1967 Big Ten Conference football season

August 2023 1967 Big Ten Conference football season American football 10 1968 NFL/AFL draft John Williams Indiana, Minnesota, Purdue Co-champions Leroy Keyes 1966 1968 The 1967 Big Ten Conference football season was the 72nd season of college football played by the member schools of the Big Ten Conference and was a part of the 1967 NCAA University Division football season. The season resulted in a three-way tie for the conference championship, as Indiana, Purdue, and Minnesota each finished with a conference record of 6–1. Each team was 1–1 against the others; as Indiana defeated Purdue, Purdue defeated Minnesota, and Minnesota defeated Indiana. As of December 6th 2025, this was the last conference championship for Minnesota. Purdue has won one conference title since then, in 2000. The 1967 Indiana Hoosiers football team, under head coach John Pont, was ranked No. 4 in the final AP Poll. The Hoosiers lost to USC in the 1968 Rose Bowl. Quarterback Harry Gonso was selected as the team's most valuable player. The 1967 Purdue Boilermakers football team, under head coach Jack Mollenkopf, was ranked No. 9 in the final AP Poll. Purdue running back Leroy Keyes led the conference with 114 points scored, was a consensus first-team All-American, won the Chicago Tribune Silver Football trophy as the most valuable player in the conference, and finished third in the voting for the 1968 Heisman Trophy. The 1967 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team, under head coach Murray Warmath, was unranked in the final AP Poll (which ranked only ten teams at the time), but was 14th in the final Coaches Poll. Offensive tackle John Williams was the first Big Ten player selected in the 1968 NFL/AFL draft with the 23rd overall pick. Due to Big Ten's "no-repeat" policy barring teams from making consecutive Rose Bowl appearances, Purdue was ineligible. The next tiebreaker was the team which had gone the longest since last playing in Pasadena. Since Indiana had never been, and Minnesota appeared following the 1960 and '61 seasons, the Hoosiers got the nod despite their loss to the Gophers. Season overview Results and team statistics Conf. RankTeamHead coachAP finalAP highOverall recordConf. recordPPGPAGMVP1 (tie)IndianaJohn Pont#4#49–26–117.914.5Harry Gonso1 (tie)MinnesotaMurray WarmathNRNR8–26–116.310.6Tom Sakal1 (tie)PurdueJack Mollenkopf#9#28–26–129.115.4Leroy Keyes4Ohio StateWoody HayesNRNR6–35–216.113.3Dick Worden5 (tie)IllinoisJim ValekNRNR4–63–414.321.3John Wright5 (tie)MichiganBump ElliottNRNR4–63–414.417.9Ron Johnson5 (tie)Michigan StateDuffy DaughertyNR#33–73–417.319.3Dwight Lee8NorthwesternAlex AgaseNRNR3–72–514.921.3Bruce Gunstra9 (tie)IowaRay NagelNRNR1–8–10–6–116.127.7Silas McKinnie9 (tie)WisconsinJohn CoattaNRNR0–9–10–6–112.022.4Tom Domres Key AP final = Team's rank in the final AP Poll of the 1967 season AP high = Team's highest rank in the AP Poll throughout the 1967 season PPG = Average of points scored per game PAG = Average of points allowed per game1967 Big Ten Conference Year Summary Sports Reference LLC SR/College Football January 31, 2017 https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/conferences/big-ten/1967.