# 2017 Northwestern Wildcats football team

The 2017 Northwestern Wildcats football team represented Northwestern University during the 2017 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Wildcats played their home games at Ryan Field in Evanston, Illinois, and competed in the West Division of the Big Ten Conference. They were led by 12th-year head coach Pat Fitzgerald. This was the Wildcats' fifth ten-win season, three of which were led by Pat Fitzgerald. They finished the season 10–3, 7–2 in Big Ten play to finish in second place in the West Division. They were invited to the Music City Bowl where they defeated Kentucky.

## Recruiting
### Position key

| Back | B | Center | C | Cornerback | CB | Defensive back | DB |
| Defensive end | DE | Defensive lineman | DL | Defensive tackle | DT | End | E |
| Fullback | FB | Guard | G | Halfback | HB | Kicker | K |
| Kickoff returner | KR | Offensive tackle | OT | Offensive lineman | OL | Linebacker | LB |
| Long snapper | LS | Punter | P | Punt returner | PR | Quarterback | QB |
| Running back | RB | Safety | S | Tight end | TE | Wide receiver | WR |

### Recruits

The Wildcats signed a total of 19 recruits.
US college sports recruiting information for 2017 recruits :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Sam Gerak C | Avon, Ohio | Avon HS | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | 270 lb (120 kg) | Dec 21, 2015 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: |||||||
| Sam Miller DT | Houston, Texas | Stratford HS | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | 260 lb (120 kg) | Jan 24, 2016 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: |||||||
| Rashawn Slater OG | Sugar Land, Texas | Clements HS | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | 269 lb (122 kg) | Jan 27, 2016 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: |||||||
| Earnest Brown IV DE | Denton, Texas | Ryan HS | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | 240 lb (110 kg) | Mar 22, 2016 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: |||||||
| Trevor Kent DE | Pittsburg, Kansas | Pittsburg HS | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | 253 lb (115 kg) | Mar 23, 2016 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: |||||||
| Austin Hiller S | Austin, Texas | Lake Travis HS | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | 200 lb (91 kg) | Mar 24, 2016 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: |||||||
| Trey Pugh TE | Plain City, Ohio | Jonathan Alder HS | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | 225 lb (102 kg) | Apr 3, 2016 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: |||||||
| Bryce Jackson S | Denton, Texas | Guyer HS | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | 181 lb (82 kg) | Apr 6, 2016 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: |||||||
| Cameron Ruiz CB | Lake Villa, Illinois | Lakes Community HS | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | 165 lb (75 kg) | Apr 11, 2016 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: |||||||
| Peter McIntyre LB | Toledo, Ohio | St. John's Jesuit HS | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | 213 lb (97 kg) | Apr 21, 2016 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: |||||||
| Andrew Marty QB | Cincinnati, Ohio | Wyoming HS | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | 200 lb (91 kg) | Apr 26, 2016 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: |||||||
| J.R. Pace S | Atlanta, Georgia | Woodward Academy | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | 190 lb (86 kg) | May 15, 2016 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: |||||||
| Jace James WR | Carol Stream, Illinois | Glenbard North HS | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | 185 lb (84 kg) | Jun 12, 2016 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: |||||||
| Charlie Kuhbander K | Springboro, Ohio | Springboro HS | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | 185 lb (84 kg) | Jun 13, 2016 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: |||||||
| Ethan Wiederkehr OT | Shoreham, New York | Shoreham-Wading River HS | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) | 285 lb (129 kg) | Jun 13, 2016 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: |||||||
| Berkeley Holman WR | Bellflower, California | St. John Bosco HS | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | 175 lb (79 kg) | Jun 18, 2016 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: |||||||
| Kyric McGowan RB | Dalton, Georgia | Dalton HS | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | 183 lb (83 kg) | Jul 27, 2016 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: |||||||
| Blake Gallagher LB | Needham, Massachusetts | Saint Sebastian's School | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | 220 lb (100 kg) | Dec 14, 2016 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: |||||||
| Chee Anyanwu S | Buford, Georgia | Buford HS | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | 190 lb (86 kg) | Jan 21, 2017 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: |||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: |||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "Northwestern Football Commitments". Rivals.com. Retrieved February 19, 2017. "2017 Northwestern Football Commits". Scout.com. Retrieved February 19, 2017. "ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved February 19, 2017. "Scout.com Team Recruiting Rankings". Scout.com. Retrieved February 19, 2017. "2017 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved February 19, 2017. |||||||

