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1971 Purdue

3–⁠7 (3–⁠5 Big Ten), coached by Bob DeMoss.

Schedule and results

Purdue in 1971, game by game: lost at Washington 35–38; lost vs. No. 2 Notre Dame 7–8; won vs. Iowa 45–13; won vs. Minnesota 27–13; won at Northwestern 21–20; lost at Illinois 7–21; lost vs. Michigan State 10–43; lost at Wisconsin 10–14; lost vs. No. 3 Michigan 17–20; lost at Indiana 31–38+32−33Lost 35–38 at Washington-3WashingtonLost 7–8 vs. No. 2 Notre Dame-1No. 2 Notre DameWon 45–13 vs. Iowa+32IowaWon 27–13 vs. Minnesota+14MinnesotaWon 21–20 at Northwestern+1NorthwesternLost 7–21 at Illinois-14IllinoisLost 10–43 vs. Michigan State-33Michigan StateLost 10–14 at Wisconsin-4WisconsinLost 17–20 vs. No. 3 Michigan-3No. 3 MichiganLost 31–38 at Indiana-7Indiana
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 18atWashingtonL 35–⁠3839%
Sep 25vs2Notre DameL 7–⁠832%
Oct 2vsIowaW 45–⁠1371%
Oct 9vsMinnesotaW 27–⁠1365%
Oct 16atNorthwesternW 21–⁠2042%
Oct 23atIllinoisL 7–⁠2176%
Oct 30vsMichigan StateL 10–⁠4360%
Nov 6atWisconsinL 10–⁠1445%
Nov 13vs3MichiganL 17–⁠2021%
Nov 20atIndianaL 31–⁠3858%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Lost to Indiana 38–⁠31; unranked in the final AP poll; tied for 6th in the Big Ten.

In program history: The tied 104th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 135 on file).

AP poll, week by week

  1. Wk 6: 20
  2. Wk 7: 17

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 1971.

Record
3–⁠7
Conference
3–⁠5 tied for 6th in Big Ten
AP final
Unranked peak No. 17
Points
210–⁠228
Coach
Bob DeMoss
Elo
1415 −102 this season
SP+ rating
2.8 No. 55 of 120; offense No. 39, defense No. 78
SRS
6.3 No. 31 of 128 major-college teams
Recruiting class
—
Captains
Tom Luken and Jim Teal
Most valuable player
Tom Luken

Drafted in 1972

The 1972 draft
Rd 3Tom Luken OGPhiladelphia Eagles
Rd 6Charles Potts DBDetroit Lions

All-Big Ten

3 first team, 4 second team

First team

Second team

From Wikipedia’s 1971 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1971 Big Ten standings

Conference page
TeamConf.OverallAP final
Michigan8–⁠011–⁠16
Northwestern6–⁠37–⁠4
Ohio State5–⁠36–⁠4
Michigan State5–⁠36–⁠5
Illinois5–⁠35–⁠6
Wisconsin3–⁠54–⁠6–⁠1
Minnesota3–⁠54–⁠7
Purdue3–⁠53–⁠7
Indiana2–⁠63–⁠8
Iowa1–⁠81–⁠10

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