1945 Big Ten Conference football season explained

1945 Big Ten Conference football season
Sport:Football
No Of Teams:9
Top Pick:Mac Wenskunas
Season Champs:Indiana
Season Champ Name:Champion
Mvp:Ollie Cline
Seasonslistnames:Football
Prevseason Year:1944
Nextseason Year:1946

The 1945 Big Ten Conference football season was the 50th season of college football played by the member schools of the Big Ten Conference (also known as the Western Conference) and was a part of the 1945 college football season.

The 1945 Indiana Hoosiers football team, under head coach Bo McMillin, compiled the only undefeated record and won the first Big Ten championship in the program's history. The Hoosiers compiled a 9–0–1 record, led the conference in both scoring offense (27.9 points per game) and scoring defense (5.6 points allowed per game), and finished the season ranked No. 4 in the final AP Poll. The lone blemish on the team's record was a 7-7 tie with Northwestern in the second game of the season. End Bob Ravensberg was a consensus first-team pick on the 1945 College Football All-America Team. Freshman halfback George Taliaferro rushed for 719 yards (the first African-American player to lead the Big Ten in rushing) and received second-team All-American honors.

Michigan, under head coach Fritz Crisler, compiled a 7–3 record and was ranked No. 6 in the final AP Poll. Center Harold Watts won the team's most valuable player award. Michigan's three losses were against No. 1 Army, No. 3 Navy, and No. 4 Indiana.

Season overview

Results and team statistics

Conf. RankTeamHead coachAP finalAP highOverall recordConf. recordPPGPAGMVP
1IndianaBo McMillin
  1. 4
  1. 4
9–0–15–0–127.95.6Howard Brown
2MichiganFritz Crisler
  1. 6
  1. 6
7–35–118.79.9Harold Watts
3Ohio StateCarroll Widdoes
  1. 12
  1. 4
7–25–221.67.9Ollie Cline
4NorthwesternPappy WaldorfNR
  1. 20
4–4–13–3–114.116.4Dick Conners
5PurdueCecil IsbellNR
  1. 4
7–33–319.812.5Norman Maloney
6WisconsinHarry StuhldreherNRNR3–4–22–3–114.214.2Clarence Esser
7IllinoisRay EliotNRNR2–6–11–4–110.311.6Mac Wenskunas
8MinnesotaBernie BiermanNR
  1. 5
4–51–519.717.2Bob Fitch
9IowaClem CroweNRNR2–71–58.234.4Arthur Johnson
Key
AP final = Team's rank in the final AP Poll of the 1945 season
AP high = Team's highest rank in the AP Poll throughout the 1945 season
PPG = Average of points scored per game
PAG = Average of points allowed per game[1]
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 trophy[2]

Bowl games

During the 1945 season, the Big Ten maintained its long-standing ban on postseason games. Accordingly, no Big Ten teams participated in any bowl games.

All-Big Ten players

The following players were picked by the Associated Press (AP) and/or the United Press (UP) as first-team players on the 1945 All-Big Ten Conference football team.[3] [4]

All-Americans

At the end of the 1945 season, Big Ten players secured three of the consensus first-team picks for the 1945 College Football All-America Team.[5] 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:

1946 NFL draft

The following Big Ten players were selected in the first six rounds of the 1946 NFL draft:[6]

NamePositionTeamRoundOverall pick
Mac WenskunasCenterIllinois211
Julie RykovichBackIllinois214
Bob NussbaumerBackMichigan321
Russ ThomasTackleOhio State322
Ed CodyBackPurdue536

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 1945 Big Ten Conference Year Summary. Sports Reference LLC. SR/College Football. January 5, 2017.
  2. News: Ohio State's Cline Named Most Valuable: Fullback 4th Buckeye To Win Silver Trophy. Chicago Tribune. December 16, 1945. Wilfrid Smith. 2-1.
  3. News: Esser Wins Berth on All-Big-Ten Team. The Milwaukee Journal. November 26, 1945. L2.
  4. News: Walter Byers. Indiana and Ohio State Each Get Three Men on United Press All Star Big Ten Team. The Daily Register (Harrisburg,Illinois). November 26, 1945. 5.
  5. Web site: 2014 NCAA Football Records: Consensus All-America Selections. National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). 2014. August 16, 2014. 5–6. December 22, 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20141222163944/http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/2014/Awards.pdf. dead.
  6. Web site: 1946 NFL Draft: Full Draft. National Football League. NFL.com. January 4, 2017.