1961 Big Ten Conference football season

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
1961 Big Ten Conference football season
SportAmerican football
Number of teams10
Top draft pickBob Ferguson
ChampionOhio State
Runners-upMinnesota
Season MVPSandy Stephens
Seasons
← 1960
1962 →
1961 Big Ten Conference football standings
  • v
  • t
 Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
No. 2 Ohio State $ 6 – 0 – 0 8 – 0 – 1
No. 6 Minnesota 6 – 1 – 0 8 – 2 – 0
No. 8 Michigan State 5 – 2 – 0 7 – 2 – 0
No. 12 Purdue 4 – 2 – 0 6 – 3 – 0
Wisconsin 4 – 3 – 0 6 – 3 – 0
Michigan 3 – 3 – 0 6 – 3 – 0
Iowa 2 – 4 – 0 5 – 4 – 0
Northwestern 2 – 4 – 0 4 – 5 – 0
Indiana 0 – 6 – 0 2 – 7 – 0
Illinois 0 – 7 – 0 0 – 9 – 0
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1961 Big Ten Conference football season was the 66th season of college football played by the member schools of the Big Ten Conference and was a part of the 1961 NCAA University Division football season.

The 1961 Ohio State Buckeyes football team, under head coach Woody Hayes, compiled an 8–0–1, won the Big Ten championship, and was recognized as the national champion by the Football Writers Association of America. Fullback Bob Ferguson was a consensus first-team All-American and won the Maxwell Award and the UPI and Sporting News College Football Player of the Year awards.

The 1961 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team, under head coach Murray Warmath, compiled an 8–2, was ranked No. 6 in the final AP Poll, and defeated UCLA in the 1962 Rose Bowl. Quarterback Sandy Stephens was a consensus first-team All-American and won the Chicago Tribune Silver Football award as the Big Ten's most valuable player. As of 2017, Stephens is the most recent Minnesota player to win the award.

Ron Miller of Wisconsin received the Sammy Baugh Trophy as the nation's top collegiate passer.

Season overview[]

Results and team statistics[]

Conf. Rank Team Head coach AP final AP high Overall record Conf. record PPG PAG MVP
1 Ohio State Woody Hayes #2 #2 8–0–1 4–2 24.6 9.2 Bob Ferguson
2 Minnesota Murray Warmath #6 #3 8–2 6–1 16.8 7.8 Sandy Stephens
3 Michigan State Duffy Daugherty #8 #1 7–2 5–2 21.3 5.6 George Saimes
4 Purdue Jack Mollenkopf #12 #7 6–3 4–2 16.2 9.7 Jack Elwell
5 Wisconsin Milt Bruhn NR NR 6–4 4–3 19.9 17.6 Ron Miller
6 Michigan Bump Elliott NR #6 6–3 3–3 23.6 18.1 John Walker
7 (tie) Iowa Jerry Burns NR #1 5–4 2–4 23.9 18.0 Al Hinton
7 (tie) Northwestern Ara Parseghian NR NR 4–5 2–4 14.6 11.7 Boyd Melvin
9 Indiana Phil Dickens NR NR 2–7 0–6 10.7 18.0 Byron Broome
10 Illinois Pete Elliott NR NR 0–9 0–7 5.9 32.1 Tony Parrilli

Key
AP final = Team's rank in the final AP Poll of the 1961 season[1]
AP high = Team's highest rank in the AP Poll throughout the 1961 season[1]
PPG = Average of points scored per game[1]
PAG = Average of points allowed per game[1]
MVP = Most valuable player as voted by players on each team as part of the voting process to determine the winner of the Chicago Tribune Silver Football trophy; trophy winner in bold[2]

Preseason[]

On November 20, 1960, hours after the final game of the 1960 season, Iowa announced that Forest Evashevski would be replaced as head football coach by Jerry Burns. Evashevski remained at Iowa as the athletic director. Burns, who signed a three-year contract, had been an assistant coach under Evashevski since 1954 and had played at Michigan from 1947 to 1950.[3]

In the preseason AP Poll, Iowa was ranked No. 1, and Ohio State was No. 2.[1]

Regular season[]

Bowl games[]

Main article: 1962 Rose Bowl

Post-season developments[]

There were no changes in the conference's head football coaches between the 1961 and 1962 seasons.

