2015 Northwestern Wildcats football team

2015 Northwestern Wildcats football
2015 Northwestern Wildcats football
Outback Bowl, L 6–45 vs. Tennessee
Conference	Big Ten Conference
	West Division
Ranking
Coaches	No. 22
AP	No. 23
Record	10–3 (6–2 Big Ten)
Head coach	Pat Fitzgerald (10th season);
Offensive coordinator	Mick McCall (8th season)
Offensive scheme	Spread
Defensive coordinator	Mike Hankwitz (8th season)
Base defense	Multiple 4–3
Home stadium	Ryan Field

2015 Big Ten Conference football standings

Team	W		L	W		L
East Division
No. 6 Michigan State xy$^	7	–	1	12	–	2
No. 4 Ohio State x	7	–	1	12	–	1
No. 12 Michigan	6	–	2	10	–	3
Penn State	4	–	4	7	–	6
Indiana	2	–	6	6	–	7
Rutgers	1	–	7	4	–	8
Maryland	1	–	7	3	–	9
West Division
No. 9 Iowa xy	8	–	0	12	–	2
No. 23 Northwestern	6	–	2	10	–	3
No. 21 Wisconsin	6	–	2	10	–	3
Nebraska	3	–	5	6	–	7
Minnesota	2	–	6	6	–	7
Illinois	2	–	6	5	–	7
Purdue	1	–	7	2	–	10
Championship: Michigan State 16, Iowa 13
^ – College Football Playoff participant $ – Conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions y – Championship game participant Rankings from AP Poll

The 2015 Northwestern Wildcats football team represented Northwestern University during the 2015 NCAA Division I FBS football season. It was Pat Fitzgerald's tenth season as the team's head coach. The Wildcats home games were played at Ryan Field in Evanston, Illinois. They were members of the West Division of the Big Ten Conference. They finished the season 10–3, 6–2 in Big Ten play to finish in a tie for second place in the West Division. They were invited to the Outback Bowl where they were defeated by Tennessee 45–6.

Schedule

Northwestern announced their 2015 football schedule on June 3, 2013. The 2015 schedule consist of 7 home and 5 away games in the regular season. The Wildcats hosted Big Ten foes Iowa, Minnesota, Penn State, and Purdue and travelled to Illinois, Michigan, Nebraska, and Wisconsin.^[1]

The Wildcats hosted three of their four non conference games against Ball State, Eastern Illinois and Stanford. Northwestern traveled to Durham, North Carolina to face Duke of the Atlantic Coast Conference on September 19.

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 5	11:00 a.m.	No. 21 Stanford*		Ryan Field Evanston, IL	ESPN	W 16–6	36,024
September 12	3:00 p.m.	Eastern Illinois*		Ryan Field Evanston, IL	ESPNews	W 41–0	29,131
September 19	11:30 a.m.	at Duke*	No. 23	Wallace Wade Stadium Durham, NC	ACCN	W 19–10	24,127
September 26	7:00 p.m.	Ball State*	No. 17	Ryan Field Evanston, IL	BTN	W 24–19	30,107
October 3	11:00 a.m.	Minnesota	No. 16	Ryan Field Evanston, IL	BTN	W 27–0	30,044
October 10	2:30 p.m.	at No. 18 Michigan	No. 13	Michigan Stadium Ann Arbor, MI (rivalry)	BTN	L 0–38	110,452
October 17	11:00 a.m.	No. 17 Iowa	No. 20	Ryan Field Evanston, IL	ABC/ESPN2	L 10–40	44,135
October 24	11:00 a.m.	at Nebraska		Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE	ESPN2	W 30–28	89,493
November 7	11:00 a.m.	Penn State	No. 21	Ryan Field Evanston, IL	ESPNU	W 23–21	34,116
November 14	11:00 a.m.	Purdue	No. 18	Ryan Field Evanston, IL	BTN	W 21–14	30,003
November 21	2:30 pm	at No. 25 Wisconsin	No. 20	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI	BTN	W 13–7	75,276
November 28	2:30 pm	at Illinois	No. 16	Soldier Field Chicago, IL (rivalry)	ESPNU	W 24–14	33,514
January 1, 2016	11:00 a.m.	vs. No. 23 Tennessee*	No. 13	Raymond James Stadium Tampa, FL (Outback Bowl)	ESPN2	L 6–45	53,202
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll and CFP Rankings after November 3 released prior to game All times are in Central time

