1961 Big Ten Conference football season

August 2023 1961 Big Ten Conference football season American football 10 Bob Ferguson Ohio State Champion Minnesota Sandy Stephens 1960 1962 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 college 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. RankTeamHead coachAP finalAP highOverall recordConf. recordPPGPAGMVP1Ohio StateWoody Hayes#2#28–0–14–224.69.2Bob Ferguson2MinnesotaMurray Warmath#6#38–26–116.87.8Sandy Stephens3Michigan StateDuffy Daugherty#8#17–25–221.35.6George Saimes4PurdueJack Mollenkopf#12#76–34–216.29.7Jack Elwell5WisconsinMilt BruhnNRNR6–44–319.917.6Ron Miller6MichiganBump ElliottNR#66–33–323.618.1John Walker7 (tie)IowaJerry BurnsNR#15–42–423.918.0Al Hinton7 (tie)NorthwesternAra ParseghianNRNR4–52–414.611.7Boyd Melvin9IndianaPhil DickensNRNR2–70–610.718.0Byron Broome10IllinoisPete ElliottNRNR0–90–75.932.1Tony Parrilli Key AP final = Team's rank in the final AP Poll of the 1961 season AP high = Team's highest rank in the AP Poll throughout the 1961 season PPG = Average of points scored per game PAG = Average of points allowed per game1961 Big Ten Conference Year Summary Sports Reference LLC SR/College Football January 9, 2017 https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/conferences/big-ten/1961.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 boldStephens Voted Big 10 Most Valuable: Minnesota Quarterback Beats Bob Ferguson By 2 Votes; Ron Miller Is 3rd Chicago Tribune December 17, 1961 2-1 https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8716339/stephens_voted_big_10_most_valuable/ 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.Jerry Burns Becomes Head Coach at Iowa Lincoln Journal and Star November 20, 1960 36 https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8719973/jerry_burns_becomes_head_coach_at_iowa/ In the preseason AP Poll, Iowa was ranked No. 1, and Ohio State was No. 2. Regular season Bowl games 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: Passing yards RankNameTeamYards1Ron MillerWisconsin1,4872Matt SzykownyIowa1,0783Sandy StephensMinnesota8694Ron DiGravioPurdue8615Pete SmithMichigan State630 Rushing yards RankNameTeamYards1Bob FergusonOhio State9382Sandy StephensMinnesota5333Dave RaimeyMichigan4964Roy WalkerPurdue4915Bill SwingleNorthwestern476 Receiving yards RankNameTeamYards1Pat RichterWisconsin8172Cloyd WebbIowa4253Jack ElwellPurdue3434Chuck BryantOhio State2705Lonnie SandersMichigan State247 Total yards RankNameTeamYards1Ron MillerWisconsin1,4492Sandy StephensMinnesota1,4023Ron DiGravioPurdue9804Matt SzykownyIowa9565Bob FergusonOhio State938 Scoring RankNameTeamPoints1Bob FergusonOhio State662Sandy StephensMinnesota482Joe WilliamsIowa482George SaimesMichigan State482Pat RichterWisconsin48 Awards and honors All-Big Ten honors the complete All-Big Ten selections 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. PositionNameTeamSelectorsQuarterbackSandy StephensMinnesotaAP, UPIHalfbackBennie McRaeMichiganAP, UPIHalfbackGeorge SaimesMichigan StateAP, UPIFullbackBob FergusonOhio StateAP, UPIEndPat RichterWisconsinAP, UPIEndJack ElwellPurdueAPEndTom HallMinnesotaUPITackleBobby BellMinnesotaAP, UPITackleDave BehrmanMichigan StateAPTackleFate EcholsNorthwesternUPIGuardMike IngramOhio StateAP, UPIGuardStan SezurekIowaAPGuardTony ParrilliIllinoisUPICenterLarry OnestiNorthwesternAP, UPI All-American honors the complete All-America selections 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.2014 NCAA Football Records: Consensus All-America Selections National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) 2014 February 1, 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: PositionNameTeamSelectorsFullbackBob FergusonOhio StateAFCA, AP, FWAA, NEA, TSN, UPI, CP, Time, WCFFQuarterbackSandy StephensMinnesotaAP, FWAA, NEA, SN, UPI, WCFF Other Big Ten players who were named first-team All-Americans by at least one selector were: PositionNameTeamSelectorsTackleBobby BellMinnesotaAFCA, FWAA, TSN, CPGuardDave BehrmanMichigan StateAP, FWAACenterBill Van BurenIowaTSN, CPEndPat RichterWisconsinUPITackleFate EcholsNorthwesternTime 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.1961 Heisman Trophy Voting Sports Reference LLC SR/College Football January 17, 2017 https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/awards/heisman-1961.html 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:1962 NFL Draft: Full Draft National Football League NFL.com January 13, 2017 http://www.nfl.com/draft/history/fulldraft?season=1962 NamePositionTeamRoundOverall pickBob FergusonBackOhio State15Fate EcholsTackleNorthwestern16Bennie McRae BackMichigan221Sandy StephensBackMinnesota225Chuck BryantEndOhio State334Larry Ferguson Back Iowa452Stan Sczurek Guard Purdue453Bill Tunnicliff Running back Michigan563Jon Schopf Guard Michigan570Larry BowieTacklePurdue673John Elwell End Purdue675Sam Tidmore End Ohio State681Sherwyn Thorson Guard Iowa787Jim Bakken Quarterback Wisconsin788Ed O'Bradovich End Illinois791Tom Hall End Minnesota794John Havlicek Wide receiver Ohio State795Ron HatcherRunning backMichigan State899 References