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 boldKeyes Voted Big Ten's Most Valuable Player Chicago Tribune December 27, 1967 3-1, 3-4 https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8679359/keyes_voted_big_tens_most_valuable/ Preseason Regular season Bowl games 1968 Rose Bowl Post-season developments Statistical leaders The Big Ten's individual statistical leaders for the 1967 season include the following: Passing yards RankNameTeamYards1Mike PhippsPurdue1,8002Bill MelzerNorthwestern1,1463Ed PodolakIowa1,0144Dean VolkmanIllinois1,0055John BoyajianWisconsin966 Rushing yards RankNameTeamYards1Ron JohnsonMichigan1,0052Leroy KeyesPurdue9863Rich JohnsonIllinois7684Perry WilliamsPurdue7465Silas McKinnieIowa588 Receiving yards RankNameTeamYards1Leroy KeyesPurdue7582Al BreamIowa7033John WrightIllinois6984Jim BeirnePurdue6435Jim BerlineMichigan624 Total yards RankNameTeamYards1Mike PhippsPurdue2,0202Harry GonsoIndiana1,4433Ed PodolakIowa1,3374Dennis BrownMichigan1,2865Bill MelzerNorthwestern1,205 Scoring RankNameTeamPoints1Leroy KeyesPurdue1142Perry WilliamsPurdue663Jade ButcherIndiana604Curt WilsonMinnesota485Ron JohnsonMichigan425Chico KurzawskiNorthwestern42 Awards and honors All-Big Ten honors the complete All-Big Ten selections 1967 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 1967 All-Big Ten Conference football team. Offense PositionNameTeamSelectorsQuarterbackMike PhippsPurdueAPQuarterbackHarry GonsoIndianaUPIRunning backLeroy KeyesPurdueAP, UPIRunning backRon JohnsonMichiganAP, UPIRunning backPerry WilliamsPurdueAP, UPI [fullback]Offensive endJim BeirnePurdueAP, UPIOffensive endJohn WrightIllinoisAPOffensive endBilly AndersOhio StateUPIOffensive tackleJohn WilliamsMinnesotaAP, UPIOffensive tackleDick HimesOhio StateAP, UPIOffensive guardBruce GunstraNorthwesternAP, UPIOffensive guardGary CassellsIndianaAP, UPICenterJoe DaytonMichiganAP, UPI Defense PositionNameTeamSelectorsDefensive endBob SteinMinnesotaAP, UPIDefensive endGeorge OlionPurdueUPIDefensive endGeorge ChatlosMichigan StateAPDefensive tackleMcKinley BostonMinnesotaAP, UPIDefensive tackleLance OlssenPurdueUPIDefensive tackleTom DomresWisconsinAPMiddle guardChuck KylePurdueAP, UPILinebackerKen CriterWisconsinAP, UPILinebackerDick MarvelPurdueUPILinebackerKen KaczmarekIndianaAPLinebackerJim SniadeckiIndianaAPLinebackerTom StincicMichiganUPIDefensive backRon BessIllinoisAP, UPIDefensive backTom GarretsonNorthwesternAP, UPI [safety]Defensive backTom SakalMinnesotaAP, UPI All-American honors the complete All-America selections 1967 College Football All-America Team At the end of the 1967 season, only one Big Ten player secured consensus first-team honors on the 1967 College Football All-America Team.2014 NCAA Football Records: Consensus All-America Selections National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) 2014 January 26, 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 was: PositionNameTeamSelectorsRunning backLeroy KeyesPurdueAFCA, AP, CP, FWAA, NEA, UPI, WC, Time, TSN Other Big Ten players who were named first-team All-Americans by at least one selector were: PositionNameTeamSelectorsOffensive tackleJohn WilliamsMinnesotaTimeOffensive guardGary CassellsIndianaAP, FWAA, WCFFDefensive endBob SteinMinnesotaFWAA, NEA, WC Other awards The 1967 Heisman Trophy was awarded to Gary Beban of UCLA. Purdue running back Leroy Keyes finished third in the voting.1967 Heisman Trophy Voting Sports Reference LLC SR/College Football January 26, 2017 https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/awards/heisman-1967.html 1968 NFL/AFL Draft The following Big Ten players were among the first 100 picks in the 1968 NFL/AFL draft:1968 NFL Draft: Full Draft National Football League NFL.com January 26, 2017 http://www.nfl.com/draft/history/fulldraft?season=1968 February 2, 2017 https://web.archive.org/web/20170202090617/http://www.nfl.com/draft/history/fulldraft?season=1968 dead NamePositionTeamRoundOverall pickJohn WilliamsOffensive tackleMinnesota123Doug CrusanOffensive tackleIndiana127Cyril PinderRunning backIllinois239John WrightWide receiverIllinois253Lance OlssenTacklePurdue365Charlie SandersTight endMinnesota374Dick HimesTackleOhio State381Jess PhillipsDefensive backMichigan State484 References