Schedule Source:^[2]

Rankings

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
— = Not ranked. RV = Received votes.
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Final
AP	—	RV	23	17	16	13	20	RV	RV	RV	24	20	17	13	12	23
Coaches	—	RV	24	19	17	14	21	RV	RV	RV	24	21	17	13	12	22
CFP	Not released									21	18	20	16	14	13	Not released

Roster

2015 Northwestern Wildcats football team roster

Players

Coaches

Offense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
WR	`2`	Christian Salem	Jr
RB	`4`	Solomon Vault	So
WR	`5`	Miles Shuler	Sr
WR	`6`	Mike McHugh	Jr
QB	`7`	Matt Alviti	So
WR	`8`	Stephen Buckley	Jr
SB	`9`	Garrett Dickerson	So
QB	`10`	Zack Oliver	Sr
QB	`11`	T. J. Green	Fr
WR	`11`	Pierre Youngblood-Ary	Sr
RB	`12`	Auston Anderson	Fr
RB	`13`	Warren Long	Jr
WR	`14`	Christian Jones (C)	Sr
QB	`14`	Lloyd Yates	Fr
WR	`15`	Macan Wilson	So
WR	`16`	Quinn Baker	So
QB	`17`	Daniel Kubiuk	Fr
QB	`18`	Clayton Thorson	Fr
WR	`19`	Cameron Dickerson	Sr
RB	`20`	John Moten IV	Fr
RB	`21`	Justin Jackson	So
WR	`24`	Mark Gorogianis	So
WR	`25`	Luke Dauch	Sr
WR	`36`	Corey Acker	So
SB	`40`	Dan Vitale (C)	Sr
WR	`43`	Cole Johnson	So
SB	`46`	Eric Lutzen	Fr
OL	`53`	Geoff Mogus	Sr
OL	`57`	Matt Frazier	Sr
OL	`59`	J. B. Butler	Fr
OL	`63`	Ian Park	Jr
OL	`64`	Andrew Otterman	Fr
OL	`65`	Jared Thomas	Fr
OL	`68`	Connor Mahoney	Jr
OL	`69`	Brad North	So
OL	`70`	Shane Mertz	Sr
OL	`71`	Tommy Doles	Fr
OL	`72`	Blake Hance	Fr
OL	`73`	Adam DePietro	Jr
OL	`74`	Graham Bullmore	So
OL	`76`	Eric Oloson	Jr
OL	`78`	Adam Lemke-Bell	Fr
OL	`79`	Sam Coverdale	So
WR	`80`	Austin Carr	Jr
WR	`81`	Jelani Roberts	Fr
WR	`82`	Andrew Scanlan	Jr
WR	`83`	Chad Hanaoka	So
WR	`84`	Cameron Green	Fr
WR	`85`	Chris Cliff	Fr
SB	`85`	Mark Szott	Sr
WR	`86`	Flynn Nagel	Fr
WR	`87`	Garrett Kidd	Sr
SB	`88`	Jayme Taylor	So
WR	`89`	Charlie Fessler	Fr

