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1959 Big Ten Conference football season

1959 Big Ten Conference football season
Sport American football
Number of teams 10
Top draft pick Jim Houston
Champion Wisconsin
Runners-up Michigan State
Season MVP Bill Burrell
Seasons
← 1958
1960 →
1959 Big Ten football standings
Conf     Overall
Team W   L   T     W   L   T
#6 Wisconsin $ 5 2 0     7 3 0
Michigan State 4 2 0     5 4 0
Purdue 4 2 1     5 2 2
#13 Illinois 4 2 1     5 3 1
Northwestern 4 3 0     6 3 0
Iowa 3 3 0     5 4 0
Michigan 3 4 0     4 5 0
Indiana 2 4 1     4 4 1
Ohio State 2 4 1     3 5 1
Minnesota 1 6 0     2 7 0
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1959 Big Ten Conference football season was the 64th season of college football played by the member schools of the Big Ten Conference and was a part of the 1959 college football season.

The 1959 Wisconsin Badgers football team, under head coach Milt Bruhn, won the Big Ten championship, was ranked No. 6 in the final AP Poll, and lost to Washington in the 1960 Rose Bowl. Tackle Dan Lanphear was a consensus first-team All-American. Quarterback Dale Hackbart led the Big Ten with 1,121 yards of total offense.

Key
AP final = Team's rank in the final AP Poll of the 1959 season
AP high = Team's highest rank in the AP Poll throughout the 1959 season
PPG = Average of points scored per game
PAG = Average of points allowed per game
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

On November 14, 1958, Bennie Oosterbaan resigned as Michigan's head football coach with two games remaining in the program's worst season since 1936. Bump Elliott, who had been Michigan's backfield coach for two years, was hired to replace him.

Shortly before the end of the 1959 season, Illinois head coach Ray Eliot retired after 18 years in the position. On December 22, 1959, Illinois hired 33-year-old Pete Elliott as its new head football coach. Elliott had played for Michigan and served as California's head coach from 1957 to 1959.

The Big Ten's individual statistical leaders for the 1959 season include the following:

The following players were picked by the Associated Press (AP) and/or the United Press International (UPI) as first-team players on the 1959 All-Big Ten Conference football team.


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