The 1970 Big Ten Conference football season was the 75th 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 ...

and was a part of the 1970 NCAA University Division football season. The 1970 Ohio State Buckeyes football team, 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 Big Ten football championship, was ranked No. 5 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 broadca ...

, and led the conference in scoring offense (29.0 points per game). The Buckeyes were undefeated in the regular season but lost to Stanford in the 1971 Rose Bowl. Defensive back

Jack Tatum John David Tatum (November 18, 1948 – July 27, 2010) was an American football safety. He played 10 seasons, from 1971 through 1980, with the Oakland Raiders and Houston Oilers in the National Football League (NFL). He was popularly known as " ...

and middle guard

Jim Stillwagon James R. Stillwagon (February 11, 1949 – February 4, 2018) was an American football player who played five years in the Canadian Football League and was a two-time All-American during his college career. Stillwagon was a three-year starter ...

were consensus first-team All-Americans. Stillwagon also 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-Ame ...

as the best interior lineman in college football. Running back

John Brockington John Stanley Brockington (born September 7, 1948) is a former American football player, a running back in the National Football League (NFL) with the Green Bay Packers and Kansas City Chiefs. He was a first round draft choice out of Ohio State Un ...

led the conference with 102 points scored, received first-team All-American honors from multiple selectors, and was the first Big Ten player selected in the

1971 NFL Draft The 1971 National Football League draft was held January 28–29, 1971, at the Belmont Plaza Hotel in New York City, New York. The Boston Patriots, who did not officially change their name to New England Patriots until after the draft, used th ...

with the ninth overall pick. Quarterback

Rex Kern Rex William Kern (born May 28, 1949) is a former American football player. He played professional football in the National Football League at defensive back for the Baltimore Colts and Buffalo Bills. In college, Kern was the quarterback for ...

finished fifth in the voting for the 1970

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard ...

. The

1970 Michigan Wolverines football team The 1970 Michigan Wolverines football team was an American football team that represented the University of Michigan in the 1970 Big Ten Conference football season. In their second season under head coach Bo Schembechler, the Wolverines compiled ...

, under head coach

Bo Schembechler Glenn Edward "Bo" Schembechler Jr. ( ; April 1, 1929 – November 17, 2006) was an American football player, coach, and athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Miami University from 1963 to 1968 and at the University of ...

, was ranked No. 9 in the final AP Poll and led the conference in scoring defense (9.0 points per game). Michigan's only loss was to Ohio State. Offensive tackle

Dan Dierdorf Daniel Lee Dierdorf (born June 29, 1949) is an American sportscaster and former football offensive tackle. A native of Canton, Ohio, Dierdorf played college football for the University of Michigan from 1968 to 1970 and was selected as a conse ...

was a consensus first-team All-American. Quarterback

Don Moorhead Don Moorhead (born October 11, 1948) is a former Canadian Football League quarterback. He was the starting quarterback for the BC Lions from 1971 to 1975 and for the Michigan Wolverines football team in 1969 and 1970. He set 24 football record ...

and middle guard

Henry Hill Henry Hill Jr. (June 11, 1943 – June 12, 2012) was an American mobster who was associated with the Lucchese crime family of New York City from 1955 until 1980, when he was arrested on narcotics charges and became an FBI informant. Hill testi ...

were selected as the team's most valuable players. The 1970 Northwestern Wildcats football team, under head coach

Alex Agase Alexander Arrasi Agase (March 27, 1922 – May 3, 2007) was an American football guard and linebacker who was named an All-American three times in college and played on three Cleveland Browns championship teams before becoming head football coac ...

, tied with Michigan for second place in the Big Ten and was ranked Running back

Mike Adamle Michael David Adamle (born October 4, 1949) is a former American football player and sports broadcaster. Adamle was a sports anchor at other Chicago television stations, including WLS-TV from 1982 to 1989 before hosting '' American Gladiators'', ...

of Northwestern led the conference with 1,255 rushing yards 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 wa ...

as the conference's most valuable player.

Season overview

Results and team statistics

Key
AP final = Team's rank in the final

of the 1970 season
AP high = Team's highest rank in the AP Poll throughout the 1970 season
PPG = Average of points scored per game; conference leader's average displayed in bold
PAG = Average of points allowed per game; conference leader's average displayed in bold
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

Passing yards

1. Mike Rasmussen, Michigan State (1,344)
2. Craig Curry, Minnesota (1,315)
3.

Neil Graff Neil Graff is a former quarterback in the National Football League. He was drafted in the sixteenth round of the 1972 NFL Draft by the Minnesota Vikings. He later played with the New England Patriots for two seasons, making his first appearance i ...

, Wisconsin (1,313)
4. Maurie Daigneau, Northwestern (1,228)
5.

, Michigan (1,167)

Rushing yards

, Northwestern (1,255)
2.

, Ohio State (1,142)
3.

Otis Armstrong Otis D. Armstrong (November 15, 1950 – October 13, 2021) was an American professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL). He was selected in the first round with the ninth overall pick in the 1973 NFL ...

, Purdue (1,009)
4.

Billy Taylor Billy Taylor (July 24, 1921 – December 28, 2010) was an American jazz pianist, composer, broadcaster and educator. He was the Robert L. Jones Distinguished Professor of Music at East Carolina University in Greenville, and from 1994 was the ...

, Michigan (911)
5. Levi Mitchell, Iowa (900)

Receiving yards

1. Larry Mialik, Wisconsin (702)
2.

Barry Pearson Barry Lynn Pearson (born February 4, 1950) is a former professional American football player who played wide receiver for four seasons for the Pittsburgh Steelers (1972–1973) and Kansas City Chiefs (1974–1976). In 1972, making his pro footba ...

, Northwestern (552)
3.

Doug Dieken Douglas Heye Dieken (born February 12, 1949) is a retired left tackle and radio color analyst for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL). From 1971-2022, he had 51 years of association with the Browns in various capacities - ...

, Illinois (537)
4.

Paul Staroba Paul Louis Staroba (born January 20, 1949) is a former American football wide receiver and punter. He played college football for the University of Michigan from 1968 to 1970. During the 1970 season, he caught 35 passes for 519 yards and led ...

, Michigan (519)
5. Gordon Bowdell, Michigan State (495)

Total yards

1. Craig Curry, Minnesota (1,610)
2. Neil Graff, Wisconsin (1,561)
3. Don Moorhead, Michigan (1,535)
4. Mike Rasmussen, Michigan State (1,358)
5. Mike Adamle, Northwestern (1,255)

Scoring

1. John Brockington, Ohio State (102)
2. Billy Taylor, Michigan (66)
3.

Eric Allen Eric Andre Allen (born November 22, 1965) is an American football coach and former cornerback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for the Philadelphia Eagles, New Orleans Saints, and Oakland Raiders from 1988 to 2001. A six-time ...

, Michigan State (60)
3. Mike Adamle, Northwestern (60)
5. Fritz Seyferth, Michigan (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. newspa ...

(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 20th ...

(UPI) as first-team players on the 1970 All-Big Ten Conference football team. Offense Defense

All-American honors

At the end of the 1970 season, Big Ten players secured three of the consensus first-team picks for the

1970 College Football All-America Team The 1970 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 1970. The National Collegiate Athletic Assoc ...

. 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

of Ohio State received the

as the best interior lineman in college football. Two Big Ten players finished in the top 10 in the voting for the 1970

. They were: Ohio State quarterback

(fifth); and Ohio State defensive back

(seventh).

1971 NFL Draft

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

References

{{Big Ten Conference football navbox