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1956 Minnesota

6–⁠1–⁠2 (4–⁠1–⁠2 Big Ten), coached by Murray Warmath, finished No. 12 in the AP poll.

Schedule and results

Minnesota in 1956, game by game: won at Washington 34–14; won vs. Purdue 21–14; tied vs. Northwestern 0–0; won vs. Illinois 16–13; won at No. 5 Michigan 20–7; won vs. No. 11 Pittsburgh 9–6; lost vs. No. 15 Iowa 0–7; won vs. No. 3 Michigan State 14–13; tied at Wisconsin 13–13+20−7Won 34–14 at Washington+20WashingtonWon 21–14 vs. Purdue+7PurdueTied 0–0 vs. Northwestern0NorthwesternWon 16–13 vs. Illinois+3IllinoisWon 20–7 at No. 5 Michigan+13No. 5 MichiganWon 9–6 vs. No. 11 Pittsburgh+3No. 11 PittsburghLost 0–7 vs. No. 15 Iowa-7No. 15 IowaWon 14–13 vs. No. 3 Michigan State+1No. 3 Michigan StateTied 13–13 at Wisconsin0Wisconsin
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below; orange marks an upset win.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 29atWashingtonW 34–⁠1443%
Oct 6vsPurdueW 21–⁠1458%
Oct 13vsNorthwesternT 0–⁠081%
Oct 20vsIllinoisW 16–⁠1367%
Oct 27at5MichiganW 20–⁠734%
Nov 3vs11PittsburghW 9–⁠657%
Nov 10vs15IowaL 0–⁠763%
Nov 17vs3Michigan StateW 14–⁠1339%
Nov 24atWisconsinT 13–⁠1362%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Tied Wisconsin 13–⁠13; No. 12 in the final AP poll; tied for 2nd in the Big Ten.

In program history: The 45th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 135 on file).

AP poll, week by week

  1. Wk 4: 17
  2. Wk 7: 8
  3. Wk 8: 6
  4. Wk 9: 17
  5. Wk 10: 7
  6. Wk 11: 10
  7. Final: 12

Players on this team

Before 2004 our records hold honors and the draft; these are the players whose college years here, from their Wikipedia articles or their honors, include 1956.

Record
6–⁠1–⁠2
Conference
4–⁠1–⁠2 tied for 2nd in Big Ten
AP final
No. 12 peak No. 6
Points
127–⁠87
Coach
Murray Warmath
Elo
1593 +83 this season
SP+ rating
—
SRS
18.1 No. 11 of 111 major-college teams
Recruiting class
—
Captain
Dean Maas
Most valuable player
Bobby Cox

Drafted in 1957

The 1957 draft
Rd 4Bobby Cox QBLos Angeles Rams
Rd 6Bob Hobert OTNew York Giants

All-Big Ten

1 first team, 2 second team

First team

Second team

From Wikipedia’s 1956 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1956 Big Ten standings

Conference page
TeamConf.OverallAP final
Iowa5–⁠19–⁠13
Michigan5–⁠27–⁠27
Minnesota4–⁠1–⁠26–⁠1–⁠212
Michigan State4–⁠27–⁠29
Ohio State4–⁠26–⁠315
Northwestern3–⁠3–⁠14–⁠4–⁠1
Purdue1–⁠4–⁠23–⁠4–⁠2
Illinois1–⁠4–⁠22–⁠5–⁠2
Wisconsin0–⁠4–⁠31–⁠5–⁠3
Indiana1–⁠53–⁠6

Ordered by conference winning percentage, then conference wins. Division splits and tiebreakers aren’t applied.