The Wildcats have won three Big Ten championships or co-championships since 1995, and have been 'bowl eligible' five times between 20. Northwestern Football is also marketed as 'Chicago's Big Ten Team' with its proximity and ties to Chicago. Its football mascot is the Wildcat, a term coined by a Chicago Tribune reporter in 1924, after reporting on a football game where the players appeared as 'a wall of purple wildcats'. Founded in 1851, Northwestern began playing football in 1882. The Northwestern Wildcats football team represents Northwestern University as an NCAA Division I college football team and member of the Big Ten Conference based near Chicago in Evanston, Illinois. Northwestern University Wildcat Marching Band
