The 1960 Big Ten Conference football season was the 65th season of college football played by the member schools of the Big Ten Conference and was a part of the 1960 college football season.
The 1960 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team, under head coach Murray Warmath, compiled an 8–2 record, won the Big Ten championship, led the conference in scoring defense (8.8 points allowed per game), and lost to Washington in the 1961 Rose Bowl. The Golden Gophers were ranked No. 1 in the AP and Coaches Polls, both of which were released prior to the Rose Bowl. Guard Tom Brown was a consensus first-team All-American, won the Outland Trophy as college football's best interior lineman, finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting, and received the Chicago Tribune Silver Football as the Big Ten's most valuable player.
The 1960 Iowa Hawkeyes football team, in its final season under head coach Forest Evashevski, compiled an 8–1 record, led the Big Ten in scoring offense (26.0 points per game), and was ranked No. 3 in the final AP Poll and No. 2 in the final Coaches' Poll. Iowa's only loss was against Minnesota. Halfback Larry Ferguson, quarterback Wilburn Hollis, and guard Mark Manders were first-team All-Big Ten players.
The conference's statistical leaders included Ron Miller of Wisconsin with 1,351 passing yards, Bob Ferguson of Ohio State with 853 rushing yards and 78 points scored, Elbert Kimbrough of Northwestern with 378 receiving yards, and Tom Matte of Ohio State with 1,419 yards of total offense.
Season overview Results and team statistics
Conf. RankTeamHead coachAP finalAP highOverall recordConf. recordPPGPAGMVP1MinnesotaMurray Warmath#1#18–26–122.88.8Tom Brown2IowaForest Evashevski#3#18–15–126.012.0Bernie Wyatt3Ohio StateWoody Hayes#8#37–25–223.210.0Tom Matte4Michigan StateDuffy Daugherty#15#66–2–14–221.413.1Tom Wilson5 (tie)IllinoisPete ElliottNR#45–43–415.613.0Joe Rutgens5 (tie)MichiganBump ElliottNRNR5–43–414.89.3Dennis Fitzgerald5 (tie)NorthwesternAra ParseghianNR#65–43–411.911.4Mike Stock5 (tie)PurdueJack Mollenkopf#19#74–4–13–423.618.1Bernie Allen9WisconsinMilt BruhnNR#114–52–516.420.3Tom Wiesner10IndianaPhil DickensNRNR1–80–77.727.0Earl Faison Key AP final = Team's rank in the final AP Poll of the 1960 season AP high = Team's highest rank in the AP Poll throughout the 1960 season PPG = Average of points scored per game PAG = Average of points allowed per game 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
Preseason
Regular season
Bowl games
Post-season developments
Statistical leaders
The Big Ten's individual statistical leaders for the 1960 season include the following:
Passing yards RankNameTeamYards1Ron MillerWisconsin1,3512Dick ThorntonNorthwestern9013Bernie AllenPurdue7654Tom WilsonMichigan State7615Dave GlinkaMichigan755
Rushing yards RankNameTeamYards1Bob FergusonOhio State8532Tom MatteOhio State6823Larry FergusonIowa6654Willie JonesPurdue5765Mike StockNorthwestern536
Receiving yards RankNameTeamYards1Elbert KimbroughNorthwestern3782Pat RichterWisconsin3623Tom WiesnerWisconsin3564Chuck BryantOhio State3365Jim TillerPurdue237
Total yards RankNameTeamYards1Tom MatteOhio State1,4192Ron MillerWisconsin1,3953Dick ThorntonNorthwestern1,1264Tom WilsonMichigan State9365Bernie AllenPurdue905
Scoring RankNameTeamPoints1Bob FergusonOhio State782Wilburn HollisIowa663Sandy StephensMinnesota544Larry FergusonIowa364Willie JonesPurdue364Dave RaimeyMichigan36
Awards and honors
All-Big Ten honors
The following players were picked by the Associated Press (AP) and/or the United Press International (UPI) as first-team players on the 1960 All-Big Ten Conference football team.
PositionNameTeamSelectorsQuarterbackTom MatteOhio StateAP [halfback], UPI [quarterback]QuarterbackWilburn HollisIowaAPHalfbackLarry FergusonIowaAP, UPIHalfbackHerb AdderlyMichigan StateUPIFullbackBob FergusonOhio StateAP, UPIEndEarl FaisonIndianaAP, UPIEndElbert KimbroughNorthwesternAP, UPITackleJerry BeaboutPurdueAP, UPITackleJoe RutgensIllinoisAPTackleJim TyrerOhio StateUPIGuardTom BrownMinnesotaAP, UPIGuardMark MandersIowaAP, UPICenterGreg LarsonMinnesotaAP, UPI
All-American honors
At the end of the 1960 season, Big Ten players secured two of the 11 consensus first-team picks for the 1960 College Football All-America Team. The Big Ten's consensus All-Americans were:
PositionNameTeamSelectorsGuardTom BrownMinnesotaAFCA, AP, FWAA, NEA, TSN, UPI, CP, Time, WCFFFullbackBob FergusonOhio StateAFCA, AP, FWAA, NEA, SN, UPI, CP, Time, WC
Other Big Ten players who were named first-team All-Americans by at least one selector were:
PositionNameTeamSelectorsTackleJerry BeaboutPurdueFWAAGuardMark MandersIowaFWAA, TSNHalfbackLarry FergusonIowaFWAA
Other awards Minnesota's Tom Brown won the Outland Trophy as the best interior lineman in college football. He also finished second in the voting for the Heisman Trophy. Ohio State quarterback Tom Matte of finished seventh in the Heisman voting.
1961 NFL draft The following Big Ten players were among the first 100 picks in the 1961 NFL draft:
NamePositionTeamRoundOverall pickJoe RutgensTackleIllinois13Tom MatteHalfbackOhio State17Herb Adderley BackMichigan State112Elbert KimbroughEndNorthwestern218Bill BrownBackIllinois220Fred ArbanasEndMichigan State222Ron MillerQuarterbackWisconsin341Earl FaisonEndIndiana566Joe KrakoskiBackIllinois672Larry WoodBackNorthwestern675Greg LarsonCenterMinnesota681Dick ThorntonQuarterbackNorthwestern683Ike GrimsleyRunning backMichigan State791Ray PurdinBackNorthwestern793Irv CrossBackNorthwestern798
References