The1917 Big Ten Conference football season was the twenty-second season ofcollege football played by the member schools of theBig Ten Conference and was a part of the1917 college football season. Michigan's return brought membership up to ten schools, and this was the first year the Western Conference was referred to as the "Big Ten".

Ohio State repeated as conference champions with a 4-0 league record, 8-0-1 overall.

Minnesota came in second at 4-1 (3-1 Big Ten) while Northwestern and Wisconsin tied for third at 3–2 in Big Ten play.

Illinois and Chicago tied for fifth with league records of 2–2–1. At 5-2 (1-2 Big Ten), Indiana came in seventh.

Michigan (0–1), Iowa (0–2), and Purdue (0–4) went winless in conference play.

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
October 6	Beloit*	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI	W 34–0
October 13	Notre Dame*	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI	T 0–0
October 20	atIllinois	Illinois Field Champaign, IL	L 0–7
October 27	Iowa	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI (rivalry)	W 20–0
November 3	Minnesota	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI (rivalry)	W 10–7	12,000
November 10	Ohio State	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI	L 3–16
November 24	atChicago	Stagg Field Chicago, IL	W 18–0		[4]
*Non-conference game Homecoming

^[12][13][14]

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance
October 6	Case*	Ferry Field Ann Arbor, MI	W 41–0	4,035
October 10	Western State Normal*	Ferry Field Ann Arbor, MI	W 17–13	2,906
October 13	Mount Union*	Ferry Field Ann Arbor, MI	W 69–0	3,657
October 17	Detroit*	Ferry Field Ann Arbor, MI	W 14–3	4,419
October 20	Michigan Agricultural*	Ferry Field Ann Arbor, MI (rivalry)	W 27–0	9,038
October 27	Nebraska*	Ferry Field Ann Arbor, MI	W 20–0	5,022
November 3	Kalamazoo*	Ferry Field Ann Arbor, MI	W 62–0	4,345
November 10	Cornell*	Ferry Field Ann Arbor, MI	W 42–0	16,733
November 17	atPenn*	Franklin Field Philadelphia, PA	L 0–16	12,851
November 24	atNorthwestern	Northwestern Field Evanston, IL (rivalry)	L 12–21	5,232
*Non-conference game Homecoming

Date	Opponent	Site	Result
October 6	Cornell (IA)*	Iowa Field Iowa City, IA	W 22–13
October 13	Nebraska*	Nebraska Field Lincoln, NE (rivalry)	L 0–47
October 20	Grinnell*	Iowa Field Iowa City, IA	L 0–10
October 27	atWisconsin	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI (rivalry)	L 0–20
November 3	Great Lakes Navy*	Iowa Field Iowa City, IA	L 14–23
November 10	South Dakota*	Iowa Field Iowa City, IA	W 35–0
November 17	atNorthwestern	Northwestern Field Evanston, IL	L 14–25
November 24	Iowa State*	Iowa Field Iowa City, IA (rivalry)	W 6–3
*Non-conference game Homecoming

^[15]

No Western Conference schools participated in any bowl games during the 1917 season.

• Charles Bolen, Ohio State(MS; WE-1; JV-2; PP-1; DJ)

• George Hauser, Minnesota(WE-1; JV-1; PP-1)
• Albert Benbrook, Michigan; Ft. Sheridan (College Football Hall of Fame)(PPS)

• Frank Culver, Michigan(JV-2; PP-1)
• Ernest Allmendinger, Michigan; Ft. Sheridan(WC-1)
• C. G. Higgins, Chicago(MS; WE-2)
• John Ulrich, Northwestern(WE-2)

• Paul Des Jardien, Chicago; Ft. Sheridan (College Football Hall of Fame)(PPS)
• Oscar P. Lambert, Michigan(WE-2)

• Archie Weston, Michigan(WE-1)

• Chic Harley, Ohio State (College Football Hall of Fame)(WE-1; JV-1; PP-1; DJ)
• Cedric C. Smith, Michigan; Great Lakes(WC-1)
• Bob Koehler, Northwestern(WE-2)

NCAA recognized selectors for 1917

• WC =Collier's Weekly All Service team as selected byWalter Camp^[16]
• JV =Jack Veiock of the International News Service^[17][18][19]
• PP =Paul Purman, noted sports writer whose All-American team was syndicated in newspapers across the United States, of the Newspaper Editors Association^{[17][18][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27]}
• PPS = Paul Purman's All Service selection^[17]
• MS = Frank Menke Syndicate, byFrank G. Menke^[17][18]

Other selectors

• WE =Walter Eckersall, of theChicago Tribune^[28]
• DJ =Dick Jemison, of theAtlanta Constitution.^[17]
• NYT = All Service eleven ofThe New York Times.^[17]

Bold = Consensus All-American^[29]

• 1 – First-team selection
• 2 – Second-team selection
• 3 – Third-team selection

• Charles Bolen, Ohio State (FM, HP, LA, LGS, PD)
• W. M. Kelley, Wisconsin (FM, GWA, LA, LGS, PD)
• Charles Laun, Iowa (GWA)
• Alan Boyd, Michigan (HP)

• George Hauser, Minnesota (FM, HB, GWA, LA, LGS, PD)
• Harold J. Courtney, Ohio State (LA, LGS, PD [guard])

• Charles Higgins, Chicago (FM, GWA, LA, PD)
• Elmert T. Rundquist, Illinois (FM [tackle], LA, LGS)
• Conrad L. Eklund, Minnesota (GWA, LGS, PD [tackle])
• John Ulrich, Northwestern (FM)
• Joseph Hanish, Michigan (HP)
• Whiting, Camp Grant – Chicago (REAL)

• Frank Culver, Michigan (HP)
• Pottinger, Great Lakes Naval Training Station – Wisconsin (REAL)

• Archie Weston, Michigan (FM, LA [halfback], LGS)
• Eber Simpson, Wisconsin (LA, PD)
• Howard Yerges Sr., Ohio State (GWA)

• Chic Harley, Ohio State (FM, GWA, HP, LA, LGS) (CFHOF)
• Eber Simpson, Wisconsin (GWA)
• James B. Craig, Fort Sheridan / Michigan (REAL)

• Bob Koehler, Northwestern (FM, GWA, LA, LGS)
• Cedric C. Smith, Great Lakes Naval Training Station / Michigan (REAL)

• 1917 Big Ten Conference football season

• Use mdy dates from August 2023
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
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