The 1957 Big Ten Conference football season was the 62nd season of college football 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 1957 NCAA University Division football season. The

1957 Ohio State Buckeyes football team The 1957 Ohio State Buckeyes football team represented the Ohio State University in the 1957 Big Ten Conference football season. The team was led by captains Galen Cisco and Leo Brown. They were the third national title team in Ohio State foot ...

, under head coach

Woody Hayes Wayne Woodrow Hayes (February 14, 1913 – March 12, 1987) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head coach at Denison University (1946–1948), Miami University in Oxford, Ohio (1949–1950), and Ohio State University (1951 ...

, won the conference championship with a 7-0 conference record (9–1 record overall), was ranked No. 1 in the final Coaches' Poll, and defeated Oregon in the

1958 Rose Bowl The 1958 Rose Bowl was the 44th edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, on Wednesday, January 1. The heavily-favored Ohio State Buckeyes of the Big Ten Conference defeated the Oregon Webfoots o ...

. The Buckeyes were ranked No.2 in the final AP Poll, but were also declared national champion by the

FWAA The Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) is an organization of college football media members in the United States founded in 1941. It is composed of approximately 1,200 professional sports writers from both print and Internet media ou ...

poll. Ohio State back Don Clark led the conference with 737 rushing yards. Guard Aurealius Thomas was a first-team All-American. The 1957 Michigan State Spartans football team, under head coach

Duffy Daugherty Hugh Duffy Daugherty (September 8, 1915 – September 25, 1987) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head coach at Michigan State University from 1954 to 1972, compiling a record of 109–69–5. His 1965 and 1966 teams won ...

, compiled an 8–1 record and was ranked No. 3 in the final AP and UPI polls. Michigan State back

Walt Kowalczyk Walter Joseph Kowalczyk (April 17, 1935 – November 7, 2018) was an American football defensive back and fullback in the National Football League for the Philadelphia Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys. He also played in the American Football League ...

and center

Dan Currie Daniel George Currie (June 27, 1935 – September 11, 2017) was an American football player in the National Football League (NFL). He played linebacker for nine seasons with the Green Bay Packers and Los Angeles Rams. Early years Born and raise ...

were selected as consensus first-team All-Americans. Kowalczyk led the conference with 54 points scored, and Currie was selected as the team's most valuable player. The

1957 Iowa Hawkeyes football team The 1957 Iowa Hawkeyes football team represented the University of Iowa in the 1957 Big Ten Conference football season. Schedule Roster Rankings Game summaries Utah State Washington State Indiana Wisconsin Northwestern ...

, under head coach

Forest Evashevski Forest "Evy" Evashevski (February 19, 1918 – October 30, 2009) was an American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He played college football at the University of Michigan from 1938 to 1940 and with the Iowa Pre-Flight ...

, finished third in the Big Ten with a 7–1–1 record and was ranked No. 8 in the final AP Poll. Iowa tackle Alex Karras was a consensus first-team All-American and won the

Outland Trophy The Outland Trophy is awarded to the best college football interior lineman in the United States as adjudged by the Football Writers Association of America. It is named after John H. Outland. One of only a few players ever to be named an All-Am ...

as the best interior lineman in college football. Quarterback

Randy Duncan Hearst Randolph "Randy" Duncan, Jr. (March 15, 1937 – September 27, 2016) was an American gridiron football quarterback and lawyer. He played college football at the University of Iowa in the Big Ten Conference. He played in two Rose Bo ...

led the Big Ten with 1,124 passing yards and 1,183 total yards. Michigan halfback

Jim Pace James Edward Pace (January 1, 1936 – March 4, 1983) was an American running back in the National Football League. He was also an All-American halfback who played for the University of Michigan Wolverines teams from 1955 to 1957. Youth Alt ...

won 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 w ...

trophy as the conference's most valuable player.

