1961 Northwestern Wildcats football team

The 1961 Northwestern Wildcats team represented Northwestern University during the 1961 Big Ten Conference football season. In their sixth year under head coach Ara Parseghian, the Wildcats compiled a 4–5 record (2–4 against Big Ten Conference opponents) and finished in a tie for seventh place in the Big Ten Conference.^[2][3]

1961 Northwestern Wildcats football
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	4–5 (2–4 Big Ten)
Head coach	Ara Parseghian (6th season)
Captain	Larry Onesti^[1]
Home stadium	Dyche Stadium
Seasons ← 1960 1962 →

1961 Big Ten Conference football standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 2 Ohio State $	6	–	0	–	0			8	–	0	–	1
No. 6 Minnesota	6	–	1	–	0			8	–	2	–	0
No. 8 Michigan State	5	–	2	–	0			7	–	2	–	0
No. 12 Purdue	4	–	2	–	0			6	–	3	–	0
Wisconsin	4	–	3	–	0			6	–	3	–	0
Michigan	3	–	3	–	0			6	–	3	–	0
Iowa	2	–	4	–	0			5	–	4	–	0
Northwestern	2	–	4	–	0			4	–	5	–	0
Indiana	0	–	6	–	0			2	–	7	–	0
Illinois	0	–	7	–	0			0	–	9	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The team's offensive leaders were Tom O'Grady with 322 passing yards, Bill Swingle with 476 rushing yards, and Willie Stinson with 158 receiving yards.^[4]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result
September 30	Boston College*	Dyche Stadium Evanston, Illinois	W 45–0
October 7	at Illinois	Memorial Stadium Champaign, Illinois (rivalry)	W 28–7
October 14	Minnesota	Dyche Stadium Evanston, Illinois	L 3–10
October 21	No. 7 Ohio State	Dyche Stadium Evanston, Illinois	L 0–10
October 28	at No. 8 Notre Dame*	Notre Dame Stadium South Bend, Indiana (rivalry)	W 12–10
November 4	Indiana	Dyche Stadium Evanston, Illinois	W 14–8
November 11	Wisconsin	Dyche Stadium Evanston, Illinois	L 10–29
November 18	at No. 9 Michigan State	Spartan Stadium East Lansing, Michigan	L 13–21
November 24	at Miami (FL)*	Miami Orange Bowl Miami	L 6–10
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

References

1. "Year-by-Year Results" (PDF). 2007. p. 148. (PDF) from the original on March 16, 2019. Retrieved March 14, 2019.
2. . College Football Data Warehouse. David DeLassus. Archived from the original on September 5, 2015. Retrieved August 7, 2015.
3. "1961 Northwestern Wildcats Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved December 18, 2015.
4. "1961 Northwestern Wildcats Stats". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved December 18, 2015.