1945 Big Ten Conference football season

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.

1945 Big Ten Conference football season
SportFootball
Number of teams9
Top draft pickMac Wenskunas
ChampionIndiana
Season MVPOllie Cline
1945 Big Ten Conference football standings
ConfOverall
TeamW L TW L T
No. 4 Indiana $ 5 –0 –19 –0 –1
No. 6 Michigan 5 –1 –07 –3 –0
No. 12 Ohio State 5 –2 –07 –2 –0
Northwestern 3 –3 –14 –4 –1
Purdue 3 –3 –07 –3 –0
Wisconsin 2 –3 –13 –4 –2
Illinois 1 –4 –12 –6 –1
Minnesota 1 –5 –04 –5 –0
Iowa 1 –5 –02 –7 –0
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll

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. Rank Team Head coach AP final AP high Overall record Conf. record PPG PAG MVP
1IndianaBo McMillin#4#49–0–15–0–127.95.6Howard Brown
2MichiganFritz Crisler#6#67–35–118.79.9Harold Watts
3Ohio StateCarroll Widdoes#12#47–25–221.67.9Ollie Cline
4NorthwesternPappy WaldorfNR#204–4–13–3–114.116.4Dick Conners
5PurdueCecil IsbellNR#47–33–319.812.5Norman Maloney
6WisconsinHarry StuhldreherNRNR3–4–22–3–114.214.2Clarence Esser
7IllinoisRay EliotNRNR2–6–11–4–110.311.6Mac Wenskunas
8MinnesotaBernie BiermanNR#54–51–519.717.2Bob Fitch
9IowaClem CroweNRNR2–71–58.234.4Arthur Johnson

Key
AP final = Team's rank in the final AP Poll of the 1945 season[1]
AP high = Team's highest rank in the AP Poll throughout the 1945 season[1]
PPG = Average of points scored per game[1]
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
For the complete All-Big Ten selections, see 1945 All-Big Ten Conference football team.

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
For the complete All-America selections, see 1945 College Football All-America Team.

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:

  • Bob Ravensberg, end, Indiana (FWAA, SN, CP, LK)
  • Max Morris, end, Northwestern (AAB, AFCA, INS, YA, WC)
  • Warren Amling, guard, Ohio State (AAB, AFCA, AP, COL, FWAA, INS, LK, SN, UP, CP, NL, NYS, OF, WC)

Other Big Ten players who were named first-team All-Americans by at least one selector were:

  • Tom Hughes, tackle, Purdue (LK, OF, NL)
  • Pete Pihos, fullback, Indiana (YA)

1946 NFL draft

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 WenskunasCenterIllinois211
Julie RykovichBackIllinois214
Bob NussbaumerBackMichigan321
Russ ThomasTackleOhio State322
Ed CodyBackPurdue536

References
  1. "1945 Big Ten Conference Year Summary". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved January 5, 2017.
  2. Wilfrid Smith (December 16, 1945). "Ohio State's Cline Named Most Valuable: Fullback 4th Buckeye To Win Silver Trophy". Chicago Tribune. p. 2-1.
  3. "Esser Wins Berth on All-Big-Ten Team". The Milwaukee Journal. November 26, 1945. p. L2.
  4. Walter Byers (November 26, 1945). "Indiana and Ohio State Each Get Three Men on United Press All Star Big Ten Team". The Daily Register (Harrisburg,Illinois). p. 5.
  5. "2014 NCAA Football Records: Consensus All-America Selections" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). 2014. pp. 5–6. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 22, 2014. Retrieved August 16, 2014.
  6. "1946 NFL Draft: Full Draft". NFL.com. National Football League. Retrieved January 4, 2017.
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