1998 Northwestern Wildcats football team

The 1998 Northwestern Wildcats football team represented Northwestern University during the 1998 NCAA Division I-A football season. They played their home games at Ryan Field and participated as members of the Big Ten Conference. They were coached by Gary Barnett, who resigned at the conclusion of the regular season to become the head coach at Colorado.^[2]

1998 Northwestern Wildcats football
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	3–9 (0–8 Big Ten)
Head coach	Gary Barnett (7th season)
Co-defensive coordinators	Jerry Brown (2nd season) Vince Okruch (2nd season)
Captains	D'Wayne Bates[1] Barry Gardner Matt Hartl Bryan LaBelle
Home stadium	Ryan Field
Seasons ← 1997 1999 →

1998 Big Ten Conference football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 2 Ohio State %+		7	–	1					11	–	1
No. 6 Wisconsin $+		7	–	1					11	–	1
No. 12 Michigan +		7	–	1					10	–	3
No. 24 Purdue		6	–	2					9	–	4
No. 17 Penn State		5	–	3					9	–	3
Michigan State		4	–	4					6	–	6
Minnesota		2	–	6					5	–	6
Indiana		2	–	6					4	–	7
Illinois		2	–	6					3	–	8
Iowa		2	–	6					3	–	8
Northwestern		0	–	8					3	–	9
$ – BCS representative as conference champion % – BCS at-large representative + – Conference co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 5	11:30 am	UNLV*	Ryan Field Evanston, IL		W 41–7	30,197
September 12	11:00 am	Duke*	Ryan Field Evanston, IL	ESPN Plus	L 10–44	40,178	[3]
September 19	7:00 pm	at Rice*	Rice Stadium Houston, TX		W 23–14	16,271
September 26	11:00 am	at No. 14 Wisconsin	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI	ESPN	L 7–38	78,337
October 3	11:00 am	Illinois	Ryan Field Evanston, IL (rivalry)	ESPN Plus	L 10–13	41,232
October 10	11:00 am	at Iowa	Kinnick Stadium Iowa City, IA	ESPN2	L 24–26	70,397
October 17	6:00 pm	Michigan	Ryan Field Evanston, IL (rivalry)	ESPN	L 6–12	47,129
October 24	11:00 am	No. 1 Ohio State	Ryan Field Evanston, IL	ESPN2	L 10–36	47,130
October 31	11:00 am	at Michigan State	Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI	ESPN2	L 5–29	67,473
November 7	11:00 am	Purdue	Ryan Field Evanston, IL	ESPN Plus	L 21–56	39,575
November 14	11:00 am	at No. 19 Penn State	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA	ESPN2	L 10–41	96,382
November 21	10:00 pm	at Hawaii*	Aloha Stadium Halawa, HI		W 47–21	25,918
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

^[4]

Roster

1998 Northwestern Wildcats football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class WR 5 D'Wayne Bates Sr RB 20 Damien Anderson Fr TE 84 Jay Tant Jr	Defense Pos. # Name Class LB 2 Kevin Bentley Fr CB 6 Harold Blackmon So LB 8 Napoleon Harris Fr LB 55 Barry Gardner Sr DT 92 Javiar Collins So DE 95 Dwayne Missouri So	Special teams Pos. # Name Class	Head coach Gary Barnett Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster