1958 Big Ten Conference football season

Sports season

1958 Big Ten Conference football season

Sport| American football
Number of teams| 10
Top draft pick| Randy Duncan
Champion| Iowa
Runners-up| Wisconsin
Season MVP| Randy Duncan
Seasons

← 1957

1959 →

1958 Big Ten Conference football standings

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| Conf. |  |  | Overall

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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 college 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

[edit]

### Results and team statistics

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Conf. Rank  | Team  | Head coach  | AP final  | AP high  | Overall record  | Conf. record  | PPG  | PAG  | MVP

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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

[edit]

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

[edit]

### Bowl games

[edit]

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

[edit]

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

[edit]

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

### Passing yards

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Rank  | Name  | Team  | Yards[1]

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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

[edit]

Rank  | Name  | Team  | Yards[1]

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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

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Rank  | Name  | Team  | Yards[1]

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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

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Rank  | Name  | Team  | Yards[1]

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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

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Rank  | Name  | Team  | Points[1]

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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

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### All-Big Ten honors

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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

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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

[edit]

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

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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

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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

[edit]

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

[edit]

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

Name  | Position  | Team  | Round  | Overall pick

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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

[edit]

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.

* v
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* e

Big Ten Conference football

Current teams|

* Illinois Fighting Illini
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Championships & awards|

* Conference champions
* All-time standings (1896–1958), (1959–present)
* Championship Game
* Individual awards
* All-Big Ten Conference teams
* Chicago Tribune Silver Football

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*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template
*[Conf.]: Conference record
*[W]: Wins
*[L]: Losses
*[T]: Ties
*[No.]: Number