1963_Big_Ten_Conference_football_season

1963 Big Ten Conference football season

1963 Big Ten Conference football season

Sports season

The 1963 Big Ten Conference football season was the 68th season of college football played by the member schools of the Big Ten Conference and was a part of the 1963 NCAA University Division football season.

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The 1963 Illinois Fighting Illini football team, under head coach Pete Elliott, won the Big Ten football championship with a record of 8–1–1, defeated Washington in the 1964 Rose Bowl, and was ranked No. 3 in the final AP Poll. Illinois center Dick Butkus received the Chicago Tribune Silver Football award as the most valuable player in the conference and was a consensus first-team All-American.

The 1963 Michigan State Spartans football team, under head coach Duffy Daugherty, compiled a 6–2–1 record, finished in second place in the conference, led the conference in scoring defense (7.0 points allowed per game), and was ranked No. 10 in the final AP Poll. Halfback Sherman Lewis was a consensus first-team All-American and finished third in the voting of the 1963 Heisman Trophy.

The Big Ten's statistical leaders included Tom Myers of Northwestern with 1,398 passing yards, Tom Nowatzke of Indiana with 756 rushing yards, and Paul Krause of Iowa with 442 receiving yards. Carl Eller of Minnesota was the first Big Ten player selected in the 1964 NFL Draft with the sixth overall pick.

Season overview

Results and team statistics

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Key
AP final = Team's rank in the final AP Poll of the 1963 season[1]
AP high = Team's highest rank in the AP Poll throughout the 1963 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; trophy winner in bold[2]

Preseason

There were no changes in the conference's head football coaches between the 1962 and 1963 seasons.

Regular season

Bowl games

Main article: 1964 Rose Bowl

On January 1, 1964, Illinois defeated Washington, 17–7.

Post-season developments

On December 14, 1963, Ara Parseghian resigned as Northwestern's head football coach to accept the same position at Notre Dame.[3]

Statistical leaders

The Big Ten's individual statistical leaders for the 1963 season include the following:[1]

Passing yards

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Rushing yards

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Receiving yards

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Total yards

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Scoring

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Awards and honors

All-Big Ten honors

For the complete All-Big Ten selections, see 1963 All-Big Ten Conference football team.

The following players were picked by the Associated Press (AP) and/or the United Press International (UPI) as first-team players on the 1963 All-Big Ten Conference football team.

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All-American honors

For the complete All-America selections, see 1963 College Football All-America Team.

At the end of the 1963 season, Big Ten players secured three of the consensus first-team picks for the 1963 College Football All-America Team.[4] The Big Ten's consensus All-Americans were:

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

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Other awards

The Heisman Trophy was awarded to Roger Staubach of Navy. Two Big Ten players finished among the top 10 in the voting for the trophy. They were: Michigan State running back Sherman Lewis (third); and Illinois center/linebacker Dick Butkus (sixth).[5]

1964 NFL Draft

The following Big Ten players were among the first 100 picks in the 1964 NFL Draft:[6]

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References

  1. [1]
    "1963 Big Ten Conference Year Summary". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
  2. [2]
    "Butkus of Illinois Voted Most Valuable in Big Ten". Chicago Tribune. December 22, 1963. p. 3-1, 3-2.
  3. [3]
    "Parseghian Takes Over As Notre Dame Coach". The Daily Mail. December 16, 1963. p. 19.
  4. [4]
    "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 February 1, 2017.
  5. [5]
    "1963 Heisman Trophy Voting". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
  6. [6]
    "1964 NFL Draft: Full Draft". NFL.com. National Football League. Archived from the original on October 23, 2012. Retrieved January 13, 2017.
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