The 1931 Big Ten Conference football season was the 36th 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

1931 college football season The 1931 college football season saw the USC Trojans win the Knute Rockne Memorial Trophy as national champion under the Dickinson System, as well as the No. 1 position from each of the other three contemporary major selectors (Boand, Dunkel, and ...

. The 1931 Purdue Boilermakers football team, under head coach Noble Kizer, compiled a 9–1 record, shut out six of ten opponents, tied for the Big Ten championship, and was recognized as national co-champion by Parke H. Davis. End

Paul Moss Paul Raymond Moss is the general manager of Media Prima network's media portal and a judge in 8TV's '' One in a Million'' singing contest. Moss was the AS A&R director of record company Positive Tone from its inception in 1994 until last year. ...

and center

Ookie Miller Charles Lewis "Ookie" Miller (November 11, 1909 – August 7, 2002) was a professional American football player. Miller played seven years in the National Football League (NFL), mainly for the Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a profession ...

were recognized as first-team All-Americans. The 1931 Michigan Wolverines football team, under head coach was

Harry Kipke Harry George Kipke (; March 26, 1899 – September 14, 1972) was an American football, basketball, and baseball player and coach. He was the head football coach at Michigan State College in 1928 and at the University of Michigan from 1929 to 1937 ...

, compiled an 8-1-1 record and finished the season in a three-way tie with Purdue and Northwestern for the Big Ten championship. The team shut out eight of ten opponents and led the conference in scoring defense (2.7 points allowed per game). The Wolverines also started a 22-game undefeated streak that lasted until October 1934. Center Maynard Morrison was selected as a first-team All-American. The 1931 Northwestern Wildcats football team, under head coach Dick Hanley, compiled a 7–1–1 record and were the third team finishing in a tie for the Big Ten championship. Purdue's sole loss was on the final day of the season against Purdue. Three Northwestern players were consensus first-team All-Americans: halfback

Pug Rentner Ernest John "Pug" Rentner (September 18, 1910 – August 24, 1978) was an American football halfback and quarterback who played professionally in the National Football League (NFL) for the Boston Redskins and the Chicago Bears. He was inducted ...

and tackles Jack Riley and

Dallas Marvil Joshua Dallas "Dal" Marvil (October 24, 1910 – March 12, 1977)Ancestry.com. Florida, Death Index, 1877-1998 atabase on-line Joshua Dallas Marvil, born 24 Oct 1910 in Delaware, died 12 March 1977 in Broward, FL. Mother's maiden name: Yingling. w ...

. Minnesota guard

Clarence Munn Clarence Lester "Biggie" Munn (September 11, 1908 – March 18, 1975) was an American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He was the head football coach at Albright College (1935–1936), Syracuse University (1946), and mos ...

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

Season overview

Results and team statistics

Key
DS = Rankings from

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 ...

. 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 1931 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) and/or the team captains (CPT) as first-team players on the

1931 All-Big Ten Conference football team The 1931 All-Big Ten Conference football team consists of American football players selected to the All-Big Ten Conference teams chosen by various selectors for the 1931 Big Ten Conference football season. All Big-Ten selections Ends * Paul Moss, ...

All-Americans

Four Big Ten players were selected as consensus first-team players on the

1931 College Football All-America Team The 1931 College Football All-America team is composed of college football players who were selected as All-Americans by various organizations and writers that chose College Football All-America Teams in 1931. The seven selectors recognized by the ...

. They were: Other Big Ten players received first-team honors from at least one selector. They were:

References

{{Big Ten Conference football navbox