The 2011 Northwestern Wildcats football team represented Northwestern University during the 2011 NCAA Division I FBS football season. Pat Fitzgerald, in his sixth season at Northwestern, was the team's head coach. The Wildcats home games were played at Ryan Field in Evanston, Illinois. They are members of the Legends Division of the Big Ten Conference. They finished the season 6–7, 3–4 in Big Ten play to finish in fifth place in the Legends Division. They were invited to the Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas where they were defeated by Texas A&M 22–33.

Preseason

Conference divisions Starting in 2011, the Big Ten Conference created two divisions, "Legends" and "Leaders", following the University of Nebraska's membership into the conference. Northwestern was placed in the "Legends" division, with the University of Iowa, the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, the University of Minnesota and the University of Nebraska joining them.

Schedule The schedule is as follows:

Regular season

Boston College

Eastern Illinois

Army

Illinois

Michigan

Iowa

Penn State

Indiana

Nebraska

Rice

Minnesota

Michigan State

Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas

Texas A&M

Rankings

Roster 2011 Northwestern Wildcats rosterQuarterbacks 2 Kain Colter – Sophomore 7 Dan Persa (C) – Senior 10 Zack Oliver – Freshman 13 Trevor Siemian – Freshman 15 P.J. Carollo – Freshman 18 Evan Watkins – Sophomore

Running backs 4 Adonis Smith – Sophomore 21 Jordan Perkins – Freshman 22 Treyvon Green – Freshman 28 Tim Hanrahan – Freshman 29 Mike Trumpy – Sophomore 34 Tyris Jones – Junior 39 Jacob Schmidt – Senior

Wide receivers 5 Venric Mark – Sophomore 6 Charles Brown – Senior 8 Demetrius Fields – Junior 11 Jeremy Ebert – Senior 12 Tony Jones – Sophomore 14 Christian Jones – Freshman 17 Rashad Lawrence – Sophomore 23 E.J. Webb – Freshman 27 Cermak Bland – Freshman 80 Mike Jensen – Sophomore 81 Cameron Dickerson – Freshman 84 Drew Moulton – Sophomore 86 Brendan Barber – Junior 88 Torin Dupper – Freshman 89 Pierre Youngblood-Ary – Freshman

Superbacks 9 Drake Dunsmore – Senior 40 Brett Nagel – Junior 82 John Plasencia – Sophomore 83 Jack Konopka – Freshman 85 Mark Szott – Freshman Offensive line 53 Geoff Mogus – Freshman 57 Matt Frazier – Freshman 61 Alex Pietrzak – Freshman 62 Taylor Paxton – Sophomore 64 Doug Bartels – Senior 65 Ben Burkett – Senior 66 Brandon Vitabile – Freshman 68 Hayden Baker – Freshman 70 Patrick Ward – Junior 71 Shane Mertz – Freshman 72 Brian Mulroe – Junior 73 Colin Armstrong – Senior 74 Chuck Porcelli – Junior 75 Al Netter (C) – Senior 76 Brian Smith – Sophomore 78 Paul Jorgensen – Freshman 79 Neal Deiters – Junior

Defensive line 42 Kevin Watt – Senior 55 Bo Cisek – Junior 58 Max Chapman – Freshman 60 Jake Gregus – Sophomore 67 Sean McEvilly – Freshman 79 C.J. Robbins – Freshman 88 Quentin Williams – Junior 90 Jack DiNardo – Senior 91 Brian Arnfelt – Junior 92 Will Hampton – Sophomore 93 Niko Mafuli – Senior 94 Vince Browne – Senior 95 Davon Custis – Sophomore 96 Anthony Battle – Sophomore 97 Tyler Scott – Sophomore 98 Deonte Gibson – Freshman 99 Chance Carter – Freshman Linebackers 31 Stone Pinckney – Junior 33 David Nwabuisi – Junior 35 Ben Johnson – Senior 41 Doug Diedrick – Freshman 43 Tim Riley – Sophomore 44 Chi Chi Ariguzo – Freshman 45 Collin Ellis – Freshman 46 Damien Proby – Sophomore 48 Roderick Goodlow – Junior 50 Timmy Vernon – Sophomore 51 Bryce McNaul – Senior 54 Drew Smith – Freshman 56 Will Studlien – Sophomore

Defensive backs 15 Daniel Jones – Freshman 16 Davion Fleming – Sophomore 18 Matt Carpenter – Freshman 19 Jimmy Hall – Freshman 20 Austin Kassner – Freshman 23 Nick VanHoose – Freshman 24 Ibraheim Campbell – Freshman 25 Jarrell Williams – Freshman 36 Mike Eshun – Freshman 39 Joe Cannon – Freshman

Cornerbacks 3 Jeravin Matthews – Senior 13 C.J. Bryant – Freshman 20 Tim Weak – Junior 21 Mike Bolden – Senior 22 Demetrius Dugar – Junior 26 Jordan Mabin (C) – Senior 47 Ricky Weina – Senior

Safeties 7 Hunter Bates – Junior 10 Brian Peters (C) – Senior 27 Jared Carpenter – Junior 32 David Arnold – Senior Punters 31 Chris Gradone – Freshman 49 Brandon Williams – Sophomore

Kickers 34 Steve Flaherty – Junior 37 Jeff Budzien – Sophomore 38 Arthur Omilian – Freshman

Long snappers 59 Pat Hickey – Sophomore

Head coach Pat Fitzgerald Coordinators/Assistant coaches Randy Bates – Linebackers coach Jerry brown – Assistant head coach/defensive backs coach Adam Cushing – Offensive line coach Mike Hankwitz – Defensive coordinator Bob heffner – Superbacks coach Marty long – Defensive line coach Matt macpherson – Running backs coach/recruiting coordinator Mick mccall – Offensive coordinator/QBs coach Dennis springer – Wide receivers coach

Legend (C) Team captain Redshirt

References