This is a list of seasons completed by the Northwestern Wildcats football team of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). Since the team's creation in 1882, the Wildcats have participated in more than 1,100 officially-sanctioned games, including 9 bowl games. Northwestern originally competed as a football independent. As one of the founding members, Northwestern joined the Big Ten conference, then known as the Western Conference, in 1896, where it has been a member ever since.