Big Ten Focus #2: Northwestern

 I forgot to write my Big Ten focus last week, so I have two to write this week.  For both, I continue to examine some of the six founding teams still playing in the conference.  This week, I look at Northwesterm.

Based in Evanston, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, Northwestern has long been known for their academics.  Home to eleven prestigious graduate, professional, and research schools, athletics have always been a lesser concern of the university.  That has not stopped them from capturing the conference title.  They shared the title with Michigan three times (1926, 1930, and 1931) before capturing their first solo title in 1936.  Then they had a 60 year drought before going unbeaten in conference play in 1995 to take the title.  Although they lost to USC in the Rose Bowl, they played well and kept the game close.  The Wildcats have failed to capture the title since, but they came close in 1996 and 2000.  Since the conference has split into two divisions, the team has captured two West Division titles (2018 and 2020).

The Wildcats have not, unfortunately, had too many players who made major impacts in the NFL.  One was tackle and guard Chris Hinton.  Hinton was a seven-time Pro Bowler who played mostly for the Colts.  He is perhaps best known for a trade that happened before he played a down in the NFL.  Originally drafted by the Denver Broncos, Hinton was one of two players involved in the trade that brought John Elway to the Broncos.

Their most successful receiver was Steve Tasker, who played 12 years for the Buffalo Bills.  Tasker and his Bills were the "always a bridesmaid, never a bride" sufferers who won four consecutive AFC Champtionships and lost four consecutive Super Bowls, the most famous of which is the infamous "wide right" failed kick.

Of course, the most prominent and impactful Northwestern alum in the NFL was ground-braking QB Otto Graham.  The only quarterback to play for more three seasons with a perfect championship record, he led the Cleveland Browns to their league championship for all ten years that he played for them (1946-1955).  He won seven of those appearances, winning the final four All-American Foorball League championships in 1946-1949 and then following those with three NFL championships (1950, 1954, 1955).