1959 Big Ten Conference football season

1959 Big Ten Conference football season
Sport	American football
Teams	10
Top draft pick	Jim Houston
Champion	Wisconsin
Runners-up	Michigan State
Season MVP	Bill Burrell
Seasons
←  1958 1960  →

1959 Big Ten Conference football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 6 Wisconsin $	5	–	2	–	0			7	–	3	–	0
Michigan State	4	–	2	–	0			5	–	4	–	0
Purdue	4	–	2	–	1			5	–	2	–	2
No. 13 Illinois	4	–	2	–	1			5	–	3	–	1
Northwestern	4	–	3	–	0			6	–	3	–	0
Iowa	3	–	3	–	0			5	–	4	–	0
Michigan	3	–	4	–	0			4	–	5	–	0
Indiana	2	–	4	–	1			4	–	4	–	1
Ohio State	2	–	4	–	1			3	–	5	–	1
Minnesota	1	–	6	–	0			2	–	7	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The 1959 Big Ten Conference football season was the 64th season of college football played by the member schools of the Big Ten Conference and was a part of the 1959 college football season.

The 1959 Wisconsin Badgers football team, under head coach Milt Bruhn, won the Big Ten championship, was ranked No. 6 in the final AP Poll, and lost to Washington in the 1960 Rose Bowl. Tackle Dan Lanphear was a consensus first-team All-American. Quarterback Dale Hackbart led the Big Ten with 1,121 yards of total offense.

Season overview

Results and team statistics

Conf. Rank	Team	Head coach	AP final	AP high	Overall record	Conf. record	PPG	PAG	MVP
1	Wisconsin	Milt Bruhn	#6	#5	7–3	5–2	16.5	14.9	Jerry Stalcup
2	Michigan State	Duffy Daugherty	NR	#11	5–4	4–2	16.6	13.1	Dean Look
3 (tie)	Purdue	Jack Mollenkopf	NR	#6	5–2–2	4–2–1	12.1	9.0	Len Jardine
3 (tie)	Illinois	Ray Eliot	#13	#12	5–3–1	4–2–1	12.3	10.3	Bill Burrell
5	Northwestern	Ara Parseghian	NR	#2	6–3	4–3	19.3	14.9	Jim Andreotti
6	Iowa	Forest Evashevski	NR	#5	5–4	3–3	25.9	11.1	Don Norton
7	Michigan	Bump Elliott	NR	NR	4–5	3–4	13.6	17.9	Tony Rio
8	Indiana	Phil Dickens	NR	NR	4–4–1	2–4–1	15.8	11.7	Ted Aucreman
9	Ohio State	Woody Hayes	NR	#7	3–5–1	2–4–1	9.2	12.7	Jim Houston
10	Minnesota	Murray Warmath	NR	NR	2–7	1–6	10.9	17.7	Tom Moe

Key
AP final = Team's rank in the final AP Poll of the 1959 season ^[1]
AP high = Team's highest rank in the AP Poll throughout the 1959 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

Preseason

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. ^[2]

Bowl games

Main article: 1960 Rose Bowl

Post-season developments

Shortly before the end of the 1959 season, Illinois head coach Ray Eliot retired after 18 years in the position. ^[3] On December 22, 1959, Illinois hired 33-year-old Pete Elliott as its new head football coach. Elliott had played for Michigan and served as California's head coach from 1957 to 1959. ^[4]

Statistical leaders

The Big Ten's individual statistical leaders for the 1959 season include the following: ^[1]

Passing yards

Rank	Name	Team	Yards [1]
1	Olen Treadway	Iowa	1,014
2	Dean Look	Michigan State	785
3	John Talley	Northwestern	783
4	Stan Noskin	Michigan	747
5	Dale Hackbart	Wisconsin	734

Rushing yards

Rank	Name	Team	Yards [1]
1	Bob Jeter	Iowa	609
2	Bill Brown	Illinois	504
3	Ted Smith	Indiana	439
4	Herb Adderley	Michigan State	419
5	Johnny Counts	Illinois	416

Receiving yards

Rank	Name	Team	Yards [1]
1	Don Norton	Iowa	428
2	Tom Hall	Minnesota	322
3	Johnny Counts	Illinois	314
4	Allan Schoonover	Wisconsin	290
5	Ray Purdin	Northwestern	280

Total yards

Rank	Name	Team	Yards [1]
1	Dale Hackbart	Wisconsin	1,121
2	Olen Treadway	Iowa	987
3	Dean Look	Michigan State	875
4	John Talley	Northwestern	777
5	Stan Noskin	Michigan	718

Scoring

Rank	Name	Team	Points [1]
1	Dale Hackbart	Wisconsin	36
2	Gary Ballman	Michigan State	30
2	Ron Burton	Northwestern	30
2	Tom Wiesner	Wisconsin	30

Awards and honors

All-Big Ten honors

For the complete All-Big Ten selections, see 1959 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 1959 All-Big Ten Conference football team.

