1956 Michigan Wolverines football team

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1956 Michigan Wolverines football
Michigan Wolverines Block M.png
Conference Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches #7
AP #7
1956 record 7–2 (5–2 Big Ten)
Head coach Bennie Oosterbaan (9th year)
MVP Dick Hill
Captain Tom Maentz
Home stadium Michigan Stadium
Seasons
« 1955 1957 »
1956 Big Ten football standings
Conf     Overall
Team W   L   T     W   L   T
#3 Iowa $ 5 – 1 – 0     9 – 1 – 0
#7 Michigan 5 – 2 – 0     7 – 2 – 0
#12 Minnesota 4 – 1 – 2     6 – 1 – 2
#9 Michigan State 4 – 2 – 0     7 – 2 – 0
#15 Ohio State 4 – 2 – 0     6 – 3 – 0
Northwestern 3 – 3 – 1     4 – 4 – 1
Purdue 1 – 4 – 2     3 – 4 – 2
Illinois 1 – 4 – 2     2 – 5 – 2
Wisconsin 0 – 4 – 3     1 – 5 – 3
Indiana 1 – 5 – 0     3 – 6 – 0
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1956 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1956 college football season. In their ninth year under head coach was Bennie Oosterbaan, the Wolverines compiled a 7-2 record (5-2 Big Ten), outscored opponents 233 to 123, and finished the season in second place in the Big Ten Conference and ranked #7 in the final 1956 AP poll. The team played five of its nine games against ranked opponents, losing to #2 Michigan State by a 9-0 score and #15 Minnesota by a 20-7 score, but defeating #15 Army by a 48-14 score, #7 Iowa by a 17-14 score, and #12 Ohio State by a 19-0 score.

End Ron Kramer was selected as a consensus All-American and a first team All-Big Ten player. Guard Dick Hill was selected as the team's Most Valuable Player and was named by the Associated Press (AP) as a first-team All-Big Ten player. Halfback Terry Barr averaged 6.1 yards per carry rushing and 19.7 yards per punt return and was selected as a first-team All-Big Ten player by the United Press (UP).

Schedule

Date Time Opponent# Rank# Site TV Result Attendance
September 29, 1956 UCLA* #13/NA Michigan Stadium • Ann Arbor, MI W 42–13   70,159
October 6, 1956 #2/2 Michigan State #5/4 Michigan Stadium • Ann Arbor, MI L 0–9   101,001
October 13, 1956 #15/11 Army* #12/10 Michigan Stadium • Ann Arbor, MI W 48–14   93,402
October 20, 1956 Northwestern #8/7 Michigan Stadium • Ann Arbor, MI W 34–20   81,718
October 27, 1956 #NR/14 Minnesotadagger #5/5 Michigan Stadium • Ann Arbor, MI L 7–20   85,566
November 3, 1956 at #7/8 Iowa #17/13 Iowa Stadium • Iowa City, IA W 17–14   55,896
November 10, 1956 Illinois #10/9 Michigan Stadium • Ann Arbor, MI W 17–7   75,735
November 17, 1956 Indiana #10/9 Michigan Stadium • Ann Arbor, MI W 49–26   58,515
November 24, 1956 at #12/13 Ohio State #9/10 Ohio Stadium • Columbus, OH W 19–0   78,830
*Non-conference game. daggerHomecoming. #Rankings from AP Poll / Coaches' Poll released prior to game. All times are in Eastern Time.

Season summary

Game 1: UCLA

Week 1: UCLA at Michigan
1 2 3 4 Total
UCLA 0 0 7 6 13
• Michigan 14 14 7 7 42

On September 29, 1956, Michigan opened its season with a 42–13 victory over UCLA.[1] The Bruins were ranked #4 in the final AP Poll in 1955, but lost a number of players due to sanctions imposed by the Pacific Coast Conference. Michigan rushed for 234 yards against UCLA, including 67 yards by junior halfback Jim Pace. In the air, Michigan completed four of nine passes for 103 yards, including a 13-yard touchdown pass from Bob Ptacek to Jim Van Pelt and a 70-yard touchdown pass from Terry Barr to Ron Kramer. Barr also set up a touchdown with a 51-yard punt return to the UCLA 15-yard line in the first quarter. Halfback John Herrnstein scored two touchdowns for Michigan on runs of six and four yards. Ed Shannon and Jim Dickey also scored touchdowns for Michigan. Kramer and Maddock each kicked three extra points for Michigan.[1]


Players

Varsity letter winners

The following players won varsity letters for their participation on the 1956 Michigan football team.[2] Players who started at least half of Michigan's games are shown in bold.[3]

Awards and honors


Statistical leaders

Rushing

Player Attempts Net yards Yards per attempt Touchdowns
Jim Pace 103 498 4.8 2
John Herrnstein 123 475 3.9 7
Terry Barr 60 366 6.1 6

Passing

Player Attempts Completions Interceptions Comp % Yards Yds/Comp TD Long
Bob Ptacek 23 15 2 65.2 245 16.3 3 25
Jim Van Pelt 33 15 1 45.5 221 14.7 1 37
Jim Maddock 42 19 3 45.2 213 11.2 0 18

Receiving

Player Receptions Yards Yds/Recp TD Long
Ron Kramer 18 353 19.6 2 70
Jim Pace 7 155 22.1 0 37
Jim Maddock 5 79 15.8 1 23

Kickoff returns

Player Returns Yards Yds/Return TD Long
Jim Pace 11 274 24.9 0 39
Jim Van Pelt 4 84 21.0 0 36

Punt returns

Player Returns Yards Yds/Return TD Long
Terry Barr 6 118 19.7 0 51
Ed Shannon 7 38 5.4 0 9

Coaching staff

  • Trainer: Jim Hunt[3]
  • Manager: Dave Lundquist[3]

References

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  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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