1934 Big Ten Conference football season
The 1934 Big Ten Conference football season was the 39th 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 1934 college football season.
| 1934 Big Ten Conference football season | |
|---|---|
| Sport | Football |
| Number of teams | 10 |
| Champion | Minnesota |
| Runners-up | Ohio State |
| Season MVP | Pug Lund |
| 1934 Big Ten Conference football standings | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team | W | L | T | W | L | T | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No. 1 Minnesota $ | 5 | – | 0 | – | 0 | 8 | – | 0 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No. 8 Ohio State | 5 | – | 1 | – | 0 | 7 | – | 1 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No. 4 Illinois | 4 | – | 1 | – | 0 | 7 | – | 1 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Purdue | 3 | – | 1 | – | 0 | 5 | – | 3 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wisconsin | 2 | – | 3 | – | 0 | 4 | – | 4 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Northwestern | 2 | – | 3 | – | 0 | 3 | – | 5 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chicago | 2 | – | 4 | – | 0 | 4 | – | 4 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Indiana | 1 | – | 3 | – | 1 | 3 | – | 3 | – | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Iowa | 1 | – | 3 | – | 1 | 2 | – | 5 | – | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Michigan | 0 | – | 6 | – | 0 | 1 | – | 7 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 1934 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team, under head coach Bernie Bierman, compiled an undefeated 8–0 record, won the Big Ten championship, led the conference in scoring offense (33.8 points per game), and was selected as the national champion by eight of the selectors recognized as official by the NCAA. Fullback Pug Lund received the Chicago Tribune Silver Football as the most valuable player of the Big Ten. Three Minnesota players were selected as consensus first-team All-Americans: Lund, end Frank Larson, and guard Bill Bevan.
The 1934 Illinois Fighting Illini football team, under head coach Robert Zuppke, compiled a 7–1 record and was ranked No. 4 under the Dickinson System. The lone setback was a 7-3 loss at Wisconsin. Halfback Bud Lindberg was selected as the team's most valuable player. Quarterback Jack Beynon was selected as a first-team All-Big Ten player.
The 1934 Ohio State Buckeyes football team, in the program's first year under Francis Schmidt, compiled a 7–1 record, led the Big Ten in scoring defense (4.3 points allowed per game), and was ranked No. 8 under the Dickinson System. Guard Regis Monahan and end Merle Wendt were selected as first-team All-Americans.
Season overview
Results and team statistics
| Conf. Rank | Team | Head coach | Overall record | Conf. record | UP final |
PPG | PAG | MVP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Minnesota | Bernie Bierman | 8–0 | 5–0 | #1 | 33.8 | 4.8 | Pug Lund |
| 2 | Ohio State | Francis Schmidt | 7–1 | 5–1 | #8 | 33.4 | 4.3 | Gomer Jones |
| 3 | Illinois | Robert Zuppke | 7–1 | 4–1 | #4 | 12.9 | 5.4 | Bud Lindberg |
| 4 | Purdue | Noble Kizer | 5–3 | 3–1 | NR | 11.6 | 9.4 | Duane Purvis |
| 5 | Wisconsin | Clarence Spears | 4–4 | 2–3 | NR | 6.0 | 10.5 | Milt Kummer |
| 6 | Northwestern | Dick Hanley | 3–5 | 2–3 | NR | 8.0 | 15.0 | Ed Whalen |
| 7 | Chicago | Clark Shaughnessy | 4–4 | 2–4 | NR | 14.1 | 13.3 | Ell Patterson |
| 8 | Indiana | Bo McMillin | 3–3–2 | 1–3–1 | NR | 8.4 | 13.8 | Don Veller |
| 9 | Iowa | Ossie Solem | 2–5–1 | 1–3–1 | NR | 12.3 | 19.1 | Dick Crayne |
| 10 | Michigan | Harry Kipke | 1–7 | 0–6 | NR | 2.6 | 17.9 | Gerald Ford |
Key
DS = Rankings from Dickinson System. See 1934 college football season
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
Regular season
Bowl games
No Big Ten teams participated in any bowl games during the 1934 season.
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 1934 All-Big Ten Conference football team.
| Position | Name | Team | Selectors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quarterback | Jack Beynon | Illinois | AP, UP |
| Halfback | Jay Berwanger | Chicago | AP, UP |
| Halfback | Duane Purvis | Purdue | AP, UP |
| Fullback | Pug Lund | Minnesota | AP, UP |
| End | Frank Larson | Minnesota | AP, UP |
| End | Merle Wendt | Ohio State | AP |
| End | Bob Tenner | Minnesota | UP |
| Tackle | Phil Bengtson | Minnesota | AP, UP |
| Tackle | Ed Widseth | Minnesota | AP |
| Tackle | Chuck Galbreath | Illinois | UP |
| Guard | Bill Bevan | Minnesota | AP, UP |
| Guard | Regis Monahan | Ohio State | UP |
| Center | Ellmore Patterson | Chicago | AP, UP |
All-Americans
Two Big Ten players were selected as consensus first-team players on the 1934 College Football All-America Team. They were:
| Position | Name | Team | Selectors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fullback | Pug Lund | Minnesota | AAB, AP, COL, INS, LIB, NANA, TSN, UP, NYS, WCFF |
| End | Frank Larson | Minnesota | AP, COL, NANA, NEA, TSN, CP, NYS |
| Guard | Bill Bevan | Minnesota | COL, LIB, NANA, TSN, UP |
Other Big Ten players received first-team honors from at least one selector. They were:
| Position | Name | Team | Selectors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guard | Regis Monahan | Ohio State | AAB, NEA, UP, CP, NYS [tackle], WCFF |
| Halfback | Jay Berwanger | Chicago | AAB, WCFF |
| Halfback | Duane Purvis | Purdue | TSN |
| End | Merle Wendt | Ohio State | INS |
| Tackle | Ed Widseth | Minnesota | INS |
| Center | Ellmore Patterson | Chicago | LIB |
| Fullback | Stan Kostka | Minnesota | NYS |
References
- "1934 Big Ten Conference Year Summary". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved February 7, 2017.