The 1918 Northwestern Purple team was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

team that represented

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

during the 1918 Big Ten Conference football season. In their fifth and final year under head coach Fred J. Murphy, the Purple compiled a 2–2–1 record (1–1 against

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

opponents) and finished in sixth place in the

. Northwestern's quarterback Marshall Underhill was selected as a first-team player on the 1918 Big Ten Conference football season. In response to the

Spanish flu The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...

pandemic, the football schedule was modified. The game against Ohio State for October 19 was canceled.

Schedule

Game summaries

On October 26, 1918, Northwestern and Great Lakes Navy played to a scoreless tie before a crowd of 15,000. The game was played in mud that was ankle deep. The 1918 Great Lakes Navy team compiled a 3–0–1 record against Big Ten opponents, went on to win the

1919 Rose Bowl The 1919 Rose Bowl, known at the time as the Tournament East-West Football Game, was a bowl game played on January 1, 1919, at Tournament Park in Pasadena, California. It was the 5th Rose Bowl Game. With the war just over, the game was played wit ...

, and featured three players (

George Halas George Stanley Halas Sr. (; February 2, 1895October 31, 1983), nicknamed "Papa Bear" and "Mr. Everything", was an American professional football player, coach, and team owner. He was the founder and owner of the National Football League's Chic ...

Jimmy Conzelman James Gleason Dunn Conzelman (March 6, 1898 – July 31, 1970) was an American football player and coach, baseball executive, and advertising executive. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1964 and was selected in 1969 as a qua ...

, and

Paddy Driscoll John Leo "Paddy" Driscoll (January 11, 1895 – June 29, 1968) was an American professional football and baseball player and football coach. A triple-threat man in football, he was regarded as the best drop kicker and one of the best overall pla ...

) who were later inducted into the

Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, , the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of professional football, including players, coach ...

Charlie Bachman Charles William Bachman Jr. (December 1, 1892 – December 14, 1985) was an American college football player and head coach. Bachman was an Illinois native and an alumnus of the University of Notre Dame, where he played college football. He ser ...

, who was hired as Northwestern's coach after the season and was later inducted into the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

, also played for the 1918 Great Lakes team. On November 2, 1918, Northwestern's S.A.T.C. team lost, 25–0, to , Chicago Naval Reserve a team from the United States Naval Reserve School at Chicago's Municipal Pier. The game was played at Evanston Field. On November 9, 1918, Northwestern defeated , 47–7. Knox scored on its first drive with a pass covering more than 90 yards. Northwestern then scored seven touchdowns. On November 16, 1918, Northwestern defeated

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, 21–6, in the rain, fog, and mud before a crowd of 8,000 at Evanston Field. On November 23, 1918,

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

defeated Northwestern, 23–7, in

Iowa City Iowa City, offically the City of Iowa City is a city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States. It is the home of the University of Iowa and county seat of Johnson County, at the center of the Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the time ...

References

Northwestern Northwestern Wildcats football seasons Northwestern Purple football {{collegefootball-1918-season-stub