1961 Southern Connecticut State Owls football team

1961 Southern Connecticut State Owls football
ConferenceIndependent
Record7–2
Head coach
Seasons
← 1960
1962 →
1961 Eastern college football independents records
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
Middlebury     5 1 1
Villanova     8 2 0
Southern Connecticut State     7 2 0
Alfred     6 2 0
Montclair State     6 2 0
Delaware Valley     6 2 0
No. 17 Penn State     8 3 0
No. 14 Syracuse     8 3 0
Trinity (CT)     5 2 1
Holy Cross     7 3 0
C. W. Post     6 3 0
Army     6 4 0
Merchant Marine     6 4 0
Tufts     5 3 0
Rochester     5 3 0
Hamilton     4 3 0
Cortland State     4 3 0
American International     5 4 0
Colgate     5 4 0
Northeastern     4 4 0
Coast Guard     4 4 0
Ithaca     4 4 0
Boston University     4 5 0
Buffalo     4 5 0
Bridgeport     4 5 0
Norwich     3 4 1
Worcester Tech     3 4 0
Boston College     4 6 0
Union (NY)     3 5 0
Pittsburgh     3 7 0
Nichols     2 3 0
Trenton State     1 6 0
King's (PA)     1 8 0
Springfield     0 7 1
Brockport     0 7 0
RPI     0 7 0
Hobart     0 8 0
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1961 Southern Connecticut State Owls football team was an American football team that represented Southern Connecticut State College (now known as Southern Connecticut State University) as an independent during the 1961 college football season. In their 14th year under head coach Jess Dow, the Owls compiled a 7–2 record.[1] In the UPI New England small college coaches poll, they were ranked fifth behind Amherst, Maine, Williams and Trinity.

Southern Connecticut tallied an average of 351.6 yards per game of total offense, including 220.2 yards rushing. On defense, they held opponents to 103.0 rushing yards per game.[2]

Junior fullback Ralph "Horse" Ferrisi led all New England college players with 68 points scored.[3][4] Ferrisi also led the team with 734 rushing yards and 734 yards of total offense. Raymond Ciarleglio and Joe Landino shared the quarterback position and tallied 366 and 365 passing yards, respectively.[5]

Tackle Brian O'Connor was selected as a second-team player on the 1961 Associated Press All New England football team; he was the only Southern Connecticut player named to the team.[6] Other key players included quarterback Ray Ciarleglio, center Genaro Germe,[7] and guard Larry McHugh.[8]

  1. ^ Official Collegiate Football Record Book 1962, p. 133.
  2. ^ "New England Sports Briefs". The North Adams Transcript. December 8, 1961. p. 13 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "Southern Connecticut Back Takes Over Scoring Lead". Bennington Banner. November 14, 1961. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Ferrisi Seems To Have Nailed Down NE Crown". Sun-Journal. November 21, 1961. p. 10 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference NCAA was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ "Maine's Kinney All-N.E. Choice". The Bangor Daily News. December 6, 1961. p. 23 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Relatively Unknown Boys Touted by State Coaches". Hartford Courant. November 7, 1961. p. 17 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "Titans Sign Nutmegger". The Boston Globe. December 13, 1961. p. 42 – via Newspapers.com.