The 2010 Northwestern Wildcats football team represented Northwestern University in the Big Ten during the 2010 NCAA Division I FBS football season. Pat Fitzgerald, in his fifth season at Northwestern, was the team's head coach. The Wildcats home games were played at Ryan Field in Evanston, Illinois. The annual rivalry game against the University of Illinois was played at Wrigley Field on November 20.

The Wildcats finished the season 7–6, 3–5 in Big Ten play and was invited to the inaugural TicketCity Bowl where they were defeated by Texas Tech 38–45.

Schedule

Rankings

Game summaries Vanderbilt

Illinois State

Rice

Central Michigan

Minnesota

Purdue

Michigan State

Indiana

Penn State

Iowa

Northwestern won a thriller by scoring two touchdowns in the fourth quarter. The Wildcats led in the first two periods, but the Hawkeyes scored twice to take the lead in the third quarter.

Illinois

The Wildcats, one week after upsetting a ranked Iowa team, fell flat in Wrigley Field, losing 48-27 to the Fighting Illini. Illinois RB Mikel LeShoure ran wild on Northwestern's defense for 330 yards on 33 carries (for an average of 10.0 yards per carry), with a pair of touchdowns. The loss snapped a two game Northwestern winning streak over Illinois and sealed a bowl berth for Illinois, regardless of the outcome of their season finale against Fresno State next week. Northwestern falls to 3-4 in Big Ten play and 7-4 overall. The Wildcats face the 10-1 Wisconsin Badgers next week in Camp Randall Stadium, where they have not won since the 2000 season.

Wisconsin

Texas Tech–TicketCity Bowl

Personnel Roster 2010 Northwestern Wildcats rosterQuarterbacks 7 Dan Persa (C) – Junior 13 Trevor Siemian – Freshman 14 Kain Colter – Freshman 18 Evan Watkins – Freshman

Running backs 4 Adonis Smith – Freshman 19 Arby Fields – Sophomore 20 Scott Concannon – Junior 25 Stephen Simmons – Senior 28 Tim Hanrahan – Freshman 29 Mike Trumpy – Freshman 34 Tyris Jones – Sophomore 39 Jacob Schmidt – Junior

Wide receivers 2 Lee Coleman – Senior 5 Sidney Stewart – Senior 6 Charles Brown – Junior 8 Demetrius Fields – Sophomore 11 Jeremy Ebert – Junior 12 Tony Jones – Freshman 17 Rashad Lawrence – Freshman 80 Mike Jensen – Freshman 81 Jimmy Hall – Freshman 83 Jaleel Reed – Freshman 84 Drew Moulton – Freshman 85 Venric Mark – Freshman 86 Brendan Barber – Sophomore 88 Torin Dupper – Freshman

Superbacks 9 Drake Dunsmore – Junior 40 Brett Nagel – Sophomore 45 Aaron Nagel - Junior 47 Christian Flores – Freshman 82 John Plasencia – Freshman 89 Josh Rooks – Senior Offensive line 52 Evan Luxenburg – Sophomore 62 Taylor Paxton – Freshman 63 Keegan Grant – Senior 64 Doug Bartels – Junior 65 Ben Burkett – Junior 66 Brandon Vitabile – Freshman 68 Hayden Baker – Freshman 70 Patrick Ward – Sophomore 72 Brian Mulroe – Sophomore 73 Colin Armstrong – Junior 74 Chuck Porcelli – Sophomore 75 Al Netter (C) – Junior 76 Brian Smith – Freshman 78 Paul Jorgensen – Freshman 79 Neal Deiters – Sophomore

Defensive line 42 Kevin Watt – Junior 55 Bo Cisek – Sophomore 60 Jake Gregus – Freshman 61 Andrew Struckmeyer – Junior 67 Sean McEvilly – Freshman 88 Quentin Williams – Sophomore 90 Jack DiNardo – Junior 91 Brian Arnfelt – Sophomore 92 Will Hampton – Freshman 93 Niko Mafuli – Junior 94 Vince Browne – Junior 95 Davon Custis – Freshman 96 Anthony Battle – Freshman 97 Tyler Scott – Freshman 98 Corbin Bryant (C) – Senior 99 Chance Carter – Freshman Linebackers 31 Stone Pinckney – Sophomore 33 David Nwabuisi – Sophomore 35 Ben Johnson – Junior 41 Quentin Davie (C) – Senior 43 Tim Riley – Freshman 44 Nate Williams – Senior 46 Damien Proby – Freshman 48 Roderick Goodlow – Sophomore 50 Timmy Vernon – Freshman 51 Bryce McNaul – Junior 53 Chi Chi Ariguzo – Freshman 54 Collin Ellis – Freshman 56 Will Studlien – Freshman 57 Luke Reppe – Freshman

Defensive backs 15 Daniel Jones – Freshman 24 Ibraheim Campbell – Freshman 36 Mike Eshun – Freshman 39 Joe Cannon – Freshman

Cornerbacks 3 Jeravin Matthews – Junior 13 C.J. Bryant – Freshman 20 Tim Weak – Sophomore 21 Mike Bolden – Junior 22 Demetrius Dugar – Sophomore 26 Jordan Mabin – Junior 28 Justan Vaughn – Senior 38 James Kurzawski – Sophomore 47 Ricky Weina – Junior

Safeties 7 Hunter Bates – Sophomore 10 Brian Peters – Junior 16 Davion Fleming – Freshman 27 Jared Carpenter – Sophomore 32 David Arnold – Junior 49 Scott Lilja – Senior Punters 1 Stefan Demos – Senior 49 Brandon Williams – Freshman

Kickers 1 Stefan Demos – Senior 34 Steve Flaherty – Sophomore 37 Jeff Budzien – Freshman

Long snappers 58 John Henry Pace – Senior 59 Pat Hickey – Freshman

Head coach Pat Fitzgerald Coordinators/assistant coaches Randy Bates – Linebackers coach Jerry brown – Assistant head coach/defensive backs coach Adam Cushing – Offensive line coach/recruiting coach Mike Hankwitz – Defensive coordinator/safeties coach Bob heffner – Superbacks coach Kevin johns – Wide receivers coach/passing game coach Marty long – Defensive line coach Matt macpherson – Running backs coach Mick mccall – Offensive coordinator/QB's coach

Legend (C) Team captain Redshirt

Depth chart

References