The 2008 Northwestern Wildcats football team represented Northwestern University

Northwestern University

Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....

 in the Big Ten during the 2008–2009 college football

College football

College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

 season. Pat Fitzgerald

Pat Fitzgerald

-External links:*...

, in his third season at Northwestern, was the team's head coach. The Wildcats played their homes games at Ryan Field in Evanston, Illinois

Evanston, Illinois

Evanston is a suburban municipality in Cook County, Illinois 12 miles north of downtown Chicago, bordering Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, and Wilmette to the north, with an estimated population of 74,360 as of 2003. It is one of the North Shore communities that adjoin Lake Michigan...

.

Previous season

The 2007 team

2007 Northwestern Wildcats football team

The 2007 Northwestern Wildcats football team represented Northwestern University in the Big Ten Conference during the 2007–2008 college football season. Pat Fitzgerald, in his second season at Northwestern, was the team's head coach...

 finished the season with a win-loss record of 6-6 and did not receive a bowl invitation.

Schedule

Syracuse

Duke

Southern Illinois

Ohio

Iowa

Michigan State

Purdue

Indiana

Minnesota

Ohio State

Michigan

Illinois

Alamo Bowl, v. Missouri

Rankings

Ranking Movement

Poll	Pre	Wk 1	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4	Wk 5	Wk 6	Wk 7	Wk 8	Wk 9	Wk 10	Wk 11	Wk 12	Wk 13	Wk 14	Wk 15	Final
AP	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	#24	#24	#22	NR
Coaches	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	#22	NR	#24	NR	#25	NR	#24	#20	#22	#20	NR
Harris	Not released					NR	#23	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	#24	#22	#21
BCS	Not released								#22	NR	#24	NR	NR	#24	#22	#23

Team

class="wikitable" style="white-space:nowrap;">		Team	Opp
Scoring
Points per Game
First Downs
Rushing
Passing
Penalty
Total Offense
Avg per Play
Avg per Game
Fumbles-Lost
Penalties-Yards
Avg per Game

class="wikitable" style="white-space:nowrap;"> Team Opp Punts-Yards       Avg per Punt     Time of Possession/Game     3rd Down Conversions     4th Down Conversions     Touchdowns Scored     Field Goals-Attempts-Long     PAT-Attempts     Attendance       Games/Avg per Game    

Scores by quarter

Rushing

Name	GP-GS	Att	Gain	Loss	Net	Avg	TD	Long	Avg/G
TEAM
Total
Opponents

Passing

Name	CMP	ATT	YDS	CMP%	YPA	LNG	TD	INT	SACK	RAT
C.J. Bacher	218	365	2128	59.7	5.83	53	14	14	9	113.68
Mike Kafka Mike Kafka Michael John "Mike" Kafka is an American football quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League . He was drafted by the Eagles in the fourth round of the 2010 NFL Draft. He played college football at Northwestern.Kafka attended St. Rita of Cascia High School in Chicago,...	32	46	330	69.6	7.17	36	2	3	6	131.13
Eric Peterman	2	2	55	100.0	27.50	30	1	0	0	496.0
Total	252	413	2513	61.0	6.08	53	17	17	15	116.9
Opponents

Receiving

Name	GP-GS	No.	Yds	Avg	TD	Long	Avg/G
Total
Opponents

Defense

Name	GP	Tackles				Sacks	Pass Defense		Interceptions				Fumbles		Blkd Kick
		Solo	Ast	Total	TFL-Yds	No-Yds	BrUp	QBH	No.-Yds	Avg	TD	Long	Rcv-Yds	FF
Total

Special teams

Name	Punting								Kickoffs
	No.	Yds	Avg	Long	TB	FC	I20	Blkd	No.	Yds	Avg	TB	OB
Total

Name	Punt Returns					Kick Returns
	No.	Yds	Avg	TD	Long	No.	Yds	Avg	TD	Long
Total