The 1960 Big Ten Conference football season was the 65th 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 ...

and was a part of the 1960 NCAA University Division football season. The

1960 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team The 1960 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team represented the University of Minnesota in the Big Ten Conference during the 1960 NCAA University Division football season. In their seventh year under head coach Murray Warmath, the Golden Gophers ...

, under head coach

Murray Warmath Murray Warmath (December 26, 1912 – March 16, 2011) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Mississippi State University from 1952 to 1953 and at the University of Minnesota from 1954 to 1971, compili ...

, compiled an 8–2 record, won the Big Ten championship, led the conference in scoring defense (8.8 points allowed per game), and lost to Washington in the

1961 Rose Bowl The 1961 Rose Bowl was the 47th Rose Bowl game, played on January 2, 1961, in Pasadena, California. The #6 Washington Huskies defeated the top-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers, 17–7. Washington quarterback Bob Schloredt returned from a mid-season ...

. The Golden Gophers were ranked No. 1 in the AP and Coaches Polls, both of which were released prior to the Rose Bowl. Guard Tom Brown was a consensus first-team All-American, 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 college football's best interior lineman, finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting, and received 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 ...

as the Big Ten's most valuable player. The 1960 Iowa Hawkeyes football team, in its final season 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 ...

, compiled an 8–1 record, led the Big Ten in scoring offense (26.0 points per game), and was ranked No. 3 in the final AP Poll and No. 2 in the final Coaches' Poll. Iowa's only loss was against Minnesota. Halfback Larry Ferguson, quarterback Wilburn Hollis, and guard Mark Manders were first-team All-Big Ten players. The conference's statistical leaders included Ron Miller of Wisconsin with 1,351 passing yards, Bob Ferguson of Ohio State with 853 rushing yards and 78 points scored, Elbert Kimbrough of Northwestern with 378 receiving yards, and

Tom Matte Thomas Roland Matte (June 14, 1939November 2, 2021) was an American professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL) in the 1960s and 1970s and earned a Super Bowl ring. He attended Shaw High School in ...

of Ohio State with 1,419 yards of total offense.

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 1960 season
AP high = Team's highest rank in the AP Poll throughout the 1960 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

Post-season developments

Statistical leaders

The Big Ten's individual statistical leaders for the 1960 season include the following:

Passing yards

Rushing yards

Receiving yards

Total yards

Scoring

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 International 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 ...

(UPI) as first-team players on the

1960 All-Big Ten Conference football team The 1960 All-Big Ten Conference football team consists of American football players chosen by various organizations for All-Big Ten Conference teams for the 1960 Big Ten Conference football season. All-Big Ten selections Quarterbacks * Tom Matte, ...

All-American honors

At the end of the 1960 season, Big Ten players secured two of the 11 consensus first-team picks for the

1960 College Football All-America Team The 1960 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 1960. The six selectors recognized by the NC ...

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

Other awards

Minnesota's Tom Brown won the

as the best interior lineman in college football. He also finished second in the voting for the Heisman Trophy. Ohio State quarterback

of finished seventh in the Heisman voting.

1961 NFL Draft

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

1961 NFL Draft The 1961 National Football League draft took place at the Warwick Hotel in Philadelphia on December 27–28, 1960. The league would later hold an expansion draft for the Minnesota Vikings expansion franchise. This draft was also the first reg ...

References

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