[NU Sports] NIU Notes

[Weinbaum, Willie]

That was an era of relative plenty...

Class of 1982 (mine) had a program with the worst four years of any in Div 1-A history: 1-42-1 (including the famed losing streak).  

Rick Venturi went 1-31-1 & Dennis Green 0-11.  Both, of course, later became NFL head coaches.

The tie was 0-0, 9/1/78, at Illinois in 100-degree heat.  My freshman class wasn't even around yet, so many of us didn't see that game.  The win was 27-22 over Wyoming, 9/15/79, at Dyche.

I had to stick around for grad school to see NU's historic streak-ending win vs NIU & the first two wins over Big Ten opponents in years - home vs Minn & at MSU.
  

 -----Original Message-----
From: 	warneradams [mailto:warneradams at comcast.net]
Sent:	Sat Sep 10 10:38:46 2005
To:	nwu-sports at romaine.tssi.com
Subject:	[NU Sports] NIU Notes

Northern Illinois holds a special place in my Northwestern heart as they
were the first team I ever saw NU defeat.  It took until my sophomore year
to see a win and I would watch only one other victory (Army) in my
undergraduate career.  

The game was September 28, 1985.  Despite a sore shoulder, Mike Greenfield
threw for a school record 446 yards in the 38-16 win.  Stanley Davenport
rushed for 136 yards and, coupled with their 27-23 win at Missouri the week
before, the Cats were off to a 2-1 start.  In fact, it was the first time in
11 years (!) that NU had won back-to-back games.  Unfortunately, the rest of
the season saw only one more victory, at Wisconsin, as we ended up 3-8 in
Dennis Green's final year.

All-time vs. NIU:

1975	Northern Illinois	W	10-3
1982	Northern Illinois	W	31-6
1985	Northern Illinois	W	38-16
1987	Northern Illinois	T	16-16
1990	Northern Illinois	W	24-7
2000	Northern Illinois	W	35-17

After last week's win, the Cats improved to 432-592-43 all time and even
gained a point in their winning percentage to .425.  I guess .500 is
probably out of reach in my life time but 32 consecutive seasons going 8-3
would do it!

I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned it here on the Board but there's a new
book for sale around the stadium on Northwestern football.  Does anyone know
more about it?

Last week's game was well-covered, as always, by the regulars in here, but
I'd like to report that Wildcat Alley continues to be a great pre-game
party.  Plenty to do for the kids and free Goose Island beer for the adults.
How can you top that?  I also splurged on seat backs this year and it makes
a huge difference in the fourth quarter.

Would love to say hi to anyone headed out to the game this afternoon.  I'll
be the one carrying the 6 month old baby!

David Warner
WCAS '88    

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