The 1929 Big Ten Conference football season was the 34th season of

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

played by the member schools of the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

(also known as the Western Conference) and was a part of the

1929 college football season The 1929 college football season saw a number of unbeaten and untied teams. Purdue, Tulane, Notre Dame and Pittsburgh all finished the regular season with wins over all their opponents. Notre Dame was recognized as national champion by two of thre ...

. The 1929 Purdue Boilermakers football team, under head coach Jimmy Phelan, compiled an 8–0 record, won the Big Ten championship, led the conference in scoring offense (23.4 points per game), and was ranked No. 2 in the

Dickinson System The Dickinson System was a mathematical point formula that awarded national championships in college football. Devised by University of Illinois economics professor Frank G. Dickinson, the system crowned national champions from 1925 to 1940. Dicki ...

rankings. Fullback

Ralph Welch W. Ralph "Pest" Welch (January 13, 1907 – September 15, 1974) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head coach at the University of Washington from 1942 to 1947, compiling a record of 27–20–3. Welch led his 1943 Wash ...

and tackle

Elmer Sleight Elmer Noble "Red" Sleight (1907 - August 9, 1978) was an All-American football player. Sleight was born in 1907 in Morris, Illinois, and attended Morris High School. He played at the tackle position for the Purdue University Boilermakers from ...

were consensus first-team All-Americans. The 1929 Illinois Fighting Illini football team, under head coach

Robert Zuppke Robert Carl Zuppke (July 2, 1879 – December 22, 1957) was an American football coach. He served as the head coach at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign from 1913 until 1941, compiling a career college football record of 131–81 ...

, compiled a 6–1–1 record, finished in second place in the Big Ten, led the conference in scoring defense (3.4 points allowed per games), and was ranked No. 5 in the

rankings. The 1929 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team, under head coach

Clarence Spears Clarence Wiley "Doc" Spears (July 24, 1894 – February 1, 1964) was an American football player, coach, and doctor. He was an All-American guard at Dartmouth College (1914–1915) and served as the head football coach at Dartmouth (1917–1920), ...

, compiled a 6–2 and finished in third place in the Big Ten. Tackle

Bronko Nagurski Bronislau "Bronko" Nagurski (November 3, 1908 – January 7, 1990) was a Canadian-born professional American football player in the National Football League (NFL), renowned for his strength and size. Nagurski was also a successful professional w ...

was selected as the team's most valuable player and a consensus first-team All-American. Iowa halfback

Willis Glassgow Willis Allen "Bill" Glassgow (April 21, 1907 – November 1, 1959) graduated from Shenandoah Iowa high school. Willis was an American football player and attorney. He played halfback for the University of Iowa from 1927 to 1929, was selected ...

won the ''Chicago Tribune'' Silver Football as the most valuable player in the Big Ten. He was also selected as a first-team All-American by ''

Collier's Weekly ''Collier's'' was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as ''Collier's Once a Week'', then renamed in 1895 as ''Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal'', shortened in 1905 to ''Colli ...

'', the

Newspaper Enterprise Association The Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA) is an editorial column and comic strip newspaper syndication service based in the United States and established in 1902. The oldest syndicate still in operation, the NEA was originally a secondary news ...

, and the ''

New York Sun ''The New York Sun'' is an American online newspaper published in Manhattan; from 2002 to 2008 it was a daily newspaper distributed in New York City. It debuted on April 16, 2002, adopting the name, motto, and masthead of the earlier New York ...

''.

Season overview

Results and team statistics

Key
DS = Rankings from

. See

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 The Chicago Tribune Silver Football is awarded by the ''Chicago Tribune'' to the college football player determined to be the best player from the Big Ten Conference. The award has been presented annually since 1924, when Red Grange of Illinois wa ...

trophy

Regular season

Bowl games

No Big Ten teams participated in any bowl games during the 1929 season.

All-Big Ten players

The following players were picked by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

(AP), the

United Press United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th c ...

(UP), the

(NEA), and/or

Walter Eckersall Walter Herbert "Eckie" Eckersall (June 17, 1883 – March 24, 1930) was an American college football player, official, and sportswriter for the ''Chicago Tribune''. He played for the Maroons of the University of Chicago, and was elected to the ...

(WE) as first-team players on the 1929 All-Big Ten Conference football team.

All-Americans

Four Big Ten players were selected as consensus first-team players on the 1929 College Football All-America Team. They were: Other Big Ten players received first-team honors from at least one selector. They were:

References

{{Big Ten Conference football navbox