The1896 Western Conference football season was the first season ofcollege football played by the member schools of theWestern Conference (later known as the Big Ten Conference) and was a part of the1896 college football season.

In September 1896, the members of the Western Conference, seven of the most prominent teams in the Midwest, arranged their schedules so as to "compete for the championship of the West."^[1]

The1896 Wisconsin Badgers football team, under head coachPhilip King, won the first Western Conference championship with a 7–1–1 record (2–0–1 against conference opponents).^[2] Wisconsin's sole loss was to theCarlisle Indians in a night game played indoors and under the lights at theChicago Coliseum before a crowd of 16,000 persons.^[3]

Michigan, led by head coachWilliam Ward, compiled a 9–1 record and led the conference in both scoring offense (26.2 points per game) and scoring defense (1.1 points per game).^[4] Michigan started the season with nine consecutive wins in which the Wolverines outscored their opponents by a combined score of 256 to 4. In the final game of the season, Michigan lost toChicago by a score of 7–6. The 1896Chicago–Michigan football rivalry game was the first college football game played indoors, and the last portion of the game was also played under electric lights.^[5][6]

Northwestern finished in third place with a 6–1–2 record, its only loss coming against Chicago by an 18–6 score.^[7]

In their fifth season under head coachAmos Alonzo Stagg, theChicago Maroons compiled a 15–2–1 record, finished in fourth place in the conference with a 3–2 record against conference opponents, and outscored all opponents by a combined total of 368 to 82.^[8]

Key

PPG = Average of points scored per game^[4]
PAG = Average of points allowed per game^[4]

Only 12 conference games were played during the 1896 Western Conference season. The results were as follows:

• October 17, 1896, Minnesota defeated Purdue, 14-0, before a crowd of 3,500 in Minneapolis^[9]
• October 24, 1896, Michigan defeated Purdue, 16-0, in Lafayette, Indiana^[10]
• October 24, 1896, Northwestern defeated Chicago, 46-6^[11]
• October 31, 1896, Chicago defeated Illinois, 12-0, at Marshall Field in Chicago^[12]
• November 7, 1896, Michigan defeated Minnesota, 6-4, in Minneapolis^[13][14]
• November 7, 1896, Northwestern defeated Illinois, 10-4, inChampaign, Illinois^[15]
• November 7, 1896, Wisconsin defeated Chicago, 24-0, at Camp Randall inMadison, Wisconsin^[16]
• November 14, 1896, Chicago defeated Northwestern, 18-6^[17]
• November 21, 1896, Wisconsin defeated Minnesota, 6-0, at Camp Randall in Madison^[18][19]
• November 26, 1896, Illinois and Purdue tied, 4-4, before a crowd of 2,000 in Lafayette, Indiana^[20]
• November 26, 1896, Chicago defeated Michigan, 7-6, atChicago Coliseum^[21][22]
• November 26, 1896, Wisconsin and Northwestern tied, 6-6, inEvanston, Illinois^[23]

Notable non-conference games during the 1896 season included the following:

• October 10, 1896, Chicago defeatedIowa by a 6–0 score at Chicago.
• October 14, 1896, Chicago defeatedNotre Dame by an 18–0 score at South Bend, Indiana.
• October 17, 1896, Illinois defeatedMissouri by a 10–0 score atSt. Louis.
• October 24, 1896, Minnesota defeatedIowa Agricultural by an 18–6 score atMinneapolis.
• October 31, 1896, in the only intersectional match played by a Western Conference team, Michigan defeatedLehigh by a 40–0 score at theDetroit Athletic Club.^[24][25]
• November 14, 1896, Purdue defeated Notre Dame by a 28–22 at South Bend, Indiana.^[26]
• November 28, 1896, Minnesota defeatedKansas by a 12–0 score atLawrence, Kansas.
• December 19, 1896, Wisconsin lost toCarlisle by an 18–8 score at theChicago Coliseum.^[3]

No bowl games were played during the 1896 season.

In theChicago Inter Ocean, a sports writer known as "The Man Up a Tree" published the following selections for an All-Western football team:^[27]

No Western Conference players were selected for the1896 College Football All-America Team.

• 1896 Western Conference football season

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