Northwestern Wins First Bowl Game Since 1949

After nine bowl defeats spanning 64 years, Northwestern finally wins the Gator Bowl 34-20 over Mississippi State. (Stephen Morton)

On January 1, 1949, Northwestern won their first bowl game, a Rose Bowl victory against Cal. The Wildcats did not make another bowl appearance until 1996 when they returned to the "Granddaddy of Them All." Star linebacker Pat Fitzgerald did all he could, but a 42-31 loss to the University of Southern California started a downward spiral for the program.

In 2006, Fitzgerald returned to Northwestern as head coach and rebuilt the team into a solid program. Unfortunately, he couldn't solve the Wildcats' bowl game troubles as they dropped four straight under his leadership. This brought Northwestern's losing streak in bowl games to nine. People said the Wildcats simply couldn't win the big one and get the monkey off their back.

This year, Northwestern's season got off to a promising start at 5-0. They became bowl-eligible two weeks later and finished the season with a 9-3 record and a place in both the AP and coaches' poll. The Wildcats' reward was a New Year's Day bowl bid in the Gator Bowl to play Mississippi State.

Northwestern got off to a great start when defensive end Quentin Williams returned an interception 29 yards for a touchdown early in the first quarter. Two field goals by junior Jeff Budzien increased the Wildcats' lead to 13-0. Things started to not look so good when Mississippi State tied the score up on a 47-yard field goal by freshman Devon Bell.

However, this season's Northwestern team showed resiliency by scoring on a rushing touchdown just over a minute later. They added another score on the ground just before the end of the third quarter to increase their lead to 27-13. Early in the fourth quarter, Mississippi State cut the lead in half on a 14 yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Tyler Russell to sophomore tight end Malcolm Johnson.

The Wildcats had an answer again. With 8:10 left in the game, junior Venric Mark ran the ball in from three yards out. The lead was 14 once again. From that point on, the Northwestern defense took over. Mississippi State was never even able to score to mount a comeback.

It took 64 years to the day, but the Wildcats finally got its second bowl win. The curse of nine straight bowl defeats was finally over. The team had an actual stuffed monkey that they kept as inspiration. Of course, Fitzgerald let his team tear the thing to shreds in the locker room following the win.

"I'm just ecstatic for our entire football program," Fitzgerald said in the postgame interview. "This was the one last negative we needed to erase."