I would have expected Minnesota to be higher, at least top 10. I thought they still had some good teams in the 50's and early 60"s. Guess they were not as good as I thought.
More detail on the Gophers:
The peaks of Minnesota football were the early 1900s and the mid-30s through 1941. Here are their League titles:
- 1900
- 1903
- 1904
- 1906
- 1909
- 1910
- 1911
- 1915
- 1927
- 1933
- 1934
- 1935
- 1937
- 1938
- 1940
- 1941
- 1960
- 1967
They won seven league titles in 12 years from 1900-1911. That is REALLY good. Then from 1933-1941 the Gophers won seven league titles in 9 years only missing in 1936 and 1939. They also won three of the first six AP National Championships in 1936, 1940, and 1941.
1960 was very different. They hadn't won a league title in almost 20 years (1941) and hadn't had a winning season nor finished ranked since 1956. Then they out-of-the-blue won the league and national titles in 1960. Minnesota had an unusually easy league schedule in 1960. The two teams that they missed finished 3rd and 4th in the league. They did beat second place Iowa but that was their only win over a team that finished above .500 in the league. Also, there was no post-bowl AP Poll in 1960 so Minnesota won the NC on the basis of the regular season (where they had a really easy schedule) and didn't get dinged for losing the Rose Bowl.
On the Rose Bowl loss, it was really unusual for a Big Ten team to lose in those days. The BigTen/Pac contract started for the 1947 Rose Bowl (1946 season) and the Big Ten won the first six straight with Ohio State and Northwestern each winning one while Michigan and Illinois each won two. Wisconsin lost the 1953 (52 season) and 1960 (59 season) Rose Bowls but the Big Ten won the other 12 from 1947 (46 season) through 1960 (59 season) then Minnesota lost. Big Ten Rose Bowl records from 1947 (46 season) through 1961 (60 season):
- 3-0 Ohio State
- 2-0 Michigan State
- 2-0 Iowa
- 2-0 Illinois
- 2-0 Michigan
- 1-0 Northwestern
- 0-1 Minnesota
- 0-2 Wisconsin
- 12-3 Total
Minnesota's other post-WWII league title came in the goofy season of 1967. The league title was shared by Indiana, Minnesota, and Purdue. That was the most recent title for Purdue until 2000 and for Indiana until a few weeks ago. It is STILL the most recent league title for the Gophers.
Here are the league standings from 1967 with who they lost to and who they missed for the top teams:
- 6-1 Purdue lost to Indiana, missed M and UW
- 6-1 Indiana lost to Minnesota, missed tOSU and NU
- 6-1 Minnesota lost to Purdue, missed tOSU and NU
- 5-2 Ohio State lost to PU and IL, missed IU and MN
- 3-4 Illinois
- 3-4 Michigan
- 3-4 Michigan State
- 2-5 Northwestern
- 0-6-1 Iowa
- 0-6-1 Wisconsin
It should be noted that in the games among the top-3:
- Minnesota beat Indiana 33-7 in Minneapolis
- Purdue beat Minnesota 41-12 in West Lafayette
- Indiana beat Purdue 19-14 in Bloomington
IMHO the best teams were:
- Purdue - blowout win, close loss
- Minnesota - blowout win, blowout loss
- Indiana - close win, blowout loss
Much like 1961, Minnesota's league title in 1967 was completely out-of-the-blue. That isn't the same thing as winning a slew of league titles and NC's like they did in the late 30s and early 40s.