## Schedule

Northwestern announced its 2017 football schedule on July 11, 2013. The 2017 schedule consisted of 7 home and 5 away games in the regular season. The Wildcats hosted Big Ten foes Iowa, Michigan State, Minnesota, Penn State, and Purdue, and traveled to Illinois, Maryland, Nebraska, Wisconsin.
The Wildcats hosted two of the three non-conference opponents, Bowling Green from the Mid-American Conference and Nevada from the Mountain West Conference, and traveled to Duke from the Atlantic Coast Conference.
| Date | Time | Opponent | Rank | Site | TV | Result | Attendance |
| September 2 | 2:30 p.m. | Nevada* | | Ryan FieldEvanston, IL | BTN | W 31–20 | 33,018 |
| September 9 | 11:00 a.m. | at Duke* | | Wallace Wade StadiumDurham, NC | ESPNU | L 17–41 | 20,241 |
| September 16 | 6:30 p.m. | Bowling Green* | | Ryan FieldEvanston, IL | BTN | W 49–7 | 33,706 |
| September 30 | 11:00 a.m. | at No. 10 Wisconsin | | Camp Randall StadiumMadison, WI | ABC | L 24–33 | 80,584 |
| October 7 | 11:00 a.m. | No. 4 Penn State | | Ryan FieldEvanston, IL | ABC | L 7–31 | 41,061 |
| October 14 | 2:30 p.m. | at Maryland | | Maryland StadiumCollege Park, MD | ESPN2 | W 37–21 | 38,325 |
| October 21 | 11:00 a.m. | Iowa | | Ryan FieldEvanston, IL | ESPN2 | W 17–10 $^{OT}$ | 40,036 |
| October 28 | 2:30 p.m. | No. 16 Michigan State | | Ryan FieldEvanston, IL | ESPN | W 39–31 $^{3OT}$ | 39,369 |
| November 4 | 2:30 p.m. | at Nebraska | | Memorial StadiumLincoln, NE | BTN | W 31–24 $^{OT}$ | 89,721 |
| November 11 | 6:00 p.m. | Purdue | No. 25 | Ryan FieldEvanston, IL | ESPN2 | W 23–13 | 33,765 |
| November 18 | 11:00 a.m. | Minnesota | No. 23 | Ryan FieldEvanston, IL | BTN | W 39–0 | 30,014 |
| November 25 | 3:00 p.m. | at Illinois | No. 22 | Memorial StadiumChampaign, IL (rivalry) | FS1 | W 42–7 | 30,456 |
| December 29 | 4:30 p.m. | vs. Kentucky | No. 21 | Nissan StadiumNashville, TN (Music City Bowl) | ESPN | W 24–23 | 48,675 |
| *Non-conference gameHomecomingRankings from AP Poll and CFP Rankings after October 31 released prior to gameAll times are in Central time ||||||||
    Schedule Source:

## Rankings

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking — = Not ranked RV = Received votes :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | Final |
| AP | RV | RV | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | RV | RV | 23 | 20 | 20 | 17 |
| Coaches | RV | RV | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | RV | RV | 23 | 20 | 20 | 17 |
| CFP | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | — | 25 | 23 | 22 | 21 | 21 | Not released |

## Players in the 2018 NFL Draft

| Player | Position | Round | Pick | NFL club |
| Justin Jackson | RB | 7 | 251 | Los Angeles Chargers |