1958 Big Ten Conference football season

August 2023 1958 Big Ten Conference football season American football 10 Randy Duncan Iowa Champion Wisconsin Randy Duncan 1957 1959 The 1958 Big Ten Conference football season was the 63rd season of college football played by the member schools of the Big Ten Conference and was a part of the 1958 college football season. The 1958 Iowa Hawkeyes football team, under head coach Forest Evashevski, won the Big Ten football championship and was ranked No. 2 in the final AP and UPI polls, both taken before the bowl games. After defeating California, 38–12, in the 1959 Rose Bowl, the Hawkeyes were voted national champion by the Football Writers Association of America in its post-bowl ranking. Iowa quarterback Randy Duncan won the Chicago Tribune Silver Football trophy as the Big Ten's most valuable player, was a consensus first-team All-American, and finished second in the 1958 voting for the Heisman Trophy. The 1958 Wisconsin Badgers football team, under head coach Milt Bruhn, finished in second place in the Big Ten with a 7–1–1 record, led the conference in scoring defense (8.6 points allowed per game), and was ranked No. 7 in the final AP Poll. Wisconsin's sole loss was to Iowa. Dale Hackbart led the Badgers with 641 passing yards and 1,032 yards of total offense. The 1958 Ohio State Buckeyes football team, under head coach Woody Hayes, compiled a 6–1–2 record and was ranked No. 8 in the final AP Poll. Fullback Bob White was a consensus first-team All-American and led the Big Ten with 859 rushing yards and 72 points scored. End Jim Houston and tackle Jim Marshall were also selected as first-team All-Americans by multiple selectors. Other notable individual performances during the 1958 season include Michigan State end Sam Williams who was selected as a consensus first-team All-American and Illinois end Rich Kreitling who led the Big Ten with 688 receiving yards. Season overview Results and team statistics Conf. RankTeamHead coachAP finalAP highOverall recordConf. recordPPGPAGMVP 1IowaForest Evashevski#2#28–1–15–127.214.6Randy Duncan2WisconsinMilt Bruhn#7#47–1–15–1–122.38.6Jon HobbsDick Teteak3Ohio StateWoody Hayes#8#16–1–24–1–220.214.7Jim Houston4PurdueJack Mollenkopf#13#86–1–23–1–2 20.411.3Tom Franckhauser5IndianaPhil DickensNRNR5–3–13–2–19.015.7Mike Rabold6IllinoisRay EliotNRNR4–54–316.016.7Gene Cherney7NorthwesternAra ParseghianNR#45–43–422.116.4Ron Burton8MichiganBennie OosterbaanNR#142–6–11–5–114.723.4Bob Ptacek9MinnesotaMurray WarmathNRNR1–81–612.817.4Everett Gerths10Michigan StateDuffy DaughertyNRNR3–5–10–5–113.013.7Sam Williams Key AP final = Team's rank in the final AP Poll of the 1958 season AP high = Team's highest rank in the AP Poll throughout the 1958 season PPG = Average of points scored per game PAG = Average of points allowed per game1958 Big Ten Conference Year Summary Sports Reference LLC SR/College Football February 2, 2017 https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/conferences/big-ten/1958.html 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 boldIowa's Duncan Big Ten's Most Valuable: Brilliant Passer Scores Again! Wins Silver Football; Indiana's Rabold Second Choice Chicago Tribune Wilfrid Smith December 20, 1958 2-1, 2-4 https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8745009/iowas_duncan_big_tens_most_valuable/ Preseason Phil Dickens was hired by Indiana as its head football coach in 1957 but was suspended by the NCAA for recruiting violations. Accordingly, the 1958 season was Dickens' first as Indiana's head coach. Regular season Bowl games 1959 Rose Bowl On January 1, 1959, Iowa defeated the California Golden Bears, 38–12, in the 1959 Rose Bowl. Iowa halfback Bob Jeter was named the Rose Bowl player of the game. Iowa finished No. 2 in the AP and UPI polls taken prior to the bowl games, but was named national champion in the FWAA poll taken after the bowl games. Post-season developments On November 14, 1958, Bennie Oosterbaan resigned as Michigan's head football coach with two games remaining in the program's worst season since 1936. Bump Elliott, who had been Michigan's backfield coach for two years, was hired to replace him.Bump