Lucas Oil Stadium was filled to the brim with 66,375 people in attendance wearing purple or scarlet. Punter Jake Collins lined up for the kickoff and sent it deep.
“It’s the main stage,” said Northwestern Defensive End Earnest Brown IV. “It actually felt like an NFL game… like an actual championship game, like the Super Bowl.”
Ten plays and 77 yards later, Ohio State scored first. Northwestern would not lead for the entire game. It was the Buckeyes, instead, who came away victorious and booked a trip to the Rose Bowl.
The above bar graph shows attendance for every home game at Ryan Field from 2013 through the 2018 season. Scroll over the bars for more information about the game, opponent, and score.
This year was the first in the eight-year history of the Big Ten Championship Game that Northwestern qualified. The 2018 season was one of the best in program history, and could mark a turning point for a team trying to build a national reputation.
Over 3,000 students made the trip to Indianapolis for the title game. In a surprise decision, an anonymous donor paid for tickets, concessions and transportation for all students. Nearly 45 percent of the undergraduate student body took up the offer.
Northwestern’s football program was not always this strong. Notoriously, the Wildcats hold the record for the longest losing streak in FBS history. The low period stretched four seasons, from 1979 to 1982, as the Wildcats dropped 34 consecutive contests.
If you matriculated to Northwestern in 1979, you would have seen four wins and 40 losses. At no point between 1972 and 1994 did Northwestern win more than five of their 11 games. Northwestern ranks 111th out of 128 schools in all-time winning percentage.
“I was really ignorant of Northwestern history, when I had took the job I had no idea [the losing streak] had happened. I didn’t know anything,” said Gary Barnett, Northwestern’s football coach from 1992 through 1998. “When people asked me why I took the job I would tell them, ‘I don’t know.’”
The above map shows winning percentage by every Big Ten team for every year in the history of Big Ten football. Use the slider on the top right to change the year.
The 2018 season got off to a strong start. The ‘Cats were already coming off of a nine-game winning streak from 2017, including a win from the Music City Bowl.
On a Thursday night, the Wildcats defeated Purdue by four to start the season with a Big Ten win. From there, however, the season went south both literally and metaphorically.
“I thought we were gonna get another ten-win season, but unfortunately we didn’t,” said Brown.
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The Akron Zips accrued a 39-34 win against the ‘Cats, marking the first time Akron beat a Big Ten school since 1894.
“We actually looked out past Akron at halftime, because, you know, we were up 21-3 at halftime. And we knew that we shouldn’t do that,” Brown said.
Then, the ‘Cats lost twice against Duke and Michigan.
“We can’t have games like Akron, or even Duke. Duke’s a good team but we need to consistently beat out of conference teams,” Defensive Tackle Jordan Thompson said.
The non-conference game losses at Ryan Field were distressing, and set the Wildcats up with the challenge of conquering the Big Ten West while starting 1-3. Fortunately, the ‘Cats went undefeated on the road, taking wins from Michigan State, Wisconsin and Iowa. With their 14-10 win over Iowa, Northwestern secured the Big Ten West title with two games left.
“It was truthfully just a sigh of relief,” Northwestern Center Jared Thomas said of winning the Big Ten west. “To achieve that, that early, before the season was over, it was a great feeling and something I’ll always remember,” Thomas says.
The above map shows Northwestern's 2018 season as they traveled around the country.
The 1995 season was magical for Northwestern. Steve Schnur, the Wildcat quarterback, said that going into the season, the team felt like they had all the pieces they needed to have a winning season.
The year before, the ‘Cats finished 3-7-1, nothing out of the ordinary in ‘Cats history. But in 1995, they went 10-2, winning their first game against top-ten Notre Dame, and defeating other ranked schools like Michigan, Wisconsin, and Penn State.
The 1995 Rose Bowl between Northwestern and USC. (Photo credit: Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)
“All of a sudden, sort of like a bamboo tree -- you water it for five years and you never see anything,” said coach Barnett. “And then overnight, in 90 days it grows to twelve feet tall. That’s what the ‘95 season felt like.”
Northwestern won the Big Ten, and headed to the Rose Bowl for the first time since 1948.
“What made it so special was going from rags to riches,” said Schnur. “To be able to really appreciate stuff like bowl games, the media, being on TV, Sports Illustrated all this stuff, for that to happen literally overnight was pretty special.”
Ohio State scored first in the Big Ten Championship Game. The Buckeye offense proved too much for Northwestern to handle early on. At halftime, Northwestern trailed 24-7, and it seemed like the beginning of a blowout.
The Wildcats scored 14 straight points after halftime, exciting the fans. But Ohio State proved to be too much, and they beat Northwestern by 21 points.
Ohio State celebrated on the field. Confetti rained down on the turf, and the purple on the field and in the stands filtered out of the stadium until only scarlet was left. Ohio State’s Dwayne Haskins won the game MVP. The sophomore quarterback threw for 499 yards and five touchdowns, both championship game records.
Northwestern will have to prove themselves if they want to be taken seriously. Next season presents another challenge, and Northwestern will have to fight just to make it back to the championship game.
As always Northwestern will focus on one game at a time. On New Year’s Eve, the Wildcats face the Utah Utes in the Holiday Bowl, and will try to become the first team in school history to win three straight bowl games.
“It’s been an odd season, for a lot of reasons. With injuries and some of the losses,” Schnur said. “I think that what we’re seeing is a culmination of a very, very well-run program with significant investments in facilities, in recruiting, in getting us to where we should be.”
The above timeline shows key plays and moments from the Big Ten Championship Game.