1958 Big Ten Conference football season
SportAmerican football
Number of teams10
Top draft pickRandy Duncan
ChampionIowa
  Runners-upWisconsin
Season MVPRandy Duncan
Seasons
← 1957
1959 →
1958 Big Ten Conference football standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
No. 2 Iowa $ 5 – 1 – 0 8 – 1 – 1
No. 7 Wisconsin 5 – 1 – 1 7 – 1 – 1
No. 8 Ohio State 4 – 1 – 2 6 – 1 – 2
No. 13 Purdue 3 – 1 – 2 6 – 1 – 2
Indiana 3 – 2 – 1 5 – 3 – 1
Illinois 4 – 3 – 0 4 – 5 – 0
Northwestern 3 – 4 – 0 5 – 4 – 0
Michigan 1 – 5 – 1 2 – 6 – 1
Minnesota 1 – 6 – 0 1 – 8 – 0
Michigan State 0 – 5 – 1 3 – 5 – 1
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll

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 NCAA University Division 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. Rank Team Head coach AP final AP high Overall record Conf. record PPG PAG MVP
1 Iowa Forest Evashevski #2 #2 8–1–1 5–1 27.2 14.6 Randy Duncan
2 Wisconsin Milt Bruhn #7 #4 7–1–1 5–1–1 22.3 8.6 Jon Hobbs
Dick Teteak
3 Ohio State Woody Hayes #8 #1 6–1–2 4–1–2 20.2 14.7 Jim Houston
4 Purdue Jack Mollenkopf #13 #8 6–1–2 3–1–2 20.4 11.3 Tom Franckhauser
5 Indiana Phil Dickens NR NR 5–3–1 3–2–1 9.0 15.7 Mike Rabold
6 Illinois Ray Eliot NR NR 4–5 4–3 16.0 16.7 Gene Cherney
7 Northwestern Ara Parseghian NR #4 5–4 3–4 22.1 16.4 Ron Burton
8 Michigan Bennie Oosterbaan NR #14 2–6–1 1–5–1 14.7 23.4 Bob Ptacek
9 Minnesota Murray Warmath NR NR 1–8 1–6 12.8 17.4 Everett Gerths
10 Michigan State Duffy Daugherty NR NR 3–5–1 0–5–1 13.0 13.7 Sam Williams

Key
AP final = Team's rank in the final AP Poll of the 1958 season[1]
AP high = Team's highest rank in the AP Poll throughout the 1958 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

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

Main article: 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.[3]

Statistical leaders

The Big Ten's individual statistical leaders for the 1958 season included the following:[1]

Passing yards

Rank Name Team Yards[1]
1 Randy Duncan Iowa 1,397
2 Dick Thornton Northwestern 828
3 Bob Ptacek Michigan 763
4 John Easterbrook Illinois 656
5 Dale Hackbart Wisconsin 641

Rushing yards

Rank Name Team Yards[1]
1 Bob White Ohio State 859
2 Ron Burton Northwestern 613
3 Don Clark Ohio State 582
4 Ray Jauch Iowa 524
5 Willie Fleming Iowa 505

Receiving yards

Rank Name Team Yards[1]
1 Rich Kreitling Illinois 688
2 Ron Burton Northwestern 392
3 Don Norton Iowa 374
4 Curt Merz Iowa 354
5 Gary Prahst Michigan 313

Total yards

Rank Name Team Yards[1]
1 Randy Duncan Iowa 1,462
2 Dick Thornton Northwestern 1,078
3 Dale Hackbart Wisconsin 1,032
4 Bob Ptacek Michigan 887
5 Bob White Ohio State 859

Scoring

Rank Name Team Points[1]
1 Bob White Ohio State 72
2 Bob Jarus Purdue 60
2 Willie Fleming Iowa 60
4 Dale Hackbart Wisconsin 54
5 Ed Hart Wisconsin 42

Awards and honors

All-Big Ten honors

For the complete All-Big Ten selections, see 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.

Position Name Team Selectors
Quarterback Randy Duncan Iowa AP, UPI
Halfback Ron Burton Northwestern AP, UPI
Halfback Willie Fleming Iowa AP
Halfback Don Clark Ohio State UPI
Fullback Bob White Ohio State AP, UPI
End Rich Kreitling Illinois AP, UPI
End Jim Houston Ohio State AP
End Sam Williams Michigan State UPI
Tackle Gene Selawski Purdue AP, UPI
Tackle Andy Cvercko Northwestern AP
Tackle Jim Marshall Ohio State UPI
Guard Ron Maltony Purdue AP
Guard Jerry Stalcup Wisconsin AP
Guard Bill Burrell Illinois UPI
Guard Ellison Kelly Michigan State UPI
Center Dick Teteak Wisconsin AP
Center Mike Svendsen Minnesota UPI

All-American honors

For the complete All-America selections, see 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.[4] The Big Ten's consensus All-Americans were:

Position Name Team Selectors
Quarterback Randy Duncan Iowa AFCA, AP, FWAA, NEA, SN, UPI, CP, WCFF
Fullback Bob White Ohio State FWAA, NEA, SN, UPI, CP, Time, WCFF
End Sam Williams Michigan State AFCA, UPI, Time, WC

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

Position Name Team Selectors
End Jim Houston Ohio State AP, FWAA, CP
End Curt Merz Iowa FWAA
End Tom Franckhauser Purdue CP
Tackle Jim Marshall Ohio State TSN, Time
Tackle Andy Cvercko Northwestern FWAA
Tackle Gene Selawski Purdue FWAA

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).[5]

1959 NFL Draft

The following Big Ten players were among the first 100 picks in the 1959 NFL Draft:[6]

Name Position Team Round Overall pick
Randy Duncan Quarterback Iowa 1 1
Don Clark Running back Ohio State 1 7
Dan James Center Ohio State 1 8
Rich Kreitling Wide receiver Illinois 1 11
Mike Rabold Tackle Indiana 2 19
Dick Schafrath Guard Ohio State 2 23
Tom Franckhauser End Purdue 3 33
Fran O'Brien Tackle Michigan State 3 35
Gary Prahst End Michigan 4 37
Blanche Martin Back Michigan State 4 43
Nick Mumley Tackle Purdue 5 51
Andy Cvercko Center Northwestern 5 55
Dick LeBeau Defensive back Ohio State 5 58
Ellison Kelly Guard Michigan State 5 59
Mac Lewis Tackle Iowa 6 64
Palmer Pyle Tackle Michigan State 6 72
Mitch Ogiego Quarterback Iowa 7 79
Willmer Fowler Back Northwestern 8 86
Bob Ptacek Quarterback Michigan 8 87
Tom Barnett Back Purdue 8 91
Willie Smith Tackle Michigan 8 94

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "1958 Big Ten Conference Year Summary". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
  2. ^ Wilfrid Smith (December 20, 1958). "Iowa's Duncan Big Ten's Most Valuable: Brilliant Passer Scores Again! Wins Silver Football; Indiana's Rabold Second Choice". Chicago Tribune. pp. 2–1, 2–4.
  3. ^ Jerry Green (November 15, 1958). "Bump Elliott Gets Job of Rebuilding Sagging Michigan". The Terre Haute Star. p. 7.
  4. ^ "2014 NCAA Football Records: Consensus All-America Selections" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). 2014. pp. 5–6. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 22, 2014. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  5. ^ "1958 Heisman Trophy Voting". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
  6. ^ "1959 NFL Draft: Full Draft". NFL.com. National Football League. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
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