Elliott Gets Job of Rebuilding Sagging Michigan The Terre Haute Star Jerry Green November 15, 1958 7 https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8740531/bump_elliott_gets_job_of_rebuilding/ Statistical leaders The Big Ten's individual statistical leaders for the 1958 season included the following: Passing yards RankNameTeamYards1Randy DuncanIowa1,3972Dick ThorntonNorthwestern8283Bob PtacekMichigan7634John EasterbrookIllinois6565Dale HackbartWisconsin641 Rushing yards RankNameTeamYards1Bob WhiteOhio State8592Ron BurtonNorthwestern6133Don ClarkOhio State5824Ray JauchIowa5245Willie FlemingIowa505 Receiving yards RankNameTeamYards1Rich KreitlingIllinois6882Ron BurtonNorthwestern3923Don NortonIowa3744Curt MerzIowa3545Gary PrahstMichigan313 Total yards RankNameTeamYards1Randy DuncanIowa1,4622Dick ThorntonNorthwestern1,0783Dale HackbartWisconsin1,0324Bob PtacekMichigan8875Bob WhiteOhio State859 Scoring RankNameTeamPoints1Bob WhiteOhio State722Bob JarusPurdue602Willie FlemingIowa604Dale HackbartWisconsin545Ed HartWisconsin42 Awards and honors All-Big Ten honors the complete All-Big Ten selections 1958 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 1958 All-Big Ten Conference football team. PositionNameTeamSelectorsQuarterbackRandy DuncanIowaAP, UPIHalfbackRon BurtonNorthwesternAP, UPIHalfbackWillie FlemingIowaAPHalfbackDon ClarkOhio StateUPIFullbackBob WhiteOhio StateAP, UPIEndRich KreitlingIllinoisAP, UPIEndJim HoustonOhio StateAPEndSam WilliamsMichigan StateUPITackleGene SelawskiPurdueAP, UPITackleAndy CverckoNorthwesternAPTackleJim MarshallOhio StateUPIGuardRon MaltonyPurdueAPGuardJerry StalcupWisconsinAPGuardBill BurrellIllinoisUPIGuardEllison KellyMichigan StateUPICenterDick TeteakWisconsinAPCenterMike SvendsenMinnesotaUPI All-American honors the complete All-America selections 1958 College Football All-America Team At the end of the 1958 season, Big Ten players secured three of the 12 consensus first-team picks on the 1958 College Football All-America Team.2014 NCAA Football Records: Consensus All-America Selections National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) 2014 February 3, 2017 5–6 http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/2014/Awards.pdf December 22, 2014 https://web.archive.org/web/20141222163944/http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/2014/Awards.pdf dead The Big Ten's consensus All-Americans were: PositionNameTeamSelectorsQuarterbackRandy DuncanIowaAFCA, AP, FWAA, NEA, SN, UPI, CP, WCFFFullbackBob WhiteOhio StateFWAA, NEA, SN, UPI, CP, Time, WCFFEndSam WilliamsMichigan StateAFCA, UPI, Time, WC Other Big Ten players who were named first-team All-Americans by at least one selector were: PositionNameTeamSelectorsEndJim HoustonOhio StateAP, FWAA, CPEndCurt MerzIowaFWAAEndTom FranckhauserPurdueCPTackleJim MarshallOhio StateTSN, TimeTackleAndy CverckoNorthwesternFWAATackleGene SelawskiPurdueFWAA Other awards Two Big Ten players finished among the top five in the voting for the 1958 Heisman Trophy: Iowa quarterback Randy Duncan (second); and Ohio State fullback Bob White (fourth).1958 Heisman Trophy Voting Sports Reference LLC SR/College Football January 17, 2017 https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/awards/heisman-1958.html 1959 NFL draft The following Big Ten players were among the first 100 picks in the 1959 NFL draft:1959 NFL Draft: Full Draft National Football League NFL.com February 3, 2017 http://www.nfl.com/draft/history/fulldraft?season=1959 NamePositionTeamRoundOverall pickRandy DuncanQuarterbackIowa11Don ClarkRunning backOhio State17Dan JamesCenterOhio State18Rich KreitlingWide receiverIllinois111Mike RaboldTackleIndiana219Dick SchafrathGuardOhio State223Tom FranckhauserEndPurdue333Fran O'BrienTackleMichigan State335Gary PrahstEndMichigan437Blanche MartinBackMichigan State443Nick MumleyTacklePurdue551Andy CverckoCenterNorthwestern555Dick LeBeauDefensive backOhio State558Ellison KellyGuardMichigan State559Mac LewisTackleIowa664Palmer PyleTackleMichigan State672Mitch OgiegoQuarterbackIowa779Willmer FowlerBackNorthwestern886Bob PtacekQuarterbackMichigan887Tom BarnettBackPurdue891Willie SmithTackleMichigan894 References