1971 Northwestern Wildcats football team

1971 Northwestern Wildcats football
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	7–4 (6–3 Big Ten)
Head coach	Alex Agase (8th season)
Captains	Maurie Daigneau Eric Hutchinson
Home stadium	Dyche Stadium

1971 Big Ten Conference football standings

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

The 1971 Northwestern Wildcats team represented Northwestern University during the 1971 Big Ten Conference football season. In their eighth year under head coach Alex Agase, the Wildcats compiled a 7–4 record (6–3 against Big Ten Conference opponents) and finished in second place in the Big Ten Conference.

The team's offensive leaders were quarterback Maurie Daigneau with 1,733 passing yards, Al Robinson with 881 rushing yards, and Barry Pearson with 674 receiving yards. Ten Northwestern players received honors on the 1971 All-Big Ten Conference football team. They are: (1) Maurie Daigneau (AP-1; UPI-1); (2) running back Al Robinson (AP-2); (3) wide receiver Barry Pearson (AP-1; UPI-1); (4) offensive tackle Tom McCreight (AP-1); (5) defensive end Wil Hemby (UPI-2); (6) defensive tackle Jim Anderson (UPI-2); (7) linebacker John Voorhees (AP-2); and defensive ends (8) Eric Hutchinson (AP-1; UPI-1); (9) Jerry Brown (AP-2); and (10) Jack Dustin (UPI-2). Eric Hutchinson was also selected as a first-team All-American by the Football Writers Association of America.

This was Northwestern's last winning season until the miraculous 1995 campaign when the Wildcats won the Big Ten championship outright by going undefeated in the conference (8-0), and played in the Rose Bowl.

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 11	No. 4 Michigan	No. 20	Dyche Stadium Evanston, IL (rivalry)	L 6–21	42,472
September 18	at No. 2 Notre Dame*		Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)	L 7–50	59,075
September 25	Syracuse*		Dyche Stadium Evanston, IL	W 12–6	27,529
October 2	Wisconsin		Dyche Stadium Evanston, IL	W 24–11	40,473
October 9	at Iowa		Iowa Stadium Iowa City, IA	W 28–3	52,102
October 16	No. 20 Purdue		Dyche Stadium Evanston, IL	L 20–21	40,059
October 23	at Indiana		Seventeenth Street Stadium Bloomington, IN	W 24–10	32,409
October 30	at Illinois		Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL (rivalry)	L 7–24	40,144
November 6	Minnesota		Dyche Stadium Evanston, IL	W 41–20	31,217
November 13	at No. 16 Ohio State		Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH	W 14–10	86,062
November 20	No. 19 Michigan State		Dyche Stadium Evanston, IL	W 28–7	30,012
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Roster

1971 Northwestern Wildcats football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class TE 84 Steve Craig So QB 12 Maurie Daigneau (C) Sr FB 30 Mark Fassbender Jr WR 86 Jim Lash So WR 44 A. J. Owens Jr WR 21 Barry Pearson Jr C 53 Ed Quaerna Jr	Defense Pos. # Name Class DT 74 Jim Anderson Jr LB 55 John Buckley So DT 79 Wayne Bryan Sr LB 82 Pat McNamara Jr DB 15 Greg Swanson So LB 35 Phil Trembczynski So LB 66 Mike Varty So	Special teams Pos. # Name Class	Head coach Alex Agase Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt