| 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.
| Conf. Rank | Team | Head coach | AP final | AP high | Overall record | Conf. record | PPG | PAG | MVP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Indiana | Bo McMillin |
|
| 9–0–1 | 5–0–1 | 27.9 | 5.6 | Howard Brown | |
| 2 | Michigan | Fritz Crisler |
|
| 7–3 | 5–1 | 18.7 | 9.9 | Harold Watts | |
| 3 | Ohio State | Carroll Widdoes |
|
| 7–2 | 5–2 | 21.6 | 7.9 | Ollie Cline | |
| 4 | Northwestern | Pappy Waldorf | NR |
| 4–4–1 | 3–3–1 | 14.1 | 16.4 | Dick Conners | |
| 5 | Purdue | Cecil Isbell | NR |
| 7–3 | 3–3 | 19.8 | 12.5 | Norman Maloney | |
| 6 | Wisconsin | Harry Stuhldreher | NR | NR | 3–4–2 | 2–3–1 | 14.2 | 14.2 | Clarence Esser | |
| 7 | Illinois | Ray Eliot | NR | NR | 2–6–1 | 1–4–1 | 10.3 | 11.6 | Mac Wenskunas | |
| 8 | Minnesota | Bernie Bierman | NR |
| 4–5 | 1–5 | 19.7 | 17.2 | Bob Fitch | |
| 9 | Iowa | Clem Crowe | NR | NR | 2–7 | 1–5 | 8.2 | 34.4 | Arthur Johnson |
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.
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]
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:
The following Big Ten players were selected in the first six rounds of the 1946 NFL draft:[6]
| Name | Position | Team | Round | Overall pick |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mac Wenskunas | Center | Illinois | 2 | 11 |
| Julie Rykovich | Back | Illinois | 2 | 14 |
| Bob Nussbaumer | Back | Michigan | 3 | 21 |
| Russ Thomas | Tackle | Ohio State | 3 | 22 |
| Ed Cody | Back | Purdue | 5 | 36 |