Statistical leaders[]

The Big Ten's individual statistical leaders for the 1961 season include the following:[1]

Passing yards[]

Rank Name Team Yards[1]
1 Ron Miller Wisconsin 1,487
2 Matt Szykowny Iowa 1,078
3 Sandy Stephens Minnesota 869
4 Ron DiGravio Purdue 861
5 Pete Smith Michigan State 630

Rushing yards[]

Rank Name Team Yards[1]
1 Bob Ferguson Ohio State 938
2 Sandy Stephens Minnesota 533
3 Dave Raimey Michigan 496
4 Roy Walker Purdue 491
5 Bill Swingle Northwestern 476

Receiving yards[]

Rank Name Team Yards[1]
1 Pat Richter Wisconsin 817
2 Cloyd Webb Iowa 425
3 Jack Elwell Purdue 343
4 Chuck Bryant Ohio State 270
5 Lonnie Sanders Michigan State 247

Total yards[]

Rank Name Team Yards[1]
1 Ron Miller Wisconsin 1,449
2 Sandy Stephens Minnesota 1,402
3 Ron DiGravio Purdue 980
4 Matt Szykowny Iowa 956
5 Bob Ferguson Ohio State 938

Scoring[]

Rank Name Team Points[1]
1 Bob Ferguson Ohio State 66
2 Sandy Stephens Minnesota 48
2 Joe Williams Iowa 48
2 George Saimes Michigan State 48
2 Pat Richter Wisconsin 48

Awards and honors[]

All-Big Ten honors[]

For the complete All-Big Ten selections, see 1961 All-Big Ten Conference football team.

The following players were picked by the Associated Press (AP) and/or the United Press International (UPI) as first-team players on the 1961 All-Big Ten Conference football team.

Position Name Team Selectors
Quarterback Sandy Stephens Minnesota AP, UPI
Halfback Bennie McRae Michigan AP, UPI
Halfback George Saimes Michigan State AP, UPI
Fullback Bob Ferguson Ohio State AP, UPI
End Pat Richter Wisconsin AP, UPI
End Jack Elwell Purdue AP
End Tom Hall Minnesota UPI
Tackle Bobby Bell Minnesota AP, UPI
Tackle Dave Behrman Michigan State AP
Tackle Fate Echols Northwestern UPI
Guard Mike Ingram Ohio State AP, UPI
Guard Stan Sezurek Iowa AP
Guard Tony Parrilli Illinois UPI
Center Larry Onesti Northwestern AP, UPI

All-American honors[]

For the complete All-America selections, see 1961 College Football All-America Team.

At the end of the 1961 season, Big Ten players secured two of the 11 consensus first-team picks for the 1961 College Football All-America Team.[4] The Big Ten's consensus All-Americans were:

Position Name Team Selectors
Fullback Bob Ferguson Ohio State AFCA, AP, FWAA, NEA, TSN, UPI, CP, Time, WCFF
Quarterback Sandy Stephens Minnesota AP, FWAA, NEA, SN, UPI, WCFF

Other Big Ten players who were named first-team All-Americans by at least one selector were:

Position Name Team Selectors
Tackle Bobby Bell Minnesota AFCA, FWAA, TSN, CP
Guard Dave Behrman Michigan State AP, FWAA
Center Bill Van Buren Iowa TSN, CP
End Pat Richter Wisconsin UPI
Tackle Fate Echols Northwestern Time

Other awards[]

Ohio State fullback Bob Ferguson won the Maxwell Award and the UPI and Sporting News College Football Player of the Year awards. He finished second in the voting for the Heisman Trophy behind Ernie Davis.[5]

Ron Miller of Wisconsin received the Sammy Baugh Trophy as the nation's top collegiate passer. He was the first Big Ten player to receive the award.

1962 NFL Draft[]

The following Big Ten players were among the first 100 picks in the 1962 NFL Draft:[6]

Name Position Team Round Overall pick
Bob Ferguson Back Ohio State 1 5
Fate Echols Tackle Northwestern 1 6
Bennie McRae Back Michigan 2 21
Sandy Stephens Back Minnesota 2 25
Chuck Bryant End Ohio State 3 34
Larry Ferguson Back Iowa 4 52
Stan Sczurek Guard Purdue 4 53
Bill Tunnicliff Running Back Michigan 5 63
Jon Schopf Guard Michigan 5 70
Larry Bowie Tackle Purdue 6 73
John Elwell End Purdue 6 75
Sam Tidmore End Ohio State 6 81
Sherwyn Thorson Guard Iowa 7 87
Jim Bakken Quarterback Wisconsin 7 88
Ed O'Bradovich End Illinois 7 91
Tom Hall End Minnesota 7 94
John Havlicek Wide Receiver Ohio State 7 95
Ron Hatcher Running back Michigan State 8 99

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "1961 Big Ten Conference Year Summary". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
  2. ^ "Stephens Voted Big 10 Most Valuable: Minnesota Quarterback Beats Bob Ferguson By 2 Votes; Ron Miller Is 3rd". Chicago Tribune. December 17, 1961. p. 2-1.
  3. ^ "Jerry Burns Becomes Head Coach at Iowa". Lincoln Journal and Star. November 20, 1960. p. 36.
  4. ^ "2014 NCAA Football Records: Consensus All-America Selections" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). 2014. pp. 5–6. Retrieved February 1, 2017.
  5. ^ "1961 Heisman Trophy Voting". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
  6. ^ "1962 NFL Draft: Full Draft". NFL.com. National Football League. Retrieved January 13, 2017.
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