1951 Indiana Hoosiers football team

The 1951 Indiana Hoosiers football team represented the Indiana Hoosiers in the 1951 Big Ten Conference football season. They participated as members of the Big Ten Conference. The Hoosiers played their home games at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, Indiana. The team was coached by Clyde B. Smith, in his fourth and final year as head coach of the Hoosiers. At the end of the season, Smith was fired and replaced by Bernie Crimmins. The team was ranked at No. 55 in the 1951 Litkenhous Ratings.^[1]

1951 Indiana Hoosiers football
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	2–7 (1–5 Big Ten)
Head coach	Clyde B. Smith (4th season)
MVP	Gene Gedman
Home stadium	Memorial Stadium
Seasons ← 1950 1952 →

1951 Big Ten Conference football standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 4 Illinois $	5	–	0	–	1			9	–	0	–	1
Purdue	4	–	1	–	0			5	–	4	–	0
No. 8 Wisconsin	5	–	1	–	1			7	–	1	–	1
Michigan	4	–	2	–	0			4	–	5	–	0
Ohio State	2	–	2	–	2			4	–	3	–	2
Northwestern	2	–	4	–	0			5	–	4	–	0
Minnesota	1	–	4	–	1			2	–	6	–	1
Indiana	1	–	5	–	0			2	–	7	–	0
Iowa	0	–	5	–	1			2	–	5	–	2
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 29	at No. 14 Notre Dame*	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN	W 48–6	55,790
October 6	Pittsburgh*	Memorial Stadium Bloomington, IN	W 13–6
October 13	at Michigan	Michigan Stadium Ann Arbor, MI	L 14–33	60,165
October 20	at No. 17 Ohio State	Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH	L 10–32	74,265
October 27	No. 4 Illinois	Memorial Stadium Bloomington, IN	L 0–21	33,000
November 3	at No. 10 Wisconsin	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI	L 0–6	51,118
November 10	at Minnesota	Memorial Stadium Minneapolis, MN	L 14–16	45,986
November 17	No. 1 Michigan State*	Memorial Stadium Bloomington, IN (rivalry)	L 26–30	16,000	^[2]
November 24	Purdue	Memorial Stadium Bloomington, IN (Old Oaken Bucket)	L 13–21	31,000
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

^[3][4][5]

1952 NFL draftees

Player	Position	Round	Pick	NFL club
Mel Becket	Center	8	87	Green Bay Packers
John Davis	Back	15	171	Chicago Cardinals
Sam Talarico	Tackle	19	225	Cleveland Browns
Bobby Robertson	Back	23	276	Cleveland Browns
Cliff Anderson	End	25	291	Chicago Cardinals

^[6]

References

1. "Vols Top Final 1951 Litkenhous Ratings". The Nashville Banner. December 14, 1951. p. 49 – via Newspapers.com.
2. George S. Alderton (November 18, 1951). "MSC Teeters, Then Indiana Bows, 30-26". Lansing State Journal. pp. 51–52 – via Newspapers.com.
3. "1951 Indiana Hoosiers Schedule and Results". College Football @ Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference. Retrieved December 31, 2023.
4. "1951 Football Schedule". Indiana University. Retrieved December 31, 2023.
5. "Indiana Football 2023 Record Book" (PDF). Indiana University. p. 13. Retrieved December 31, 2023.
6. . Pro-Football-Reference.com. Archived from the original on November 21, 2010. Retrieved March 30, 2018.