Position	Name	Team	Selectors
Quarterback	Dean Look	Michigan State	AP
Quarterback	Dale Hackbart	Wisconsin	UPI
Halfback	Bob Jeter	Iowa	AP, UPI
Halfback	Ron Burton	Northwestern	AP, UPI
Fullback	Mike Stock	Northwestern	AP, UPI
End	Jim Houston	Ohio State	AP, UPI
End	Don Norton	Iowa	AP, UPI
Tackle	Dan Lanphear	Wisconsin	AP, UPI
Tackle	Joe Rutgens	Illinois	AP
Tackle	Gene Gossage	Northwestern	UPI
Guard	Jerry Stalcup	Wisconsin	AP, UPI
Guard	Bill Burrell	Illinois	AP, UPI
Center	Jim Andreotti	Northwestern	AP, UPI

All-American honors

For the complete All-America selections, see 1959 College Football All-America Team.

At the end of the 1959 season, Big Ten players secured three of the 11 consensus first-team picks on the 1959 College Football All-America Team. ^[5] The Big Ten's consensus All-Americans were:

Position	Name	Team	Selectors
Tackle	Dan Lanphear	Wisconsin	AFCA, AP, FWAA, NEA, TSN, UPI, CP, Time, WCFF
Halfback	Ron Burton	Northwestern	AFCA, FWAA, NEA, TSN, UPI, CP, Time, WCFF
Guard	Bill Burrell	Illinois	AP, FWAA, UPI, CP, WCFF

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	CP, Time
End	Don Norton	Iowa	FWAA
Center	Jim Andreotti	Northwestern	FWAA
Halfback	Dean Look	Michigan State	FWAA
Fullback	Bob White	Ohio State	Time

Other awards

Four Big Ten players finished among the top 10 in the voting for the 1959 Heisman Trophy: offensive lineman Bill Burrell of Illinois (fourth); running back Dean Look of Michigan State (sixth); quarterback Dale Hackbart of Wisconsin (seventh); and running back Ron Burton of Wisconsin (10th). ^[6]

1960 NFL draft

The following Big Ten players were among the first 100 picks in the 1960 NFL draft: ^[7]

Name	Position	Team	Round	Overall pick
Jim Houston	Defensive end	Ohio State	1	8
Ron Burton	Halfback	Northwestern	1	9
Bob Jeter	Halfback	Iowa	2	17
Curt Merz	End	Iowa	3	31
Ross Fichtner	Defensive back	Purdue	3	33
Jim Andreotti	Center	Northwestern	4	39
Billy Martin	Back	Minnesota	4	43
Jim Marshall	Tackle	Ohio State	4	44
Bill Burrell	Linebacker	Illinois	5	50
Dale Hackbart	Back	Wisconsin	5	51
Bob Jarus	Running back	Purdue	5	53
Don Norton	End	Iowa	5	56
Jerry Stalcup	Guard	Wisconsin	6	62
Mike Wright	Tackle	Minnesota	6	65
Leonard Wilson	Back	Purdue	7	76
Jerry Beabout	Tackle	Purdue	7	82
Dan Lanphear	Tackle	Wisconsin	8	90
Bob White	Back	Ohio State	8	91
Dewitt Hoopes	Tackle	Northwestern	9	98

References

1. "1959 Big Ten Conference Year Summary". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
2. Jerry Green (November 15, 1958). "Bump Elliott Gets Job of Rebuilding Sagging Michigan". The Terre Haute Star. p. 7.
3. "Colorful Ray Eliot Bowing Out as Illini Football Coach". Galesburg Register-Mail. November 18, 1959. p. 18.
4. "Illinois Appoints Pete Elliott, 33, To Football Post". Wilmington Morning News. December 23, 1959. p. 28.
5. "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.
6. "1959 Heisman Trophy Voting". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
7. "1960 NFL Draft: Full Draft". NFL.com. National Football League. Retrieved February 3, 2017.