Season overview

Results and team statistics

Key
AP final = Team's rank in the final

AP Poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broad ...

of the 1957 season
AP high = Team's highest rank in the AP Poll throughout the 1957 season
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

trophy; trophy winner in bold

Preseason

Regular season

Bowl games

Statistical leaders

The Big Ten's individual statistical leaders include the following:

Passing yards

, Iowa (1,124)
2.

Jim Ninowski James Ninowski, Jr. (born March 26, 1936), aka "Nino", is a former American football quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for the Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, Washington Redskins and New Orleans Saints. He played college football ...

, Michigan State (718)
3.

Tom Haller Thomas Frank Haller (June 23, 1937 – November 26, 2004) was an American professional baseball player, coach, and executive. He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1961 to 1972, most notably as a member of the San Francisco Gi ...

, Illinois (675)
4.

Jim Van Pelt James Sutton Van Pelt (November 11, 1935 – July 2, 2022) was an American professional football player who was a quarterback for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played college football for the Michigan W ...

, Michigan (629)
5. Tom McDonald, Indiana (544)

Rushing yards

1. Don Clark, Ohio State (737)
2.

, Michigan (664)
3. Bob White, Ohio State (645)
4. Danny Lewis, Wisconsin (611)
5.

, Michigan State (545)

Receiving yards

1. Jim Gibbons, Iowa (587)
2.

Dave Whitsell David A. Whitsell (June 14, 1936 – October 7, 1999) was an American football cornerback in the National Football League (NFL) for the Detroit Lions, the Chicago Bears, and the New Orleans Saints. He was selected to the Pro Bowl after the 196 ...

, Indiana (290)
3. Dave Kaiser, Michigan State (267)
4. Sam Williams, Michigan State (236)
5. Gary Prahst, Michigan (233)

Total yards

, Iowa (1,183)
2. Don Clark, Ohio State (788)
3.

, Illinois (724)
4. Sidney Williams, Wisconsin (661)
5.

, Michigan (656)

Point scored

, Michigan State (54)
1.

, Michigan (54)
1. Don Clark, Ohio State (54)
4.

Frank Kremblas Francis Michael "Frank" Kremblas Jr. (born October 25, 1966) is an American minor league baseball manager. He previously managed the Indianapolis Indians Triple-A team from 2009–10, and was a former minor league player in the Cincinnati Re ...

, Ohio State (48)
4.

Dick LeBeau Charles Richard "Dick" LeBeau ( ; born September 9, 1937) is a former American football cornerback and coach in the National Football League (NFL). He was active with the NFL for 59 consecutive seasons, 14 as a player with the Detroit Lions and ...

, Ohio State (48)

Awards and honors

All-Big Ten honors

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. ne ...

(AP) and/or 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 20t ...

(UP) as first-team players on the

1957 All-Big Ten Conference football team The 1957 All-Big Ten Conference football team consists of American football players chosen by the Associated Press (AP) and the United Press (UP) as the best players at their positions during the 1957 Big Ten Conference football season. The UP team ...

All-American honors

At the end of the 1957 season, Big Ten players secured three of the consensus first-team picks for the

1957 College Football All-America Team The 1957 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 1957. The seven selectors recognized by the ...

. The Big Ten's consensus All-American was: Other Big Ten players who were named first-team All-Americans by at least one selector were:

Other awards

Iowa tackle Alex Karras won the

as the best interior lineman in college football. The Heisman Trophy was awarded to

John David Crow John David Crow Sr. (July 8, 1935 – June 17, 2015) was an American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He won the Heisman Trophy in 1957 as a halfback for the Texas A&M Aggies. After college, he played professional f ...

of Texas A&M. Three Big Ten players finished among the top 10 in the voting for the trophy. They were: defensive lineman Alex Karras of Iowa (second); running back

of Michigan State; and offensive lineman

of Michigan State.

1958 NFL Draft

The following Big Ten players were among the first 100 picks in the

1958 NFL Draft The 1958 National Football League draft had its first four rounds held on December 2, 1957, and its final twenty-six rounds on January 28, 1958. Both sessions were held at the Warwick Hotel in Philadelphia. This was the 12th and final year in ...

References

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