompson heads All-Big Ten team". The Daily Reporter (AP story). November 30, 1989. p. 5.
5. "Northwestern falls one rally short to Duke". Northwest Herald. September 10, 1989. Retrieved February 3, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
6. Tatlock, David (November 13, 1989). "Purdue Collects First Big Ten Win, 46-15". Purdue University Archives & Special Editions. The Purdue Exponent. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
7. Cook, Bob (November 11, 1989). "Purdue 46, Northwestern 15". UPI Archives. Retrieved December 22, 2022.