Defense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
DL	`1`	Max Chapman	Sr
S	`2`	Traveon Henry (C)	Sr
CB	`3`	Keith Watkins II	So
DL	`7`	Ifeadi Odenigbo	Jr
DB	`10`	Jake Murray	Fr
DL	`13`	Deonte Gibson (C)	Sr
S	`16`	Godwin Igwebuike	So
CB	`17`	Marcus McShepard	So
LB	`18`	Anthony Walker	So
S	`21`	Kyle Queiro	So
CB	`22`	Parrker Westphal	Fr
CB	`23`	Nick VanHoose	Sr
CB	`24`	Montre Hartage	Fr
S	`26`	Terrance Brown	Jr
CB	`27`	Matthew Harris	Jr
DB	`28`	Alonzo Mayo	Fr
DB	`29`	Trae Williams	Fr
LB	`31`	Tommy Vitale	Fr
LB	`32`	Nate Hall	Fr
DB	`33`	Steven Reese	Fr
LB	`34`	Simba Short	Fr
LB	`35`	Tom Hruby	Jr
DB	`38`	Dami Arowolaju	Jr
S	`41`	Jared McGee	Fr
LB	`42`	Joseph Jones	Jr
DL	`44`	James Prather	Fr
LB	`45`	Nathan Fox	Fr
LB	`46`	Anthony Pierce-Adams	Fr
DB	`47`	Joe Bergin	Fr
S	`48`	Tommy Odell	So
LB	`49`	Josh Roberts	So
LB	`51`	Jaylen Prater	Jr
LB	`53`	Cameron Queiro	Fr
DL	`54`	Trent Goens	Fr
LB	`55`	Drew Smith	Sr
LB	`56`	Brett Walsh	So
DL	`58`	Heath Reineke	Fr
DL	`67`	Tyler Lancaster	So
DL	`90`	C. J. Robbins	Sr
DL	`92`	Kenton Playko	Fr
DL	`93`	Greg Kuhar	Jr
DL	`94`	Dean Lowry	Sr
DL	`95`	Jordan Thompson	Fr
DL	`97`	Joe Gaziano	Fr
DL	`98`	Xavier Washington	So
DL	`99`	Ben Oxley	Fr

Special teams

Pos.	#	Name	Class
K	`7`	Jack Mitchell	Jr
K, P	`33`	Matt Micucci	Jr
K	`38`	Arthur Omilian	Sr
K	`38`	Mason Weissenhofer	Fr
LS	`52`	Chaz Fitzpatrick	Jr
P, K	`96`	Hunter Niswander	So

Head coach

Pat Fitzgerald

Coordinators/assistant coaches

Randy Bates (Linebackers)
Jerry Brown (Defensive Backs)
Adam Cushing (Offensive Line)
Mike Hankwitz (Defensive Coordinator)
Bob Heffner (Superbacks)
Marty Long (Defensive Line)
Matt MacPherson (Running Backs / Recruiting Coordinator)
Mick McCall (Offensive Coordinator / Quarterbacks)
Dennis Springer (Wide Receivers)
Clay Bignell (Defensive Graduate Assistant)
Chris Bowers (Director of Player Personnel)
Cody Cejda (Director of Football Operations)
Darby Dunnagan (Director of Video Operations)
David Girardi (Defensive Graduate Assistant)
Dan Hernandez (Offensive Graduate Assistant)
Jay Hooten (Director of Sports Performance for Football)
Tommy Rees (Offensive Graduate Assistant)
Jacob Schmidt (Director of Player Development)
Troy Sutton (Assistant Director of Sports Performance for Football)
Mike Jasinski (Recruiting Intern)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible

Injured
Redshirt

Roster
Last update: December 30, 2015

References

↑ "B1G Releases 2015 Big Ten Football Schedule" (Press release). Northwestern University Department of Athletics. June 3, 2013. Archived from the original on January 19, 2015. Retrieved January 17, 2015.
↑ "2015 Northwestern Wildcats Football Schedule". FB Schedules. Retrieved January 17, 2015.

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[NU15-1] "B1G Releases 2015 Big Ten Football Schedule" (Press release). Northwestern University Department of Athletics. June 3, 2013. Archived from the original on January 19, 2015. Retrieved January 17, 2015.

[2] "2015 Northwestern Wildcats Football Schedule". FB Schedules. Retrieved January 17, 2015.

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Northwestern Wildcats football
Venues	Northwestern Field (1905–1925) Ryan Field (1926–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Illinois Michigan: George Jewett Trophy Notre Dame
Culture and lore	Willie the Wildcat "Go U Northwestern" Marching band 2006 Michigan State game
People	Head coaches NFL draftees Statistical leaders
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