The 1976 Purdue Boilermakers football team was an
American football
American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...
team that represented
Purdue University
Purdue University is a Public university#United States, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded ...
in the
1976 Big Ten Conference football season
The 1976 Big Ten Conference football season was the 81st season of college football played by the member schools of the Big Ten Conference and was a part of the 1976 NCAA Division I football season.
The 1976 Michigan Wolverines football team, un ...
. In their fourth and final season under head coach
Alex Agase
Alexander Arrasi Agase (March 27, 1922 – May 3, 2007) was an American football guard and linebacker who was named an All-American three times in college and played on three Cleveland Browns championship teams before becoming head football coa ...
, the Boilermakers compiled a 5–6 record (4–4 against conference opponents) and finished in a four-way tie for third place in the Big Ten standings.
Running back
Scott Dierking led the team with 1,000 rushing yards and 66 points scored.
[ He was selected by his teammates as the team's most valuable player and finished second to ]Rob Lytle
Robert William Lytle (November 12, 1954 – November 20, 2010) was an American football running back who played for the Denver Broncos in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons.
Lytle played college football for the Michigan Wolver ...
in the voting for the ''Chicago Tribune'' Silver Football, awarded to the Big Ten's most valuable player. Dierking was also named by the Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City.
Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
(AP) as a second-team All-American and by the AP and United Press International
United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th ce ...
(UPI) as a first-team running back on the 1976 All-Big Ten Conference football team.[
]
Schedule
Game summaries
Northwestern
* Scott Dierking 27 rushes, 151 yards
At Notre Dame
USC
Miami (OH)
* Scott Dierking 28 rushes, 211 yards
* John Skibinski 15 rushes, 121 yards
At Wisconsin
Paul Beery's fourth interception and Rock Supan's 20-yard field goal with a little over two minutes remaining lifted Purdue to victory.
Illinois
At Ohio State
At Michigan State
Michigan
*Source:''
Palm Beach Post
*PUR: Scott Dierking 38 rushes, 162 yards
At Iowa
[Eugene Register-Guard. 1976 Nov 14.]
Indiana
Roster
Awards
Red Mackey Award: Mark Vitali
Statistics
Passing
Rushing
Receiving
[Broyles, Bob and Paul Guido. ''50 Years of College Football: A Modern History of America's Most Colorful Sport'']
References
{{Purdue Boilermakers football navbox
Purdue
Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donat ...
Purdue Boilermakers football seasons
Purdue Boilermakers football
The Purdue Boilermakers football team represents Purdue University in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of college football. Purdue plays its home games at Ross–Ade Stadium on the campus of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. ...